Memory 3 Flashcards
Uses of executive functions
- Self-regulation
- Self-directed behaviour toward goal
- Break out of habit
- Evaluate risks
- Plan for future
- Prioritize and sequence actions
- Cope with novel situations
Main aspects of executive functions
- Shifting
- Inhibition
- Updating
- Working memory
Shifting (EF)
Switching between task sets or response rules.
Shifting from reading a paper to responding to an important email and back again.
Wisconsin card sorting task.
Trail making task
Perseveration
Like in the wisconsin card sorting task when participants can’t change behaviour based on new rule.
Inhibition of first learned response fails
Inhibition (EF)
Suppressing or resisting a propotent automatic response in order to make a less automatic but task relevant response.
Stroop task, Go/NoGO
Updating (EF)
Monitoring and coding incoming information for task-relevance, and replacing no longer relevant information with newer more relevant information.
Spatial n-back task, first look for a b and c, then look for b c and d, etc.
Unity/diversity model
Common EF: a function that spans the rest of the EF’s, inhibition is moved into this Common EF aspect.
Psychopathology may be more broadly associated with impairment in common EF
Problems with measuring EF’s
Non-EF processes and error contribute much variance.
More subtle aspects of EF may be missed due to ceiling effects and error.
Ceiling effects is where the majority of values approach the upper limit of the scale used to measure the EF.
Central executive of WM (EF)
A sort of central control unit for directing attention and maintaining goals.
Dual-task performance
Participants had to do two tasks:
Remembering random digits (phonological loop)
Tracking a moving target.
When they did both together only a 15% drop in performance.
Alzheimer patients showed a 40% drop
Complex spans
Reading span task: remember last word of each sentence and number of sentences processed with last word remembered is reading span.
Correlates highly with language comprehension
Spans seem seem to measure important individual differences like language comprehension, exam performance, and IQ.
