A growing body of data suggest that while multiple neural systems in the brain are engaged during cognitive control, a general purpose dorsal prefrontal/cingulate/parietal network plays a key role in supporting processing requiring high levels of control in a manner that cuts across both traditional domains of executive functions as well as traditional cognitive processing systems. In this talk I will review the evidence for this general-purpose system and its specialized role in managing processing conflict. I will also present new data using schizophrenia as a model system of impaired cognitive control. Alternative models of impaired cognition in the illness, such as disrupted sensory processing, will be considered and results of fMRI and ERP/EEG studies hat test the generality of impaired cognitive control across domains of response selection, episodic memory, language comprehension and emotion processing in the illness. These data support the domain generality of this network in healthy individuals and also suggest that a disruption of prefrontal cortical-based cognitive control systems plays a key role in higher cognitive function in schizophrenia and contribute to behavioral disorganization and functional impairment in the illness. Broader implications of these findings for our understanding of the neural basis of normal cognition as well as for the pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders will be discussed.