Neuronal Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex During Performance of a Dual Task Consisting of a Main- and An Interrupting-Task

To investigate the neuronal mechanism of multi-tasking, we recorded neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) while monkeys performed a dual task consisting of a main-task and an interruption. We found PFC neurons responded selectively to either the interruption or resumption to the main-task. PMd neurons showed sustained activity related to preparation for the main-task. Accordingly, we hypothesized a model in which the PFC controls a dual task by providing biasing signals to downstream systems.