An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function

Abstract

▪ Abstract The prefrontal cortex has long been suspected to play an important role in cognitive control, in the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals. Its neural basis, however, has remained a mystery. Here, we propose that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task. We review neurophysiological, neurobiological, neuroimaging, and computational studies that support this theory and discuss its implications as well as further issues to be addressed

Keywords

Prefrontal cortexNeuroscienceNeurophysiologySelf-reference effectCognitionNeuroimagingPsychologyFunctional neuroimagingCognitive psychologyTask (project management)Consumer neuroscienceCognitive scienceAction (physics)

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Publication Info

Year: 2001
Type: review
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Pages: 167-202
Citations: 12319
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                    Earl K. Miller, 
                                
                                    Jonathan D. Cohen
                                
                            (2001). 
                            An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function. 
                            Annual Review of Neuroscience
                            , 24
                            (1)
                            , 167-202.
                            https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167