Human Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex is not necessary for spatial working memory

    

WE Mackey et al. - Journal of Neuroscience, March 9, 2016 • 36(10):2847–2856

"Human Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex is not necessary for spatial working memory"

WE Mackey et al.

Journal of Neuroscience, March 9, 2016 • 36(10):2847–2856

Abstract
A dominant theory, based on electrophysiological and lesion evidence from nonhuman primate studies, posits that the dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) stores and maintains working memory (WM) representations. Yet, neuroimaging studies have consistently
failed to translate these results to humans; these studies normally find that neural activity persists in the human precentral sulcus (PCS)
during WM delays. Here, we attempt to resolve this discrepancy. To test the degree to which dlPFC is necessary for WM, we compared
the performance of patients with dlPFC lesions and neurologically healthy controls on a memory-guided saccade task that was used in the
monkey studies to measure spatial WM. We found that dlPFC damage only impairs the accuracy of memory-guided saccades if the
damage impacts the PCS; lesions to dorsolateral dlPFC that spare the PCS have no effect on WM. These results identify the necessary
subregion of the frontal cortex forWMand specify how this influential animal model of human cognition must be revised.

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published on 25/03/2016 ultima modifica 25/03/2016