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Spatial selectivity in human ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 415–417 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The functional organization of lateral prefrontal cortex is not well understood, and there is debate as to whether the dorsal and ventral aspects mediate distinct spatial and non-spatial functions, respectively. We show for the first time that recordings from human ventrolateral prefrontal cortex show spatial selectivity, supporting the idea that ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in spatial processing. Our results also indicate that prefrontal cortex may be a source of control signals for neuroprosthetic applications.

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Figure 1: Human ventrolateral PFC shows spatial selectivity during target presentation.
Figure 2: Human ventrolateral PFC shows spatial selectivity during the movement period.
Figure 3: Using bilateral recordings improves decoding accuracy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Musallam, A. Gail, B. Pesaran and H. Glidden for helpful discussion. The authors acknowledge support from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Eye Institute, the Boswell Foundation, Office of Naval Research and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Blvd., Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Daniel S Rizzuto, Adam N Mamelak, Igor Fineman & Richard A Andersen

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Huntington Memorial Hospital, 100 West California Blvd., Pasadena, 91105, California, USA

    Adam N Mamelak & Igor Fineman

  3. Epilepsy and Brain Mapping Program, Huntington Memorial Hospital, 100 West California Blvd., Pasadena, 91105, California, USA

    Adam N Mamelak & William W Sutherling

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  1. Daniel S Rizzuto
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  2. Adam N Mamelak
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  5. Richard A Andersen
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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Rizzuto, D., Mamelak, A., Sutherling, W. et al. Spatial selectivity in human ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci 8, 415–417 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1424

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