What Do Network Approaches Add to Our Understanding of Prefrontal Cortex and Executive Function?

Excerpt

Regions in the human frontal lobe form distributed large-scale brain networks, with connections to one another and other locations in the cortex, striatum, thalamus, and cerebellum. Here, evidence is reviewed that multiple networks lie side by side in the frontal lobe, and these networks are largely (but not entirely) parallel, or separate, from one another. These network findings improve our understanding of frontal lobe organization and help constrain theories of executive function and the impact of brain disorders. Ongoing challenges in the study of frontal lobe networks are discussed related to tracking functional associations of brain networks, individual differences, and changes in networks over time.