Neural mechanisms for executive functions in the prefrontal cortex

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21240024
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: FUNAHASHI Shintaro 京都大学, こころの未来研究センター, 教授 (00145830)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMAMOTO Hiroki 京都大学, 大学院人間・環境学研究科, 助教 (10332727)
• Project Period (FY): 2009-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: 前頭連合野 / 遂行機能 / 記憶想起 / トップダウン制御 / 単一ニューロン活動 / サル / 対連合学習課題

Research Abstract

Executive function is the most important function of the prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal neurons generate top-down control signals and, by sending these signals to the posterior association cortices, the prefrontal cortex controls a variety of operations occurred in the posterior cortices. However, the nature of the top-down control signal is not yet known. In the present study, we analyzed prefrontal activities while monkeys performed a pair-association task that was required to retrieve specific information from long-term memory under the top-down control of the prefrontal cortex. We found that stimulus-pair-selective visual responses and pair-selective delay-period activities must be candidates of top-down control signals and that these activities are sent to the posterior association cortices and act as signals to retrieve paired associate of the sample stimulus.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Thalamic mediodorsal nucleus and its participation in spatial working memory processes: comparison with the prefrontal cortex (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S
  • Journal Title: Frontier in Systems Neuroscience Volume: 7 Pages: 36
  • DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2013.00036
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Prefrontal cortex and neural mechanisms of executive function (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S. and Andreau, J.M.
  • Journal Title: Journal of Physiology Paris Volume: 107 Pages: 471-482
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2013.05.001
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Space representation in the prefrontal cortex (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Progresss in Neurobiology Volume: 103 Pages: 131-155
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.04.002
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Macaque monkeys exhibit behavioral signs of metamemory in an oculomotor working memory task (2012)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Behavioural Brain Research Volume: 233 Pages: 256-270
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.05.013
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Thalamic mediodorsal nucleus and working memory (2012)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, Y. and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Volume: 36 Pages: 134-142
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.05.003
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 作業が持つ意味を前頭連合野における認知と情動の相互作用から考えるー神経科学的知見に基づいたこれからの作業療法に向けてー (2012)
  • Author(s): 竹田里江、竹田和良、池田望、松山清治、船橋新太郎
  • Journal Title: 作業療法 Volume: 31 Pages: 528-539
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 認知症患者に対するコンピュータを用いた認知機能向上訓練の効果ー前頭連合野機能を基盤とし個人の能力・興味にテーラーメード可能な訓練の開発と試行からー (2012)
  • Author(s): 竹田里江、竹田和良、石合純夫、池田望、松山清治、船橋新太郎
  • Journal Title: 作業療法 Volume: 31 Pages: 452-462
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 系列物品使用障害のメカニズムの探求ー注視行動分析による検討からー (2012)
  • Author(s): 小田桐匡、上田啓太、村井俊哉、大東祥孝、船橋新太郎
  • Journal Title: 神経心理学 Volume: 28 Pages: 49-65
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Brain mechanisms of happiness (2011)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Psychologia Volume: 54 Pages: 222-233
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Primate prefrontal neurons encode the association of paired visual stimuli during the pair-association task (2011)
  • Author(s): Andreau, J.M. and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Brain and Cognition Volume: 76 Pages: 58-69
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.03.001
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Reward acts as a signal to control delay-period activity in delayed-response tasks (2010)
  • Author(s): Ichihara-Takeda, S., Takeda, K., and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: NeuroReport Volume: 21 Pages: 367-370
  • DOI: 10.1097/WNR.obo13e32833776a3
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Metacognition: a new method to study the nature of the mind (2010)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Bulletin of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture Volume: 34 Pages: 36-40
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 注意欠陥・多動性障害と前頭葉機能 (2009)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Journal Title: 情動研究会報 Volume: 第4号
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Relating neuronal firing patterns to functional differentiation of cerebral cortex (2009)
  • Author(s): Shinomoto, S., Kim, H., Shimokawa, T., Matsuno, N., Funahashi, S., Shima, K., Fujita, I., Tamura, H., Doi, T., Kawano, K., Inaba, N., Fukushima, K., Kurkin, S., Kurata, K., Taira, M. Tsutsui, K., Komatsu, H., Ogawa, T., Koida, K., Tanji, J., and Toyama, K.
  • Journal Title: PLoS Computational Biology Volume: 5(7) Pages: e10004 33: 1-10
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbl.1000433
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Effect of emotional distracters on cognitive decision-making in Cambridge gambling task (2009)
  • Author(s): Mochizuki, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Psychologia Volume: 52 Pages: 122-136
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Monkeys exhibit preference for biologically non-significant visual stimuli (2009)
  • Author(s): Takebayashi, M. and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Psychologia Volume: 52 Pages: 147-161
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Population vector analysis of primate mediodorsal thalamic activity during oculomotor delayed-response performance (2009)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, Y., Takeda, K., and Funahashi, S.
