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Contains fulltext : 224793.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Successful social interaction requires humans to predict others' behavior. To do so, internal models of others are generated based on previous observations. When predicting others' preferences for objects, for example, observations are made at an individual level (5-year old Rosie often chooses a pencil), or at a group level (kids often choose pencils). But previous research has focused either on already established group knowledge, i.e., stereotypes, or on the neural correlates of predicting traits and preferences of individuals. We identified the neural mechanisms underlying predicting individual behavior based on learned group knowledge using fMRI. We show that applying learned group knowledge hinges on both a network of regions commonly referred to as the mentalizing network, and a network of regions implicated in representing social-knowledge. Additionally, we provide evidence for the presence of a gradient in the posterior temporal cortex and the medial frontal cortex, catering to different functions while applying learned group knowledge. This process is characterized by an increased connectivity between medial prefrontal cortex and other mentalizing network regions, and increased connectivity between anterior temporal lobe and other social-knowledge regions. Our study provides insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the application of learned group knowledge. 12 p.

Contains fulltext : 239574.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Open science initiatives are creating opportunities to increase research coordination and impact in nonhuman primate (NHP) imaging. The PRIMatE Data and Resource Exchange community recently developed a collaboration-based strategic plan to advance NHP imaging as an integrative approach for multiscale neuroscience. 5 p.

Contains fulltext : 237221.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The macaque middle superior temporal sulcus shares functional properties with the human temporoparietal junction supporting mentalizing. The ability to attribute thoughts to others, also called theory of mind (TOM), has been extensively studied in humans; however, its evolutionary origins have been challenged. Computationally, the basis of TOM has been interpreted within the predictive coding framework and associated with activity in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Here, we revealed, using a nonlinguistic task and functional magnetic resonance imaging, that activity in a region of the macaque middle superior temporal cortex was specifically modulated by the predictability of social situations. As in human TPJ, this region could be distinguished from other temporal regions involved in face processing. Our result suggests the existence of a precursor for the TOM ability in the last common ancestor of human and Old World monkeys. 11 p.

Many daily choices are based on one's own knowledge. However, when predicting other people's behavior, we need to consider the differences between our knowledge and other people's presumed knowledge. Social agents need a mechanism to use privileged information for their own behavior but exclude it from predictions of others. Using fMRI, we investigated the neural implementation of such social and personal predictions in healthy human volunteers of both sexes by manipulating privileged and shared information. The medial frontal cortex appeared to have an important role in flexibly making decisions using privileged information for oneself or predicting others' behavior. Specifically, we show that ventromedial PFC tracked the state of the world independent of the type of decision (personal, social), whereas dorsomedial regions adjusted their frame of reference to the use of privileged or shared information. Sampling privileged evidence not available to another person also relied on specific interactions between temporoparietal junction area and frontal pole.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTWhat we know about the minds of others and how we use that information is crucial to understanding social interaction. Mentalizing, or reading the minds of others, is argued to be particularly well developed in the human and crucially affected in some disorders. However, the intractable nature of human interactions makes it very difficult to study these processes. Here, we present a way to objectively quantify the information people have about others and to investigate how their brain deals with this information. This shows that people use similar areas in the brain related to nonsocial decision-making when making decisions in social situations and modify this information processing by the knowledge about others use these to modify their information processing according to the knowledge of others.

Contains fulltext : 237008.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Humans have a remarkable capacity to arrange and rearrange perceptual input according to different categorizations. This begs the question whether the categorization is exclusively a higher visual or amodal process, or whether categorization processes influence early visual areas as well. To investigate this we scanned healthy participants in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner during a conceptual decision task in which participants had to answer questions about upcoming images of animals. Early visual cortices (V1 and V2) contained information about the current visual input, about the granularity of the forthcoming categorical decision, as well as perceptual expectations about the upcoming visual stimulus. The middle temporal gyrus, the anterior temporal lobe, and the inferior frontal gyrus were also involved in the categorization process, constituting an attention and control network that modulates perceptual processing. These findings provide further evidence that early visual processes are driven by conceptual expectations and task demands. 9 p.

Contains fulltext : 233698.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Humans are a highly social species. Complex interactions for mutual support range from helping neighbors to building social welfare institutions. During times of distress or crisis, sharing life experiences within one's social circle is critical for well-being. By translating pattern-learning algorithms to the UK Biobank imaging-genetics cohort (n = ~40 000 participants), we have delineated manifestations of regular social support in multimodal whole-brain measurements. In structural brain variation, we identified characteristic volumetric signatures in the salience and limbic networks for high- versus low-social support individuals. In patterns derived from functional coupling, we also located interindividual differences in social support in action-perception circuits related to binding sensory cues and initiating behavioral responses. In line with our demographic profiling analysis, the uncovered neural substrates have potential implications for loneliness, substance misuse, and resilience to stress. 16 p.

One of the most influential accounts of central orbitofrontal cortex—that it mediates behavioral flexibility—has been challenged by the finding that discrimination reversal in macaques, the classic test of behavioral flexibility, is unaffected when lesions are made by excitotoxin injection rather than aspiration. This suggests that the critical brain circuit mediating behavioral flexibility in reversal tasks lies beyond the central orbitofrontal cortex. To determine its identity, a group of nine macaques were taught discrimination reversal learning tasks, and its impact on gray matter was measured. Magnetic resonance imaging scans were taken before and after learning and compared with scans from two control groups, each comprising 10 animals. One control group learned discrimination tasks that were similar but lacked any reversal component, and the other control group engaged in no learning. Gray matter changes were prominent in posterior orbitofrontal cortex/anterior insula but were also found in three other frontal cortical regions: lateral orbitofrontal cortex (orbital part of area 12 [12o]), cingulate cortex, and lateral prefrontal cortex. In a second analysis, neural activity in posterior orbitofrontal cortex/anterior insula was measured at rest, and its pattern of coupling with the other frontal cortical regions was assessed. Activity coupling increased significantly in the reversal learning group in comparison with controls. In a final set of experiments, we used similar structural imaging procedures and analyses to demonstrate that aspiration lesion of central orbitofrontal cortex, of the type known to affect discrimination learning, affected structure and activity in the same frontal cortical circuit. The results identify a distributed frontal cortical circuit associated with behavioral flexibility., The classical idea that central orbitofrontal cortex (cOFC) mediates behavioral flexibility has been recently challenged. This study provides further such evidence, identifying a neural network associated with behavioral flexibility centered on lateral OFC/anterior insula and subcortical regions such as the amygdala.

