title: Human Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Is Not Necessary for Spatial Working Memory.
abstract: A dominant theory, based on electrophysiological and lesion evidence from nonhuman primate studies, posits that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) stores and maintains working memory (WM) representations. Yet, neuroimaging studies have consistently failed to translate these results to humans; these studies normally find that neural activity persists in the human precentral sulcus (PCS) during WM delays. Here, we attempt to resolve this discrepancy. To test the degree to which dlPFC is necessary for WM, we compared the performance of patients with dlPFC lesions and neurologically healthy controls on a memory-guided saccade task that was used in the monkey studies to measure spatial WM. We found that dlPFC damage only impairs the accuracy of memory-guided saccades if the damage impacts the PCS; lesions to dorsolateral dlPFC that spare the PCS have no effect on WM. These results identify the necessary subregion of the frontal cortex for WM and specify how this influential animal model of human cognition must be revised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003.
authors.forename: Wayne E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1577-9235
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Mackey
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology and.
authors.forename: Orrin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0044-4632
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Devinsky
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, and.
authors.forename: Werner K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, Departments of Neurology and.
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4721-1695
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Meager
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003 clayton.curtis@nyu.edu.
authors.forename: Clayton E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Curtis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: frontal eye field; human; lesion; prefrontal cortex; saccade; working memory