Cognitive control of behavior and hippocampal information processing without medial prefrontal cortex.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Behavioral Neuroscience

Background:

• Cognitive control involves managing competing information, with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) traditionally considered central.
• Rodent studies infer mPFC's role in cognitive control from task performance deficits after mPFC damage.
• Prior work established an active place avoidance task in rodents, demonstrating concurrent cognitive control in behavior and hippocampal place cell activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) lesions impair performance in an active place avoidance task in rats.
• To test the 'central-computation' versus 'local-computation' hypotheses regarding the mPFC's role in cognitive control.

Main Methods:

• Rats underwent ibotenic acid lesions of the mPFC, affecting cingulate, prelimbic, and infralimbic cortices.
• Performance on the active place avoidance task was assessed, including initial learning, long-term memory, and adaptation to relocated shock zones.
• Metabolic activity coordination and hippocampal place cell representations were analyzed post-lesion.

Main Results:

• mPFC lesions did not impair initial shock avoidance learning or long-term memory.
• Lesions impaired avoidance behavior when the shock location was relocated, indicating a deficit in adaptive cognitive control.
• The alternation of hippocampal place cell representations between task-relevant and irrelevant locations remained intact after mPFC lesions.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the 'local-computation' hypothesis, suggesting cognitive control computations can occur independently of the mPFC.
• The mPFC may not be essential for all aspects of cognitive control, particularly spatial information processing in the hippocampus.
• Alternative brain networks likely support cognitive control functions previously attributed solely to the mPFC.