Contains fulltext : 217200.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Nonhuman primate neuroimaging is on the cusp of a transformation, much in the same way its human counterpart was in 2010, when the Human Connectome Project was launched to accelerate progress. Inspired by an open data-sharing initiative, the global community recently met and, in this article, breaks through obstacles to define its ambitions. 4 p.

Objective: Psychopathy is a personality disorder typified by lack of empathy and impulsive antisocial behavior. Psychopathic traits may partly relate to disrupted connections between brain regions. The aim of the present study was to link abnormalities in microstuctural integrity of white-matter tracts to the severity of different psychopathic traits in 15 male offenders with impulse control problems and 10 without impulse control problems. Method: Psychopathic traits were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-revised (PCL-R). Diffusion-weighted MRI was used to examine white-matter tracts. Fractional anisotropy (FA), an index of white-matter integrity, was calculated for each voxel. Clusters of voxels showing a significant relationship with psychopathy severity were submitted to probabilistic tractography. Results: No significant correlations between psychopathy severity and FA were present in the whole group of impulsive and nonimpulsive offenders. In impulsive offenders. interpersonal-affective traits (PCL-R Factor I) were negatively correlated with FA in the anterior and posterior temporal lobe and orbitofrontal area. Further analyses indicated that elevated affective traits (PCL-R Facet 2) were specifically related to reduced FA in the right temporal lobe. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that white-matter abnormalities in temporal and frontotemporal tracts may be linked to the interpersonal-affective deficits of psychopathy in offenders with relatively severe impulse control problems. Our study offers novel insights into the relationships between the four facets of psychopathy and disrupted structural connectivity, and may provide new leads for further characterization of different subtypes of antisocial populations.

Successful social interaction requires humans to predict others' behavior. To do so, internal models of others are generated based on previous observations. When predicting others' preferences for objects, for example, observations are made at an individual level (5-year-old Rosie often chooses a pencil) or at a group level (kids often choose pencils). But previous research has focused either on already established group knowledge, i.e. stereotypes, or on the neural correlates of predicting traits and preferences of individuals. We identified the neural mechanisms underlying predicting individual behavior based on learned group knowledge using fMRI. We show that applying learned group knowledge hinges on both a network of regions commonly referred to as the mentalizing network, and a network of regions implicated in representing social knowledge. Additionally, we provide evidence for the presence of a gradient in the posterior temporal cortex and the medial frontal cortex, catering to different functions while applying learned group knowledge. This process is characterized by an increased connectivity between medial prefrontal cortex and other mentalizing network regions and increased connectivity between anterior temporal lobe and other social knowledge regions. Our study provides insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the application of learned group knowledge.

Contains fulltext : 197951.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) We are frequently challenged with situations requiring the control of our emotions, often under substantial time-pressure and rapidly changing contextual demands. Coping with those demands requires the ability to flexibly and rapidly switch between different emotional control strategies. However, this ability has been largely neglected by current neurocognitive models on emotional control. Drawing on the decision-making literature, we propose that rapid switching between alternative emotional control strategies requires the concurrent evaluation of unchosen (counterfactual) options. This model explains how an individual can adaptively change emotional control behavior to meet contextual demands and shifting goals. We propose that the neural implementation of this emotional control mechanism relies on the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC/lateral frontal pole), given its known role in monitoring alternative options during cognitive decision-making tasks. We reappraise meta-analytic evidence showing consistent aPFC involvement during emotional control when monitoring of alternative emotional control strategies is required, and when alternative emotional actions have high value. We conclude with emphasizing the clinical and evolutionary implications of this new framework on emotional control. 7 p.

From early on, humans’ allocation of attention and information processing are directed toward the maximization of learning., Infants’ remarkable learning abilities allow them to rapidly acquire many complex skills. It has been suggested that infants achieve this learning by optimally allocating their attention to relevant stimuli in the environment, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we modeled infants’ looking behavior during a learning task through an ideal learner that quantified the informational structure of environmental stimuli. We show that saccadic latencies, looking time, and time spent engaged with a stimulus sequence are explained by the properties of the learning environments, including the level of surprise of the stimulus, overall predictability of the environment, and progress in learning the environmental structure. These findings reveal the factors that shape infants’ advanced learning, emphasizing their predisposition to seek out stimuli that maximize learning.

Regulation of emotional behavior is essential for human social interactions. Recent work has exposed its cognitive complexity, as well as its unexpected reliance on portions of the anterior PFC (aPFC) also involved in exploration, relational reasoning, and counterfactual choice, rather than on dorsolateral and medial prefrontal areas involved in several forms of cognitive control. This study anatomically qualifies the contribution of aPFC territories to the regulation of prepotent approach–avoidance action tendencies elicited by emotional faces, and explores a possible structural pathway through which this emotional action regulation might be implemented. We provide converging evidence from task-based fMRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and functional connectivity fingerprints for a novel neural element in emotional regulation. Task-based fMRI in human male participants (N= 40) performing an emotional approach–avoidance task identified aPFC territories involved in the regulation of action tendencies elicited by emotional faces. Connectivity fingerprints, based on diffusion-weighted imaging and resting-state connectivity, localized those task-defined frontal regions to the lateral frontal pole (FPl), an anatomically defined portion of the aPFC that lacks a homologous counterpart in macaque brains. Probabilistic tractography indicated that 10%–20% of interindividual variation in emotional regulation abilities is accounted for by the strength of structural connectivity between FPl and amygdala. Evidence from an independent replication sample (N= 50; 10 females) further substantiated this result. These findings provide novel neuroanatomical evidence for incorporating FPl in models of control over human action tendencies elicited by emotional faces.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTSuccessful regulation of emotional behaviors is a prerequisite for successful participation in human society, as is evidenced by the social isolation and loss of occupational opportunities often encountered by people suffering from emotion regulation disorders, such as social-anxiety disorder and psychopathy. Knowledge about the precise cortical regions and connections supporting this control is crucial for understanding both the nature of computations needed to successfully traverse the space of possible actions in social situations, and the potential interventions that might result in efficient treatment of social-emotional disorders. This study provides evidence for a precise cortical region (lateral frontal pole) and a structural pathway (the ventral amygdalofugal bundle) through which a cognitively complex form of emotional action regulation might be implemented in the human brain.

