Research groups
Colleges
Websites
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Laboratory for Cognitive Brain Mapping; RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan
Visiting Scientist
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Tohoku University Brain Science Center, Japan
Visiting Professor
Mark J. Buckley
MA DPhil
Professor of Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience
- Fellow of The Queen's College
Research Summary
I head the Brain and Behaviour Research Group in which we conduct basic neuroscience research to determine how neural systems underlie behaviour and cognition. Applied research aimed at relieving debilitating brain disease and disorders (e.g. dementias, amnesias, Schizophrenia, mood disorders etc.) depends crucially on basic research advancing understanding of how normal neural activity underlies normal behaviour, in addition to understanding why abnormal and dysfunctional behaviour may occur when these brain networks are compromised. For example, we have long been interested in understanding how brain areas in the temporal lobes and in associated regions, some of which become dysfunction in dementias including Alzheimer’s Disease, operate in mediating perception and memory. Likewise we have also focused our attention on understanding how more anterior brain regions in the frontal lobes operate in mediating learning and memory as well as other key elements of cognition including choice behaviour and goal-directed behaviour. An overarching theme of the current research in my laboratory is to progress beyond the traditional focus of research on individual regions and move to an understanding of how networks of interconnected brain regions interact together to mediate normal learning, memory and cognition. To do this we have to investigate both normal and abnormal brain function using a range of complementary neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging techniques. Our work is funded by the MRC, BBSRC, and Wellcome Trust.
Key publications
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Emergence of abstract rules in the primate brain
Mansouri FA. et al, (2020), Nature Reviews Neuroscience
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Managing competing goals - a key role for the frontopolar cortex.
Mansouri FA. et al, (2017), Nat Rev Neurosci, 18, 645 - 657
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Conflict-induced behavioural adjustment: a clue to the executive functions of the prefrontal cortex.
Mansouri FA. et al, (2009), Nat Rev Neurosci, 10, 141 - 152
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Dissociable components of rule-guided behavior depend on distinct medial and prefrontal regions.
Buckley MJ. et al, (2009), Science, 325, 52 - 58
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Mnemonic function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in conflict-induced behavioral adjustment.
Mansouri FA. et al, (2007), Science, 318, 987 - 990
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A role for the macaque anterior cingulate gyrus in social valuation.
Rudebeck PH. et al, (2006), Science, 313, 1310 - 1312
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Essential functions of primate frontopolar cortex in cognition.
Boschin EA. et al, (2015), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112, E1020 - E1027
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Behavioral consequences of selective damage to frontal pole and posterior cingulate cortices.
Mansouri FA. et al, (2015), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112, E3940 - E3949
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Frontopolar cortex shapes brain network structure across prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex
Ainsworth M. et al, (2022), Progress in Neurobiology, 102314 - 102314
Recent publications
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Memories or decisions? Bridging accounts of frontopolar function.
Boschin EA. et al, (2025), Neuropsychologia, 211
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Effects of noise and metabolic cost on cortical task representations.
Stroud JP. et al, (2025), Elife, 13
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Effects of noise and metabolic cost on cortical task representations
Stroud JP. et al, (2025), eLife, 13
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Frontopolar cortex stimulation induces prolonged disruption to counterfactual processing: insights from altered local field potentials
Ainsworth M. et al, (2024)
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Executive control fluctuations underlie behavioral variability in anthropoids
Mansouri FA. et al, (2024), Trends in Cognitive Sciences
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The role of frontopolar cortex in adjusting the balance between response execution and action inhibition in anthropoids
Feizpour A. et al, (2024), Progress in Neurobiology, 241, 102671 - 102671
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Direct current stimulation modulates prefrontal cell activity and behaviour without inducing seizure-like firing
Fehring DJ. et al, (2024), Brain
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Tracking subjects' strategies in behavioural choice experiments at trial resolution.
Maggi S. et al, (2024), Elife, 13
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Title Mapping causal links between prefrontal cortical regions and intra-individual behavioral variability
Mansouri F. et al, (2024), Nature Communications
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Cycles of goal silencing and reactivation underlie complex problem-solving in primate frontal and parietal cortex
Watanabe K. et al, (2023), Nature Communications, 14
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Learning shapes neural geometry in the prefrontal cortex
Wójcik MJ. et al, (2023)
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Frontal and temporal coding dynamics in successive steps of complex behavior.
Kadohisa M. et al, (2022), Neuron
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Prefrontal and Medial Temporal Lobe Cortical Contributions to Visual Short-Term Memory
Wu Z. and Buckley MJ., (2022), Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1 - 17
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Tracking subject's strategies in behavioural choice experiments at trial resolution
Maggi S. et al, (2022)
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Integrated neural dynamics for behavioural decisions and attentional competition in the prefrontal cortex.
Erez Y. et al, (2022), Eur J Neurosci, 56, 4393 - 4410
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Frontopolar cortex shapes brain network structure across prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortex
Ainsworth M. et al, (2022), Progress in Neurobiology, 102314 - 102314
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A One-Shot Shift from Explore to Exploit in Monkey Prefrontal Cortex.
Achterberg J. et al, (2022), J Neurosci, 42, 276 - 287
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The neural substrate and underlying mechanisms of executive control fluctuations in primates
Mansouri FA. et al, (2022), Progress in Neurobiology, 102216 - 102216
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Low-beta repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during object recognition memory sample presentation, at a task-related frequency observed in local field potentials in homologous macaque cortex, impairs subsequent recollection but not familiarity.
Wu Z. et al, (2021), Eur J Neurosci, 54, 7918 - 7945
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A one-shot learning signal in monkey prefrontal cortex
Achterberg J. et al, (2020)