Performance monitoring in monkey frontal eye field.
The frontal eye fields (FEF) are thought to mediate response selection during oculomotor decision tasks. In addition, many FEF neurons have robust postsaccadic responses, but their role in postchoice evaluative processes (online performance monitoring) is only beginning to become apparent. Here we report error-related neural activity in FEF while monkeys performed a biased speed-categorization task that enticed the animals to make impulsive errors. Twenty-three percent of cells in macaque FEF coded an internally generated error-related signal, and many of the same cells also coded task difficulty. The observed responses are primarily consistent with three related concepts that have been associated with performance monitoring: (1) response conflict; (2) uncertainty; and (3) reward prediction. Overall, our findings suggest a novel role for the FEF as part of the neural network that evaluates the preceding choice to optimize behavior in the future.
Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032.
Tobias
T
Teichert
Dian
D
Yu
Vincent P
VP
Ferrera
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009862:Online Systems; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*
conflict monitoring; decision-making; error-detection; performance monitoring; reward prediction; uncertainty