Class 8 - Executive Functioning Flashcards
Attentional set
a process that designates what information is task-relevant
Lateral prefrontal cortex associated with
creating and maintaining a task set
Stroop task
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
Stroop effect
the delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli
Planning
Sequencing of actions
ordering what actions should be done in what order
Tower of London
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
Cognitive Flexibility
Set Shifting/ Mental flexibility
- adapting to different goals
- change from one task to another
- changing way you think about things
Wisconsin Card Sorting task
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
In Wisconsin card sorting task individuals with frontal lesions an learn initial rule but have
have difficulty switching to new rule
• Perseveration: getting ‘stuck’
• Cannot switch attentional set and freely change goals
Perseveration
getting ‘stuck’
• Cannot switch attentional set and freely change goals
Wisconsin card sorting test more shifts (more dimensions) more activity in
DLPFC
Inhibitory control
can take multiple shapes/forms
Important to override processing or abort inappropriate responses
Links to perseveration
Perseveration
If you cannot override inappropriate responses, you will perseverate
Go no go task
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
Areas involved in Response selection (of go no go)
anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA)
Inhibition (no-go compared to go) cortical areas
right-lateralized network
pre-SMA, right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC)
Interference resolution
(& areas invovled)
solving conflict between competing information or distracting info
• e.g. inhibiting word-reading in Stroop task
DLPFC, ACC, inferior frontal, posterior parietal regions
Patients with lesioned priatal, tempral pariatal, or frontal lobes has irrelevent audatory stimuli played
frontal lobes showed increased activity in response to a stimulus that was irrelevant to task processing - cannot inibit processing
Self-monitoring
Evaluating one’s ongoing progress towards a goal
Error-related negativity (ERN)
occurring about 100 ms after an error is made
- Has been localized to the ACC
- Can be elicited without awareness of an error
Patients with medial PFC damage (esp. right hemisphere) are ____ to correct mistakes in responding
Slower
Anterior cingulate cortex
Debated role in various functions, including (3)
motor, attentional, and emotional
(Control and planning of movements • Novel, untrained movements • Selecting for movement among competing alternatives • Error detection)
Frontoparietal control network: modulates activity in attentional systems to bias
sensory processing
Initiating task sets, cognitive flexibility
Cingulo-opercular network
maintenance of a task set
Salience network
detecting salient stimuli
Contrast with frontoparietal control network (e.g. bottom-up vs. top-down)
