Lecture 7 - Executive Function

Question 1

What are the two areas of the orbitofrontal cortex

Answer 1

• ventromedial PFC - somatic marker hypothesis

- lateral orbitofrontal cortex

Question 2

What are the three syndromes TYPES related to prefrontal regions

Answer 2

• dysexecutive - dorsolateral
• disinhited - orbitofrontal
• apathetic - mediofrontal

Question 3

What does the DLPFC do

Answer 3

• originates in hippocampus
• working memory
• episodic memory
• endogenous attention
• exogenous attention
• executive func
• initiation
• sequencing
• monitoring outcome
• inhibition of distracting stimuli

Question 4

Describe frontal amnesia

Answer 4

not a real amnesia, it is the failure to organise information

not actually a declarative memory deficit unles there is a compromisation of the hippocamppus

Question 5

What is the VPFC involved in?

Answer 5

• apart of the system emerging from the caudal orbitofrontal (olfactory) cortex
• INTIMATELY connected with LIMBIC NUCLEI for emotional processing
• behavioural self reg
• evaluating hedonic information
• error correction - with the anterior cingular cortex

Question 6

What is the rostral PFC “frontal poles” involved in

Answer 6

particularly the right

 Subjective Sense of Self
 Autonoetic consciousness and self awareness
 Humor and theory of mind.
 Human individuality and high level personal decision making and social behaviour

Question 7

What are the three syndromes associated with frontal damage?

Answer 7

DLPFC - convexity syndrome
- Featuring compromise in executive functions including decreased verbal and design fluency, abnormal motor programming, impaired set shifting, reduced learning and memory retrieval and poor problem solving

OPFC - disinhibition, irritability, impulsivity, emotional lability,
poor insight, poor judgment and distractability

Medial frontal / anterior cingulate syndrome - featuring apathy and diminished intiative

Question 8

What happens if you get orbitofrontal damage?

Answer 8

disinhibition, irritability, impulsivity, emotional lability,
poor insight, poor judgment and distractability

Question 9

What happens if you get mediofrontal damage

Answer 9

apathy and diminished intiative

diminsihed motor behaviour… weakness and sensory loss

Question 10

What happens if you get dorsolateral PFC damage

Answer 10

compromise in executive functions including decreased verbal and design fluency, abnormal motor programming, impaired set shifting, reduced learning and memory retrieval and poor problem solving

(luria proposes a disorder of drive)

Question 11

What are some cerebral connections that the prefrontal regions has

Answer 11

cortical - premotor, motor, parietal, temporal, occipital lobes.

subcortical - thalamus, hippocampus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem nuclei

also connected to contralateral prefrontal lobe

Question 12

How might someone with intact frontal lobe present with frontal lobe syndromes?

Answer 12

they may have damage to subcortical areas, such as STRIATUM, PALLIDUM and MEDIODORSAL THALAMUS.

bc the frontal lobes are represented in those areas - tunnelling down.

Question 13

Describe Luria’s scheme which desribes how thoughts become actions

Answer 13

IDEA - INTENTION > PROGRAMMING&raquo_space;»> REGULATION > VERIFICATION - OUTCOME

intent and programming is DLPFC (drive)

Regulation and verification is VMPFC (control/inhibtion)

hence you can get 2 frontal syndromes: disorders of DRIVE and disorders of CONTROL

Question 14

describe a disorder of DRIVE

Answer 14

DLPFC

according to luria’s model

 Apathy
 Inertia
 Lack of initiative  Inflexibility
 Rigidity
 Cognitive slowing

Question 15

Describe the disorder of CONTROL

Answer 15

VMPFC

according to luria’s model

 Restlessness
 Hyper-reactivity
 Disinhibition
 Impulsivity
 Irresponsibility
 Cognitive acceleration

Question 16

according to luria’s model, what are the two functional syndromes you can get?

Answer 16

disorder of drive - DLPFC

disorder of control - VMPFC

Question 17

which area might be involved in gut feelings?

Answer 17

VMPFC

hedonic ranking and evaluation to help us make the right decision - eg. how to best decline an invitation

allows us to have a ‘gut feeling’ or somatic marker

Question 18

What is working memory

Answer 18

Representing, maintaining and manipulating information that is not immediately present in the environment.

integration of current goals with perceptual information and knowledge accumulated from past experience

Lateral PFC

but also DLPFC

Question 19

Within the LPFC, what are the specialisations?

Answer 19

for working memory, it appears that working on the information is specialised in the DLPFC, higher areas of lateral PFC.

just maintaining some info is in the lower LPFC

Question 20

What is the anterior cingular responsible for

Answer 20

executive attention, error correction, inhibition, divided attention and decision making.

but also emotional regulation which is what the entire cingulate is thought to do

Question 21

what does the WCST test

Answer 21

set shifting

LPFC damage

can also use verbal fluency, stroop

Question 22

What does the inferior frontal cortex do

Answer 22

response selection

associated with activation when participants used ‘high selection’ verbs..

Question 23

What are some tests in which people with PFC lesions have shown problems?

Answer 23

• task switching when presented cards with work pairs and colours.
• stroop task - cognition control/attention deficit
  .. they show interference when doing the color word trial.