Theta-phase Connectivity Between Medial Prefrontal and Posterior Areas Underlies Novel Instructions Implementation

Overview

Journal eNeuro

Specialty Neurology

Date 2022 Jul 22

PMID 35868857

Authors

Silvia Formica

Carlos Gonzalez-Garcia

Mehdi Senoussi

Daniele Marinazzo

Marcel Brass

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Implementing novel instructions is a complex and uniquely human cognitive ability, that requires the rapid and flexible conversion of symbolic content into a format that enables the execution of the instructed behavior. Preparing to implement novel instructions, as opposed to their mere maintenance, involves the activation of the instructed motor plans, and the binding of the action information to the specific context in which this should be executed. Recent evidence and prominent computational models suggest that this efficient configuration of the system might involve a central role of frontal theta oscillations in establishing top-down long-range synchronization between distant and task-relevant brain areas. In the present EEG study (human subjects, 30 females, 4 males), we demonstrate that proactively preparing for the implementation of novels instructions, as opposed to their maintenance, involves a strengthened degree of connectivity in the theta frequency range between medial prefrontal and motor/visual areas. Moreover, we replicated previous results showing oscillatory features associated specifically with implementation demands, and extended on them demonstrating the role of theta oscillations in mediating the effect of task demands on behavioral performance. Taken together, these findings support our hypothesis that the modulation of connectivity patterns between frontal and task-relevant posterior brain areas is a core factor in the emergence of a behavior-guiding format from novel instructions.Everyday life requires the use and manipulation of currently available information to guide behavior and reach specific goals. In the present study we investigate how the same instructed content elicits different neural activity depending on the task being performed. Crucially, connectivity between medial prefrontal cortex and posterior brain areas is strengthened when novel instructions have to be implemented, rather than simply maintained. This finding suggests that theta oscillations play a role in setting up a dynamic and flexible network of task-relevant regions optimized for the execution of the instructed behavior.

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