Neuronal Correlates of Goal-Based Motor Selection in the Prefrontal Cortex

Abstract

Choosing an action that leads to a desired goal requires an understanding of the linkages between actions and their outcomes. We investigated neural mechanisms of such goal-based action selection. We trained monkeys on a task in which the relation between visual cues, action types, and reward conditions changed regularly, such that the monkeys selected their actions based on anticipated reward conditions. A significant number of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex were activated, after cue presentation and before motor execution, only by particular action-reward combinations. This prefrontal activity is likely to underlie goal-based action selection.

Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update

“…If response conflict were the only type of conflict to engage the ACC, the data might be consistent with the view that the ACC is itself essentially a motor structure, but perhaps one concerned with selecting among competing responses [19,45]. Although this possibility cannot be ruled out, it is important to note that several studies have provided evidence for ACC activation in the setting of conflict at other levels of processing, including stimulus evaluation [15,41,46] and task representation [20], pointing to a broader monitoring function.…”

“…Importantly, however, the model also suggests that the timing of conflict -and thus of ACC activationshould be qualitatively different in the two cases, tending to precede the overt response on correct trials and to follow it on errors. This predicted difference in the timing of ACC activation has been confirmed in two separate EEG experiments [6,30] eye field, but not in ACC (but see [45]). Although these studies encourage the idea that conflict-related activation lies outside the ACC, it should be noted that they used a version of the go/no-go task, a task which has been clearly shown to engage the ACC in humans [16,18].…”

“…This study, and others [33,[71][72][73], suggest that the ACC responds disproportionately to outcomes considered aversive or signaling reductions in reward. It has been proposed, further, that the overall function of the ACC might involve the use of outcome, and particularly reward-related, information to guide action selection [45,[72][73][74]. Rushworth and colleagues [49] suggest that the ACC guides action selection based on a cost-benefit analysis, integrating information about past action outcomes.…”

Categorization in the monkey hippocampus: A possible mechanism for encoding information into memory

“…Category neurons have been identified in other brain regions (25,(37)(38)(39). In an elegant study, Freedman et al (24) showed that deliberate morphing of visual stimuli from one distinct category to another differentially activated prefrontal cortical neurons, which encoded specific categories.…”

Neural computations underlying action-based decision making in the human brain

“…Our results also suggest that the dmFC/ACC plays a role in the decision process. Interestingly, this area has been previously implicated in action-based choice: in the context of a human neuroimaging study reporting activity in this area during a task involving choices between different actions compared to a situation involving responses guided by instruction (27) and single neuron recordings have shown that cells in this area were activated only by particular action-reward combinations (47). Another study suggests that this region plays a part in processing the reward information for motor selection (48).…”