Regulation of emotional behavior is essential for human social interactions. Recent work has exposed its cognitive complexity, as well as its unexpected reliance on portions of the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) also involved in exploration, relational reasoning, and counterfactual choice, rather than on dorsolateral and medial prefrontal areas involved in several forms of cognitive control. This study anatomically qualifies the contribution of aPFC territories to the regulation of social-emotional actions, and explores a possible structural pathway through which emotional regulation might be implemented.We provide converging evidence from task-based fMRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and functional connectivity fingerprints for a novel neural element in emotional regulation. Task-based fMRI in human male participants (N = 40) performing a social-emotional approach-avoidance task identified aPFC territories involved in the regulation of social-emotional actions. Connectivity fingerprints, based on diffusion-weighted imaging and resting-state connectivity, localized those task-defined frontal regions to the lateral frontal pole (FPl), an anatomically-defined portion of the aPFC that lacks a homologous counterpart in macaque brains. Probabilistic tractography indicated that 10-20% of inter-individual variation in social-emotional regulation abilities is accounted for by the strength of structural connectivity between FPl and amygdala. Evidence from an independent replication sample (N = 50; 10 females) further substantiated this result. These findings provide novel neuroanatomical evidence for incorporating FPl in models of control over human social-emotional behavior.Significance statementSuccessful regulation of emotional behaviors is a prerequisite for successful participation in human society, as is evidenced by the social isolation and loss of occupational opportunities often encountered by people suffering from emotion-regulation disorders such as social-anxiety disorder and psychopathy. Knowledge about the precise cortical regions and connections supporting this control is crucial for understanding both the nature of computations needed to successfully traverse the space of possible actions in social situations, and the potential interventions that might result in efficient treatment of social-emotional disorders. This study provides evidence for a precise cortical region (FPl) and a structural pathway (the ventral amygdalofugal bundle) through which a cognitively complex form of emotional action regulation might be implemented in the human brain.

Summary Non-human primate neuroimaging is a rapidly growing area of research that promises to transform and scale translational and cross-species comparative neuroscience. Unfortunately, the technological and methodological advances of the past two decades have outpaced the accrual of data, which is particularly challenging given the relatively few centers that have the necessary facilities and capabilities. The PRIMatE Data Exchange (PRIME-DE) addresses this challenge by aggregating independently acquired non-human primate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets and openly sharing them via the International Neuroimaging Data-sharing Initiative (INDI). Here, we present the rationale, design, and procedures for the PRIME-DE consortium, as well as the initial release, consisting of 25 independent data collections aggregated across 22 sites (total = 217 non-human primates). We also outline the unique pitfalls and challenges that should be considered in the analysis of non-human primate MRI datasets, including providing automated quality assessment of the contributed datasets., Highlights • Openly shared, large non-human primate neuroimaging data resource • Multiple imaging modalities contributed from investigators around the world • Quality assessments of the dataset • Discussed pitfalls and challenges in analyzing the non-human primate MRI data, The PRIMatE Data Exchange (PRIME-DE) consortium is an open science resource for the neuroimaging community aiming to facilitate efforts to map the non-human primate connectome. It aggregates and shares anatomical, functional, and diffusion MRI datasets from laboratories throughout the world.

Contains fulltext : 150234.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) The great promise of comparative neuroscience is to understand why brains differ by investigating the relations between variations in the organization of different brains, their evolutionary history, and their current ecological niche. For this approach to be successful, the organization of different brains needs to be quantifiable. Here, we present an approach to formally comparing the connectivity of different cortical areas across different brains. We exploit the fact that cortical regions can be characterized by the unique pattern of connectivity, the so-called connectivity fingerprint. By comparing connectivity fingerprints between cortical areas in the human and non-human primate brain we can identify between-species homologs, but also illustrate that is driving differences between species. We illustrate the approach by comparing the organization of the frontal cortex between humans and macaques, showing general similarities combined with some differences in the lateral frontal pole. 8 p.

Contains fulltext : 195386.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The functional contribution of the lateral prefrontal cortex to behavior has been discussed with reference to several higher-order cognitive domains. In a separate line of research, recent studies have focused on the anatomical organization of this part of the brain. However, these different approaches are rarely combined. Here, we combine previous work using anatomical connectivity that identified a lateral subdivision of the human frontal pole and work that suggested a general role for rostrolateral prefrontal cortex in processing higher-order relations, irrespective of the type of information. We asked healthy human volunteers to judge the relationship between pairs of stimuli, a task previously suggested to engage the lateral frontal pole. Presenting both shape and face stimuli, we indeed observed overlapping activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex. Using resting state functional MRI, we confirmed that the activated region's whole-brain connectivity most strongly resembles that of the lateral frontal pole. Using diffusion MRI, we showed that the pattern of connections of this region with the main association fibers again is most similar to that of the lateral frontal pole, consistent with the observation that it is this anatomical region that is involved in relational processing. 10 p.

The extrastriate body area (EBA) processes visual information about body parts, and it is considered one among a series of category-specific perceptual modules distributed across the occipito-temporal cortex. However, recent evidence raises the possibility that EBA might also provide an interface between perception and action, linking the ventral and dorsal streams of visual information processing. Here, we assess anatomical evidence supporting this possibility. We localise EBA in individual subjects using a perceptual task and compare the characteristics of its functional and structural connectivity to those of two perceptual areas, the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and the fusiform body area (FBA), separately for each hemisphere. We apply complementary analyses of resting-state fMRI and diffusion-weighted MRI data in a group of healthy right-handed human subjects (N = 31). Functional and structural connectivity profiles indicate that EBA interacts more strongly with dorsal-stream regions compared to other portions of the occipito-temporal cortex involved in processing body parts (FBA) and object identification (LOC). These findings provide anatomical ground for a revision of the functional role of EBA. Building on a number of recent observations, we suggest that EBA contributes to planning goal-directed actions, possibly by specifying a desired postural configuration to parieto-frontal areas involved in computing movement parameters. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00429-017-1469-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The human ability to infer the thoughts and beliefs of others, often referred to as “theory of mind,” as well as the predisposition to even consider others, are associated with activity in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) area. Unlike the case of most human brain areas, we have little sense of whether or how TPJ is related to brain areas in other nonhuman primates. It is not possible to address this question by looking for similar task-related activations in nonhuman primates because there is no evidence that nonhuman primates engage in theory-of-mind tasks in the same manner as humans. Here, instead, we explore the relationship by searching for areas in the macaque brain that interact with other macaque brain regions in the same manner as human TPJ interacts with other human brain regions. In other words, we look for brain regions with similar positions within a distributed neural circuit in the two species. We exploited the fact that human TPJ has a unique functional connectivity profile with cortical areas with known homologs in the macaque. For each voxel in the macaque temporal and parietal cortex we evaluated the similarity of its functional connectivity profile to that of human TPJ. We found that areas in the middle part of the superior temporal cortex, often associated with the processing of faces and other social stimuli, have the most similar connectivity profile. These results suggest that macaque face processing areas and human mentalizing areas might have a similar precursor.

