Mind, Brain and Behavior Center, University of Granada, Spain.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK.
Neuroimage. 2020 Jan 1;204:116219. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116219. Epub 2019 Sep 20.
Engaging in a demanding activity while holding in mind another task to be performed in the near future requires the maintenance of information about both the currently-active task set and the intended one. However, little is known about how the human brain implements such action plans. While some previous studies have examined the neural representation of current task sets and others have investigated delayed intentions, to date none has examined the representation of current and intended task sets within a single experimental paradigm. In this fMRI study, we examined the neural representation of current and intended task sets, employing sequential classification tasks on human faces. Multivariate decoding analyses showed that current task sets were represented in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and fusiform gyrus (FG), while intended tasks could be decoded from lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC). Importantly, a ventromedial region in PFC/OFC contained information about both current and delayed tasks, although cross-classification between the two types of information was not possible. These results help delineate the neural representations of current and intended task sets, and highlight the importance of ventromedial PFC/OFC for maintaining task-relevant information regardless of when it is needed.
从事一项需要集中注意力的活动，同时牢记不久后要执行的另一项任务，这需要保持对当前活动任务集和预期任务的信息。然而，目前对于人类大脑如何实现这种行动计划知之甚少。虽然之前的一些研究已经研究了当前任务集的神经表示，而另一些研究则研究了延迟的意图，但迄今为止，还没有研究在单个实验范式中检查当前和预期任务集的表示。在这项 fMRI 研究中，我们使用人类面孔的顺序分类任务，研究了当前和预期任务集的神经表示。多元解码分析表明，当前任务集在眶额皮层 (OFC) 和梭状回 (FG) 中得到表示，而预期任务可以从外侧前额叶皮层 (lPFC) 中解码出来。重要的是，前额叶皮层/眶额皮层中的一个腹侧区域包含了当前和延迟任务的信息，尽管两种类型的信息之间不能进行交叉分类。这些结果有助于描绘当前和预期任务集的神经表示，并强调了腹侧前额叶皮层/眶额皮层对于维持与任务相关的信息的重要性，而无论何时需要这些信息。
