Architecture of Explanatory Inference in the Human Prefrontal Cortex

Abstract

Causal reasoning is a ubiquitous feature of human cognition. We continuously seek to understand, at least implicitly and often explicitly, the causal scenarios in which we live, so that we may anticipate what will come next, plan a potential response and envision its outcome, decide among possible courses of action in light of their probable outcomes, make midstream adjustments in our goal-related activities as our situation changes, and so on. A considerable body of research shows that the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for causal reasoning, but also that there are significant differences in the manner in which ventrolateral PFC, dorsolateral PFC, and anterolateral PFC support causal reasoning. We propose, on the basis of research on the evolution, architecture, and functional organization of the lateral PFC, a general framework for understanding its roles in the many and varied sorts of causal reasoning carried out by human beings. Specifically, the ventrolateral PFC supports the generation of basic causal explanations and inferences; dorsolateral PFC supports the evaluation of these scenarios in light of some given normative standard (e.g., of plausibility or correctness in light of real or imagined causal interventions); and anterolateral PFC supports explanation and inference at an even higher level of complexity, coordinating the processes of generation and evaluation with further cognitive processes, and especially with computations of hedonic value and emotional implications of possible behavioral scenarios – considerations that are often critical both for understanding situations causally and for deciding about our own courses of action.

Reasoning, cognitive control, and moral intuition

“…More specifically, their work combines recent developments in genetics, fMRI, and behavioral testing to track the development of an attentional network in early childhood. The neural systems involved coincide with results of fMRI studies of cognitive control in adults, at least insofar as it includes anterior cingulate cortex and portions of lateral prefrontal cortex; for reviews see Botvinick et al (2001), Miller and Cohen (2001), Ramnani and Owen (2004), Barbey et al (2009), and Barbey and Patterson (2011). The experimenters also correlated their results with parental reports of children's ability for self-regulation of cognition and emotion.…”

Functional connectivity in obesity during reward processing

“…In the present paper, processing of rewarding stimuli was associated with a higher connectivity of the IC1, a network involving frontal and occipital areas. More specifically, areas fundamental for basic processing of the environment were implicated, such as occipital areas, structures involved in selective attention, working memory, preparatory set and monitoring such as the inferior frontal gyrus (Fuster, 2002) and areas with an important role in appraisal and decision-making processes such as the paracingulate cortex (Barbey and Patterson, 2011). The spatial map of the IC1 (Fig.…”

Functional network centrality in obesity: A resting-state and task fMRI study

“…The middle frontal gyrus is a key structure in selective attention, working memory, inhibitory control and monitoring (Fuster, 2002). It is located in the lateral prefrontal cortex and is heavily interconnected with motor, auditory and visual areas (Fuster, 2008;Barbey and Patterson, 2011). Studies of intrinsic functional connectivity have shown an involvement of the middle frontal gyrus in several circuits encompassing a broad array of functional domains, including the fronto-parietal network, the premotor network and the supplementary motor network (Laird et al, 2011).…”