2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Involvement of the prefrontal cortex in sequential action at an abstract level
| Project/Area Number |
22830086
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Experimental psychology
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| Research Institution | Tamagawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
NAKAYAMA Yoshihisa 玉川大学, 脳科学研究所, グローバルCOE研究員 (30585906)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010 – 2011
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| Keywords | 前頭前野 / 動作 / 単一ニューロン |
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| Research Abstract |
In order to specify roles of the prefrontal cortex(PFC) in controlling action at an abstract level, we recorded neuronal activity from PFC of macaques while they performed a reaching task. We found two main findings about functions of the lateral prefrontal cortex(LPFC). Ventral part of the LPFC amply encoded not only object features of the instruction, which indicated abstract level of action, but also spatial locations of choice cue in specifying the movements. By contrast, we found dorsal LPFC was involved in retrieving and maintaining the abstract level of action under the smaller influence of encoded visual signals, whereas it specified the motor plan under the greater influence of the maintained the abstract level of action.
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