A primary aim in the neuroscientific study of depression is to identify the brain areas involved in the pathogenesis of symptoms. In this review, we describe evidence from studies employing various experimental approaches in humans (functional imaging, lesion method, and brain stimulation) that converge to implicate the ventromedial and dorsolateral sectors of prefrontal cortex as critical neur...

It is now common to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging explore which areas of the human brain are activated during decision-making process. In study consumer behaviors, product brand has been identified as a major factor affecting purchase decisions. Prior studies indicate that had significant impact on activation. However, it unsure if consumers’ activation also when purchasing brand-...

To explore the brain mechanisms underlying multi-item working memory, we monitored the activity of neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while macaque monkeys performed spatial and chromatic versions of a Sternberg working-memory task. Each trial required holding three sequentially presented samples in working memory so as to identify a subsequent probe matching one of them. The monkeys...

Recently, researchers have investigated the causal nature of attentional bias for threat (AB) in the maintenance of anxiety disorders by experimentally manipulating it. They found that training anxious individuals to attend to non-threat stimuli reduces AB, which, in turn, reduces anxiety. This effect supports the hypothesis that AB can causally impact the maintenance of anxiety. At a fundament...

Neuroimaging and lesion studies have implicated specific prefrontal cortex locations in subjective memory awareness. Based on this evidence, a rostrocaudal organization has been proposed whereby increasingly anterior prefrontal regions are increasingly involved in memory awareness. We used theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TBS) to temporarily modulate dorsolateral versus frontopola...

Every day, individuals make dozens of choices between an alternative with higher overall value and a more tempting but ultimately inferior option. Optimal decision-making requires self-control. We propose two hypotheses about the neurobiology of self-control: (i) Goal-directed decisions have their basis in a common value signal encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and (ii) exercis...

When weighing evidence for a decision, individuals are continually faced with the choice of whether to gather more information or act on what has already been learned. The present experiment employed a self-paced category learning task and fMRI to examine the neural mechanisms underlying stopping of information search and how they contribute to choice accuracy. Participants learned to classify ...

Decision making is commonly conceived to reflect the interplay of mutually antagonistic systems: executive processes must inhibit affective information to make adaptive choices. Consistent with this interpretation, prior studies have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is activated by executive processing and deactivated during emotional processing, with the reverse pattern fo...

BACKGROUND Relatively low levels of brain N-acetylaspartate, as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy, may indicate decreased neuronal density or viability. Dorsolateral prefrontal levels of N-acetylaspartate have been reported to be decreased in adults with bipolar disorder. We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate dorsolateral prefrontal N-acetylaspartate levels in ...

BACKGROUND The neurobiological basis of stress and anxiety in primates remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined the neural response to a naturalistic social stressor: maternal separation. We used rhesus monkeys as an animal model because of their close phylogenetic affinity with humans. METHODS Six juvenile rhesus monkeys received [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomo...