title: A unilateral medial frontal cortical lesion impairs trial and error learning without visual control.
abstract: There is considerable debate regarding the involvement of the medial frontal cortex in motor and cognitive functions. Recent neuroimaging data suggest a fundamental underlying process that links the motor and cognitive roles of the mid-cingulate cortex (MCC), namely the processing of feedback during trial and error learning in the cingulate motor region that is related to the modality of the feedback. These data suggest that the specific motor context of a task may be a critical determinant of how its outcome is processed in the MCC. We assessed a patient before and after surgery for brain tumour removal in the medial frontal cortex, and a group of matched control subjects. Subjects had to find by trial and error the stimulus associated with the correct feedback amongst four or five similar stimuli. Subjects performed the task in two different visuo-motor contexts: with the response pad and hand visible and with no sight of either pad or hand. The patient showed a selective impairment in this task relative to control subjects in the hardest conditions and the impairment was most marked when the response pad and the hand were not visible. The results support a specific role of the medial frontal cortex in the construction of a sensorimotor representation of choices and related feedback by encoding the contingency between an efference copy of the action and its outcome.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U846, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, 69675 Bron, France; Université de Lyon, Lyon 1, Unité Mixte de Recherche S-846, 69003 Lyon, France; Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A2B4.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amiez
authors.affiliation: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A2B4; Brain Repair Centre, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Research Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2; Acadia University, Department of Psychology, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada B4P 2R6.
authors.forename: Anne Sophie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Champod
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U846, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, 69675 Bron, France; Université de Lyon, Lyon 1, Unité Mixte de Recherche S-846, 69003 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Charles R E
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U846, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, 69675 Bron, France; Université de Lyon, Lyon 1, Unité Mixte de Recherche S-846, 69003 Lyon, France. Electronic address: celine.amiez@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Procyk
authors.affiliation: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A2B4.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrides
mesh_terms: D000068156:Formative Feedback; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Feedback; Learning; Mid-cingulate cortex; Middle frontal cortex; Patient; Pre-SMA