Chapter 40 - Functional neuroanatomy of executive process

Question 1

What is sometimes identified as the ‘central

executive’?

Answer 1

At the top is the cortex of association of the frontal lobe, commonly called
prefrontal cortex. This cortex, especially in its lateral region, contains
neuronal networks that represent broad schemas and plans of sequential
action and are crucially involved in their enactment. Thus, the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPC) has been sometimes identified with the ‘central
executive’ and also called ‘the executive of the brain’.

p. 822

Question 2

From where does several neurotransmitter systems which converges on various areas of the prefrontal cortex, and mediate interactions at synaptic level between subcortical structures and that cortex, origin?

Answer 2

The brainstem
The most
prominent among them are the dopamine systems, which vary in terms of the types of receptors by which they mediate the transmission of
information between cells

p. 823

Question 3

Where does lesions of the medial region of the prefrontal cortex induce disorders?

Answer 3

The lesions of the medial region of the prefrontal cortex induce disorders
of drive and motivation.

Apathy and disinterest are the dominant
manifestations of medial prefrontal damage.

Question 4

What does circumscribed lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex (areas
24 and 32) commonly result in?

Answer 4

deficits of attention (p. 825)

Question 5

What does lesions of medial prefrontal

cortex cause?

Answer 5

akinesia (akinetic mutism when speech is

involved) (p. 825)

Question 6

What does lesions of ventral (orbital) prefrontal cortex ordinarily induce?

Answer 6

A relatively uniform syndrome. An attentional disorder is here again in the
foreground, but this one is not so much characterized by absence of
drive as by failure of the exclusionary aspect of attention.
-The patient is
abnormally distractable,

Question 7

The most characteristic cognitive deficits from frontal-lobe injury are
those that result from damage to the associative cortex of the lateral frontal convexity—the LPC.
What it the result of this?

Answer 7

the most common disorder is the inability to conceptualize and to carry out
plans and goal-directed sequences of actions

Question 8

What is the difference between the representational role and the operational role of lateral prefrontal cortex?

Answer 8

The representational can be inferred from the deleterious effects of LPC lesions on the mental representations of plans and schemata of sequential action.

The operational role of the LPC essentially consists of the orderly
activation of those networks in the construction of goal-directed sequences or temporal ‘gestalts’ of executive action. Temporal
integration is the most general function of the LPC.

Question 9

What four four cognitive functions is controlled by LPC in cooperation with subcortical structures and with other regions of the
neocortex.?

Answer 9

◆ attention;
◆ working memory;
◆ prospective set;
◆ response monitoring.

Question 10

What is temporal integration?

Answer 10

the capacity to integrate information across
time, is the essence of temporal order. :
This applies to behaviour, speech,
and logical reasoning. The central role of the LPC in the organization of
actions in those three domains is crucially based on its ability to mediate
contingencies across time (‘if now this, then later that; if earlier that, then
now this’).

Question 11

What is the operational result of sensory attention?

Answer 11

◆ selective focusing;
◆ enhanced contrast;
◆ suppression of extraneous information.

Question 12

What is ‘memory cells’?

Answer 12

Cells with a neural discharge, which may last anywhere between a few seconds and 2 or 3 minutes, that is correlated with accuracy of performance and can be obliterated or attenuated by distraction.

Question 13

What does Prospective (or preparatory) set, mean?

Answer 13

prospective set is ‘memory of the future’. It is attention focused on the representation of prospective action - To plan ahead pretty much?

Question 14

What is Bereitschaftspotential or ‘readiness potential’,?

Answer 14

Bereitschaftspotential or ‘readiness potential’ which develops
over motor cortex immediately before the response to an event or action.

Slow potentials happen in LPC in anticipation of an action - there is cells that seem to predict what we think will happen.

Question 15

What is Response monitoring?

Answer 15

This function is based on both internal and external feedback arriving in this
cortex during organized action. The internal feedback consists of signals
from internal receptors activated by movement.

I guess it just means our ability to “detect” what happens with our bodies?

also a LPC function.

Question 16

What is The perception–action cycle?

Answer 16

All four integrative functions of the LPC just mentioned operate within
the broad physiological framework of the perception–action cycle.
The cycle is made of the circular cybernetic flow of information between the environment, sensory structures, and motor
structures.