Kalina Christoff

Stanford University, USA

The role of the prefrontal cortex in human cognition is one of the most intriguing issues in contemporary neuroscience and a topic of intense research. This cortical region appears to be involved in complex cognitive functions across a wide range of domains, including working memory, long-term memory, and reasoning. The course will present an introduction to prefrontal function and neuroanatomy, and will survey current theoretical views and experimental findings concerning the executive and prefrontal aspects of different cognitive domains. Emphasis will be placed on converging principles of organization at the cortical and cognitive levels. Different methods for observation of neural processes will be discussed, from classical methods of single cell recording and electrical stimulation to modern methods of functional neuroimaging. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the material taught in class and take initiative in discussing relevant topics of interest.

1. Prefrontal cortex neuroanatomy. Methods for studying prefrontal function.

Neuroanatomy, cytoarchitecture, and patterns of connectivity.
Prefrontal neuropathology: case studies.
Lesion studies and electrophysiological recording.
Modern functional neuroimaging methods.

Required Readings:

• Mesulam, M. (1985). Patterns of behavioral neuroanatomy: Association areas, the limbic system, and hemispheric specialization. In M. Mesulam (Ed.), Principles of behavioral neurology (pp. 1-70, Chapter 1). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
  
• Chow, T. W., & Cummings, J. L. (1999). Frontal-subcortical circuits. In B. L. Miller & J. L. Cummings (Eds.), The human frontal lobes: functions and disorders (pp. 3-26). New York: The Guilford Press.

Additional recommended readings:

• Kaufer, D. I., & Lewis, D. A. (1999). Frontal lobe anatomy and cortical connectivity. In B. L. Miller & J. L. Cummings (Eds.), The human frontal lobes: functions and disorders (pp. 27-44, Chapter 2). New York: The Guilford Press.
  
• Miller, C. A. (1999). Gross morphology and architectonics of the frontal lobes. In B. L. Miller & J. L. Cummings (Eds.), The human frontal lobes: functions and disorders (pp. 71-82, Chapter 4). New York: The Guilford Press.

Additional internet resources:

Intro to Brain Structure and Function
Neuroscience Tutorial
A Brief Tour of the Brain

2. Executive and prefrontal aspects of working memory.

Processing information "on-line": prefrontal contributions.
Domain-specific versus process-specific functional subdivisions.
Maintaining, manipulating, and monitoring of items within working memory.
A two-stage model of prefrontal involvement in working memory.

Required Readings:

• Owen, A. M. (1997). The functional organization of working memory processes within human lateral frontal cortex: the contribution of functional neuroimaging. European Journal of Neuroscience, 9(7), 1329-1339.
  
• Petrides, M. (1995). Functional organization of the human frontal cortex for mnemonic processing: Evidence from neuroimaging studies. In J. Grafman, K. J. Holyoak, & F. Boller (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 769, pp. 85-96.
  

Additional recommended readings:

• Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1988). Topography of cognition: Parallel distributed networks in primate association cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 11, 137-156.
  
• Owen, A. M., Stern, C. E., Look, R. B., Tracey, I., Rosen, B. R., & Petrides, M. (1998). Functional organization of spatial and nonspatial working memory processing within the human lateral frontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95, 7721-7726.
  

3. Executive and prefrontal aspects of long-term memory.

Monitoring and organizing information during remembering and retrieving.
Source-memory and memory for temporal order.
Metamemory and confabulation.
Forgetting, interference, and filtering of extraneous information.

Required Readings:

• Moscovitch, M., & Winocur, G. (1995). Frontal lobes, memory, and aging. In J. Grafman, K. J. Holyoak, & F. Boller (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 769, pp. 119-150.
  
• Shimamura, A. P. (1995). Memory and the prefrontal cortex. In J. Grafman, K. J. Holyoak, & F. Boller (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 769, pp. 151-159.
  

Additional recommended readings:

• Squire, L. R. (1987). Divisions of long-term memory, Memory and Brain (pp. 151-174). New York: Oxford University Press.
  
• Burgess, P. W., & Shallice, T. (1996). Confabulation and the control of recollection. Memory, 4(4), 359-411.

4. Executive and prefrontal aspects of reasoning and problem solving.

Goal-directed behavior and complex cognitive planning.
Complexity of processing, relational processing, and relational integration during reasoning.
Flexibility of behavior, non-routine actions, and fluid intelligence.
Stimulus-driven and stimulus-independent thought processes.

Required Readings:

• Owen, A. M. (1997). Cognitive planning in humans: neuropsychological, neuroanatomical and neuropharmacological perspectives. Prog Neurobiol, 53(4), 431-450.
  
• Duncan, J., Burgess, P., & Emslie, H. (1995). Fluid intelligence after frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychologia, 33(3), 261-268.
  

Additional recommended readings:

• Shallice, T. (1982). Specific impairments of planning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 298, 199-209.
  
• Holyoak, K. J., & Kroger, J. K. (1995). Forms of reasoning: Insight into prefrontal functions? In J. Grafman, K. J. Holyoak, & F. Boller (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 769, pp. 253-263.
  

5. Converging principles in organization of prefrontal function.

Homogeneity versus heterogeneity of prefrontal function.
Hierarchical notions of prefrontal organization. The perception-action cycle.
Mediation of cross-temporal contingencies and the temporal syntax of behavior.
The external-internal continuum. Self-awareness and self-consciousness.

Required Readings:

• Christoff, K. and Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2000). The Frontopolar Cortex and Human Cognition: Evidence for a Rostrocaudal Hierarchical Organization within the Human Prefrontal Cortex. Psychobiology, 28 (2), 168-186.
  
• Stuss, D. T., Eskes, G. A., & Foster, J. K. (1994). Experimental neuropsychological studies of frontal lobe functions. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of Neuropsychology: Vol. 9 (pp. 149-185). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
  

Additional recommended readings:

• Fuster, J. M. (1995). Temporal Processing. In J. Grafman, K. J. Holyoak, & F. Boller (Eds.), Structure and functions of the human prefrontal cortex. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 769, pp. 173-181.
  
• Stuss, D. T., & Benson, D. F. (1986). A behavioral anatomical theory, The Frontal Lobes (pp. 238-249). New York: Raven Press.

Small groups. Students will propose and discuss ideas for functional neuroimaging experiements addressing topics raised in class. Different experimental designs and forms of statistical analysis will be discussed and compared. Students will also propose and discuss ideas and methods for meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies.

Assessment. Students who wish to receive credit should write a 5-page paper, proposing an experiment to study a question related to one of the topics covered in the lectures.

Kalina Christoff was born and grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. She received a B.Sc. in Psychology and a M.Sc. in Cognitive Science from New Bulgarian University in 1997, working with Boicho Kokinov on context effects on problem solving. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Psychology at Stanford University where she is currently a postdoctoral fellow working with John Gabrieli. Her research interests focus on the prefrontal cortex and the neural mechanisms of reasoning, problem solving, and self-referential or introspectively oriented thought processes.

 Last updated 09/28/01 11:17