On the role of the anterior prefrontal cortex in cognitive 'branching': An fMRI study

The most anterior portion of prefrontal cortex (aPFC), more specifically Brodman Area 10 (BA10), has been implicated in 'branching operations', or the ability to perform tasks related to one goal, while keeping in working memory information related to a secondary goal. Such findings have been based on fMRI recordings under complex behavioral paradigms that compare 'branching' tasks with tasks where one goal is pursued at a time, but are limited by their complete reliance on verbal working memory and by small sample sizes. Here, we test the specificity of BA 10 to branching in similar behavioral paradigms but with a larger sample and in two different conditions involving verbal and visual working memory respectively. We find that BA 10 and other frontal and parietal brain areas are activated in all tasks, with an extent and level of significance increasing with the complexity of the task. We conclude that the activation of BA 10 is not specific to branching as previously hypothesized, but is related to the level of complexity of working memory performance. For further insight into the specific role of anterior portions of the frontal cortex we highlight the importance of simple control tasks with gradual and incremental increase in complexity.