Frontal cortex function as derived from hierarchical predictive coding

The frontal lobes are essential for human volition and goal-directed behavior, yet their function remains unclear. While various models have highlighted working memory, reinforcement learning, and cognitive control as key functions, a single framework for interpreting the range of effects observed i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 3843 - 11
Main Authors: Alexander, William H., Brown, Joshua W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2018
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
631/114/116/2395
631/378/116/2396
631/378/2649/2150
Cognitive ability
Cortex (frontal)
Decision making
Dreams
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Humanities and Social Sciences
Learning
multidisciplinary
Neural coding
Prefrontal cortex
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Short term memory
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The frontal lobes are essential for human volition and goal-directed behavior, yet their function remains unclear. While various models have highlighted working memory, reinforcement learning, and cognitive control as key functions, a single framework for interpreting the range of effects observed in prefrontal cortex has yet to emerge. Here we show that a simple computational motif based on predictive coding can be stacked hierarchically to learn and perform arbitrarily complex goal-directed behavior. The resulting Hierarchical Error Representation (HER) model simulates a wide array of findings from fMRI, ERP, single-units, and neuropsychological studies of both lateral and medial prefrontal cortex. By reconceptualizing lateral prefrontal activity as anticipating prediction errors, the HER model provides a novel unifying account of prefrontal cortex function with broad implications for understanding the frontal cortex across multiple levels of description, from the level of single neurons to behavior.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-21407-9