Executive functions Flashcards
abulia
frontal brain damage
- flat affect
- no motivation
- limited willpower
- easily distracted
acquired sociopathy
personality change -> sociopathic behaviour, due to damage to frontal lobes
ACC which part related to executive functions
dorsal ACC
ADHD
impulsiveness, short attention span, continual activity
baddely model
working memory:
central executive
/ | \
phonological loop visuospatial sketchpad episodic buffer
\ | /
long term memory
where are basal ganglia
subcortical, frontal lobes in white matter
3 main parts of basal ganglia + two other parts that are often included
caudate, globus pallidus, putamen
subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra (SS)
confabulation
patients with memory problems: generation of false memories
delay-period activity
activity that persists in individuals whilst testing working memory
disinhibition syndrome
door damage ventral PFC
loss of control, outbursts, no inhibition in social settings
dysexecutive syndrome
damage to dlPFC
inability to change behaviour
error-related negativity
marker that shows that participants make errors in tasks
frontopolar cortex
most anterior part of the cortex
volatility
how much the rules change during an event
orbitofrontocortex
emotions and decision making
wisconsin card sorting test
in 4 categories, participants have to sort them based on untold rules which can change
schizophrenia
disordered thought, withdrawal syndrome, inaccurate beliefs
working memory
information kept briefly in the mind to complete a certain task (iets zoeken in een kamer)
persevaration
hetzelfde gedrag aanhouden terwijl de stimuli of rules veranderen (en het zou dus logischer zijn als het gedrag ook zou veranderen)
phrenology
maps of brain functions
reversal learning
mensen die zich wel realiseren dat de regels zijn veranderd -> dus ander behaviour nodig
somatic marker hypothesis
“Somatic markers” are feelings in the body that are associated with emotions, such as the association of rapid heartbeat with anxiety or of nausea with disgust.
According to the hypothesis, somatic markers strongly influence subsequent decision-making.
Within the brain, somatic markers are thought to be processed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and the amygdala.
The hypothesis has been tested in experiments using the Iowa gambling task.
suprising stimuli in ERP….
show P300 - P500
The fact that Genie was unable to learn syntax can be interpreted as a form of evidence that there is a critical period for certain aspects of language acquisition. This supports the idea that the ability to learn a language is …
innate
A lexical decision task is highly appropriate for measuring ___.
implicit memory (priming!)
Fill in the blanks. Vocal sounds are very variable on a continuous scale. The perception of phonemes is ____________. This is why we are more sensitive to different sounds ____________ phonetic categories than ____________ phonetic categories.
categorical, across, within
rules and control in goal-directed behaviour
input is often complex, whilst output is limited to one action
brain area for rules
lateral PFC
brain area for monitoring and control
medial PFC
hoe van rules naar monitoring
rules (lPFC) -> goals -> working memory -> monitoring (mPFC) -> rules etc…
establishing and modifying rules
- initiating new rules
- inhibition inappropriate rules
- shifting among rules
- relating rules
contextual control
monitoring
working memory
- maintenance
- manipulation
lateral pfc
establishing and modifying rules
- initiation
- inhibiting
- shifting
- relating
working memory
- maintenance
-manipulation
medial pfc
contextual control
- monitoring
dus kort… lateral pfc
working memory and rules
dus kort… medial pfc
conflict monitoring and control
lateral PFC in detail
- Upper part (dorsolateral, DLPFC): Initiating, inhibiting, and changing rules for behavior (and traditionally, working memory)
- Lower part (ventrolateral, inferior frontal gyrus) parts: Motor inhibition
- Most anterior portion frontopolar cortex: Higher-order rules
medial PFC in detail
- Posterior/dorsal part (including the anterior cingulate cortex, ACC): Conflict monitoring, control
- Anterior/ventral part: Emotion/social cognition (orbitofrontal: Motivation, emotion, reward)
waar ligt lateral en medial PFC
medial in het midden, lateral er naast
damage to PFC kenmerken
patients first appear normal, but have complex, idiosyncratic impairments in forming, updating, and implementing rules
for appropriate or effective behavior
3 voorbeelden damage to PFC
- Environmental dependency syndrome
- Disinhibition syndrome
- Dysexecutive syndrome
environmental dependency syndrome waar damage
anterior and medial PFC damage
environmental dependency syndrome
- Actions guided not on the patient’s own goals but on what is available in the immediate surrounding environment
- Imitation behavior: For example, imitating the physician (hand gestures, body postures, drawing, combing hair, chewing on a pencil, speaking, singing, etc.)
