RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Adaptation to Conflict via Context-Driven Anticipatory Signals in the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 16208
OP 16216
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2783-11.2011
VO 31
IS 45
A1 Guillermo Horga
A1 Tiago V. Maia
A1 Pengwei Wang
A1 Zhishun Wang
A1 Rachel Marsh
A1 Bradley S. Peterson
YR 2011
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/45/16208.abstract
AB Behavioral interference elicited by competing response tendencies adapts to contextual changes. Recent nonhuman primate research suggests a key mnemonic role of distinct prefrontal cells in supporting such context-driven behavioral adjustments by maintaining conflict information across trials, but corresponding prefrontal functions have yet to be probed in humans. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the human neural substrates of contextual adaptations to conflict. We found that a neural system comprising the rostral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and portions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex specifically encodes the history of previously experienced conflict and influences subsequent adaptation to conflict on a trial-by-trial basis. This neural system became active in anticipation of stimulus onsets during preparatory periods and interacted with a second neural system engaged during the processing of conflict. Our findings suggest that a dynamic interaction between a system that represents conflict history and a system that resolves conflict underlies the contextual adaptation to conflict.