  • Journal Title: Cerebral Cortex Volume: 19 Pages: 1313-1321
  • DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhn170
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 前頭前野におけるワーキングメモリの神経生理学的研究-その40年の歩みー (2009)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Journal Title: 霊長類研究 Volume: 24 Pages: 273-287
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Function of reciprocal connections between prefrontal cortex and thalamic mediodorsal nucleus in spatial working memory (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: The 4th International Conference of Prefrontal Cortex
  • Place of Presentation: Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
  • Year and Date: 20131028-29
• [Presentation] 視床背内側核における眼球運動関連活動の課題依存的な変化 (2013)
  • Author(s): 渡辺由美子、船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第90回日本生理学会大会
  • Place of Presentation: タワーホール船堀、東京都
  • Year and Date: 20130327-29
• [Presentation] Information transformation of thalamic mediodorsal neurons during spatial working memory performance (2013)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, Y. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 41st Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society
  • Place of Presentation: Waikola, Hawaii, USA
  • Year and Date: 20130206-09
• [Presentation] Pair selectivity of primate prefrontal neurons in visual paired association performances (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S. and Andreau, J.M.
  • Organizer: 43th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2013)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, USA
  • Year and Date: 2013-11-12
• [Presentation] Confidence Judgments and prefrontal neuronal activity in monkeys performing a spatial working memory task (2013)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 43th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2013)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, USA
  • Year and Date: 2013-11-12
• [Presentation] Primate prefrontal activity during simultaneous performance of spatial attention and spatial working memory tasks (2013)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 43th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2013)
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, USA
  • Year and Date: 2013-11-12
• [Presentation] Role of the primate prefrontal neurons in choosing equally valuable actions (2013)
  • Author(s): Mochizuki, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第36回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都国際会館、京都市
  • Year and Date: 2013-06-22
• [Presentation] Primate prefrontal activities in visual paired association performances (2013)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S. and Andreau, J.M.
  • Organizer: 第36回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都国際会館、京都市
  • Year and Date: 2013-06-22
• [Presentation] Prefrontal neuronal activity during simultaneous performance of a spatial attention and a spatial working memory tasks (2013)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第36回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都国際会館、京都市
  • Year and Date: 2013-06-20
• [Presentation] 視空間性ワーキングメモリ遂行における前頭連合野-視床背内側核の役割 (2012)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 平成24年度生理学研究所研究会「大脳皮質の作動原理究明をめざして」
  • Place of Presentation: 自然科学研究機構岡崎コンファレンスセンター、岡崎市
  • Year and Date: 20121206-07
• [Presentation] Prefrontal cortex and neural mechanism of executive function (2012)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 3rd International Symposium on Prefrontal Cortex
  • Place of Presentation: 京都大学稲盛財団記念館大会議室、京都市
  • Year and Date: 20121129-30
• [Presentation] Behavioral study of fictive outcome in a monkey using a value-based binary choice task (2012)
  • Author(s): Takahashi, H. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 42nd Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2012)
  • Place of Presentation: New Orleans Convention Center, New Orleans, USA
  • Year and Date: 2012-10-17
• [Presentation] Impaired memory and spared metamemory: effects of muscimol injections into the macaque dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (2012)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 42nd Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2012)
  • Place of Presentation: New Orleans Convention Center, New Orleans, USA
  • Year and Date: 2012-10-16
• [Presentation] Dual-tasking in monkeys: analyses of behavior and prefrontal neuron activities (2012)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 42nd Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2012)
  • Place of Presentation: New Orleans Convention Center, New Orleans, USA
  • Year and Date: 2012-10-16
• [Presentation] 架空の報酬情報が選択行動に与える影響の検討 (2012)
  • Author(s): 高橋裕美、船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第35回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋国際会議場、名古屋市
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-18
• [Presentation] サル前頭前野外側部へのムシモール注入による記憶とメタ記憶への影響 (2012)
  • Author(s): 田中暁生、船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第35回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋国際会議場、名古屋市
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-18
• [Presentation] 二重課題遂行中のサル前頭連合野神経活動 (2012)
  • Author(s): 渡邉慶、船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第35回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋国際会議場、名古屋市
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-18
• [Presentation] 前頭連合野ニューロン活動のゆらぎが記憶誘導性眼球運動における選択に与える影響 (2012)
  • Author(s): 望月圭、船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第35回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋国際会議場、名古屋市
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-18
