Neural mechanisms for executive functions in the prefrontal cortex

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Executive function is the most important function of the prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal neurons generate top-down control signals and, by sending these signals to the posterior association cortices, the prefrontal cortex controls a variety of operations occurred in the posterior cortices. However, the nature of the top-down control signal is not yet known. In the present study, we analyzed prefrontal activities while monkeys performed a pair-association task that was required to retrieve specific information from long-term memory under the top-down control of the prefrontal cortex. We found that stimulus-pair-selective visual responses and pair-selective delay-period activities must be candidates of top-down control signals and that these activities are sent to the posterior association cortices and act as signals to retrieve paired associate of the sample stimulus.