The role of the frontal cortex in task preparation.

The ability to prepare a task is crucial for the voluntary control of our actions. It enables us to react flexibly and rapidly to a changing environment. In the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study we investigated task preparation with a task-cueing paradigm. In this paradigm we intermixed trials in which a task cue and a target were presented with trials in which only the task cue was presented. Analysis of these cue-only trials allowed us to isolate task-preparation related control from execution-related control processes. By means of this paradigm, we could demonstrate that a frontal network was related to task preparation. Further analysis revealed that the fronto-lateral cortex at the junction of precentral sulcus and inferior frontal sulcus and the presupplementary motor area are the crucial frontal components in task preparation.