Involvement of the prefrontal cortex in sequential action at an abstract level

为了在抽象水平上明确前额叶皮层（PFC）在控制动作中的作用，我们记录了猕猴在执行伸手任务时前额叶皮层的神经元活动。我们发现了关于外侧前额叶皮层（LPFC）功能的两个主要发现。LPFC的腹侧部分不仅充分编码指示抽象动作水平的指令的对象特征，而且充分编码指定动作的选择线索的空间位置。相反，我们发现背侧LPFC在编码视觉信号的较小影响下参与提取和维持抽象水平的动作，而在维持抽象水平的动作的较大影响下参与指定运动计划。

In order to specify roles of the prefrontal cortex(PFC) in controlling action at an abstract level, we recorded neuronal activity from PFC of macaques while they performed a reaching task. We found two main findings about functions of the lateral prefrontal cortex(LPFC). Ventral part of the LPFC amply encoded not only object features of the instruction, which indicated abstract level of action, but also spatial locations of choice cue in specifying the movements. By contrast, we found dorsal LPFC was involved in retrieving and maintaining the abstract level of action under the smaller influence of encoded visual signals, whereas it specified the motor plan under the greater influence of the maintained the abstract level of action.