RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Evaluative Role of Rostrolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Rule-Based Category Learning
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 107110
DO 10.1101/107110
A1 Dmitrii Paniukov
A1 Tyler Davis
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/11/107110.abstract
AB Category learning is a critical neurobiological function that allows organisms to simplify a complex world. Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (rlPFC) is often active in neurobiological studies of category learning. rlPFC has been associated in the previous category learning literature with switching between rules and tasks that place higher demands on rule abstraction and evaluation. The goal of the present study was to clarify the role of rlPFC in category learning and dissociate switching and evaluation accounts. Two common types of category learning tasks, matching and classification, were utilized. The matching task involved matching a reference stimulus to one of four target stimuli. In the classification task, participants were shown a single stimulus and learned to classify it into one of two categories. Although nearly identical, matching and classification place differential demands on switching and evaluation. In matching, a rule can be known with certainty after a single correct answer. In classification, participants may need to evaluate evidence for a rule even after an initial correct response. This critical difference allows isolation of evaluative functions from switching functions. If the rlPFC is primarily involved in switching between representations, it should cease to be active once participants settle on a given rule in both tasks. If the rlPFC is involved in rule evaluation, its activation should persist in the classification task, but not matching. The results revealed that rlPFC activation persisted into correct trials in classification, but not matching, suggesting that it continues to be involved in the evaluations of evidence for a rule even after participants have arrived at the correct rule.HighlightsDifferences between rule-based matching and classification tasks were highlighted.Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in evaluation of evidence for a rule in rule-based category learning tasks.Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex is functionally connected with the caudate nucleus, a region that may also play an evaluative role in rule learning.