scholarly journals Differences in Intrinsic Functional Organization Between Dorsolateral Prefrontal and Posterior Parietal Cortex

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 2334-2349 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Katsuki ◽  
X.-L. Qi ◽  
T. Meyer ◽  
P. M. Kostelic ◽  
E. Salinas ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (12) ◽  
pp. 2897-2908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina S. Konen ◽  
Ryan E. B. Mruczek ◽  
Jessica L. Montoya ◽  
Sabine Kastner

The act of reaching to grasp an object requires the coordination between transporting the arm and shaping the hand. Neurophysiological, neuroimaging, neuroanatomic, and neuropsychological studies in macaque monkeys and humans suggest that the neural networks underlying grasping and reaching acts are at least partially separable within the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). To better understand how these neural networks have evolved in primates, we characterized the relationship between grasping- and reaching-related responses and topographically organized areas of the human intraparietal sulcus (IPS) using functional MRI. Grasping-specific activation was localized to the left anterior IPS, partially overlapping with the most anterior topographic regions and extending into the postcentral sulcus. Reaching-specific activation was localized to the left precuneus and superior parietal lobule, partially overlapping with the medial aspects of the more posterior topographic regions. Although the majority of activity within the topographic regions of the IPS was nonspecific with respect to movement type, we found evidence for a functional gradient of specificity for reaching and grasping movements spanning posterior-medial to anterior-lateral PPC. In contrast to the macaque monkey, grasp- and reach-specific activations were largely located outside of the human IPS.


2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue-Lian Qi ◽  
Anthony C. Elworthy ◽  
Bryce C. Lambert ◽  
Christos Constantinidis

Both dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex have been implicated in spatial working memory and representation of task information. Prior experiments training animals to recall the first of a sequence of stimuli and examining the effect of subsequent distractors have identified increased ability of the prefrontal cortex to represent remembered stimuli and filter distractors. It is unclear, however, if this prefrontal functional specialization extends to stimuli appearing earlier in a sequence, when subjects are cued to remember subsequent ones. It is also not known how task information interacts with persistent activity representing remembered stimuli and distractors in the two areas. To address these questions, we trained monkeys to remember either the first or second of two stimuli presented in sequence and recorded neuronal activity from the posterior parietal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex was better able to represent the actively remembered stimulus, whereas the posterior parietal cortex was more modulated by distractors; however, task effects interfered with this representation. As a result, large proportions of neurons with persistent activity and task effects exhibited a preference for a stimulus when it appeared as a distractor in both areas. Additionally, prefrontal neurons were modulated to a greater extent by task factors during the delay period of the task. The results indicate that the prefrontal cortex is better able than the posterior parietal cortex to differentiate between distractors and actively remembered stimuli and is more modulated by the task; however, this relative preference is highly context dependent and depends on the specific requirements of the task.


2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhou ◽  
Fumi Katsuki ◽  
Xue-Lian Qi ◽  
Christos Constantinidis

The dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices are two interconnected brain areas that are coactivated in tasks involving functions such as spatial attention and working memory. The response properties of neurons in the two areas are in many respects indistinguishable, yet only prefrontal neurons are able to resist interference by distracting stimuli when subjects are required to remember an initial stimulus. Several mechanisms have been proposed that could account for this functional difference, including the existence of specialized interneuron types, specific to the prefrontal cortex. Although such neurons with inverted tuning during the delay period of a working memory task have been described in the prefrontal cortex, no comparative data exist from other cortical areas that would establish a unique prefrontal role. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed a large database of recordings obtained in the dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortex of the same monkeys as they performed working memory tasks. We found that in the prefrontal cortex, neurons with inverted tuning were more numerous and manifested unique properties. Our results give credence to the idea that a division of labor exists between separate neuron types in the prefrontal cortex and that this represents a functional specialization that is not present in its cortical afferents.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Gonzalez-Burgos ◽  
Takeaki Miyamae ◽  
Yosef Krimer ◽  
Yelena Gulchina ◽  
Diego Pafundo ◽  
...  

AbstractIn primates, working memory function depends on activity in a distributed network of cortical areas that display different patterns of delay task-related activity. These differences are correlated with, and might depend on, distinctive properties of the neurons located in each area. For example, layer 3 pyramidal neurons (L3PNs) differ significantly between primary visual and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) cortices. However, to what extent L3PNs differ between DLPFC and other association cortical areas is less clear. Hence, we compared the properties of L3PNs in monkey DLPFC versus posterior parietal cortex (PPC), a key node in the cortical working memory network. Using patch clamp recordings and biocytin cell filling in acute brain slices, we assessed the physiology and morphology of L3PNs from monkey DLPFC and PPC. The L3PN transcriptome was studied using laser microdissection combined with DNA microarray or quantitative PCR. We found that in both DLPFC and PPC, L3PNs were divided into regular spiking (RS-L3PNs) and bursting (B-L3PNs) physiological subtypes. Whereas regional differences in single-cell excitability were modest, B-L3PNs were rare in PPC (RS-L3PN:B-L3PN, 94:6), but were abundant in DLPFC (50:50), showing greater physiological diversity. Moreover, DLPFC L3PNs display larger and more complex basal dendrites with higher dendritic spine density. Additionally, we found differential expression of hundreds of genes, suggesting a transcriptional basis for the differences in L3PN phenotype between DLPFC and PPC. These data show that the previously observed differences between DLPFC and PPC neuron activity during working memory tasks are associated with diversity in the cellular/molecular properties of L3PNs.Significance statementIn the human and non-human primate neocortex, layer 3 pyramidal neurons (L3PNs) differ significantly between dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) and sensory areas. Hence, L3PN properties reflect, and may contribute to, a greater complexity of computations performed in DLPFC. However, across association cortical areas, L3PN properties are largely unexplored. We studied the physiology, dendrite morphology and transcriptome of L3PNs from macaque monkey DLPFC and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), two key nodes in the cortical working memory network. L3PNs from DLPFC had greater diversity of physiological properties and larger basal dendrites with higher spine density. Moreover, transcriptome analysis suggested a molecular basis for the differences in the physiological and morphological phenotypes of L3PNs from DLPFC and PPC.


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