Class 7 - Executive functioning Flashcards
Executive functions
set of cognitive process that help organize
3 main units
- working memory
- inhibitory control
- cognitive flexibility
Unity/diversity in EF
all EFs share one factor in common, and then two that are active in specific situations
PFC in EF
lots of funtonal and antomical subdividsions
involved in starting and stoping
conceptual thinking (big thing)
being able to respond to new things
goal directed behavior
more ventral in PFC
matience of information
holding in mind
the more dorasl in PFC
more to do with manipularon of information
the how
more anterior in PFC
more abstract
more posterier in PFC
more concreet thinking is
working memeory and EF
WM underlies many EFs
Monkeys with PFC lesions can complete the associative memory task but not the __
WM task
because no external cues avalable
maintin an online representation (holding in min)
Value
a metric of the preference we give to a given stimulus or course of action
example of value
Primary reinforcers (e.g. food) vs. secondary reinforcers (e.g. money) – money gains value as a result of being associated with other reinforcers (e.g. using money to buy food gives money value)
Assessment of the value of a given course of action (deciding to do it or not) involves several factors:
- Payoff / value of reward
- Likelihood of attaining reward
- Effort / cost of action
- Context surrounding a given decision (e.g. novelty)
- Preference
__ is a key process in the initiation of behaviours
dicession making
Activity in ___ regions associated with motor planning also appear to be involved in ___
SMA, preSMA, ACC
innitation of behavior
ACC has been found to be active in integrating information about
effort and reward
Behavioural apathy is associated with less structural and functional connectivity between
ACC and pre-SMA
(Behavioral apathy is not wanting to do things)
Temporal discounting
the longer you have to wait fora reward, the value of the reward decreases
Lesions to the orbitofrontal cortex affect an individual’s capacity to evaluate a reward’s
value over a long period of time
OFC also tracks representations of contingency: how past information can affect ___
subsequent decisions
the consequence of making a poor decision
Regret
People tend to exert more effort for larger rewards, but that is proportional to how
large that difference in reward is relative to the difference in effort
ACC found to code for a conjunction of both __ and __ as value
effort and reward
Nucleus accumbens (NAcc): dopaminergic connections from
ventral tegmental area (VTA)
Pleasure centre of the brain?
Previously discussed nigrostriatal pathway (dopaminergic neurons from substantia nigra): ___ activity
motor
Two pathways emerge from dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA):
- Mesolimbic (connections to areas mediating emotion processing)
- Mesocortical (connections to frontal lobe, particularly medial) – value!
Mesolimbic pathway
connections to areas mediating emotion processing
Mesocortical pathway
connections to frontal lobe, particularly medial - value
Dopaminergic neurons (in VTA) anticipating a reward based on a __ not just a ___
cue, not just the presence of a reward itself: reward prediction error (RPE)
GABA neurons in the VTA synapse onto dopaminergic (DA) neurons and affect their
firing rate
Inactivating the GABA neurons between receiving the cue and the reward results in
increased firing of the DA neurons – the DA neurons can calculate RPE
__ can calcluate RPE
DA neurons
dopamine mediates salience, indicating how much something is
important (and in reward cases, desired)
Different groups of DA neurons appear to respond in patterns that correspond either to ___ the valence of a stimulus, versus
learning
signaling something salient
great deal of language processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere regions surrounding the
sylvian fissure
dysarthria
speech problems caused by the loss of control over articularory mussles
apraxia
deficits in motor planing of articulations
anomia
form of aphasa chartarized by an inability to name objects
syntax
rules governing how words are put together in a sentence
arcuate fasciculus
fiber tract connecting broca;s and wenicke’s area
models that attempt to explain word comprehension
modular model - higher levels cannot influence lower levels, bottom up
interactive models - all types of information can partisapate in word reconition, contex can influence beofore sensory information is avalable
hyprid models
synatactic parsing
assign a synatic structure to words in sentences
N400 response
sensitive to semamtic aspects of linguistic input
N400 response occourred when woeds were inconsistant with the meaning of an entire story
N600 Response
syntatic positive shift (SPS)
when sentiences contain a gramatical violitaition (both when read and listen to)
Left anterior frontal cortex has some involvment in __ processing
syntatic
three functonal componesnts of language processing
memory - lingustic knolage that folowing acqusition is incoded and consoladated
unification - integration of lexically retreved phonological, semantic, and synstatic information into an overall representation of the whole
control - language to socal interations
