The primary function of the PFC can be summarized as the temporal organization of behavior. Executive function involves attention, planning, and decision making, and is how the PFC organizes behavior in a sequential manner. This occurs in large part through the dynamic interaction of two parallel networks of the PFC—an “executive” network with a primary location in the dorsolateral PFC (or medial PFC in rodents) and a “limbic” network primarily contained in the OFC (Fig. 2). These networks mediate higher-order behaviors such as purposeful goal-directed actions, language, and reasoning. These networks are required to perform a number of functions for appropriate control of goal-directed behavior (outlined by Moghaddam and Homayoun, 2008). In summary, they must (1) detect situations that demand mediation, (2) direct selective attention to stimuli relevant to this situation, (3) suppress distractions caused by irrelevant stimuli, (4) bring on line relevant past memories, (5) plan behavioral sequence based upon these memories and the present relevant stimuli, and (6) encode the preparatory set that leads to motor execution of the appropriate behavior. As noted above, the executive network is
