Decoding distributed oscillatory signals driven by memory and perception in the prefrontal cortex

Sensory perception and memory recall generate different conscious experiences. Although externally and internally driven neural activities signifying the same perceptual content overlap in the sensory cortex, their distribution in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), an area implicated in both perception and memory, remains elusive. Here, we test whether the local spatial configurations and frequencies of neural oscillations driven by perception and memory recall overlap in the macaque PFC using high-density electrocorticography and multivariate pattern analysis. We find that dynamically changing oscillatory signals distributed across the PFC in the delta-, theta-, alpha-, and beta-band ranges carry significant, but mutually different, information predicting the same feature of memory-recalled internal targets and passively perceived external objects. These findings suggest that the frequency-specific distribution of oscillatory neural signals in the PFC serves cortical signatures responsible for distinguishing between different types of cognition driven by external perception and internal memory.