Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Gabbott, Paul L. and Rolls, Edmund T.
(2013).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.12171
Abstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of humans and macaques is an integral part of the default mode network and is a brain region that shows increased activation in the resting state. A previous paper from our laboratory reported significantly increased firing rates of neurons in the macaque subgenual cingulate cortex, Brodmann area (BA) 25, during disengagement from a task and also during slow wave sleep [E.T. Rolls et al. (2003) J. Neurophysiology, 90, 134–142]. Here we report the finding that there are neurons in other areas of mPFC that also increase their firing rates during disengagement from a task, drowsiness and eye-closure. During the neurophysiological recording of single mPFC cells (n = 249) in BAs 9, 10, 13 m, 14c, 24b and especially pregenual area 32, populations of neurons were identified whose firing rates altered significantly with eye-closure compared with eye-opening. Three types of neuron were identified: Type 1 cells (28.1% of the total population) significantly increased (mean +/- 329%; P < 0.01) their average firing rate with eye-closure, from 3.1 spikes/s when awake to 10.2 spikes/s when asleep; Type 2 cells (6.0%) significantly decreased (mean +/- 68%; P < 0.05) their firing rate on eye-closure; and Type 3 cells (65.9%) were unaffected. Thus, in many areas of mPFC, implicated in the anterior default mode network, there is a substantial population of neurons that significantly increase their firing rates during periods of eye-closure. Such neurons may be part of an interconnected network of distributed brain regions that are more active during periods of relaxed wakefulness than during attention-demanding tasks.
Viewing alternatives
Metrics
Public Attention
Altmetrics from AltmetricNumber of Citations
Citations from Dimensions- Proof (PDF) This file is not available for public download
Item Actions
Export
About
- Item ORO ID
- 36803
- Item Type
- Journal Item
- ISSN
- 1460-9568
- Keywords
- cingulate cortex; default mode network; neuronal activity; neurophysiology; pregenual cortex
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Life, Health and Chemical Sciences
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) - Copyright Holders
- © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Depositing User
- Paul Gabbott