Top Down Control of Perceptual Decision Making by the Prefrontal Cortex
Although most work on perceptual decision making has focused on the processing within the visual, temporal, and parietal lobes, recent research points to an underappreciated but critical role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) PFC provides high level control of perception, but it is unclear whether this control can be subdivided into different processes and whether different PFC regions have different roles. Here I review evidence that prefrontal top down control is organized in the processes of selection control, decision control, and evaluation. These three processes overlap and interact with each other while at the same time maintaining a temporal hierarchy. Further, these different stages are supported by dissociable regions within the PFC that control hierarchically organized cognition. The current proposal for PFC's role in perceptual control can serve as the basis for a deeper understanding of both the functional organization of PFC and the processes underlying perceptual decision making.