Pretrial predictors of conflict response efficacy in the human prefrontal cortex
Alexander B. Herman,
Elliot H. Smith,
Catherine A. Schevon,
Mark J. Yates,
Guy M. McKhann,
Matthew Botvinick,
Benjamin Y. Hayden,
Sameer A. Sheth
Affiliations
Alexander B. Herman
Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Corresponding author
Elliot H. Smith
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA; Department of Neurology, Columbia University, NYC, NY 10027, USA
Catherine A. Schevon
Department of Neurology, Columbia University, NYC, NY 10027, USA
Mark J. Yates
Department of Neurological surgery, Columbia University, NYC, NY 10027, USA
Guy M. McKhann
Department of Neurological surgery, Columbia University, NYC, NY 10027, USA
Matthew Botvinick
DeepMind, London, UK
Benjamin Y. Hayden
Department of Neuroscience, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, and Center for Neural Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; McNair Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Sameer A. Sheth
Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; McNair Medical Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Summary: The ability to perform motor actions depends, in part, on the brain’s initial state. We hypothesized that initial state dependence is a more general principle and applies to cognitive control. To test this idea, we examined human single units recorded from the dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during a task that interleaves motor and perceptual conflict trials, the multisource interference task (MSIT). In both brain regions, variability in pre-trial firing rates predicted subsequent reaction time (RT) on conflict trials. In dlPFC, ensemble firing rate patterns suggested the existence of domain-specific initial states, while in dACC, firing patterns were more consistent with a domain-general initial state. The deployment of shared and independent factors that we observe for conflict resolution may allow for flexible and fast responses mediated by cognitive initial states. These results also support hypotheses that place dACC hierarchically earlier than dlPFC in proactive control.
