Dorsolateral PFC
Goal maintenance, manipulation and rule representation.
Anatomy is network anatomy: lateral prefrontal corridors talk to parietal maps, while medial walls monitor conflict and value.
Subcortical partners — caudate, putamen, thalamus, cerebellum — implement selection and timing, not just “support”.
Structures
Ventrolateral PFC
Retrieval control and interference resolution.
Anterior cingulate (dACC)
Conflict monitoring and need-for-control signals.
Frontoparietal cortex
Rapid adaptive control on demanding tasks.
Caudate / dorsal striatum
Goal-directed action selection in frontostriatal loops.
Cerebellar cognitive loops
Timing, prediction and sequencing support for control.
Pathways
Frontostriatal loops
Select and gate competing action plans.
Superior longitudinal fasciculus
Links prefrontal control with parietal attention maps.
Cingulo-opercular network
Sustained task set and tonic alertness.
Thalamocortical relays
Route and amplify control signals to cortex.
Landmarks
Stroop conflict
Classic behavioural window onto inhibition and conflict.
n-back / span tasks
Probe updating and capacity under load.
Task-switching paradigms
Measure switch costs and flexibility.
Phineas Gage legacy
Historical frontal injury case — interpret with modern caution.
Open atlas neighbours: frontal, cingulate, caudate, cerebellum.
Sources & research
- Executive functionsDevelopmental synthesis of EF components and interventions.DOIPubMed
- The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysisCanonical unity/diversity latent-variable paper.DOIPubMed
- Working memory: looking back and looking forwardWorking-memory architecture overview.DOIPubMed
- An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex functionBiased competition account of PFC control.DOIPubMed
- The prefrontal cortex—an update: time is of the essenceTemporal organisation of frontal action.DOIPubMed
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