Contains fulltext : 160114.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) carries a wealth of value-related information necessary for regulating behavioral flexibility and persistence. It signals error and reward events informing decisions about switching or staying with current behavior. During decision-making, it encodes the average value of exploring alternative choices (search value), even after controlling for response selection difficulty, and during learning, it encodes the degree to which internal models of the environment and current task must be updated. dACC value signals are derived in part from the history of recent reward integrated simultaneously over multiple time scales, thereby enabling comparison of experience over the recent and extended past. Such ACC signals may instigate attentionally demanding and difficult processes such as behavioral change via interactions with prefrontal cortex. However, the signal in dACC that instigates behavioral change need not itself be a conflict or difficulty signal. 6 p.

Previous research has identified the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as an important node in the neural network underlying decision making in primates. Decision making can, however, be studied under large variety of circumstances, ranging from the standard well-controlled lab situation to more natural, stochastic settings during which multiple agents interact. Here, we illustrate how these different varieties of decision making studied can influence theories of ACC function in monkeys. Converging evidence from unit recordings and lesions studies now suggest that the ACC is important for interpreting outcome information according to the current task context to guide future action selection. We then apply this framework to the study of human ACC function and discuss its potential implications.

Contains fulltext : 56460.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Flexible behavior requires the ability to delay a response until it is appropriate. This can be achieved by holding either a sensory or a motor representation online. Here we assess whether maintenance of sensory or motor material drives the motor system to different functional states, as indexed by alterations of corticospinal excitability. We used single-pulse TMS to measure corticospinal excitability evoked during the delay period of a novel paradigm in which task contingencies, rather than explicit verbal instructions, induced participants to use either sensory or motor codes to solve a delay-nonmatch-to-sample (DNMS) task. This approach allowed us to probe the state of the motor system while the participants were retaining either sensory or motor codes to cross the delay period, rather than the control of short-term storage driven by verbal instructions. When participants could prepare the movement in advance ( preparation trials), the excitability of the motor cortex contralateral to the moving hand increased, whereas the excitability of the ipsilateral motor cortex decreased. The increase in excitability was confined to the prime mover, whereas the decrease in excitability extended to cortical territories controlling muscles unrelated to the response. Crucially, these changes in excitability were evoked only during preparation trials and not during trials in which subjects needed to maintain sensory items online ( memory trials). We infer that short-term storage of sensory information and preparation of motor responses have differential and specific access to the output stage of the motor system. 7 p.

In a recent issue of TiCS, Forstmann and colleagues [1xReciprocal relations between cognitive neuroscience and cognitive models: opposites attract?. Forstmann, B.U. et al. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2011; 15: 272–279Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (54)See all References][1] reviewed a relatively recent development in cognitive neuroscience: the application of mathematical models of behaviour to functional neuroimaging data. As computational neuroimaging begins to ‘go mainstream’, it is important to highlight a point concerning the interpretation of such studies that may seem obvious to modellers, but in our experience is a source of confusion for many readers of their papers.Mathematical models are traditionally used by experimental psychologists to make quantitative predictions about the relationship between stimuli and behaviour. The application of mathematical models in neuroimaging is a substantial step forward because it allows brain activity to be related to ‘latent’ variables captured in the mathematical model; that is, variables that represent the state of an internal calculation that may not have a direct relationship with behavioural performance or stimuli, for example uncertainty or learning rate [2xUnderstanding neural coding through the model-based analysis of decision making. Corrado, G. and Doya, K. J. Neurosci. 2006; 27: 8178–8180Crossref | Scopus (52)See all References][2]. However, there is an important distinction to be made between activity correlating with a parameter and a brain area representing that parameter.Correlation with a model parameter is generally only meaningful in the context of the entire cognitive process being modelled. For example, a prediction error captures the difference between an internal model and sensory reality; a prediction error signal is therefore evidence that a certain brain region has access to the relevant internal model and sensory information. By designing an experiment in such a way that the prediction error is specific to one cognitive goal or used in a particular way, modellers may localise the internal model of interest. Note that this is conceptually different from locating a ‘prediction error module’.By designing an experiment in which the parameters of a mathematical model vary over time, modellers intend to create known trial-to-trial variation in the cognitive process being modelled; this variation may be modelled in functional imaging data, which in turn allows one to locate the cognitive process. For example, Behrens and colleagues [3xLearning the value of information in an uncertain world. Behrens, T.E. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 2007; 10: 1214–1221Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (671)See all References][3] showed that participants learn faster in a more volatile environment, and that the learning rate (‘alpha’) correlated with activity in a part of anterior cingulate cortex. It might be tempting to infer that this region represents volatility or learning rate, but a more mechanistically meaningful interpretation is that the region is involved in learning itself; that is, updating of an internal model, which is done more vigorously in the high volatility and/or high learning rate condition.In conclusion, the goal of modellers is not to achieve a functional localisation of alphas and other Greek letters to brain areas, but to test hypotheses about the underlying computational function of brain areas by up- or downregulating that function. Indeed, solely localising parameters would be nonsensical as, in many cases, there is no assumption that the equations in mathematical models are literally implemented by neurons, only that they give a good quantitative approximation of a process that is calculated in the brain ‘somehow’. This is in contrast to biophysical models [4xA recurrent network mechanism of time integration in perceptual decisions. Wong, K.F. and Wang, X.J. J. Neurosci. 2006; 26: 1314–1328Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (352)See all References][4], which seek primarily to describe the behaviour of neural networks and only secondarily to describe behaviour.

