The engagement of mid‐ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior brain regions in intentional cognitive activity

Dove, Anja; Manly, Tom; Epstein, Russell; Owen, Adrian M. · 2008 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20378

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Summary

This study investigates the distinct functional roles of the mid-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (mid-VLPFC) and posterior higher visual areas, specifically the fusiform face area (FFA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA), during intentional cognitive activity. The research addresses the theoretical distinction between controlled processes, which require deliberate conscious effort, and automatic processes. While the prefrontal cortex is widely associated with cognitive control, it remains unclear whether this control is stimulus-independent or if posterior sensory areas also engage in control processes only when processing their preferred stimuli. The authors aimed to clarify whether mid-VLPFC activity is driven by the intention to process information regardless of stimulus type, whereas posterior areas are modulated by intention only when the stimulus naturally activates those regions. To test these hypotheses, the researchers employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with 13 healthy volunteers. Participants viewed three types of stimuli: faces, scenes, and abstract paintings. The experimental design manipulated the level of intentional control through specific instructions. In "low intention" conditions, participants were instructed to simply "look at" new or previously seen stimuli. In "high intention" conditions, participants were instructed to "remember" new stimuli or to explicitly recognize whether previously seen stimuli had appeared before. This design allowed for the separation of top-down influences (intentional control) from bottom-up influences (stimulus type). Regions of interest were defined individually for the FFA and PPA using localizer scans, while mid-VLPFC regions were defined based on peak activations from a previous study involving similar intentional encoding tasks. The results demonstrated a clear dissociation between frontal and posterior brain regions. Activity in the mid-VLPFC increased significantly during high-intention conditions compared to low-intention conditions, regardless of whether the stimuli were faces, scenes, or abstract paintings. There was no significant mid-VLPFC activity during passive viewing relative to baseline, confirming its role in intentional control rather than perceptual processing. In contrast, activity in the FFA and PPA was primarily driven by stimulus type; the FFA responded most strongly to faces and the PPA to scenes. Crucially, the modulation of FFA and PPA activity by intention (higher activity during high-intention vs. low-intention conditions) occurred only when the presented stimuli were those that naturally elicited activity in those regions (faces for FFA, scenes for PPA). No such intention-related modulation was observed in these posterior areas when viewing abstract paintings, which did not preferentially activate them. These findings support the hypothesis that the mid-VLPFC serves a general, stimulus-independent role in implementing intentional cognitive control, operating on information available in posterior association cortices. Conversely, posterior higher visual areas like the FFA and PPA exhibit stimulus-specific processing that is modulated by intentional demands only when the input matches their functional specialization. This clarifies the complementary nature of these brain regions: the mid-VLPFC provides the executive control necessary for intentional tasks, while posterior areas handle the specific perceptual content, engaging in controlled processing only when relevant sensory input is present.

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• executive function