title: Neuronal activity in primate prefrontal cortex related to goal-directed behavior during auditory working memory tasks.
abstract: Prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been documented to play critical roles in goal-directed behaviors, like representing goal-relevant events and working memory (WM). However, neurophysiological evidence for such roles of PFC has been obtained mainly with visual tasks but rarely with auditory tasks. In the present study, we tested roles of PFC in auditory goal-directed behaviors by recording local field potentials in the auditory region of left ventrolateral PFC while a monkey performed auditory WM tasks. The tasks consisted of multiple events and required the monkey to change its mental states to achieve the reward. The events were auditory and visual stimuli, as well as specific actions. Mental states were engaging in the tasks and holding task-relevant information in auditory WM. We found that, although based on recordings from one hemisphere in one monkey only, PFC represented multiple events that were important for achieving reward, including auditory and visual stimuli like turning on and off an LED, as well as bar touch. The responses to auditory events depended on the tasks and on the context of the tasks. This provides support for the idea that neuronal representations in PFC are flexible and can be related to the behavioral meaning of stimuli. We also found that engaging in the tasks and holding information in auditory WM were associated with persistent changes of slow potentials, both of which are essential for auditory goal-directed behaviors. Our study, on a single hemisphere in a single monkey, reveals roles of PFC in auditory goal-directed behaviors similar to those in visual goal-directed behaviors, suggesting that functions of PFC in goal-directed behaviors are probably common across the auditory and visual modality. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Auditory working memory.
authors.affiliation: Special Laboratory Primate Neurobiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestraße 6, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany. Electronic address: Ying.Huang@lin-magdeburg.de.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Special Laboratory Primate Neurobiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestraße 6, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brosch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006040:Goals; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Auditory working memory; Goal-directed behavior; Prefrontal cortex; Task engagement