w5 Flashcards
what are executive functions needed for
to optimise performance in situations that require coordination between several cognitive processes
executive functions are supervisory/meta-cognitive, meaning…
they are not specific to one domain
what type of behaviour required executive functions
controlled behaviour, but not automatic behaviours
which brain area is linked to executive functions
prefrontal cortex
3 surfaces of the prefrontal cortex
lateral, medial and orbital
the lateral surface is implicated in…
cold control processes- cognitive aspects
the orbital and the medial surfaces are implicated in…
hot control processes- emotional/social regulation of behaviour
what are the 5 general situations requiring executive functions
(1) Situations involving planning or decision making
(2) Situations involving error correction or trouble-shooting
(3) Situations where responses are not well-learned or contain novel sequences of actions
(4) Situations judged to be dangerous or technically difficult
(5) Situations that require the overcoming of a strong habitual response or resisting temptation
which area is particularly activated when healthy patients carry out the towers of London task
PFC (especially dorsolateral)
what do patients with PFC damage do
exhibit perseveration behaviour
what is preservation behaviour
keep responding using a previously correct response
what is the PFC involved in
error correction and troubleshooting
what area is activated more when feedback is negative, and what does this suggest
Ventrolateral PFC, suggests involvement of this region when there is a need to change the rule
what is the role of the anterior cingulate in executive functions
Detection of errors and detection of response conflict
where does an error potential originate
the anterior cingulate
what does Petrides’ (2000) Theory
of Working Memory assume
division of PFC into at least two separate
processes – maintenance (retention) and manipulation
(updating)
patents with PFC damage are impaired at
self-ordered pointing task
role of ventrolateral PFC
Short-term maintenance of spatial
information
real of dorsolateral PFC
maintenance and updating with new locations
what is the left dorsolateral PFC involved in
selecting a range of
plausible responses and free will
what is the right dorsolateral PFC involved in
monitoring and sustained
attention
when is right dorsolateral PFC most active
in conditions of uncertainty
what do unitary accounts argue
there are no ‘executive functions’, just one
general underlying function
evidence for unitary accounts
patients’ performance on many tests of executive function are correlated with each other, and with fluid intelligence
why would we say that any area of the PFC could carry out any executive functions when necessary
Single-cell recording of PFC neurons in monkeys show that they change their responsiveness flexibly according to task demands
what is the multiple demand network
single set of fronto-parietal brain regions that is
active during all tasks that we consider to involve executive functions
what does the multiple-demand network do to complex tasks
divides complex tasks into a sequence of “attentional episodes”
what are attentional episodes
the ability to break down a complex task into smaller less complex segments
what do patients with more lesions in their multiple demand system show
a greater deficit in fluid intelligence
