Figure 1:

Schematic for how 4 different anatomically-defined loops through the frontal cortex and basal ganglia (Alexander, De-Long, & Strick, 1986) correspond to a three-factor distributed, componential goal state, which collectively drives concrete action selection in the fourth motor-oriented loop (supplementary motor area, SMA). Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) maintains and tracks biologically-salient outcomes, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) selects, maintains and guides sensory-motor plans, and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) integrates these factors, along with potential effort and other costs, in terms of overall utility. The consistent frontostriatal loops across these areas supports flexible, dynamically-gated active maintenance and updating of these distributed goal states (e.g., [32, 33])