Executive functions Flashcards
What is Autism?
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental (congenital, born with it) condition characterized by differences in social interaction and communication, and specialized and intense interests
Key Features of Autism
- Difficulties in social communication: Difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication, understanding social cues, and forming relationships.
- Repetitive behavior patterns and interests: Engaging in repetitive actions, movements, or routines, and a preference for consistency in daily activities.
- Unique sensory processing: Over- or under-sensitivity to sensory stimuli (e.g., light, sound, texture), affecting the way individuals experience their environment.
Executive Functions (EFs)
umbrella term that includes a range of higher-order cognitive functions, which are responsible for goal-directed behavior
EFs are useful for…
- Stay organized
- Make decisions
- Resist distractions
- Solve problems
- Adapt when things change
What do EFs predict ?
Executive functions are related to almost all aspects of life :
- Worse executive functions are linked to obesity, overeating, substance abuse, alcoholism.
- Executive functions predict success in life, and in school especially
- Executive functions predict harmony, healthy relationships (more loyalty)
- Poor EF leads to violence, crime, emotional outbursts
3 core EFs that together form the foundation for reasoning, problem-solving, planning
- Inhibitory control
- Working memory
- Cognitive flexibility
Inhibitory control
- Enables suppression of distracting stimuli in order to reach a goal
- Inhibitory control allows us not to overshare
Working memory
- Allows us to retain, update, and manipulate information
- Can work with the information in our mind
- E.g. answering a question
Cognitive flexibility
- Allows us to switch between tasks and adjust to changes in context
- Understanding the perspective of another, and sarcasm (switch from literal to figurative meaning)
Executive functions are primarily supported by the …
prefrontal cortex (PFC)
PFC development
The PFC is one of the last brain regions to fully mature : its development continues for approximately three decades (~25 years)
* The PFC undergoes the most substantial development during childhood and adolescence
Stroop color word task
- Congruent condition : color matches word
- Incongruent condition : color does not match word
What EF component does the Stroop color word task measure?
Inhibitory control
Why are we prone to errors and reaction time delays in the incongruent condition of the Stroop task?
reading or word cognition is automatic (no cognitive effort), while the color recognition is not automatic : need to process color and retrieve the name of the color. The inhibitory control is trying to suppress the automatic response and prioritise the non automatic.
Which group of people consistently demonstrates poorer performance on the Stroop task ?
People with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder because attention deficit is directly related to inhibitory control (worse inhibitory control with ADHD)
Inhibitory control (Inhibition) allows us to:
- stay focused on a boring or repetitive task instead of giving in to distractions
- resist impulsive purchases and stick to our budget during a shopping trip
- say no to junk food when trying to maintain a healthy diet
- resist all kinds of temptations and regulate our behavior in line with long-term goals (why linked to loyalty in relationships)
those with better inhibitory control at ages 3–11 are more likely to:
- Stay in school;
- Avoid drugs and risky behaviors;
- Have better physical and mental health;
- Earn more, follow laws, and report being happier;
These effects held even after controlling for IQ, gender, social class, and home environment.
Without inhibition, we may struggle to resist …
urges or stop ourselves from doing harmful things – even if we know they are wrong (prison population has less inhibitory control)
Working Memory allows us to
- hold a question in mind while reading a long paragraph to find the answer (includes phonological loop for auditory and verbal info., visual spatial sketchpad for visual information, etc.)
- do mental math, like calculating a tip in our head
- recall what someone just said in a conversation in order to respond meaningfully
- follow multi-step instructions
Measurements of working memory taken at school entry are strong indicators of…
later academic success. They predict achievement in reading, spelling, and mathematics better than IQ scores (Alloway, 2008; Alloway & Alloway, 2010) and short-term memory ability (Engle et al., 1999).
Cognitive flexibility allows us to…
- Change our perspective, understanding perspective of others : directly connected to empathy and maybe emotion regulation.
- try a new route to work when there’s traffic on our usual path
- adjust our opinion after hearing new, convincing evidence
- switch between work tasks when priorities shift
- change plans quickly when something unexpected comes up (e.g., a canceled meeting)
- understand metaphors, sarcasm, and irony without taking things literally
- Also related to thinking outside the box: why cognitive flexibility is linked to creativity
Why is cognitive flexibility one of the last EF that develops in children ?
probably because it needs first inhibitor control and working memory
EFs in neurotypical individuals across the lifespan
Childhood:
* EFs begin to develop in infancy with strong development from ages 3 to 12
* Near-adult performance reached around age 12 or later
Adolescence:
* Continued but subtle gains in EFs
Aging:
* Declines in EFs begin in later adulthood
* Older adults experience slower stopping speeds on go/no go tasks (measure of inhibitory control) and difficulties with suppressing irrelevant information
EFs in autistic individuals across the lifespan
Many studies on EFs do not track developmental trajectories in autistic individuals and often rely on mixed age groups , which complicates the interpretation of findings related to EF performance
Childhood:
* Mixed results, but most studies report that autistic children experience difficulties across all EF components. These difficulties persist throughout development
Adolescence
* Some evidence shows gradual improvements in EFs over time, though these improvements are typically more limited compared to neurotypical development
