Functional organization of the inferior frontal junction area and its neighboring regions

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Cognitive control mechanisms allow us to organize our thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals. For example, these mechanisms are required when habitual behavior tendencies need to be inhibited or when frequent switching between tasks is necessary. There is evidence that an area in the posterior prefrontal cortex, the so-called inferior frontal junction area (IFJ), plays a vital role in the implementation of cognitive control. However, a number of important questions concerning the IFJ's dissociation from neighboring areas and its function remain unresolved. For instance, it is still unclear which factors determine the involvement of the IFJ in distractor processing. Also, the modality dependence of IFJ activations is still poorly understood. The present proposal aims to investigate these open questions by employing univariate and multivariate analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging data. It focuses on single-subject and subject-specific group analyses. Owing to the pronounced interindividual variability of the prefrontal cortex, these analysis methods are more suitable than standard group analyses to study functional specializations, dissociations from neighboring areas, and structure-function relationships. The results obtained from employing this approach will afford a better understanding of the neuronal representations of cognitive control mechanisms and of the functional organization of the posterior prefrontal cortex.