Figure 2.

Perception-action cycle. In a sequence of goal-directed actions, each action causes a change in the environment, which generates sensory impulses; these impulses are analyzed in the posterior association cortex (in perceptual long-term memory), and the result of this analysis informs the frontal cortex (executive long-term memory) for the next action. And so on and so forth, cycle after cycle, until the behavioral goal is reached. At every turn of a cycle, the prefrontal cortex matches percept and action to the long-term memory of both in the present context, and exerts updated executive control of them through its executive functions.