DISTINCT CONTRIBUTIONS OF DORSOMEDIAL AND VENTROMEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTICES TO ATTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR

In order to survive in an ever-changing world, organisms must adapt their behavior optimally. In this context, attention is a fundamental adaptation mechanism, enabling the allocation of mental resources to salient environmental stimuli, while filtering out distractions. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a critical role in attentional control, yet its functional organization and underlying mechanisms remain partially understood. In particular, the respective contributions of the dorsomedial (dmPFC) and ventromedial (vmPFC) prefrontal cortices in attentional processes, as well as their neuromodulatory regulation, require clarification. To address this issue, we used fiber photometry recordings in rats performing a 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), a well-established paradigm for assessing attentional performance. Our results reveal a functional dissociation between these two subregions: the vmPFC being preferentially activated during light stimulus detection and successful execution (correct responses), while the dmPFC is activated during error signaling following incorrect, omission and premature responses, suggesting a role in performance monitoring. Given the pivotal role of acetylcholine (ACh) in attentional modulation, we next investigated whether ACh signaling contributes to these region-specific patterns using a genetically encoded cholinergic sensor. We found that ACh release increased during stimulus detection and correct responses in both subregions, while no changes in ACh levels were observed after incorrect, omission or premature responses, suggesting that ACh signaling is specifically linked to successful attentional processing. Together, these findings provide a multilevel characterization of attentional processing in the mPFC, highlighting how distinct subregions and their neuromodulatory control contribute to different aspects of attention.