Pre-frontal executive committee for perception, working memory, attention, long-term memory, motor control, and thinking: a tutorial review

As an explicit organizing metaphor, memory aid, and conceptual framework, the prefrontal cortex may be viewed as a five-member 'Executive Committee,' as the prefrontal-control extensions of five sub-and-posterior-cortical systems: (1) the 'Perceiver' (dominant-right-hemisphere ventral-lateral prefrontal cortex--VL/PERC-PFC) is the frontal extension of the ventral perceptual stream (the VL/PERC system) which represents the world and self in object coordinates; (2) the 'Verbalizer' (dominant-left-hemisphere ventral-lateral prefrontal cortex system--VL/VERB-PFC) is the frontal extension of the language stream (the VL/VERB system) which represents the world and self in language coordinates; (3) the 'Motivator' (ventral/medial-orbital pre-frontal cortex--VMO-PFC) is the frontal cortical extension of a subcortical extended-amygdala stream (the VMO system) which represents the world and self in motivational/emotional coordinates; (4) the 'Attender' (dorsal-medial/anterior cingulate--DM/AC-PFC) is the frontal cortical extension of a subcortical extended-hippocampal stream (the DM/AC system) which represents the world and self in spatiotemporal coordinates and directs attention to internal and external events; and (5) the 'Coordinator' (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex--DL-PFC) is the frontal extension of the dorsal perceptual stream (the DL system) which represents the world and self in body- and eye-coordinates and controls willed action and working memory. This tutorial review examines the interacting roles of these five systems in perception, working memory, attention, long-term memory, motor control, and thinking.