The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Frontal Cortex will be held in Holderness, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.

The term “prefrontal” appears to have been coined in the first volume of Brain in the context of describing the curious case of Phineas Gage, inspired by the skull anatomy of fish (Girard, 1851; Anon, 1878). This initial report details how prefrontal lesions defied simple explanations of disrupted movement or sensation and alluded to more complex changes in personality, motivation, and mood. Insights from this article, combined with early lesion studies in nonhuman primates, linked prefrontal function with a loss of the “faculty of attention and intelligent observation” (Ferrier, 1878). In the 150 years since these early reports, neuroscience and artificial intelligence have exploded in knowledge and technical ability. Still, the computations that endow the prefrontal cortex with its unique abilities defy easy definition. Attempts have focused on anatomical properties, such as thalamic projections, neuromodulatory input, and laminar structure, or its apparent roles in overt behavior through neuropsychological investigation. These contributions have advanced our understanding on different fronts but still have not captured the full breadth of the prefrontal cortex's role in cognition and behavior.A unifying feature of prefrontal networks is believed to be the computations it carries out—higher-order algorithms that transform immediate sensory, memory, and internal information to perform such flexible functions as inference, planning, delayed responses, … Correspondence should be addressed to Nandakumar S. Narayanan at nandakumar-narayanan{at}uiowa.edu.

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Interim Guidance on Reopening of NIH Extramural Activities NOT-OD-26-005. NIH

The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Frontal Cortex will be held in Holderness, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.

Protestors across Western Massachusetts joined others across the state and the nation in "No Kings" rallies denouncing everything from ICE raids to cuts in food assistance benefits.

Pinpointing brain circuits underlying binge drinking alcohol offers potential targets to develop interventions and reveals insights about neuronal wiring.

Apply now to work with the International Brain Lab Core. Contribute to groundbreaking neuroscience research in a global, collaborative environment.

The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on The Neuroscience of Social Behaviors will be held in Pomona, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.

Bowdoin College’s Program of Neuroscience invites applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty appointment in Neuroscience at the Assistant Professor level, beginning July 1, 2026, with a prefere...

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Fundamental Mechanisms and Functions of Co-transmission in the Brain NOT-MH-24-105. ...