Event frequency modulates the processing of daily life activities in human medial prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Event sequence knowledge is necessary to learn, plan, and perform activities of daily life. Clinical observations suggest that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is crucial for goal-directed behavior such as carrying out plans, controlling a course of actions, or organizing everyday life routines. Functional neuroimaging studies provide further evidence that the PFC is involved in processing event sequence knowledge, with the medial PFC (Brodmann area 10) primarily engaged in mediating predictable event sequences. However, the exact role of the medial PFC in processing event sequence knowledge depending on the frequency of corresponding daily life activities remains obscure. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging while healthy volunteers judged whether event sequences from high- (HF), moderate- (MF), and low-frequency (LF) daily life activities were correctly ordered. The results demonstrated that different medial PFC subregions were activated depending on frequency. The anterior medial Area 10 was differentially activated for LF and the posterior medial Area 10 for HF activities. We conclude that subregions of the medial PFC are differentially engaged in processing event sequence knowledge depending on how often the activity was reportedly performed in daily life.