The Role of the Frontal Cortex in Task Preparation

• Published in: Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) Vol. 12; no. 9; pp. 908 - 914
• Main Authors: Brass, Marcel, von Cramon, D. Yves
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.09.2002; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adult; Cues; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Humans; Linear Models; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - statistics & numerical data; Male; Photic Stimulation - methods; Reaction Time - physiology
• ISSN: 1047-3211; 1460-2199; 1460-2199
• DOI: 10.1093/cercor/12.9.908

The ability to prepare a task is crucial for the voluntary control of our actions. It enables us to react flexibly and rapidly to a changing environment. In the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study we investigated task preparation with a task-cueing paradigm. In this paradigm we intermixed trials in which a task cue and a target were presented with trials in which only the task cue was presented. Analysis of these cue-only trials allowed us to isolate task-preparation related control from execution-related control processes. By means of this paradigm, we could demonstrate that a frontal network was related to task preparation. Further analysis revealed that the fronto-lateral cortex at the junction of precentral sulcus and inferior frontal sulcus and the presupplementary motor area are the crucial frontal components in task preparation.