Ventral premotor cortex (PMv) is widely accepted to exert an important influence over primary motor cortex (M1) when hand movements are made. Although study of these interactions has typically focused on their excitatory nature, given its strong connections with both ventral and opercular frontal regions, one feature of the influence of PMv over M1 may be inhibitory. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) was used to examine functional interactions between human PMv and M1 during the selection and reprogramming of a naturalistic goal-directed action. One of two cylinders was illuminated on each trial. It was then grasped and picked up. On some trials, however, subjects had to reprogram the action as the illuminated cylinder was switched off and the other illuminated simultaneously with reach initiation. At a neurophysiological level, the PMv paired-pulse effect (PPE) on M1 corticospinal activity was facilitatory after the initial target presentation and during movement initiation. When reprogramming was required, however, the PPE became strongly inhibitory. This context-dependent change from facilitation to inhibition occurred within 75 ms of the change of target. Behaviorally, PMv-M1 ppTMS disrupted reprogramming. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance image scans were taken of each subject. Intersubject differences in the facilitation–inhibition contrast of PMv-M1 interactions were correlated with fractional anisotropy of white-matter in ventral prefrontal, premotor, and intraparietal brain areas. These results suggest that a network of brain areas centered on PMv inhibits M1 corticospinal activity associated with undesired movements when action plans change.

The anatomical connections of a brain area constrain the information it receives and the influence it exerts over other regions. A brain area's anatomical connections, therefore, determine its function. The recent advance in neuroimaging methods has led to a concerted effort to understand human brain function and the interactions that occur between human brain regions. Until recently, however, little has been known of the connections of human brain areas. Diffusion-weighted imaging and tractography now provide a non-invasive method to estimate the probability that brain areas are interconnected and to compare such estimates with what is known of the connections of similar brain regions in other species. While there are clear limits to the type of evidence that can be provided by diffusion-weighted imaging it has, nevertheless, begun to provide new insights into basic aspects of human connectional neuroanatomy. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The regulation of cognitive activity relies on the flexibility of prefrontal cortex functions. To study this mechanism we compared monkey dorsolateral prefrontal activity in two different spatial cognitive tasks: a delayed response task and a self-organized problem-solving task. The latter included two periods, a search by trial and error for a correct response, and a repetition of the response once discovered. We show that (1) delay activity involved in the delayed task also participates in self-generated responses during the problem-solving task and keeps the same location preference, and (2) the amplitude of firing and the strength of spatial selectivity vary with task requirement, even within search periods while approaching the correct response. This variation is dissociated from pure reward probability, but may have a link with uncertainty because the selectivity dropped when reward predictability was maximal. Overall, we show that spatially tuned delay activity of prefrontal neurons reflects the varying level of engagement in control between different spatial cognitive tasks and during self-organized behavior.

Medial frontal cortex (MFC) is crucial when actions have to be inhibited, reprogrammed, or selected under conflict, but the precise mechanism by which it operates is unclear. Importantly, how and when the MFC influences the primary motor cortex (M1) during action selection is unknown. Using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, we investigated functional connectivity between the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) part of MFC and M1. We found that functional connectivity increased in a manner dependent on cognitive context: pre-SMA facilitated the motor evoked-potential elicited by M1 stimulation only during action reprogramming, but not when otherwise identical actions were made in the absence of conflict. The effect was anatomically specific to pre-SMA; it was not seen when adjacent brain regions were stimulated. We discuss implications for the anatomical pathways mediating the observed effects.

Actions are selected in the context of environmental demands and internal goals. Since both change continuously it is often necessary to inhibit a prepared action plan in favour of an alternative, a process we refer to as action reprogramming. Previous studies have established that a frontal/basal ganglia network exerts top-down control over the primary motor cortex (M1) during action reprogramming. The current study focuses on the role of M1 itself during action reprogramming. Participants were asked to perform a behavioural task that required them to either execute a prepared response or to reprogram an alternative response. Paired-pulse TMS was used to investigate short-interval intra-cortical inhibition (SICI) during these action execution and action reprogramming trials. Normal action execution was associated with sustained SICI in the M1 during both trials in which the contralateral hand was to respond and trials in which the ipsilateral hand was to respond. In contrast, reprogramming towards an alternative action was associated with a progressive release of SICI in M1 involved in the execution of the novel response. This release started 125 ms after the cue telling the participants to reprogram their action. This time point is consistent with previous results showing a facilitatory influence of the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) on the M1 at the same delay. Hence, SICI might be a potential candidate mechanism through which frontal lobe areas could influence primary motor cortex output.

The human dorsal frontal cortex has been associated with the most sophisticated aspects of cognition, including those that are thought to be especially refined in humans. Here we used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) in humans and macaques to infer and compare the organization of dorsal frontal cortex in the two species. Using DW-MRI tractography-based parcellation, we identified 10 dorsal frontal regions lying between the human inferior frontal sulcus and cingulate cortex. Patterns of functional coupling between each area and the rest of the brain were then estimated with fMRI and compared with functional coupling patterns in macaques. Areas in human medial frontal cortex, including areas associated with high-level social cognitive processes such as theory of mind, showed a surprising degree of similarity in their functional coupling patterns with the frontal pole, medial prefrontal, and dorsal prefrontal convexity in the macaque. We failed to find evidence for “new” regions in human medial frontal cortex. On the lateral surface, comparison of functional coupling patterns suggested correspondences in anatomical organization distinct from those that are widely assumed. A human region sometimes referred to as lateral frontal pole more closely resembled area 46, rather than the frontal pole, of the macaque. Overall the pattern of results suggest important similarities in frontal cortex organization in humans and other primates, even in the case of regions thought to carry out uniquely human functions. The patterns of interspecies correspondences are not, however, always those that are widely assumed.

