After committing to an action, a decision-maker can change their mind to revise the action. Such changes of mind can even occur when the stream of information that led to the action is curtailed at movement onset. This is explained by the time delays in sensory processing and motor planning which lead to a component at the end of the sensory stream that can only be processed after initiation. Such post-initiation processing can explain the pattern of changes of mind by asserting an accumulation of additional evidence to a criterion level, termed change-of-mind bound. Here we test the hypothesis that physical effort associated with the movement required to change one's mind affects the level of the change-of-mind bound and the time for post-initiation deliberation. We varied the effort required to change from one choice target to another in a reaching movement by varying the geometry of the choice targets or by applying a force field between the targets. We show that there is a reduction in the frequency of change of mind when the separation of the choice targets would require a larger excursion of the hand from the initial to the opposite choice. The reduction is best explained by an increase in the evidence required for changes of mind and a reduced time period of integration after the initial decision. Thus the criteria to revise an initial choice is sensitive to energetic costs.

Our ability to plan and execute a series of tasks leading to a desired goal requires remarkable coordination between sensory, motor, and decision-related systems. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to play a central role in this coordination, especially when actions must be assembled extemporaneously and cannot be programmed as a rote series of movements. A central component of this flexible behavior is the moment-by-moment allocation of working memory and attention. The ubiquity of sequence planning in our everyday lives belies the neural complexity that supports this capacity, and little is known about how frontal cortical regions orchestrate the monitoring and control of sequential behaviors. For example, it remains unclear if and how sensory cortical areas, which provide essential driving inputs for behavior, are modulated by the frontal cortex during these tasks. Here, we review what is known about moment-to-moment monitoring as it relates to visually guided, rule-driven behaviors that change over time. We highlight recent human work that shows how the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) participates in monitoring during task sequences. Neurophysiological data from monkeys suggests that monitoring may be accomplished by neurons that respond to items within the sequence and may in turn influence the tuning properties of neurons in posterior sensory areas. Understanding the interplay between proceduralized or habitual acts and supervised control of sequences is key to our understanding of sequential task execution. A crucial bridge will be the use of experimental protocols that allow for the examination of the functional homology between monkeys and humans. We illustrate how task sequences may be parceled into components and examined experimentally, thereby opening future avenues of investigation into the neural basis of sequential monitoring and control.