Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38937654›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2024

Timescales of learning in prefrontal cortex.

Jacob A Miller, Christos Constantinidis

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Long-term Learning Induces Plastic Changes in Frontostriatal Circuits.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  4. The cost of efficiency in flexible neural representations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Prefrontal Mechanisms of Rule Learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Sensory reformatting for a working visual memory.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2025
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Jacob A MillerWu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Christos ConstantinidisDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. christos.constantinidis.1@vanderbilt.edu.

Funding

NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TRAINING IN VISUAL COGNITIVE TASKSR01EY017077 · NEI · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI CHRISTOS CONSTANTINIDIS · 2006 to 2026
$6.0M
Neurophysiology of Working Memory Maturation in AdolescenceR01MH116675 · NIMH · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI CONSTANTINIDIS, CHRISTOS, WHITLOW, CHRISTOPHER T · 2018 to 2022
$2.4M
CORTICAL CIRCUIT BASIS OF VISUAL SPATIAL PROCESSINGR01EY016773 · NEI · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI CONSTANTINIDIS, CHRISTOS · 2008 to 2017
$2.3M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY016773NEI NIH HHS R01 EY017077NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH116675
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in humans and other primates is critical for immediate, goal-directed behaviour and working memory, which are classically considered distinct from the cognitive and neural circuits that support long-term learning and memory. Over the past few years, a reconsideration of this textbook perspective has emerged, in that different timescales of memory-guided behaviour are in constant interaction during the pursuit of immediate goals. Here, we will first detail how neural activity related to the shortest timescales of goal-directed behaviour (which requires maintenance of current states and goals in working memory) is sculpted by long-term knowledge and learning - that is, how the past informs present behaviour. Then, we will outline how learning across different timescales (from seconds to years) drives plasticity in the primate lateral PFC, from single neuron firing rates to mesoscale neuroimaging activity patterns. Finally, we will review how, over days and months of learning, dense local and long-range connectivity patterns in PFC facilitate longer-lasting changes in population activity by changing synaptic weights and recruiting additional neural resources to inform future behaviour. Our Review sheds light on how the machinery of plasticity in PFC circuits facilitates the integration of learned experiences across time to best guide adaptive behaviour.

Indexed as

LearningNeuronal PlasticityPrefrontal CortexAnimalsHumansMemory, Short-TermNeuronsTime Factors

Identifiers

PMID38937654
PMCPMC12616548

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.