Functional gradients in the human lateral prefrontal cortex revealed by a comprehensive coordinate-based meta-analysis

The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) of humans enables flexible goal-directed behavior. However, its functional organization remains actively debated after decades of research. Moreover, recent efforts aiming to map the LPFC through meta-analysis are limited, either in scope or in the inferred speci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2022-09, Vol.11
Main Authors: Abdallah, Majd, Zanitti, Gaston E, Iovene, Valentin, Wassermann, Demian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Artificial Intelligence
Bioengineering
Brain
Brain Mapping
Cognitive science
Computer Science
Cortex (somatosensory)
Functional morphology
Humans
Hypotheses
Imaging
Information management
Information processing
lateral prefrontal cortex
Life Sciences
Logic in Computer Science
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Meta-analysis
Neural networks
Neuroimaging
neuroinformatics
Neuroscience
Neurosciences
Prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Principles
probabilistic logic programming
Reviews
rostrocaudal gradient
Sensory integration
specificity
Structure-function relationships
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Summary:The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) of humans enables flexible goal-directed behavior. However, its functional organization remains actively debated after decades of research. Moreover, recent efforts aiming to map the LPFC through meta-analysis are limited, either in scope or in the inferred specificity of structure-function associations. These limitations are in part due to the limited expressiveness of commonly-used data analysis tools, which restricts the breadth and complexity of questions that can be expressed in a meta-analysis. Here, we adopt NeuroLang, a novel approach to more expressive meta-analysis based on probabilistic first-order logic programming, to infer the organizing principles of the LPFC from 14,371 neuroimaging studies. Our findings reveal a rostrocaudal and a dorsoventral gradient, respectively explaining the most and second most variance in meta-analytic connectivity across the LPFC. Moreover, we identify a unimodal-to-transmodal spectrum of coactivation patterns along with a concrete-to-abstract axis of structure-function associations extending from caudal to rostral regions of the LPFC. Finally, we infer inter-hemispheric asymmetries along the principal rostrocaudal gradient, identifying hemisphere-specific associations with topics of language, memory, response inhibition, and sensory processing. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive meta-analytic mapping of the LPFC, grounding future hypothesis generation on a quantitative overview of past findings.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.76926