Cognitive-emotional interactions and executive control in primate prefrontal cortex

Helen Barbas

Boston University

Boston, MA

Course Prerequisites: 

Introductory graduate level course(s) in basic neuroscience.

   
Course Description: 

Course overview:

The prefrontal cortex in primates holds a privileged position within the nervous system with regard to thought, emotion and action.  To guide behavior, the prefrontal cortex must select relevant information, disregard irrelevant information, and access motor control systems for action.  How are such complex functions coordinated? We will explore evidence indicating that highly organized pathways link distinct prefrontal sectors with structures underlying sensory perception, cognition, and emotions. The different sectors of the prefrontal cortex communicate with each other, inextricably linking pathways associated with cognition and emotions that guide actions. Disconnection of these pathways disrupts normal behavior, as seen in several neurologic and psychiatric diseases affecting preferentially distinct areas of the prefrontal cortex.
 

Course outline:

 

Overview of the anatomic organization and connections of lateral, orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal sectors.

 

Interface of prefrontal areas with sensory and high-order association areas and limbic structures.

 

Interface of prefrontal areas with key structures associated with motor control: premotor areas and the basal ganglia.

 

Bidirectional pathways linking orbitofrontal areas with excitatory and inhibitory systems in the amygdala.

 

Direct access of medial and orbitofrontal areas with hypothalamic and brainstem autonomic structures: access to the ‘emotional motor system’.

 

Reciprocity of connections: organization of bottom-up and top-down pathways, their functional significance, and disruption in neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

 

Reading List

References

Cereb Cortex 2000 Sep, 10:851-865.  The laminar pattern of connections between prefrontal and anterior temporal cortices in the rhesus monkey is related to cortical structure and function.  Rempel-Clower, N, Barbas, H. 


Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 1995 19(3):499-510.  Anatomic basis of cognitive-emotional interactions in the primate prefrontal cortex. Barbas, H. 


Brain Research Bulletin 2000, 52(5):319-330.  Proceedings of the human cerebral cortex: From gene to structure and function.  Barbas, H. 


Cerebral Cortex 1997 Oct/Nov, 7:635-646.  Cortical structure predicts the pattern of corticocortical connections.  Barbas, H., Rempel-Clower, N.


Cerebral Cortex 2001 Oct, 11:975-988.  Quantitative architecture distinguishes prefrontal cortical systems in teh rhesus monkey.  Dombrowski, S.M., Hilgetag, C.C., Barbas, H. 


Reviews:

Anatomic basis of functional specialization in prefrontal cortices in primates. Chapter 1, pp 1-27.  Handbook of Neuropsychology, Second Edition, Vol 7. Grafman, J (Ed). Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, 2002. Barbas, H, Ghashghaei, HT, Rempel-Clower, N. and Xiao, D. 

 

Cereb Cortex 2000 Mar;10(3):220_42.  The anatomical connections of the macaque monkey orbitofrontal cortex. A review.  Cavada C, Company T, Tejedor J, Cruz_Rizzolo RJ, Reinoso_Suarez F

 

Cereb Cortex. 2000 Mar;10(3):272_84.  Reward processing in primate orbitofrontal cortex and basal ganglia. Schultz W, Tremblay L, Hollerman JR.  

 


Interface of prefrontal areas with structures underlying motor control

Motor areas in the frontal lobe of the primate.  Physiol Behav. 2002 Dec;77(4_5):677_82.  Dum RP, Strick PL.

 

Cortical executive mechanisms: interaction of prefrontal areas with the basal ganglia

Cereb Cortex 2002 Sep;12(9):926_35.  Basal_ganglia 'projections' to the prefrontal cortex of the primate.  Middleton FA, Strick PL.

 


Emotion and memory

Ghashghaei, H.T. and Barbas, H. Pathways for emotion: Interactions of prefrontal and anterior temporal pathways in the amygdala of the rhesus monkey. Neuroscience 115:1261-1279, 2002. 

 

Barbas, H., Saha, S., Rempel-Clower, N. and Ghashghaei, HT. Serial pathways from primate prefrontal cortex to autonomic areas may influence emotional expression. 

BMC Neuroscience 2003, 4:25.

 

Nature 2002 Nov 7;420(6911):70_4.  Neurons in medial prefrontal cortex signal memory for fear

extinction.  Milad MR, Quirk GJ

 

Neuron. 2003 Aug 28;39(5):855_67. Encoding predicted outcome and acquired value in orbitofrontal cortex during cue sampling depends upon input from basolateral amygdala. Schoenbaum G, Setlow B, Saddoris MP, Gallagher M.


 

Top-down mechanisms in executive control

J Cogn Neurosci. 2003 May 15;15(4):600_9. A cortical mechanism for triggering top_down facilitation in visual object recognition.  Bar M.

 

Nature. 1999 Oct 14;401(6754):699_703.   Top_down signal from prefrontal cortex in executive control of memory retrieval.  Tomita H, Ohbayashi M, Nakahara K, Hasegawa I, Miyashita Y.