Prefrontal cortex activity during flexible categorization.
Items are categorized differently depending on the behavioral context. For instance, a lion can be categorized as an African animal or a type of cat. We recorded lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) neural activity while monkeys switched between categorizing the same image set along two different category schemes with orthogonal boundaries. We found that each category scheme was largely represented by independent PFC neuronal populations and that activity reflecting a category distinction was weaker, but not absent, when that category was irrelevant. We suggest that the PFC represents competing category representations independently to reduce interference between them.
Roy
Jefferson E
JE
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Riesenhuber
Maximilian
M
Poggio
Tomaso
T
Miller
Earl K
EK
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology