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
Which three components are included in attentional control?
- Selective attention
- Sustained attention
- Response inhibition
The greatest spurt of development in executive abilities occures around the age of …?
12
What is the first executive skill to be acquired around the age of 6?
Resisting distraction
What EF refers to the ability to identify and organise the steps and elements needed to achieve a goal?
Planning
Children as young as 3 are able to construct different types of verbal plans. At what age has planning its greates period of development?
Between 5 and 8 but improvements continue well into early adulthood
When does set shifting emerge in children and when does it improve considerably?
Emerge: between 3 and 5
Improve: between 7 and 9
Zelazo and Frye developed a theory that suggests that age related changes in the aquisition of EF during childhood can be attributed to changes in the complexity of rules that the child can formulate. What is the theory called?
Cognitive Complexity and Control (CCC) theory
The development of executive function can be understood in terms of age-related increases in the maximum complexity of the rules children can formulate and use when solving problems
Verbal fluency can be tested by two conditions: phonemic fluency and semantic fluency. What do these conditions require?
Phonemic fluency (letters): subjects need to retrieve words that begin with a particular letter
Semenatic fluency (categories): subjects need to name words that belong to a particular category
What EF is the last to emerge, is significantly influenced by environmental factors and first to decrease?
Verbal fluency (a cognitive function that facilitates information retrieval from memory)
Which developmental disorder has difficulties in planning and mental flexibility?
Autism
What does dysmetria of thought mean and what area has been damaged?
Lack of coordination (measured with finger-to-nose-test)
Cerebellum
Which neurotransmitters are involved in EF and what do they do?
- Dopamine: set-shifting, inhibition, attention
- Serotonin: general executive control and attention
- Acetylcholine: cognitive flexibility, attention
What part of the brain is involved in sequencing, timing and coordination?
Cerebellum
Executive funtions are mainly supported by which brain area?
Prefrontal cortex
The largest EF deficits are found for individuals with which disorder?
Schizophrenia
What are the largest deficits of EF in people with schizophrenia (5)?
- Shifting
- Inhibition
- Updating
- Visuospatial working memory (WM)
- Verbal working memory (WM)
Two working memory (WM) processes can be distinguished:
Maintenance (i.e., storing, monitoring, and matching information)
Manipulation (i.e., reordering and updating information
Which developmental disorder is associated with impairements in shifting, inhibition, updating, visuospatial working memory (WM) and verbal working memory (WM) manipulation + supression of overlearned responses?
ADHD
What is the the unity/diversity model (Miyake, Friedman et al.)?
It suggests that three EFs are correlated, thus tapping into a common underlying ability (unity). However, latent models also reveal separability (diversity) across EFs, suggesting that there is variance unique to particular EF
Which three aspects of EF does the unity/diversity model (Miyake, Friedman et al.) focus on?
- Updating working memory (WM)
- Shifting
- Inhibition
According to the attentional network approach (Snyder) in which three networks can the system by subdivided?
- Alerting: allowing to achieve and maintain a state of alertness
- Orienting: allowing to select sensory information by engaging, disengaging or shifting attention from one stimulus to another
- Executive: involving the top-down control of attention (internal guidance of attention based on prior knowledge, willful plans, and current goals) to resolve response conflicts
What can be defined as the cognitive control function in charge of forming associations that are relevant for accomplishing a given task and achieving a goal, as well as actively suppressing the interfering, task irrelevant ones?
Criterion setting
What can be defined as cognitive control function in charge of actively maintaining representations of task-relevant goals and events?
Monitoring processes
What is the Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF) and its function?
Connects the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes with the frontal cortex
Plays a role in language, attention, memory, and emotions
What does hot and cold EF mean?
Cold = emotionally neutral
Hot = modified by emotion, require emotional control and empathy
