2011 年 29 巻 2 号 p. 164-170
The prefrontal cortices play important roles in cognitive control of behavior. The medial prefrontal cortex guides actions on the basis of the representation of action-outcome contingency, because many neurons represent action-outcome contingency when represented information is examined in a visually cued go/no-go task with asymmetrical rewards with reversals. Also, the medial prefrontal cortex evaluates the correctness of actions on the basis of classifying the outcome of actions, because both success- and failure-responsive neurons were observed in an action-learning task. On the other hand, the lateral prefrontal cortex regulates the relationship between actions and rewards by comparing the values of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, because the lateral prefrontal cortex shows the activity corresponding to the undermining effect of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation in a task that could be voluntarily engaged in. Both the medial and lateral prefrontal cortices may interact to link between goal-directed behaviors and intrinsic motivation through the cortico-basal ganglia loops.
