Week 6: Executive functions Flashcards
Where are executive functions primarily located in the brain?
Frontal lobes
Miyake, Friedman et al. stated that executive functions are separable but moderately correlated constructs; so both … as … components
Unitary, non-unitary
What brain part is activated in manipulation of information necessary to perform a dual task?
The right inferior prefrontal cortex
What brain part is activated when information must be continuously updated?
The superior frontal cortex (involved in working memory)
What brain part is involved in monitoring behaviour?
Right dorsolateral frontal area
What brain part is involved in verbal processing?
Left dorsalateral frontal area
The inferior medial frontal area seems to mediate certain aspects of …?
Inhibitory processes of behaviour
Right and left dorsolateral frontal area as well as superior medial frontal lobes seem to be engaged in tasks that require …
Cognitive switching
Which circuit is involved in functions of planning, goal selection, set-shifting, working memory and self-monitoring?
Dorsolateral prefrontal circuit
Which circuit is involved in risk assessment and the inhibition of inappropriate behavioral responses?
Lateral orbitofrontal circuit
The current perspective is that the frontal lobes represent a multi-faced area of the brain with executive processes, likely to involve links between frontal and …. areas as wel as …. and …. pathways
Posterior, subcortical and thalamic
What did Baddeley and Hitch propose as an executive function system within their working memory model?
Central executive system
What does the central executive system do (5)?
It’s a system of attentional control
- Controlled processing in working memory
- Directing attention
- Maintaining task goals
- Decision making
- Memory retrieval
What kind of model did Norman and Shallice propose? And what kind of aspect is linked to EF?
Supervisory Attentional System (SAS) (automatic and controlled processes -> it modifies general strategies to solve non-routine problems)
It monitors conscious, deliberate planning of actions, novel situations that cannot be solved by previously learned schemata and/or when preventing error or habitual responses is critical
… reject the approach of uniqueness of the frontal lobe in the control of executive functions
Zelazo et al.
Why is it difficult to assess EF in children (2)?
- The frontal lobe seems to be immature during childhood
- Limited language ability