Prefrontal cortex and executive functions Flashcards
Teacher: Tonny
Efficient goal-directed behavior - Match the task with what’s to be researched:
- Memorize the proper goals, subgoals and the order of subgoals
- Select the proper perceptual input and prioritize the selection
- Inhibition of irrelevant perceptual input & inhibit motor actions
- Activate the proper motor actions
- Evaluate your actions. Did they match your expectations
- Adjust (sub)goals and the order of your actions if necessary
Inhibition - Evaluative control - Attention - Working memory - Executive control - Motor action
- Working memory
- Attention
- Inhibition
- Motor action
- Evaluative control
- Executive control
Match goal-directed behavoir with the right brain area:
1. Working memory
2. Attention
3. Inhibition
4. Motor
5. Evaluation
6. Executive control
Areas:
Frontal eye field, basal ganglia (BG), Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), M1, Dorsolateral PFc(dlPFc), supplementary motor area(SMA), superior parietal lobe(SPL), inferior frontal gyrus(IFG), Pre-SMA
- dlPFC, SPL
- Frontal eye field, SPL
- Pre-SMA, IFG
- SMA, M1, BG
- ACC
- ACC to dlPFc
What is the definition of the prefrontal cortex?
Gets input from medio dorsal thalamus
Which part of the thalamus plays a role in behavioral & emotional states?
Paraventricular thalamus (to PFc)
Which pathway does not primarily anterograde with prefrontal cortex?
Medio Dorsal Thalamus to Accumbens
What problem can damage to the ventral/medial PFc cause?
Disinhibition syndrome
What problem can damage to the lateral PFc cause?
Dysexecutive syndrome
What is disinhibition syndrome?
Person can not inhibit in a social/non-social sense (e.g. screaming), constant movement, NO dysexecutive symptoms
What is dysexecutive syndrome?
Person has problems with planning and organization, working memory, confabulate, limited attention span, difficulties coping real world
What are common features when there is damage to the frontal lobe?
No deficit in intelligence, normal language use, normal memory for events and facts
- Problems: impairment in forming/updating and implementing of rules appropriate/effective behavior
Match frontal area with their function:
1. The conscious choice in attention and thought
2. Inhibition of behavior: The choice NOT to do something
3. Emotional and social control
4. Behavioral evaluation: What did I do and is that what I anticipated
Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Dorso-lateral PFc, Orbito frontal PFc, Ventro medial PFc
- dlPFc
- Orbito frontal PFc
- Ventro-medial PFc (disinhibition syndrome)
- ACC
In with prefrontal brain areas does motivation come from?
Ventro-medial PFc and Orbito-frontal PFc
In with prefrontal brain areas does action result come from?
ACC and dorso-lateral PFc
What are the 3 types of executive functions?
Establishing and modifying rules
Contextual control
Working memory
What is the difference in stimulus-response learning and abstract learning?
S-R learning: Learn an appropriate action for each and every stimulus (or combo)
Abstract learning: Learn rules that connect stimuli to actions
