The perception–action cycle, originally described by Arbib in 1985, is a behavioral construct of circular information flow that describes the interaction of an organism with its environment allowing it to carry out the orderly sequencing of goal-directed actions (Arbib, 1985). As pointed out by Fuster (2008), an important element of this construct is that it includes internal feedback from effectors to sensors to provide representations of current actions to sensory structures to modulate further input. In anatomical terms, there are two cognitive networks of this cycle (Fuster, 2008). One is the perceptual network of the posterior cortex and the other is the executive network of the frontal cortex. Although these networks are structurally distinct, they are not functionally independent and there is a great deal of information exchange between them. Furthermore, the cortical components of these networks do not act independent of subcortical structures. At the apex of the hierarchical organization of the perception–action cycle is the PFC.
