Prefrontal Cortex Networks Shift from External to Internal Modes during Learning
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9739.full.pdf
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6.01 MB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Brincat, Scott Louis
Miller, Earl K
Date Issued
August 2016
Journal
Journal of Neuroscience
Publisher
Society for Neuroscience
Citation
Brincat, S. L. et al. “Prefrontal Cortex Networks Shift from External to Internal Modes During Learning.” Journal of Neuroscience 36, 37 (September 2016): 9739–9754 © 2016 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
As we learn about items in our environment, their neural representations become increasingly enriched with our acquired knowledge. But there is little understanding of how network dynamics and neural processing related to external information changes as it becomes laden with “internal” memories. We sampled spiking and local field potential activity simultaneously from multiple sites in the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the hippocampus (HPC)—regions critical for sensory associations—of monkeys performing an object paired-associate learning task. We found that in the PFC, evoked potentials to, and neural information about, external sensory stimulation decreased while induced beta-band (~11–27 Hz) oscillatory power and synchrony associated with “top-down” or internal processing increased. By contrast, the HPC showed little evidence of learning-related changes in either spiking activity or network dynamics. The results suggest that during associative learning, PFC networks shift their resources from external to internal processing.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0274-16.2016
