A Long-Range Fronto-Parietal 5- to 10-Hz Network Predicts “Top-Down” Controlled Guidance in a Task-Switch Paradigm

Jessica M. Phillips, Martin Vinck, Stefan Everling, Thilo Womelsdorf

The capacity to rapidly adjust behavioral strategies according to changing task demands is closely associated with coordinated activity in lateral and medial prefrontal cortices. Subdivisions within prefrontal cortex are implicated to encode attentional task sets and to update changing task rules, particularly when changing task demands require top-down control. Here, we tested whether these top-down processes precede stimulus processing and constitute a preparatory attentional state that functionally couples with parietal cortex. We examined this functional coupling by recording from intracranial EEG electrodes in macaques during performance of a task-switching paradigm that separates task performance that is based on controlled top-down guidance from automatic, stimulus-triggered processing modes. We identify a prefrontal-parietal network that phase synchronizes at 5-10 Hz, particularly during preparatory states that indicate top-down controlled task-processing modes. Phase relations in the network suggest that medial and lateral prefrontal cortices synchronize bidirectionally, with medial prefrontal cortex showing a phase-lead relative to left parietal recorded 5- to 10-Hz preparatory signals. These findings reveal a 5- to 10-Hz coordinated, long-range fronto-parietal network prior to actual task-relevant stimulus processing, particularly when subjects engage in controlled task processing modes.