executive function

Question 1

explain the two types of attentional control

Answer 1

sites and sources

• Fronto-parietal regions: sources of attentional control
• sensory regions (visual, auditory, etc): sites of attentional control
• sources always activate first
• leads to subsequent biasing (increased) activity in the site

Question 2

explain attentional control v. default mode

Answer 2

• attentional control network: staying on task, orienting attention, effortful behavior
• default mode: daydreaming, introspection, able to be distracted

-default mode up-ticks and control network down-ticks during lapses of attention

Question 3

what can engaging the default mode network in the background do

Answer 3

improve productivity

Question 4

what are examples of executive function

Answer 4

planning, cognitive flexibility, solve problems, attention, decision making, select responses, inhibition, think abstractly, sequence and initiate behavior and metacogntion

Question 5

explain automatic vs. controlled processing

Answer 5

automatic: can be unconscious, unintentional, parallel, fast and requires little attention
controlled: conscious, intentional/effortful, serial, slow and requires attention

Question 6

what does the supervisory control system do (SAS)

Answer 6

effortfully directs attention and guides decisions

-only active when there isnt a “schema” for what to do (non-routine situations)

Question 7

what do damages to the supervisory control system cause

Answer 7

• no deficits in routine situations, normal IQ
• environmental dependency syndrome: uninhibited behavior (must write with available pen) because schema is active and not stopped by SAS
• inability to adapt to new situation different from routine
• preservation: repeating same though/action without the ability to stop or switch (action may be triggered by the environment/routine)

Question 8

explain tower of hanoi

Answer 8

relies on sequencing and planning

-impaired in people with frontal damage

Question 9

explain the Wisconsin Card Sort

Answer 9

• sort cards based on rule: color, shape or #
• rule switches part way through
• frontal damage patients cannot adapt to new rule (preservation), typically left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

-involved in setting rules / attentional sets and switching across tasks

Question 10

what is self monitoring

Answer 10

• self monitor when you know you’re done, know errors can be fixed
• frontal patients have difficulty with this

Question 11

what is error-related negativity (ERN)

Answer 11

ERP signal following errors (blunder or blip) originating in anterior cingulate cortex
-following errors most people slow down their behavior and observe increases to attentional control network

Question 12

what are inhibition tasks

Answer 12

• go/no-go task
• stop-signal task (cancelling response underway)
• disagreement over which regions are involved in inhibition or “interference resolution”

Question 13

what is abstract thinking

Answer 13

greater frontal activity for metaphorical sentences than literal sentences
-higher order thinking

Question 14

what else is the frontal lobe involved in

Answer 14

analogies, inferring rules and inferring relationships

Question 15

can frontal lobe damage be beneficial

Answer 15

• escape from rules: unleash creativity

- more frontal patients could solve match stick problems

Question 16

what is cognitive flexibility

Answer 16

ability to respond or adapt to new information or change old way of thinking

Question 17

what is reversal learning

Answer 17

learning how to undo an old response and replace it with new action