The Medial Prefrontal Cortex Is Needed for Resolving Interference Even When There Are No Changes in Task Rules and Strategies.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in behavioral flexibility, and the ability to resolve conflict from shifting strategies, task rules or attentional demands seems to be a hallmark of PFC function. Conflict also occurs in the domain of memory and the PFC plays an important role in the ability to cope with interference between competing retrieval targets. Previous studies often involved both interference and changes in task demands, which makes it difficult to determine the degree to which mnemonic interference per se engages PFC processing. We trained rats on a continuous matching to sample task in two conditions that varied in terms of the amount of interference present but not the task demands and found that temporary inactivation of the medial PFC caused a greater impairment in the high-interference condition. This result suggests that the PFC plays an important role in resolving interference which can be distinguished from its role in shifting task demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]