2009 Special Issue: Goal-directed control and its antipodes
Neural Networks
Cortex and memory: Emergence of a new paradigm
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Bending the rules: Strategic behavioral differences are reflected in the brain
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Neural correlates of sequence learning with stochastic feedback
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Perception and action selection dissociate human ventral and dorsal cortex
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Hierarchies in action and motor control
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is central to flexible and organized action. Recent theoretical and empirical results suggest that the rostro-caudal axis of the frontal lobes may reflect a hierarchical organization of control. Here, we test whether the rostro-caudal axis of the PFC is organized hierarchically, based on the level of abstraction at which multiple representations compete to guide selection of action. Four functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments parametrically manipulated the set of task-relevant (a) responses, (b) features, (c) dimensions, and (d) overlapping cue-to-dimension mappings. A systematic posterior to anterior gradient was evident within the PFC depending on the manipulated level of representation. Furthermore, across four fMRI experiments, activation in PFC subregions was consistent with the sub-and superordinate relationships that define an abstract representational hierarchy. In addition to providing further support for a representational hierarchy account of the rostro-caudal gradient in the PFC, these data provide important empirical constraints on current theorizing about control hierarchies and the PFC.