title: Shared and distinct contributions of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex to analogical reasoning and episodic memory retrieval.
abstract: Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) is widely appreciated to support higher cognitive functions, including analogical reasoning and episodic memory retrieval. However, these tasks have typically been studied in isolation, and thus it is unclear whether they involve common or distinct RLPFC mechanisms. Here, we introduce a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task paradigm to compare brain activity during reasoning and memory tasks while holding bottom-up perceptual stimulation and response demands constant. Univariate analyses on fMRI data from twenty participants identified a large swath of left lateral prefrontal cortex, including RLPFC, that showed common engagement on reasoning trials with valid analogies and memory trials with accurately retrieved source details. Despite broadly overlapping recruitment, multi-voxel activity patterns within left RLPFC reliably differentiated these two trial types, highlighting the presence of at least partially distinct information processing modes. Functional connectivity analyses demonstrated that while left RLPFC showed consistent coupling with the fronto-parietal control network across tasks, its coupling with other cortical areas varied in a task-dependent manner. During the memory task, this region strengthened its connectivity with the default mode and memory retrieval networks, whereas during the reasoning task it coupled more strongly with a nearby left prefrontal region (BA 45) associated with semantic processing, as well as with a superior parietal region associated with visuospatial processing. Taken together, these data suggest a domain-general role for left RLPFC in monitoring and/or integrating task-relevant knowledge representations and showcase how its function cannot solely be attributed to episodic memory or analogical reasoning computations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Westphal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Nicco
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Reggente
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Kaori L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.|Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.|Brain Research Institute, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.|Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rissman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: decoding; functional connectivity; multivariate pattern classification; network analysis; relational integration; rostral prefrontal cortex; semantic; source memory