ABSTRACT
This chapter explores research on nonhuman primates that a genuine neurobiology of mental representation is possible; and that significant principles concerning the organization of the human thought process can be derived from neurobiology. The functions of prefrontal cortex have been the subject of intense scientific curiosity and considerable speculation for most of the century and understanding its role in executive behavior can be considered one of the most significant challenges of modern neurobiology. Working memory is a concept developed by cognitive psychologists to refer to a distinct operation required for cognition, namely, the ability to update and/or bring information to mind from long-term memory and/or to integrate incoming information for the purpose of making an informed decision, judgment, or response. The chapter suggests that the brain obeys the distinction between working and associative memory, and that prefrontal cortex is preeminently involved in the former; other areas such as the hippocampal formation and posterior sensory association regions.
