Prefrontal Cortex Organization: Dissociating Effects of Temporal Abstraction, Relational Abstraction, and Integration with fMRI. (5th April 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nee, Derek Evan; Jahn, Andrew; Brown, Joshua W.
• Is Part Of: Cerebral cortex. Volume 24:Number 9(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 2377
• Page End: 2387
• Publication Date: 2013-04-05
• Subjects: cognitive control -- executive function -- hierarchical -- PFC -- rule representation; Cerebral cortex -- Periodicals; Brain -- Periodicals; 612.825
• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht091
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1047-3211

Abstract

Abstract : The functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) underlie higher-level cognition. Varying proposals suggest that the PFC is organized along a rostral-caudal gradient of abstraction with more abstract representations/processes associated with more rostral areas. However, the operational definition of abstraction is unclear. Here, we contrasted 2 prominent theories of abstraction—temporal and relational—using fMRI. We further examined whether integrating abstract rules—a function common to each theory—recruited the PFC independently of other abstraction effects. While robust effects of relational abstraction were present in the PFC, temporal abstraction effects were absent. Instead, we found activations specific to the integration of relational rules in areas previously shown to be associated with temporal abstraction. We suggest that previous effects of temporal abstraction were due to confounds with integration demands. We propose an integration framework to understand the functions of the PFC that resolves discrepancies in prior data.