User:Psyc3330w12gp02LO/sandbox

Rostral Prefrontal Cortex
Until recently, not a lot has been known about the cognitive functions of the ‘’’Rostral Prefrontal Cortex’’’, also known as Area 10 of the brain. . In humans, this area of the brain is very large (25-30 cubic cm). The Rostral Prefrontal Cortex supports a cognitive system that reflects either stimulus-oriented (SO) or stimulus- independent (SI) attending. SI attending supports self-generated or self-maintained thought, which is important in prospective memory. This part of the brain has been shown to play a crucial role in the maintenance and realization of delayed intentions. Delayed intentions triggered by event cues are well understood; Time cues however have been less studied. In a positron emission tomography (PET) study, participants were asked to make a prospective response in either a event- based or time-based task condition. Differences in activation of regions of the Rostral Prefrontal Cortex were seen in the results according to whether the task was time- or event- based. Three rostral prefrontal regions were more active in the time-based condition: right superior frontal gyrus, anterior medial frontal lobe and anterior cingulate gyrus. These results suggest that there are different processing demands made by event- or time- based prospective memory tasks.