Cognitive and mnemonic control processes permit an individual to access and work with internal representations in a goal-directed manner. In so doing, these mechanisms are thought to guide stimulus processing and the on-line maintenance of internal representations through the sustained allocation of attention to specific stimulus features and long-term representations. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to be a component of the neural circuitry underlying cognitive control, including the control of memory (Fuster, 1997; Goldman-Rakic, 1987; Schacter, 1987; Shimamura, 1995; Stuss & Benson, 1984). Models of PFC function suggest that PFC represents the current task goal or context and supports top-down bias mechanisms that facilitate the processing and maintenance of goal-relevant representations in posterior cortices (Desimone & Duncan, 1995; Miller & Cohen, 2001; Shallice, 1988). Importantly, the role of PFC control mechanisms does not appear restricted to stimulus processing and working memory functions. Rather, building on the human and non-human lesion and electrophysiological literatures, functional neuroimaging data suggest that PFC mechanisms-especially those supported by ventrolateral PFC regions (principally the inferior prefrontal cortices)-play a fundamental role in episodic encoding-the process of transforming an experience into a durable memory trace such that it can be subsequently consciously remembered (Tulving, 1983). This chapter considers some of the most recent advances in our understanding of ventrolateral PFC contributions to cognitive and mnemonic control derived from functional imaging. The chapter first focuses on the nature of ventrolateral control mechanisms, including the role of anatomically separable ventrolateral PFC subregions in (a) controlled retrieval from semantic memory, (b) assembly and maintenance of phonological codes, and (c) attention to visuo-object and visuo-spatial representations. Subsequently, the contributions of these ventrolateral PFC mechanisms to episodic encoding are discussed, with attention also afforded recent data suggesting that explicit and implicit forms of memory interact during episodic encoding.