Medial prefrontal cortex predicts and evaluates the timing of action outcomes.

ABSTRACT: The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is active in conditions of performance monitoring including error commission and response conflict, but the mechanisms underlying these effects remain in dispute. Recent work suggests that mPFC learns to predict the value of actions, and that error effects represent a discrepancy between actual and expected outcomes of an action. In general, expectation signals regarding the outcome of an action may have a temporal structure, given that outcomes are expected at specific times. Nonetheless, it is unknown whether and how mPFC predicts the timing as well as the valence of expected action outcomes. Here we show with fMRI that otherwise correct feedback elicits apparent error-related activity in mPFC when delivered later than expected, suggesting that mPFC pr

SUBMITTER: Forster SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3031730 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature