Clay Holroyd, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience
Department of Psychology
University of Victoria

Are we there yet? Midcingulate Cortex Encodes Distributed Representations of Task Progress
The ability to finish extended tasks successfully poses several cognitive challenges. Although midcingulate cortex (MCC) appears to play an important role in this process, exactly how remains unclear. Multi-electrode recordings in non-human animals suggest that MCC encodes distributed representations of goal-directed action sequences, but technical challenges have impeded similar studies in humans. Here we apply a model-based cognitive neuroscience approach involving computational simulations, functional magnetic resonance imaging and representational similarity analysis to investigate this question in humans. In line with the animal findings, our results reveal that human MCC encodes dynamically evolving, distributed representations for executing extended tasks.

This lecture is made possible by a generous Endowment by Professor Roger B. Loucks.