EXECUTIVE FUNCTION
PSY2014S
2023
UCT
KYLCHL001
, Executive Function
The executive brain
Executive function are special kinds of higher order cognitive capacities! Not just in the frontal lobe. Many
networks are important for executive functions.
Although the term executive function is a bit vague and relates to a number of functions, it allows us to
understand the myriad of symptoms and deficits that follow disorders in these functions.
Cases:
Phineas Gage (1823 – 1860)
Prior to his accident he was a religious, family-loving, honest and hard-working man. After brain damage,
He could touch, hear, and see, and was not paralysed of limb or tongue. He walked firmly, used his hands
with dexterity, and had no noticeable difficulty with speech or language. And yet, the ‘equilibrium or
balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculty and animal propensities’ had been destroyed. Described
after his frontal injury as ‘fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity…impatient of
restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires…obstinate, devising many plans of operation, which are
no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible
Dr P:
• Before brain damage
– Surgeon
– Traveller
– Sports person
– Independent
, • After anoxia
– Self-initiation deficits
– Planning deficits
– Difficulty in adapting to change
– Dependency & bhvral compliancy
– Lack of insight
– Apathy
– Indifference
– Flat affect
• Spared
– IQ
– Retention of knowledge
– Vocabulary
– Spatial processing
Behavioural effects of Prefrontal lobotomy
"slowed up in thinking and acting, they were dull, at times completely lacking in emotional expression or
display and showed a striking reduction in interest and driving energy." Others receiving the same operation
were "uninhibited and euphoric and they were somewhat restless with a purposeless type of activity.”
Action stimulus-bound. (environment prompts them to act in a certain way and they cannot inhibit that)
Dr. Gosta Rylander of Stockholm described a patient whom he employed as a cook after the patient
recovered from a prefrontal lobotomy.
“Originally the patient was very innovative in the kitchen, but after the operation she had difficulty in using
new recipes and made ridiculous mistakes. She had no problem, however, with old recipes. When going out
to buy food, she frequently disappeared for long periods, distracted by shop windows and often forgetting to
buy the food”.
Objectives:
Describe processes that constitute executive functions
Understand the role of the frontal cortex in EFs
Review the neuroanatomical features of the prefrontal cortex and the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Understand the organization of executive functions
Evaluate some cognitive models of EFs.
PSY2014S
2023
UCT
KYLCHL001
, Executive Function
The executive brain
Executive function are special kinds of higher order cognitive capacities! Not just in the frontal lobe. Many
networks are important for executive functions.
Although the term executive function is a bit vague and relates to a number of functions, it allows us to
understand the myriad of symptoms and deficits that follow disorders in these functions.
Cases:
Phineas Gage (1823 – 1860)
Prior to his accident he was a religious, family-loving, honest and hard-working man. After brain damage,
He could touch, hear, and see, and was not paralysed of limb or tongue. He walked firmly, used his hands
with dexterity, and had no noticeable difficulty with speech or language. And yet, the ‘equilibrium or
balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculty and animal propensities’ had been destroyed. Described
after his frontal injury as ‘fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity…impatient of
restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires…obstinate, devising many plans of operation, which are
no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible
Dr P:
• Before brain damage
– Surgeon
– Traveller
– Sports person
– Independent
, • After anoxia
– Self-initiation deficits
– Planning deficits
– Difficulty in adapting to change
– Dependency & bhvral compliancy
– Lack of insight
– Apathy
– Indifference
– Flat affect
• Spared
– IQ
– Retention of knowledge
– Vocabulary
– Spatial processing
Behavioural effects of Prefrontal lobotomy
"slowed up in thinking and acting, they were dull, at times completely lacking in emotional expression or
display and showed a striking reduction in interest and driving energy." Others receiving the same operation
were "uninhibited and euphoric and they were somewhat restless with a purposeless type of activity.”
Action stimulus-bound. (environment prompts them to act in a certain way and they cannot inhibit that)
Dr. Gosta Rylander of Stockholm described a patient whom he employed as a cook after the patient
recovered from a prefrontal lobotomy.
“Originally the patient was very innovative in the kitchen, but after the operation she had difficulty in using
new recipes and made ridiculous mistakes. She had no problem, however, with old recipes. When going out
to buy food, she frequently disappeared for long periods, distracted by shop windows and often forgetting to
buy the food”.
Objectives:
Describe processes that constitute executive functions
Understand the role of the frontal cortex in EFs
Review the neuroanatomical features of the prefrontal cortex and the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Understand the organization of executive functions
Evaluate some cognitive models of EFs.
