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Science 14 November 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5648, pp. 1181 - 1185
DOI: 10.1126/science.1088545
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Research Articles

The Architecture of Cognitive Control in the Human Prefrontal Cortex

Etienne Koechlin,1* Chrystèle Ody,1 Frédérique Kouneiher2

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) subserves cognitive control: the ability to coordinate thoughts or actions in relation with internal goals. Its functional architecture, however, remains poorly understood. Using brain imaging in humans, we showed that the lateral PFC is organized as a cascade of executive processes from premotor to anterior PFC regions that control behavior according to stimuli, the present perceptual context, and the temporal episode in which stimuli occur, respectively. The results support an unified modular model of cognitive control that describes the overall functional organization of the human lateral PFC and has basic methodological and theoretical implications.

1 Institut National de la Santé et de Recherche Médicale, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 9, quai St Bernard, 75005 Paris, France.
2 Hôpital Pitié-Salpeêtrière, 47 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: koechlin{at}ccr.jussieu.fr

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