General mechanisms of task engagement in the primate frontal cortex

Jan Grohn (), Nima Khalighinejad, Caroline I Jahn, Alessandro Bongioanni, Urs Schüffelgen, Jerome Sallet, Matthew F. S. Rushworth and Nils Kolling
Additional contact information
Jan Grohn: University of Oxford
Nima Khalighinejad: University of Oxford
Caroline I Jahn: University of Oxford
Alessandro Bongioanni: University of Oxford
Urs Schüffelgen: University of Oxford
Jerome Sallet: University of Oxford
Matthew F. S. Rushworth: University of Oxford
Nils Kolling: 18 Avenue Doyen Lepine

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Staying engaged is necessary to maintain goal-directed behaviors. Despite this, engagement exhibits continuous, intrinsic fluctuations. Even in experimental settings, animals, unlike most humans, repeatedly and spontaneously move between periods of complete task engagement and disengagement. We, therefore, looked at behavior in male macaques (macaca mulatta) in four tasks while recording fMRI signals. We identified consistent autocorrelation in task disengagement. This made it possible to build models capturing task-independent engagement. We identified task general patterns of neural activity linked to impending sudden task disengagement in mid-cingulate gyrus. By contrast, activity centered in perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) was associated with maintenance of performance across tasks. Importantly, we carefully controlled for task-specific factors such as the reward history and other motivational effects, such as response vigor, in our analyses. Moreover, we showed pgACC activity had a causal link to task engagement: transcranial ultrasound stimulation of pgACC changed task engagement patterns.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49128-w

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