TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuronal modulation in the prefrontal cortex in a transitive inference task
T2 - Evidence of neuronal correlates of mental schema management
AU - Brunamonti, Emiliano
AU - Mione, Valentina
AU - di Bello, Fabio
AU - Pani, Pierpaolo
AU - Genovesio, Aldo
AU - Ferraina, Stefano
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 the authors.
PY - 2016/1/27
Y1 - 2016/1/27
N2 - When informed that A > B and B > C, humans and other animals can easily conclude that A > C. This remarkable trait of advanced animals, which allows them to manipulate knowledge flexibly to infer logical relations, has only recently garnered interest in mainstream neuroscience. How the brain controls these logical processes remains an unanswered question that has been merely superficially addressed in neuroimaging and lesion studies, which are unable to identify the underlying neuronal computations. We observed that the activation pattern of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during pair comparisons in a highly demanding transitive inference task fully supports the behavioral performance of the two monkeys that we tested. Our results indicate that the PFC contributes to the construction and use of a mental schema to represent premises. This evidence provides a novel framework for understanding the function of various areas of brain in logic processes and impairments to them in degenerative, traumatic, and psychiatric pathologies.
AB - When informed that A > B and B > C, humans and other animals can easily conclude that A > C. This remarkable trait of advanced animals, which allows them to manipulate knowledge flexibly to infer logical relations, has only recently garnered interest in mainstream neuroscience. How the brain controls these logical processes remains an unanswered question that has been merely superficially addressed in neuroimaging and lesion studies, which are unable to identify the underlying neuronal computations. We observed that the activation pattern of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during pair comparisons in a highly demanding transitive inference task fully supports the behavioral performance of the two monkeys that we tested. Our results indicate that the PFC contributes to the construction and use of a mental schema to represent premises. This evidence provides a novel framework for understanding the function of various areas of brain in logic processes and impairments to them in degenerative, traumatic, and psychiatric pathologies.
KW - Monkey
KW - Prefrontal cortex
KW - Single-unit activity
KW - Transitive inference
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84956829879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1473-15.2016
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1473-15.2016
M3 - Article
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 36
SP - 1223
EP - 1236
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 4
ER -