Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 23, Issue 2, October 2004, Pages 604-612
NeuroImage

Cognitive control in the posterior frontolateral cortex: evidence from common activations in task coordination, interference control, and working memory

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.06.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Cognitive control has often been associated with activations of middorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, recent evidence highlights the importance of a more posterior frontolateral region around the junction of the inferior frontal sulcus and the inferior precentral sulcus (the inferior frontal junction area, IFJ). In the present experiment, we investigated the involvement of the IFJ in a task-switching paradigm, a manual Stroop task, and a verbal n-back task in a within-session within-group design. After computing contrasts for the individual tasks, the resulting z maps were overlaid to identify areas commonly activated by these tasks. Common activations were found in the IFJ, in the pre-SMA extending into mesial BA 8, in the middle frontal gyrus bordering the inferior frontal sulcus, in the anterior insula, and in parietal and thalamic regions. These results indicate the existence of a network of prefrontal, parietal, and subcortical regions mediating cognitive control in task coordination, interference control, and working memory. In particular, the results provide evidence for the assumption that, in the frontolateral cortex, not only the middorsolateral region but also the IFJ plays an important role in cognitive control.

Introduction

Cognitive control refers to our ability to orchestrate our thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals. In particular, this ability is required in new or cognitively demanding situations (Duncan and Miller, 2002). In the neuroimaging literature, the exertion of cognitive control has often been linked to activations of the middorsolateral prefrontal cortex (e.g., see Braver et al., 2002, Petrides, 2000). But there is also evidence pointing to the consistent involvement of a posterior frontolateral region adjacent to the junction of the inferior frontal sulcus (IFS) and the inferior precentral sulcus (IPrCS) in cognitive control Brass and von Cramon, 2002, Brass and von Cramon, 2004, Bunge et al., 2003, Dassonville et al., 2001, Dove et al., 2000, Konishi et al., 2001, Milham et al., 2001, Monchi et al., 2001, Ragland et al., 2002.

However, the consistency of this involvement has in general received little attention. One of the reasons for this might be that activations around the junction of the IFS and the IPrCS (the inferior frontal junction, IFJ) were sometimes ascribed to BA 6 (Milham et al., 2001), sometimes to BA 44 (Bunge et al., 2003), and sometimes to BA 9 (Ragland et al., 2002), suggesting a rather broad distribution of activation peaks. However, considering the reported coordinates, these activations seem to be located in a relatively circumscribed region that can be characterized as follows: it is located rather deep in the IPrCS or the IFS (x-coordinate of 47 or lower), it extends in y-direction from 1 to 10, and it is located between the z-coordinates 27 and 40. Note that it is our aim here to specify the region where the IFJ most likely is located and that we therefore do not consider the suggested coordinates to be strict limits1.

In the present study, we chose to investigate IFJ involvement in three prototypical paradigms from different fields central to cognitive control: we employed a task-switching paradigm, the Stroop task, and the verbal n-back task to investigate task coordination, interference control, and working memory, respectively. In task-switching and set-shifting paradigms, participants constantly have to alternate between different task rules. Behavioral research in task switching has received considerable renewed interest in the last decade (e.g., see Allport et al., 1994, Meiran, 1996, Monsell, 2003, Rogers and Monsell, 1995) that has also stimulated a number of imaging studies on task switching (e.g., see Dove et al., 2000, Dreher and Berman, 2002, Ruge et al., 2004, Sohn et al., 2000). Also, there are a number of studies investigating brain activation in set shifting applying variants of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (e.g., see Konishi et al., 2002, Monchi et al., 2001, Nagahama et al., 2001). The Stroop task (Stroop, 1935) is probably the classic paradigm in the study of cognitive control. In the Stroop task, participants need to suppress a dominant response tendency—reading a word—in favor of a less dominant response tendency—naming the color of a word. A vast number of behavioral studies (for review, see MacLeod, 1991) and several imaging studies have applied the Stroop task (e.g., see Fan et al., 2003, Mead et al., 2002, Milham et al., 2001, Zysset et al., 2001). In n-back tasks, participants view a sequence of successively presented stimuli and have to decide whether the currently presented stimulus is the same as the one they saw n stimuli earlier (e.g., see Braver et al., 1997, LaBar et al., 1999, Ragland et al., 2002, Schumacher et al., 1996).

Although evidence from a number of studies applying the abovementioned tasks (e.g., see Dove et al., 2000, Konishi et al., 2002, LaBar et al., 1999, Mead et al., 2002, Milham et al., 2001, Monchi et al., 2001, Ragland et al., 2002, Zysset et al., 2001) points to the possible involvement of the IFJ in cognitive control, differences in anatomy between subject groups and differences in imaging and analysis procedures between imaging laboratories make it difficult to unequivocally provide evidence for the involvement of the IFJ in these tasks. Therefore, it was the aim of the present fMRI study to directly investigate IFJ involvement in these tasks in a within-session within-subject design.

Section snippets

Participants

Twenty right-handed volunteers participated in the study. All participants had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. No participant had a history of neurological, major medical, or psychiatric disorder. One participant was excluded due to an excessive error rate in the task-switching paradigm. The remaining 19 participants were 12 females and 7 males (mean age 25 years, range 20 to 36 years). All were right-handed as assessed by the Edinburgh Inventory (Oldfield, 1971).

Behavioral procedures

Participants performed

Behavioral results

In the task-switching paradigm, mean reaction times were 781 ms for repetition trials and 880 ms for switch trials. The difference in reaction times was significant, t(18) = 7.8, P < 0.001. Mean reaction times in the Stroop task were 787 ms for congruent trials, 822 ms for neutral trials, and 933 ms for incongruent trials. A repeated-measurements ANOVA indicated that the reaction time differences between conditions were significant, F(2, 36) = 36.1, P < 0.001. Paired t tests showed that

Discussion

In a within-session within-subject design, the present study investigated common activations in a task-switching paradigm, in the Stroop task, and in the n-back task. By overlaying activations from the individual task contrasts, we identified common activations in frontal, parietal, insular, and thalamic regions. In particular, we found an overlap at the junction of the inferior frontal sulcus and the inferior precentral sulcus (the inferior frontal junction, IFJ) that was very similar to the

Conclusion

While there is now substantial evidence pointing to the functional relevance of the IFJ in cognitive control, the precise functional role and the underlying cytoarchitectonic substrate are a matter of debate. Researchers have attributed activations in the IFJ to BA 6, BA 44, or BA 9 Bunge et al., 2003, Milham et al., 2001, Ragland et al., 2002. When one compares the reported peak coordinates in published studies, however, one notes a remarkable consistency of activations in the IFJ region. The

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