Processing of time within the prefrontal cortex: Recent time engages posterior areas whereas distant time engages anterior areas

Gilly KORITZKY, Qinghua HE, Gui XUE, Wai Ho Savio WONG, Lin XIAO, Antoine BECHARA

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Studies of prefrontal cortex (PFC) lesion patients suggest that information conveying high immediacy, certainty, or tangibility engages the more posterior part of the PFC, whereas information that is more abstract or complex engages the anterior part. We examined whether the anterior and posterior subdivisions of the PFC have distinct roles in processing temporal information during decision making in healthy individuals. We hypothesized that the more the locus of activation is in the posterior (as opposed to anterior) PFC, the more the decision maker will be affected by recent information at the expense of past outcomes. Participants performed a complex decision task while their PFC activity was monitored using fMRI. Results indicate that individual differences in the effect of recent outcomes correspond to differences in the locus of activation, with elevated recency associated with more posterior loci of activation. Copyright © 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)280-286
JournalNeuroImage
Volume72
Early online dateFeb 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2013

Citation

Koritzky, G., He, Q., Xue, G., Wong, S., Xiao, L., & Bechara, A. (2013). Processing of time within the prefrontal cortex: Recent time engages posterior areas whereas distant time engages anterior areas. NeuroImage, 72, 280-286.

Keywords

  • Decision-making
  • Recency
  • Cognitive models
  • Individual differences
  • Prefrontal cortex
  • Anterior PFC
  • Posterior PFC
  • fMRI
  • Iowa Gambling Task

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