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Abstract:
Human frontal cortex processes many types of information in a
multitude of ways. One fundamental process in which it may be
involved is response selection. After a relevant environmental
stimulus is encoded, this process selects an appropriate response
depending on one's current task situation. The selection of a
correct response to a presented stimulus is vital to our ability to
successfully perform a variety of tasks. Experimental designs used
in previous studies may have confounded other processes along with
response selection, making it difficult to localize precisely
response selection processing. Our study overcomes this limitation
by systematically manipulating two distinct processes (viz.,
response selection and stimulus encoding) within the same task
procedure. This enables a precise characterization of the brain
circuitry related to each process. We find that stimulus encoding
involves extrastriate cortex and response selection involves dorsal
prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, the activation pattern for these
processes change with extended task practice.
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