• [Presentation] 記憶再生における外側前頭前野の制御機能 (2012)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Organizer: 第35回日本神経科学大会シンポジウム「サル前頭前野における認知機能研究の展開」
  • Place of Presentation: 名古屋国際会議場、名古屋市
  • Year and Date: 2012-09-18
• [Presentation] Activity of macaque prefrontal neurons during oculomotor delayed-response performance may reflect explicit memory processes (2011)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: ASSC15
  • Place of Presentation: 京都大学,京都市
  • Year and Date: 20110609-12
• [Presentation] Prefrontal neuronal correlates of cognitive capacity limitation and its adaptive allocation revealed by a dual-rask paradigm (2011)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 41st Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2011)
  • Place of Presentation: Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., USA
  • Year and Date: 2011-11-14
• [Presentation] Patterns of eooros in oculomotor delayed-response tasks: a window into working memory role in action selection (2011)
  • Author(s): Harish, O., Mochizuki, K., Mongillo, G., Hansel, D., and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 41st Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2011)
  • Place of Presentation: Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., USA
  • Year and Date: 2011-11-14
• [Presentation] Neural correlates of explicit memory in the macaque lateral prefrontal cortex (2011)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 41st Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (Neuroscience 2011)
  • Place of Presentation: Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., USA
  • Year and Date: 2011-11-14
• [Presentation] Neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex during instructed and free choice oculomotor tasks (2011)
  • Author(s): Mochizuki, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第34回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜、横浜市
  • Year and Date: 2011-09-17
• [Presentation] Behavioral analysis of monkeys performing visual pair-association task (2011)
  • Author(s): Takahashi, H., Andreau, J.M., and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第34回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜、横浜市
  • Year and Date: 2011-09-17
• [Presentation] Neural correlates of explicit memory in monkeys performing an oculomotor delayed-response task (2011)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第34回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜、横浜市
  • Year and Date: 2011-09-17
• [Presentation] Neuronal correlates of cognitive resource allocation revealed by a dual-task paradigm (2011)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第34回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜、横浜市
  • Year and Date: 2011-09-17
• [Presentation] Prefrontal activation associated with the top-down signal in memory retrieval (2011)
  • Author(s): Goto, K., Kanazu, M., Yamamoto, H., Sawamoto, N., Fukuyama, H., and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第34回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜、横浜市
  • Year and Date: 2011-09-15
• [Presentation] Voluntary attention induces spatial filtering of visual information in the primate lateral prefrontal cortex (2010)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 40th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience
  • Place of Presentation: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, USA
  • Year and Date: 2010-11-14
• [Presentation] Behavioural analysis of decision process in the self-selection oculomotor delayed response task (2010)
  • Author(s): Mochizuki, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第33回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 神戸コンベンションセンター、神戸市
  • Year and Date: 2010-09-03
• [Presentation] Focal attention modulates the spatial tuning of visually responsive neurons in the primate lateral prefrontal cortex (2010)
  • Author(s): Watanabe, K. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 第33回日本神経科学大会
  • Place of Presentation: 神戸コンベンションセンター、神戸市
  • Year and Date: 2010-09-03
• [Presentation] Primate prefrontal neurons encode associative information of paired visual stimuli: a neurophysiological study (2010)
  • Author(s): Andreau, J.M. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: 7th FENS Forum of European Neuroscience
  • Place of Presentation: RAI Convention Center, Amsterdam
  • Year and Date: 2010-07-05
• [Presentation] Memory-related activity of prefrontal neurons and metacognitive behavior in the rhesus monkey (2010)
  • Author(s): Tanaka, A. and Funahashi, S.
  • Organizer: Symposium on "Self-Reflective Cognition" at 15th Biennial Meeting of International Society for Comparative Psychology
  • Place of Presentation: 淡路夢舞台国際会議場
  • Year and Date: 2010-05-19
• [Book] 「フラクタル図形に対するサルの好き嫌い」苧阪直行編『美しさと共感を生む脳:神経美学からみた芸術』 (2013)
  • Author(s): 竹林美佳、船橋新太郎
  • Total Pages: 117-136
  • Publisher: 新曜社
• [Book] Metacognition: a new method for studying the nature of the mind. P. Swanson (ed.) "Brain Science and Kokoro: Asian perspectives on science and religion" (2011)
  • Author(s): Funahashi, S. and Tanaka, A.
  • Total Pages: 51-67
  • Publisher: Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture, Nagoya, Japan
• [Book] 「脳の構造」子安増生他編『心理学概論』 (2011)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Publisher: ナカニシヤ出版
• [Book] 依存学ことはじめ (2011)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎編著
  • Publisher: 晃洋書房
• [Book] 「刺激的な世界注意欠陥 /多動性障害と前頭葉機能ー」岩田誠・河村満編『発達と脳-コミュニケーション・スキルの獲得過程』 (2010)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Total Pages: 167-182
  • Publisher: 医学書院
• [Book] 「ワーキングメモリの心理・生理・イメージング」乾敏郎・吉川左紀子編『よくわかる認知科学』 (2010)
  • Author(s): 船橋新太郎
  • Total Pages: 66-67
  • Publisher: ミネルヴァ書房
• [Remarks]
  • URL: http://www.pfc.kokoro.kyoto-u.ac.jp