Different types of uncertainty distinguished by monkey prefrontal neurons

To adapt one's behavior, in a timely manner, to an environment that changes in many different aspects, one must be sensitive to uncertainty about each aspect of the environment. Although the medial prefrontal cortex has been implicated in the representation and reduction of a variety of uncertainties, it is unknown whether different types of uncertainty are distinguished by distinct neuronal populations. To investigate how the prefrontal cortex distinguishes between different types of uncertainty, we recorded neuronal activities from the medial and lateral prefrontal cortices of monkeys performing a visual feedback-based action-learning task in which uncertainty of coming feedback and that of context change varied asynchronously. We found that the activities of two groups of prefrontal cells represented the two different types of uncertainty. These results suggest that different types of uncertainty are represented by distinct neural populations in the prefrontal cortex.