Class 8 - Executive Functioning

Question 1

Attentional set

Answer 1

a process that designates what information is task-relevant

Question 2

Lateral prefrontal cortex associated with

Answer 2

creating and maintaining a task set

Question 3

Stroop task

Answer 3

cue indicating whether to read words or font colors
• Increased lateral PFC activity during cue presentation
• Amount of lateral PFC activation corresponded with reduction of Stroop effect

Question 4

Stroop effect

Answer 4

the delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli

Question 5

Planning

Answer 5

Sequencing of actions
ordering what actions should be done in what order

Question 6

Tower of London

Answer 6

organizing balls into a destination position, with limited moves
• One ball at a time, pegs limit height of tower
• Increases in frontoparietal activity along with difficulty of task

Question 7

Cognitive Flexibility

Answer 7

Set Shifting/ Mental flexibility

• adapting to different goals
• change from one task to another
• changing way you think about things

Question 8

Wisconsin Card Sorting task

Answer 8

Must figure out the rule through trial and error
• Match by colour, shape, number
Examiner switches rule
• Need to ignore previous rule and respond to new rule

Question 9

In Wisconsin card sorting task individuals with frontal lesions an learn initial rule but have

Answer 9

have difficulty switching to new rule
• Perseveration: getting ‘stuck’
• Cannot switch attentional set and freely change goals

Question 10

Perseveration

Answer 10

getting ‘stuck’
• Cannot switch attentional set and freely change goals

Question 11

Wisconsin card sorting test more shifts (more dimensions) more activity in

Answer 11

DLPFC

Question 12

Inhibitory control

Answer 12

can take multiple shapes/forms

Important to override processing or abort inappropriate responses

Links to perseveration

Question 13

Perseveration

Answer 13

If you cannot override inappropriate responses, you will perseverate

Question 14

Go no go task

Answer 14

told button to press, press when see blue shape, red don’t press bar. Key is that blue is 80% of time - encourage to respond quickly but when see red need to stop/withhold response no longer appropriate

Question 15

Areas involved in Response selection (of go no go)

Answer 15

anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA)

Question 16

Inhibition (no-go compared to go) cortical areas

Answer 16

right-lateralized network

pre-SMA, right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC)

Question 17

Interference resolution

(& areas invovled)

Answer 17

solving conflict between competing information or distracting info

• e.g. inhibiting word-reading in Stroop task

DLPFC, ACC, inferior frontal, posterior parietal regions

Question 18

Patients with lesioned priatal, tempral pariatal, or frontal lobes has irrelevent audatory stimuli played

Answer 18

frontal lobes showed increased activity in response to a stimulus that was irrelevant to task processing - cannot inibit processing

Question 19

Self-monitoring

Answer 19

Evaluating one’s ongoing progress towards a goal

Question 20

Error-related negativity (ERN)

Answer 20

occurring about 100 ms after an error is made

• Has been localized to the ACC
• Can be elicited without awareness of an error

Question 21

Patients with medial PFC damage (esp. right hemisphere) are ____ to correct mistakes in responding

Answer 21

Slower

Question 22

Anterior cingulate cortex

Debated role in various functions, including (3)

Answer 22

motor, attentional, and emotional

(Control and planning of movements • Novel, untrained movements • Selecting for movement among competing alternatives • Error detection)

Question 23

Frontoparietal control network: modulates activity in attentional systems to bias

Answer 23

sensory processing

Initiating task sets, cognitive flexibility

Question 24

Cingulo-opercular network

Answer 24

maintenance of a task set

Question 25

Salience network

Answer 25

detecting salient stimuli

Contrast with frontoparietal control network (e.g. bottom-up vs. top-down)