- Utilization behavior: Abnormal reliance on environmental stimuli to trigger behavior (e.g., repeatedly drinking from a glass without being thirsty)
disinhibition syndrome waar damage
ventral/medial PFC
disinhibtion syndrome kenmerken
- Purposeless movements, euphoria/mania, abnormal sense of humor.
- Inappropriate social behavior (fail to process social cues, laugh inappropriately, reveal embarrassing personal information, etc.).
- Pass laboratory tests of response inhibition and workingmemory.
- Phineas Gage? Currently debated.
dysexecutive syndrome waar damage
lateral PFC
dysexecutive syndrome kenmerken
- Apathy, fail to plan, do not set long-term goals, leave tasks uncompleted, limited span of attention.
- Lack of insight, deny the existence of any problem, confabulation.
- Fail in laboratory tests of response inhibition and working memory. misschien phineas gage deze?
PFC size comparison
humans = primates (only absolute size is larger in humans, but not proportional)
but primates > andere dieren
lateral PFC has specific neurons for.. (+ mention experiment to test this)
each rule!
initiating rules:
A. monkey had to press cue that matches (gets juice)
B. monkey had to press cue that does not match (otherwise: high tone)
some neurons only fire during the matching rule, others only fire during the nonmatching rule.
therefore: stimulus independent information about rules in the neurons!
oddball task
an oddball target requires another response than the rest of the stimuli.
-> inhibition of the standard response
this triggers P300 in the dorsolateral PFC.
go/no go task
opposite of oddball task
response to go needs to be inhibited for no go stimuli
activity in lateral PFC
stop-signal task
respond to stimuli but inhibit response if a stop signal is presented
activity in inferior frontal gyrus
wisconsin card sorting test
- cards need to be sorted along one of three categories: color, shape, number
- trial and error learning of the rules, based on feedback
- rule changes after unknown amount of trials
- patients with PFC damage: perseveration (persistence of behaviour)
= difficulty shifting rules
frontopolar cortex does….
higher order integration of rules, when abstract information needs to be related and combined
higher order integration of rules
combine simple rules to form a complex rule (frontopolar cortex)
hoe meet je higher order integration of rules
stimuli varying in shape and texture: participants need to decide whether the top and bottom pair differ in the same dimension
= relational control
the more abstract and complex the rule…
the more anterior!!!
what happens in the stroop task
conflict of information
Irrelevant words automatically evoke rules for responding that can interfere with producing the correct ink name
where does conflict in the stroop task evoke activation
ACC
activation and reaction time in stroop test is greater when…
previous trial is congruent (dus wel blauw woord met blauw), want dit geeft meer conflict (bij de vorige was het wel de goede rule)
what does the ACC do
activates dlPFC –> for updating the rules
waar is de posterior anterior hierarchie
PFC en ACC
ACC opbouw
- Posterior: Control of conflict between potential responses
- Middle: Control of conflict between possible options
- Anterior: Control of conflict between ongoing strategy and goals/context
WM capacity is…
extremely limited
people with higher WM capacity
- IQ higher
- school performance better
- creative
- proactive
baddeley working memory model
phonological loop -> language
central executive visuospatial sketchpad -> visual semantics
episodic buffer -> episodic memory
cowans working memory model
parts of the long term memory can be activated via the central executive. WM is the representations that are activated, due to attention (from the central executive)
difference baddeley and cowans
baddeley: apart systeem voor WM en LTM
cowans: no separation, WM and LTM have the same brain areas
delay period activity
even when the info is not needed yet, neurons in dlPFC keep on firing for their stimulus, during the delay between cue presentation and response.
delay period activity happens…
in entire brain!
delay activity facts
fMRI activity keeps firing during whole delay
more information = more activity
higher activation = better wm performance, less distractions
manipulation of information in wm works better than simple maintenance
WM which brain regions
dlPFC, but many others
Information held in WM reflects processing in
brain areas sensitive to the type of information
(consistent with the Cowan model!) rather than
processing in distinct “WM areas”
oke
Dorsolateral PFC may have a special role in
selecting, manipulating, and rehearsing that
information
oke
lateral PFC
initiating, inhibiting, shifting and relating of rules
medial PFC/ACC
monitoring and control, needed for updating of rules bij lateral PFC
hierarchical organization in PFC and ACC
posterior is more simple, anterior is more complex
working memory involves delay period in…
dorsolateral PFC, parietal cortex and stimulus specific sensory regions
stimulus specific sensory regions also have delays, which is evidence for which model?
cowan
lateral PFC
rules
working memory
system 2 thinking
medial PFC
mentalizing, perspective taking
cognitive control, monitoring
system 1 thinking