Item does not contain fulltext Antisocial behavior is a heterogeneous construct that can be divided into subtypes, such as antisocial personality and psychopathy. The adverse consequences of antisocial behavior produce great burden for the perpetrators, victims, family members, and for society at-large. The pervasiveness of antisocial behavior highlights the importance of precisely characterizing subtypes of antisocial individuals and identifying specific factors that are etiologically related to such behaviors to inform the development of targeted treatments. The goals of the current review are (1) to briefly summarize research on the operationalization and assessment of antisocial personality and psychopathy; (2) to provide an overview of several existing treatments with the potential to influence antisocial personality and psychopathy; and (3) to present a procedure for integrating and using biological and cognitive measures as starting points to more precisely characterize and treat these individuals. A focus on integrating factors at multiple levels of analysis will uncover person-specific characteristics and highlight potential targets for treatment to alleviate the burden caused by antisocial behavior. 19 p.

We evaluate the merits of different conceptualizations of frontal cortex function in value-guided decision-making. According to one view each frontal cortical region is concerned with a different aspect of the process of learning about and evaluating choices and then selecting actions. An alternative view, however, sees sets of decision-making circuits working in parallel within the frontal lobes in order to make different types of decisions. While there is a neural circuit for making choices between pairs of simultaneously presented items in the manner that is frequently assessed in the laboratory, there is also evidence that other frontal lobe circuits have evolved to make other types of choices such as those made during the course of foraging. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Item does not contain fulltext A social speeded choice-reaction-time task was used to study adaptive behaviours following own and observed actions (errors and correct responses) in cooperative and competitive contexts. After making an erroneous response, the appropriate remedial action to avoid future errors in speeded reaction tasks is to slow down. Consistent with previous results, people indeed slow down following their own errors. Importantly, people who slow down most following own errors also slow down following observed errors in a cooperative situation. In a competitive context, a different pattern was found. People accelerated after errors from their opponent. The current findings demonstrate that the social context determines the way people respond to the errors of others, indicating that the neural systems that control remedial actions are highly flexible. These systems may underlie social adaptive behaviour, enabling people to respond flexibly to other people's actions in a wide variety of social contexts. 9 p.

Contains fulltext : 110704.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Cognitive flexibility is known to depend on the striatum. However, the striatum does not act in isolation to bias cognitive flexibility. In particular, cognitive flexibility also implicates the frontal cortex. Here we tested the hypothesis that the human frontal cortex controls cognitive flexibility by regulating striatal function via topographically specific frontostriatal connections. To this end, we exploited a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol over frontal cortex that is known to increase dopamine release in the striatum. This intervention was combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the functional and topographic specificity of its consequences at the whole brain level. Participants were scanned both before and after off-line TMS while performing a cognitive switching task that is known to depend on a specific striatal substructure, the putamen. Frontal stimulation perturbed task-specific functional signals in the putamen, while reducing fronto-striatal functional connectivity. There were no such effects of TMS over the medial parietal cortex. These data strengthen the hypothesis that cognitive flexibility involves topographic frontal control of striatal function.

Mirror neurons fire during both the performance of an action and the observation of the same action being performed by another. These neurons have been recorded in ventral premotor and inferior parietal cortex in the macaque, but human brain imaging studies suggest that areas responding to the observation and performance of actions are more widespread. We used paired-pulse TMS to test whether dorsal as well as ventral premotor cortex is involved in producing mirror motor facilitation effects. Stimulation of premotor cortex enhanced mirror motor facilitation and also enhanced the effects of counter-mirror training. No differences were found between the two premotor areas. These results support an associative account of mirror neuron properties, whereby multiple regions that process both sensory and motor information have the potential to contribute to mirror effects.

It has been suggested that the frontal operculum (fO) is a key node in a network for exerting control over cognitive processes. How it exerts this influence, however, has been unclear. Here, using the complementary approaches of functional MRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation, we have shown that the fO regulates increases and decreases of activity in multiple occipitotemporal cortical areas when task performance depended on directing attention to different classes of stimuli held in memory. Only one region, the fO, was significantly more active when subjects selectively attended to a single stimulus so that it determined task performance. The stimuli that guided task performance could belong to three categories—houses, body parts, and faces—associated with three occipitotemporal regions. On each trial, the pattern of functional correlation between the fO and the three occipitotemporal regions became either positive or negative, depending on which stimulus was to be attended and which ignored. Activation of the fO preceded both activity increases and decreases in the occipitotemporal cortex. The causal dependency of the distributed occipitotemporal pattern of activity increases and decreases on the fO was demonstrated by showing that transcranial magnetic stimulation–mediated interference of the fO diminished top-down selective attentional modulation in the occipitotemporal cortex, but it did not alter bottom-up activation of the same areas to the same stimuli when they were presented in isolation. The fO's prominence in cognitive control may stem from a role in regulating the level of activity of representations in posterior brain areas that are relevant or irrelevant, respectively, for response selection.

Motivation improves the efficiency of intentional behavior, but how this performance modulation is instantiated in the human brain remains unclear. We used a reward-cued antisaccade paradigm to investigate how motivational goals (the expectation of a reward for good performance) modulate patterns of neural activation and functional connectivity to improve preparation for antisaccade performance. Behaviorally, subjects performed better (faster and more accurate antisaccades) when they knew they would be rewarded for good performance. Reward anticipation was associated with increased activation in the ventral and dorsal striatum, and cortical oculomotor regions. Functional connectivity between the caudate nucleus and cortical oculomotor control structures predicted individual differences in the behavioral benefit of reward anticipation. We conclude that although both dorsal and ventral striatal circuitry are involved in the anticipation of reward, only the dorsal striatum and its connected cortical network is involved in the direct modulation of oculomotor behavior by motivational incentive.

Contains fulltext : 55812.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Flexible goal-oriented behavior requires the ability to carry information across temporal delays. This ability is associated with sustained neural firing. In cognitive terms, this ability has often been associated with the maintenance of sensory material online, as during short-term memory tasks, or with the retention of a motor code, as during movement preparation tasks. The general issue addressed in this paper is whether short-term storage of sensory information and preparation of motor responses rely on different anatomical substrates. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure sustained and time-varying delay-related cerebral activity evoked during performance of a delay non-match to sample (DNMS) task, where task contingencies rather than explicit instructions ensured that either sensory or motor representations were used to cross the delay period on each trial. This approach allowed us to distinguish sensory from motor characteristics of delay-related activity evoked by task contingencies, rather than differences in the control of short-term storage driven by verbal instructions. Holding sensory material online evoked both sustained and time-varying delay-related activity in prefrontal regions, whereas movement preparation evoked delay-related responses in precentral areas. Intraparietal cortex was sensitive to the presence of memoranda, but indifferent to the type of information that was retained in memory. Our findings indicate that short-term storage of sensory information and preparation of motor responses rely on partially segregated cerebral circuits. In the frontal lobe, these circuits are organized along a rostro-caudal dimension, corresponding to the sensory or motor nature of the stored material.

