Neural correlates of executive control functions in the monkey

Executive control functions (ECFs) have become an important topic in the cognitive sciences in the past 40 years. The number of publications has steadily increased, and in the last decade, studies have been conducted in one of the best models of human cognition: the old-world macaque monkey. Here, we review recent studies in the monkey that have contributed to our understanding of the neuronal implementation of ECFs, with a focus on task-switching paradigms. These paradigms have revealed that ECFs are distributed across both the parietal and frontal lobes.