The cortical connectome of primate lateral prefrontal cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is crucial for executive functions.
• Its intricate connections with other cortical regions are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively map the cortical connections of the LPFC.
• To elucidate the organizational principles of LPFC interactions with major brain processing domains.

Main Methods:

• Utilized electrical microstimulation combined with functional MRI (EM-fMRI) to map the LPFC connectome.
• Densely stimulated approximately 200 sites within the LPFC.

Main Results:

• Identified isomorphic, topographic maps between LPFC and five major cortical processing domains.
• Observed overlapping activation maps within the LPFC, indicating convergence of information streams.
• Demonstrated millimeter-scale organization within LPFC mirroring broader cortical organization.

Conclusions:

• The LPFC contains organized, overlapping maps of major cortical processing domains.
• These findings support the LPFC's role in integrating and coordinating neural activity across the cortex.