Task-Switching in Human and Nonhuman Primates: Understanding Rule Encoding and Control from Behavior to Single Neurons

Task-switching paradigms are ideal for studying how primates implement and apply rules. This chapter summarizes a large body of work conducted on the comparative primatology and neurophysiology of task-switching in macaque monkeys. This chapter presents ?ndings of rule representations from single-neuron recordings in the intraparietal sulcus in posterior parietal cortex and argues that rule representation and control is implemented by a network spanning both frontal and posterior brain regions. These ?ndings provide a useful model for studying neuronal representations of task rules and the neural processes that apply those rules.