Preceding attention and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex: process specificity versus domain dependence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) is implicated in attending to states with emotional content.
• It is unclear if DMPFC activity is domain-specific (e.g., emotional stimuli) or process-specific (e.g., attention).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether neural activity in the DMPFC is primarily determined by stimulus domain or attentional processes.
• To differentiate between domain-specificity and process-specificity hypotheses for DMPFC function.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
• Participants viewed sexual, emotional, and neutral stimuli in both attended and nonattended modes.

Main Results:

• DMPFC activation was significantly higher during attended compared to nonattended stimulus perception.
• Behavioral changes (reaction time, subjective ratings) and DMPFC activation occurred across all stimulus domains.
• Process-specific effects were mainly in the posterior DMPFC, while anterior DMPFC showed a process-by-domain interaction.

Conclusions:

• Posterior DMPFC activity is determined by the process of attending to stimuli (process-specificity).
• Anterior DMPFC shows a mix of process and domain specificity.
• The DMPFC is involved in attending to mental states, with regional differences in domain independence.