fMRI experiments and computational models of the function of the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia: a review

We have previously developed computational neuroscience models of fronto-striatal activity during the performance of the Wisconsin card sorting task (WCST), a well-known set- shifting task (Monchi et al., 1999 and 2000). The simulation of this model helped design a novel event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI protocol that allows for the separation of four temporal stages of the task, that was used in both healthy controls and patients with Parkinson´s disease (PD) (Monchi et al., 2001 and 2004). Here, the advantages and limitations of our previous computational methods were discussed with respect to functional neuroimaging data acquisition, and examples of new, on-going studies using both fMRI and computational neuroscience were given.