Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on February 9, 2005
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi032
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Department of Physiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; Department of Neurology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; The Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. We examined neuronal activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex of monkeys performing a path-planning task in a maze that required the planning of actions in multiple steps. The animals received an instruction that prompted them to prepare to move a cursor in the maze stepwise from a starting position to a goal position by operating manipulanda with either arm. During a delay period in which the animal prepared to start the first of three cursor movements to approach the pre-instructed goal, we identified two types of neuronal activity: the first type reflected the position within the maze to which the animal intended to move the cursor as an initial step (an immediate goal) and the second type reflected the position within the maze that was to be captured as a final goal. Neither type reflected motor responses. We propose that these two types of neuronal activity are neuronal correlates that represent immediate and ultimate behavioral goals. This finding implicates the prefrontal cortex in governing goal-oriented sequential behavior rather than sensorimotor transformation.
Article
Representation of Immediate and Final Behavioral Goals in the Monkey Prefrontal Cortex during an Instructed Delay Period
2 Department of Physiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; The Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan
3 Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
4 Department of Neurology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
Jun Tanji, E-mail: tanjij{at}mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
![]()
Abstract ![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
T. Nakajima, R. Hosaka, H. Mushiake, and J. Tanji Covert Representation of Second-Next Movement in the Pre-Supplementary Motor Area of Monkeys J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2009; 101(4): 1883 - 1889. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Tsujimoto, A. Genovesio, and S. P. Wise Transient Neuronal Correlations Underlying Goal Selection and Maintenance in Prefrontal Cortex Cereb Cortex, December 1, 2008; 18(12): 2748 - 2761. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Sakamoto, H. Mushiake, N. Saito, K. Aihara, M. Yano, and J. Tanji Discharge Synchrony during the Transition of Behavioral Goal Representations Encoded by Discharge Rates of Prefrontal Neurons Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2008; 18(9): 2036 - 2045. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Tanji and E. Hoshi Role of the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Executive Behavioral Control Physiol Rev, January 1, 2008; 88(1): 37 - 57. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Seo, D. J. Barraclough, and D. Lee Dynamic Signals Related to Choices and Outcomes in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2007; 17(suppl_1): i110 - i117. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Genovesio, P. J. Brasted, and S. P. Wise Representation of future and previous spatial goals by separate neural populations in prefrontal cortex. J. Neurosci., July 5, 2006; 26(27): 7305 - 7316. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||