Contains fulltext : 54921.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) A recent study has proposed that posterior regions of the medial frontal cortex (pMFC) learn to predict the likelihood of errors ccurring in a given task context. A key prediction of the errorlZelihood (EL) hypothesis is that the pMFC should exhibit enhanced activity to cues that are predictive of high compared with low error rates. We conducted 3 experiments, 2 using functional neuroimaging and 1 using event-related potentials, to test this prediction in human volunteers. The 3 experiments replicated previous research in showing clear evidence of increased pMFC activity associated with errors, conflict, negative feedback, and other aspects of task performance. However, none of the experiments yielded evidence for n effect of cue-signaled EL on pMFC activity or any indication that uch an effect developed with learning. We conclude that although the EL hypothesis presents an elegant integrative account of pMFC function, it requires additional empirical support to remain tenable.

Contains fulltext : 55131.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Event-related brain potentials were used to study the retrieval of visual semantic information to concrete words, and to investigate possible structural overlap between visual object working memory and concreteness effects in word processing. Subjects performed an object working memory task that involved 5 s retention of simple 4-angled polygons (load 1), complex 10-angled polygons (load 2), and a no-load baseline condition. During the polygon retention interval subjects were presented with a lexical decision task to auditory presented concrete (imageable) and abstract (nonimageable) words, and pseudowords. ERP results are consistent with the use of object working memory for the visualisation of concrete words. Our data indicate a two-step processing model of visual semantics in which visual descriptive information of concrete words is first encoded in semantic memory (indicated by an anterior N400 and posterior occipital positivity), and is subsequently visualised via the network for object working memory (reflected by a left frontal positive slow wave and a bilateral occipital slow wave negativity). Results are discussed in the light of contemporary models of semantic memory.

Introduction In daily life, we often need to deal with situations in which multiple actions are possible, situations of so-called ‘response conflict’. Several brain regions have been identified as key nodes of a network involved in resolving response conflict. However, how and by which physiological mechanism those nodes finally affect the ‘output station’ of the brain, the primary motor cortex, is unknown. A potential mechanism is the involvement of inhibitory interneurons, which can be directly tested using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Question Here we test how inhibitory processes within the primary motor cortex change over time during the resolution of response conflict. Methods Participants performed an arrow version of the Flanker task. The arrows were arranged such that they either elicit one response with no conflict (e.g., all arrows point to the same direction) or two competing responses (e.g., the target arrow points towards the opposite direction as the flankers). To track the involvement of inhibitory processes over time short intra-cortical inhibition (SICI) was measured as the change in the amplitude of the motor-evoked potential over the left motor cortex elicited by a single supra-threshold pulse and by a supra-threshold pulse preceded by a sub-threshold pulse. This enabled the identification of time-specific physiological patterns of inhibitory processes at the level of primary motor cortex. Results Preliminary analyses show increased MEP amplitudes towards the response and specific changes in SICI over time dependent on the level of response conflict. Conclusion These results suggest involvement of primary motor cortex inhibitory interneurons when resolving situations of response conflict.

Primate comparative anatomy is an established field that has made rich and substantial contributions to neuroscience. However, the labor-intensive techniques employed mean that most comparisons are often based on a small number of species, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn. In this review we explore how new developments in magnetic resonance imaging have the potential to apply comparative neuroscience to a much wider range of species, allowing it to realize an even greater potential. We discuss (1) new advances in the type of data that can be acquired, (2) novel methods for extracting meaningful measures from such data that can be compared between species, and (3) methods to analyse these measures within a phylogenetic framework. Taken together, these developments will allow researchers to characterize the relationship between different brains, the ecological niche they occupy, and the behavior they produce in more detail than ever before.

Human ventrolateral frontal cortex (vlFC) is identified with cognitive processes such as language and cognitive flexibility. The relationship between it and the vlFC of other primates has therefore been the subject of particular speculation. We used a combination of structural and functional neuroimaging methods toidentify key components of human vlFC. We compared how vlFC areas interacted with other brain areas in 25 humans and 25 macaques using the same methods. We identified a core set of 11 vlFC components that interacted in similar ways with similar distributed circuits in both species and, in addition, one distinctively human component in ventrolateral frontal pole. Fundamental differences in interactions with posterior auditory association areas in the two species were also present-these were ubiquitous throughout posterior human vlFC but channeled todifferent frontal regions in monkeys. Finally, there were some differences in interregional interactions within vlFC in the two species. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

F.C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsImagine an athlete throwing a disc, as shown on the cover ofthis issue. We see him tensing his muscles but how can weknow which brain structures control this powerful action?The ancient Greeks could only observe and measure limited,externalaspectsofthismovement,suchasthetimingofmus-cle flexions and the distance the discus is thrown. Just as theancient Greeks, until recently we had little way to observe thebrainmechanismsthatgiverisetothisfeat.Sincemovementswere considered to be difficult to transfer to the laboratory toprovide quantitative data, the study of movement has foralongtimebeenoneof theless studiedfieldsofcognitivepsy-chology. The rise of various techniques to study the humanbrain during task performance initially seemed to aggravatethese problems, as they all require the participant to remainmotionless for an extended period and are highly sensitiveto movement artifacts. As such, the study of movement haslong been a neglectedchild in the realm of cognitive neurosci-ence. Over the last 15 years, however, this situation haschanged.Thisisdueinparttotheriseofvariousimagingtech-niques and accompanying statistical tools that are less sensi-tive to these problems, but also to the increasing interest inthe cognitive processes associated with any movement.Indeed, rather than focusing on the movement directly, thisresearch is focusing on the processes leading up to the move-ment and the evaluation of the consequences of the move-ment following its execution. All these processes thatprecede and directly follow observable movements are nowa-days collectively referred to as actions. These developments,in turn, have led to a large rise in popularity of action-relatedresearch. Thegoal of this specialissueof Cortexis to illustratethe diverse experimental approaches currently employed instudying the neural control of actions and the consequencesthis is having on other domains of cognitive neuroscience.Thecontributions inthisissueconstituteamixtureof reviewsandnovelexperimentaldata.Thepaperspartlyoriginatefroma symposium on this topic held at the Radboud UniversityNijmegen, November 9–10, 2006.The techniques most often used to probe neural activityduring selection, preparation, and monitoring of actions in-clude various signals derived from EEG and MEG, such as theevent-related potential (ERP), motor-evoked potentials in theelectromyogramelicitedusingtranscranial magneticstimula-tion(TMS),andimagingtechniques suchaspositronemissiontomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imag-ing (fMRI). By necessity, the overt movements that can be per-formed by participants in these experiments are limited. EEGsignals are highly sensitive to movement artifacts, as are im-ages obtained with fMRI. Although recently solutions havebeenfoundtostudymorecomplexmovementsinthefMRIen-vironment (Diedrichsen et al., 2005; Majdandzic´ et al., 2007;Re´my et al., 2008, this issue), the movement studied is oftennothing more than a simple button press. However, a numberof paradigms have been proposed that allow imaging of therepresentations underlying actions uncontaminated by theexecution of complex movements (Jeannerod, 2006). Forinstance, a window on the neural processesunderlying actionspecification can be provided by studying imagery of theseactions (De Lange et al., 2008, this issue) or the preparationof actions. These paradigms allow the researcher a windowon processes far more complex than the simple execution of

