Distinct Regions within Medial Prefrontal Cortex Process Pain and Cognition.
Neuroimaging studies of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) suggest that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) region is responsive to a wide variety of stimuli and psychological states, such as pain, cognitive control, and prediction error (PE). In contrast, a recent meta-analysis argues that the dACC is selective for pain, whereas the supplementary motor area (SMA) and pre-SMA are specifically associated with higher-level cognitive processes (Lieberman and Eisenberger, 2015). To empirically test this claim, we manipulated effects of pain, conflict, and PE in a single experiment using human subjects. We observed a robust dorsal-ventral dissociation within the mPFC with cognitive effects of PE and conflict overlapping dorsally and pain localized more ventrally. Classification of subjects based on the presence or absence of a paracingulate sulcus showed that PE effects extended across the dorsal area of the dACC and into the pre-SMA. These results begin to resolve recent controversies by showing the following: (1) the mPFC includes dissociable regions for pain and cognitive processing; and (2) meta-analyses are correct in localizing cognitive effects to the dACC, although these effects extend to the pre-SMA as well. These results both provide evidence distinguishing between different theories of mPFC function and highlight the importance of taking individual anatomical variability into account when conducting empirical studies of the mPFC.



Decades of neuroimaging research have shown the mPFC to represent a wide variety of stimulus processing and cognitive states. However, recently it has been argued whether distinct regions of the mPFC separately process pain and cognitive phenomena. To address this controversy, this study directly compared pain and cognitive processes within subjects. We found a double dissociation within the mPFC with pain localized ventral to the cingulate sulcus and cognitive effects localized more dorsally within the dACC and spreading into the pre-supplementary motor area. This provides empirical evidence to help resolve the current debate about the functional architecture of the mPFC.
Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.
Andrew
0000-0001-5286-049X
A
Jahn
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32312-4301.
Derek Evan
0000-0001-7858-6871
DE
Nee
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium, and.
William H
WH
Alexander
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405 jwmbrown@indiana.edu.
Joshua W
JW
Brown
D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D010146:Pain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
cognition; conflict; dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; medial prefrontal cortex; pain; paracingulate sulcus