Hence, it is particularly sensitive to the surrounding environmental context. In addition, evidence suggests that inferior right prefrontal regions may play a role in interrupting goal-oriented behavior when salient stimuli capture attention, leading to a re-orienting of behavior [29]. Finally, the

right hemisphere has also been implicated in avoidance as compared to approach behaviors, including motivations [30]. The confluence in the right hemisphere of subsystems sensitive to environmental context, that can evaluate whether context accords (or does not) with current goals and can re-orient behavior, along with a tendency toward control of avoidance behaviors and motivation Dabrafenib purchase may help to explain the predominant role of the right hemisphere in inhibitory function. Clearly, more work is needed to determine the degree to which these three aspects of right-lateralized function are related to the right hemisphere predominance in inhibitory control. Currently, there is clear evidence that the right hemisphere plays a critical role in inhibitory

function. However, there remain questions as to the functional neuroanatomy of such inhibitory control, as well as the degree to which specific regions of the right hemisphere are involved in specific aspects of inhibitory control, depending on the domain in which that control is exhibited — motoric, cognitive, or emotion. Ascertaining the answer to these questions is of practical important due to the large number of psychiatric and neurological disorders in which inhibitory control is compromised. SDHB Understanding the underlying neurobiology of inhibitory control may lead to more effective and focused interventions. learn more Nothing declared. Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as: • of special interest We thank members of the NIMH Interdisciplinary Behavioral Science Center on the topic of Executive Function and Dysfunction (P50

MH079485) whose discussion and work influenced the perspectives provided in this paper. Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by a Cattell Sabbatical Fellowship to MTB. “
“Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2015, 1:23–31 This review comes from a themed issue on Cognitive neuroscience Edited by Cindy Lustig and Howard Eichenbaum http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2014.08.001 2352-1546/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The world is rich with information, much of it only transiently available to the senses. And yet, an animal must leverage a small, but crucial, fraction of this input in order to provide a context for its behavior. Working memory is a central adaptation to confront this problem, selecting behaviorally relevant information, maintaining it in time, and referencing it when appropriate in order to make decisions about how to act in the world. Indeed, the elaborated working memory system of higher primates partly underlies their distinguishing intelligence and flexible behavior.