The Role of Prefrontal Cortex and Posterior Parietal Cortex in Task Switching

Human ability to switch from one cognitive task to another involves both endogenous preparation without an external stimulus and exogenous adjustment in response to the external stimulus. In an event-related functional MRI study, participants performed pairs of two tasks that are either the same (ta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2000-11, Vol.97 (24), p.13448-13453
Main Authors: Sohn, Myeong-Ho, Ursu, Stefan, Anderson, John R., Stenger, V. Andrew, Carter, Cameron S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Behavioral neuroscience
Biological Sciences
Brain
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive models
Coordinate systems
Female
Foreknowledge
Humans
Knowledge
Learning - physiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory recall
Mental stimulation
Modeling
Parietal Lobe - physiology
Perceptual motor coordination
Prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Working memory
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Summary:Human ability to switch from one cognitive task to another involves both endogenous preparation without an external stimulus and exogenous adjustment in response to the external stimulus. In an event-related functional MRI study, participants performed pairs of two tasks that are either the same (task repetition) or different (task switch) from each other. On half of the trials, foreknowledge about task repetition or task switch was available. On the other half, it was not. Endogenous preparation seems to involve lateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46/45) and posterior parietal cortex (BA 40). During preparation, higher activation increases in inferior lateral prefrontal cortex and superior posterior parietal cortex were associated with foreknowledge than with no foreknowledge. Exogenous adjustment seems to involve superior prefrontal cortex (BA 8) and posterior parietal cortex (BA 39/40) in general. During a task switch with no foreknowledge, activations in these areas were relatively higher than during a task repetition with no foreknowledge. These results suggest that endogenous preparation and exogenous adjustment for a task switch may be independent processes involving different brain areas.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.240460497