Michael Petrides, PhD, FRS, FRSC, CAHS
Distinguished James McGill Professor
Michael Petrides is examining the function of the different areas of the frontal cortex and their interaction with parietal and temporal areas in cognitive activity, particularly planning and working memory. For instance, he has shown that the ability to monitor self-generated, intentional actions in working memory depends on a specific part of the dorsolateral frontal cortex, which interacts with the parietal cortex during the mental manipulation of information. He also examines the cytoarchitecture and connectivity of the different cortical areas. Petrides is also studying single cells in this region of the brain to determine the specific neural activity that underlies working memory monitoring.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Loh, K.K., Neophytou, K., Drudik, K., Barbeau, E.B., Tsapkini, K., and Petrides, M. Ventral temporal-frontal pathways in the human brain based on diffusion MRI tractography.
NeuroImage, 2026, 335, 121982.
Zlatkina, V., Martakis, K., Azizi, H., and Petrides, M. Evolutionary consideration of serial order processing by the normal rodent brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 2025, 122 (41), e2509426122.
Drudik, K., Zlatkina, V., Barbeau, E.B., and Petrides, M. The frontal and posterior cortical areas involved in the non-spatial visual allocation of attention in the human brain: a functional neuroimaging study. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2025, 18, 1472114.
Nolan, E., Loh, K.K., and Petrides, M. Morphological patterns and spatial probability maps of the inferior frontal sulcus in the human brain. Human Brain Mapping, 2024, 45(10), e26759.
Barbeau, E., Badhwar, A., Kousaie, S., Bellec, P., Descoteaux, M., Klein, D., and Petrides, M. Dissection of the temporo-frontal extreme capsule fasciculus using diffusion MRI tractography and association with lexical retrieval. eNeuro, 2024, 11, 1-10.
Eichert, N., Watkins, K.E., Mars, R.B., and Petrides, M. Morphological and functional variability in central and subcentral motor cortex of the human brain. Brain Structure and Function, 2021, 226, 263-279.
Amiez, C., Sallet, J., Novek, J., Hadj-Bouziane, F., Giacometti, C., Andersson, J., Hopkins, W.D., and Petrides, M. Chimpanzee histology and functional brain imaging show that the paracingulate sulcus is not human specific. Communications Biology, 2021, 4(1), 54.
Germann, J. and Petrides, M. The ventral part of dorsolateral frontal area 8A regulates visual attentional selection and the dorsal part auditory attentional selection. Neuroscience, 2020, 441, 209-216.
Petrides, M. Atlas of the Morphology of the Human Cerebral Cortex on the Average MNI Brain. Academic Press, New York, 2019.
Petrides, M. Neuroanatomy of Language Regions of the Human Brain. Academic Press, New York, 2014.
Petrides, M. and Pandya, D.N. Distinct parietal and temporal pathways to the homologues of Broca’s area in the monkey. PLoS Biology, 2009, 7, e1000170.
Petrides, M., Cadoret, G., and Mackey, S. Orofacial somatomotor responses in the macaque monkey homologue of Broca’s area. Nature, 2005, 435, 1235-1238.
Petrides, M. and Pandya, D.N. Comparative architectonic analysis of the human and the macaque ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and corticocortical connection patterns in the monkey. European Journal of Neuroscience, 2002, 16, 291-310.
Petrides, M. and Pandya, D.N. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: Comparative cytoarchitectonic analysis in the human and the macaque brain and corticocortical connection patterns. European Journal of Neuroscience, 1999, 11, 1011-1036.