Discussions of the neural underpinnings of social cognition frequently emphasize the distinctiveness of human social cognition. Here, however, we review the discovery of similar correlations between neural networks and social networks in humans and other primates. We suggest that component parts of these neural networks in dorsal frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and superior temporal sulcus (STS) are linked to basic social cognitive processes common to several primate species including monitoring the actions of others, assigning importance to others, and orienting behavior toward or away from others. Changes in activity in other brain regions occur in tandem with changes in social status and may be related to the different types of behaviors associated with variation in social status. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

A book review on The Neurobiology of the Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, Evolution, and the Origin of Insight Richard E. Passingham and Steven P. Wise, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, 399 pages. ISBN:978-0-19-955291-7 My cat is learning to catch squirrels in the back garden. It's a painfully slow process. He seems to be trying every available technique, improving step by step. He's tried sitting near the house and charging down the garden when a squirrel appeared, only for the squirrel to spot him and dash off. He's tried assaulting the squirrel when it came down the tree, only to find out that squirrels climb faster than cats. He doesn't seem to have an overview of the situation, grasping that his best strategy is to hide near the back fence, the only place where he can sneak up on the squirrel and cut off its escape route. Why isn't he capable of that seemingly simple strategic inference? A new book by Passingham and Wise (2012) provides a possible answer: because he doesn't have the large, primate prefrontal cortex (PFC). Passingham and Wise (2012) set out to understand the organization and function of the primate PFC by combining evolutionary and ecological perspectives. Large parts of PFC, and specifically those with a granular cortical layer, are a primate invention. The authors argue that the development of these areas reflects the changes in foraging niches encountered during the evolution of the primate order. There is a large body of work relating aspects of brain evolution to specific ecological variables, most notably foraging habits (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1980) and social organization (Dunbar, 1998). However, these studies have mostly focused on the relative size of the entire brain or neocortex. In contrast, work dealing with more detailed brain anatomy has tended to focus less on the evolutionary context. The unique contribution of this book is that it combines the two approaches without compromises, focusing on a detailed reconstruction of the ecological challenges encountered by the primate brain and the anatomical information that provides avenues to understanding how these challenges have been met.

Contains fulltext : 130149.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The functional role of the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) in mediating human behavior is the subject of ongoing debate. Activation of the rIFC has been associated with both response inhibition and with signaling action adaptation demands resulting from unpredicted events. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of rIFC by combining a go/no-go paradigm with paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) over rIFC and the primary motor cortex (M1) to probe the functional connectivity between these brain areas. Participants performed a go/no-go task with 20% or 80% of the trials requiring response inhibition (no-go trials) in a classic and a reversed version of the task, respectively. Responses were slower to infrequent compared to frequent go trials, while commission errors were more prevalent to infrequent compared to frequent no-go trials. We hypothesized that if rIFC is involved primarily in response inhibition, then rIFC should exert an inhibitory influence over M1 on no-go (inhibition) trials regardless of no-go probability. If, by contrast, rIFC has a role on unexpected trials other than just response inhibition then rIFC should influence M1 on infrequent trials regardless of response demands. We observed that rIFC suppressed M1 excitability during frequent no-go trials, but not during infrequent no-go trials, suggesting that the role of rIFC in response inhibition is context dependent rather than generic. Importantly, rIFC was found to facilitate M1 excitability on all low frequent trials, irrespective of whether the infrequent event involved response inhibition, a finding more in line with a predictive coding framework of cognitive control. 10 p.

We discuss a recent approach to investigating cognitive control, which has the potential to deal with some of the challenges inherent in this endeavour. In a model-based approach, the researcher defines a formal, computational model that performs the task at hand and whose performance matches that of a research participant. The internal variables in such a model might then be taken as proxies for latent variables computed in the brain. We discuss the potential advantages of such an approach for the study of the neural underpinnings of cognitive control and its pitfalls, and we make explicit the assumptions underlying the interpretation of data obtained using this approach.

Item does not contain fulltext Controversy surrounds the role of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) area of the human brain. Although TPJ has been implicated both in reorienting of attention and social cognition, it is still unclear whether these functions have the same neural basis. Indeed, whether TPJ is a precisely identifiable cortical region or a cluster of subregions with separate functions is still a matter of debate. Here, we examined the structural and functional connectivity of TPJ, testing whether TPJ is a unitary area with a heterogeneous functional connectivity profile or a conglomerate of regions with distinctive connectivity. Diffusion-weighted imaging tractrography-based parcellation identified 3 separate regions in TPJ. Resting-state functional connectivity was then used to establish which cortical networks each of these subregions participates in. A dorsal cluster in the middle part of the inferior parietal lobule showed resting-state functional connectivity with, among other areas, lateral anterior prefrontal cortex. Ventrally, an anterior TPJ cluster interacted with ventral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, while a posterior TPJ cluster interacted with posterior cingulate, temporal pole, and anterior medial prefrontal cortex. These results indicate that TPJ can be subdivided into subregions on the basis of its structural and functional connectivity. 10 p.