Function and localization within rostral prefrontal cortex (area 10)

Abstract

We propose that rostral prefrontal cortex (PFC; approximating area 10) supports a cognitive system that facilitates either stimulus-oriented (SO) or stimulus-independent (SI) attending. SO attending is the behaviour required to concentrate on current sensory input, whereas SI attending is the mental processing that accompanies self-generated or self-maintained thought. Regions of medial area 10 support processes related to the former, whilst areas of lateral area 10 support processes that enable the latter. Three lines of evidence for this ‘gateway hypothesis’ are presented. First, we demonstrate the predicted patterns of activation in area 10 during the performance of new tests designed to stress the hypothetical function. Second, we demonstrate area 10 activations during the performance of established functions (prospective memory, context memory), which should hypothetically involve the proposed attentional system. Third, we examine predictions about behaviour–activation patterns within rostral PFC that follow from the hypothesis. We show with meta-analysis of neuroimaging investigations that these predictions are supported across a wide variety of tasks, thus establishing a general principle for functional imaging studies of this large brain region. We then show that while the gateway hypothesis accommodates a large range of findings relating to the functional organization of area 10 along a medial–lateral dimension, there are further principles relating to other dimensions and functions. In particular, there is a functional dissociation between the anterior medial area 10, which supports processes required for SO attending, and the caudal medial area 10, which supports processes relating to mentalizing.