The role of frontal and parietal cortex in cognitive processing: tests of spatial and sequence functions

Normal monkeys and monkeys with resection of anterior frontal or posterior parietal cortex were trained to press a panel next to a green panel as a test of extrapersonal spatial orientation and to press a panel next to their own prior press as a test of personal spatial orientation. All monkeys also learned two sets of sequence problems in which the solutions were made independent of spatial location by randomly shifting the locations of the stimuli after each response within a trial. The Parietal Group was significantly impaired on the extrapersonal 'next-to' task but not the more difficult personal 'next-to' task. The Frontal Group was impaired on both the personal and the extrapersonal 'next-to' tasks but only when the relevant cues shifted spatial locations from trial to trial. The performance of the Parietal Group completely overlapped that of the Normal Group on the sequence problems regardless of the level of testing sophistication the monkeys had attained. In contrast, the Frontal Group demonstrated a significant impairment in learning sequences but only when the monkeys were naive. Once they became sophisticated they learned each sequence at a normal rate. Their poor performance was attributed to the lack of stability in the spatial location of the stimuli. The data support the view that a distinction between personal and extrapersonal spatial orientation is relevant to posterior parietal function but indicate that neither sequencing per se nor personal spatial orientation or spatial memory per se is dependent on intact frontal functioning. Rather, the frontal cortex is involved with a higher-order control essential to allow the monkey to perceive the reliable aspects of stimuli contained in a stimulus context full of unreliable noise and to further allow for flexible response pattern appropriate to the demands of a variable context.