Dissociation Of Working Memory from Decision Making within the Human Prefrontal Cortex

Antoine Bechara; Hanna Damasio; Daniel Tranel; Steven W Anderson

doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-01-00428.1998

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Dissociation Of Working Memory from Decision Making within the Human Prefrontal Cortex

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Dissociation Of Working Memory from Decision Making within the Human Prefrontal Cortex

Antoine Bechara, Hanna Damasio, Daniel Tranel and Steven W Anderson

The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.18(1), pp.428-437

01/01/1998

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-01-00428.1998

PMCID: PMC6793407

PMID: 9412519

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Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that cognitive functions related to working memory (assessed with delay tasks) are distinct from those related to decision making (assessed with a gambling task), and that working memory and decision making depend in part on separate anatomical substrates. Normal controls ( n = 21), subjects with lesions in the ventromedial (VM) ( n = 9) or dorsolateral/high mesial (DL/M) prefrontal cortices ( n = 10), performed on (1) modified delay tasks that assess working memory and (2) a gambling task designed to measure decision making. VM subjects with more anterior lesions ( n = 4) performed defectively on the gambling but not the delay task. VM subjects with more posterior lesions ( n = 5) were impaired on both tasks. Right DL/M subjects were impaired on the delay task but not the gambling task. Left DL/M subjects were not impaired on either task. The findings reveal a cognitive and anatomic double dissociation between deficits in decision making (anterior VM) and working memory (right DL/M). This presents the first direct evidence of such effects in humans using the lesion method and underscores the special importance of the VM prefrontal region in decision making, independent of a direct role in working memory.

control of interference

working memory

decision making

orbitofrontal cortex

delay tasks

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

gambling tasks

disinhibition

Details

Title: Subtitle: Dissociation Of Working Memory from Decision Making within the Human Prefrontal Cortex
Creators: Antoine Bechara - The Salk Institute of Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, 92186
Hanna Damasio - The Salk Institute of Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, 92186
Daniel Tranel - The Salk Institute of Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, 92186
Steven W Anderson - The Salk Institute of Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, 92186
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.18(1), pp.428-437
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-01-00428.1998
PMID: 9412519
PMCID: PMC6793407
NLM abbreviation: J Neurosci
ISSN: 0270-6474
eISSN: 1529-2401
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
Language: English
Date published: 01/01/1998
Academic Unit: Neurology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Record Identifier: 9984002416902771

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