Talk:Prefrontal cortex

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 September 2019 and 18 December 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jsteph98.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 07:07, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Phineas Gage
The Phineas Gage section should probably be rewritten, it diverges somewhat from Wikipedia's own section on it

Proposed Changes
I am thinking about integrating more of the executive function discussion into this page, and a discussion around brain function and brain structures. Any thoughts?

The role of the prefrontal cortex in fluid functioning is a topic that needs to be discussed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.22.31.252 (talk) 04:58, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Anatomical Connections
The article reads generally quite well in many parts. I appreciate that people here took such care to document function and anatomy, and that they found so many sources. What I think could be improved is the section about interconnections. The description is very high-level and from the point of view of (cognitive) psychology. I think, it would be nice to see a description, a-la connectomics, of the anatomical connections, taken, for example, from tracing studies. Ben T/C 13:41, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Prefrontal Cortex with the Amygdala
I was reading, and I would like to say that from what I read the Prefrontal Cortex and the Amygdala are strongly connected to each other. The Amygdala is in the Temporal Lobe.

Prefrontal Cortex/Amygdala with Hippocampus
Studies of the rat brain with dyes have shown that the medial prefrontal cortex is connected by virtue of thalamocortical circuits to the amygdala and hippocampus, where memories of things such as music are formed (see article on the primary auditory cortex)

Medial prefrontal cortex, stress, and the healing power of music
The recent study by Liston et. al. has shown that frontal cortical areas differ in response to stress, mainly by dendritic loss. Music activates this region of the brain that can succumb to dendritic loss and loss of synapses (medial prefrontal cortex), and in the brain a neuron being pruned can regenerate its connections with stimulation. Perhaps music not only "ameliorates the soul", but also prevents loss of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex with stress?

Does the image show where the Prefrontal cortex is?
It's not clear from the image where the prefrontal cortex is —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.178.60.165 (talk) 19:06, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. IANAWE (wikipedia expert), just a passerby, but this article as a whole, as well as a few of the other neurological articles (see cerebral cortex), don't function well as encyclopedia articles as they make little attempt to be accessible to those without any domain knowledge. In this case it seems that the article should at least be preceded by an introduction that provides a general conceptual overview.


 * Absolutely. It certainly does not distinguish between any part of the cortex, as it is simply a diagram with various Brodmann areas disclosed throughout the cortex...  This article needs a better picture - one that distinguishes the prefrontal cortex from the frontal cortex, the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes and the motor areas... Stevenmitchell (talk) 02:31, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually, if you read the tiny text underneath the picture, it says: "Per BrainInfo, parts of #8, #9, #10, #11, #44, #45, #46, and #47 are all in frontal region." I will change this into prefrontal region. It's not a very good picture, but it does give you some idea of where the prefrontal region is. Lova Falk (talk) 18:01, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

The image in the box at the top of the page is certainly far more helpful than the images at the bottom only showing images of Brodmann area 10 - it is very strange to have four pictures of just one subregion of prefrontal cortex on a page devoted to PFC. I suggest that either (a) these images should be removed or (b) (perhaps better) they should be supplemented with pictures showing all other subregions of PFC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.6.108.144 (talk) 16:09, 23 September 2012 (UTC)
 * You are quite right, however the problem is to find pictures that are free to use...  Lova Falk     talk   17:49, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Evolution
I was reading this article to see what it had to say about the evolution of the prefrontal cortex. It seems to me that this is a very important topic, but I only found a brief and cursory mention of it here, without any link to an article with more extensive information. Al B G (talk) 22:20, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

IANA neurologist, but (or maybe, "so,") I think it would be useful to add a bit of context to the article. It is implied but not stated that all the content of the article applies only to the human brain. This could be made more clear, perhaps by stating it is only found in humans (?) and even providing a little bit of history. Eg, how and when did we get it? Maybe even, are there any structures in other creatures that provide some of the same facilities? Somegeek 19:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Function
I can't believe no one is saying anything about function!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.67.120.196 (talk) 16:48, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

I think it does no harm adding executive function section and filling it with written articles from "studies" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.67.120.196 (talk) 16:51, 23 June 2010 (UTC)

the mPFC and depression
I was reading an article that stated casually that the mPFC is known to be hyperactive in people with depression. This article states the opposite to be true. Can anyone elaborate? source (noted in paragraph six): http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_24-1-2012-10-39-58#fni-3 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.121.210.155 (talk) 18:19, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps you are confusing hyperactive with hypoactive? Sondra.kinsey (talk) 17:11, 19 July 2016 (UTC)

Acquired and or Traumatic Brain Injury
I am not knowledgeable enough to go about attempting to bring acquired brain injury and especially traumatic brain injury (TBI) into the picture. However, in an article which speculates that ADHD could involve prefrontal cortex dysfunction I cannot imagine why the most widely accepted cause of executive function disruption - traumatic brain injury - is not even mentioned. — Preceding unsigned comment added by QuintBy (talk • contribs) 10:56, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Comparison of non-human prefrontal cortices
Several users have requested a comparison of non-human prefrontal cortices. (Somegeek 19:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC), 2.96.226.129 (talk) 13:12, 8 July 2013 (UTC), Wordreader (talk) 17:18, 16 March 2015 (UTC))

Lova Falk  encourages us to find some good and reliable sources, are bold and add to the article! Lova Falk    talk   17:05, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Consider reading and summarizing the discussion in some of these articles: Google Scholar search for prefrontal cortex rats Sondra.kinsey (talk) 17:36, 19 July 2016 (UTC)

Why pre-frontal?
could somebody be so kind to explain to a normal dummy why "pre-frontal"? in plane language: before the frontal part...? Having seen where it lies, I would say: just "frontal". so where is the "frontal cortex" as distinct from the pre-frontal one? thanx! --HilmarHansWerner (talk) 17:17, 26 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Just a guess: probably because it's not the whole front but the "fronter" front. -- f s  05:57, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Questions for those who know.
1. I agree with an above comment that a more detailed evolution section would be interesting. 2. Is it true that the prefrontal cortex isn't fully functional in humans until about the age of 20-ish? 3. Is it true that drug abuse interferes with the development of the area? Are there other factors as well, besides, of course, trauma?

Thank you, Wordreader (talk) 17:18, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

Relationship between the vmPFC and the mPFC
The table in the article currently seems to say the medial prefrontal cortex and the ventral prefrontal cortex are subsections of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. However, Leary Tangney 2012 p. 640 says that the the dmPFC and vmPFC are subsections of the mPFC. What is the relationship between the vmPFC and the mPFC? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Daask (talk • contribs) 19:58, 2 May 2019 (UTC)


 * In ventromedial prefrontal cortex it is claimed that "not all sources agree on the boundaries of the [vmPFC]", which is probably true even if there's no citation. Whether the vmPFC is part of the mPFC or vice versa is probably a matter of terminology. From first principles it seems like "vmPFC" should designate something more specific than "mPFC", but probably (see vmPFC and its citations) the terms are more often used in the opposide way. Probably we ought to cite some medical terminology standard, or at least an officialy standard textbook, mentioning the source in the main text of the section. Sisima70 (talk) 23:37, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

On the Layers of the Prefrontal Cortex
Please tell the functions of the 6 layers in the prefrontal cortex,especially layers 5 and 6. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.39.101.198 (talk • contribs) 17:40, 29 July 2019 (UTC)