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The Graded Change in Connectivity across the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Reveals Distinct Subregions.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Jackson, Rebecca L 
Bajada, Claude J 
Lambon Ralph, Matthew A 
Cloutman, Lauren L 

Abstract

The functional heterogeneity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) suggests it may include distinct functional subregions. To date these have not been well elucidated. Regions with differentiable connectivity (and as a result likely dissociable functions) may be identified using emergent data-driven approaches. However, prior parcellations of the vmPFC have only considered hard splits between distinct regions, although both hard and graded connectivity changes may exist. Here we determine the full pattern of change in structural and functional connectivity across the vmPFC for the first time and extract core distinct regions. Both structural and functional connectivity varied along a dorsomedial to ventrolateral axis from relatively dorsal medial wall regions to relatively lateral basal orbitofrontal cortex. The pattern of connectivity shifted from default mode network to sensorimotor and multimodal semantic connections. This finding extends the classical distinction between primate medial and orbital regions by demonstrating a similar gradient in humans for the first time. Additionally, core distinct regions in the medial wall and orbitofrontal cortex were identified that may show greater correspondence to functional differences than prior hard parcellations. The possible functional roles of the orbitofrontal cortex and medial wall are discussed.

Description

Keywords

default mode network, functional connectivity, orbitofrontal cortex, parcellation, tractography, Adult, Brain Mapping, Female, Gray Matter, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neural Pathways, Prefrontal Cortex, White Matter, Young Adult

Journal Title

Cereb Cortex

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1047-3211
1460-2199

Volume Title

30

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MR/R023883/1)
This work was supported by a doctoral prize from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (pf170068) to RLJ, a studentship from the BBSRC (BB/J014478/1) to CJB, and programme grants from the Medical Research Council (MR/J004146/1 & MR/R023883/1) to MALR.