Introductory psychology part B - Executive Functions –
H 13
Please read the book, but focus on the slides for the exam!
Cognitive functions that are necessary to perform efficient, goal-
directed behavior (prefrontal):
– Plan
– Flexibly change plans and actions
– Working memory
– Learn
– Process feedback
– Performance monitoring
– Detect mistakes
– Inhibit wrong responses
Subdivision prefrontal cortex
, Subdivision in
– Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
• Cold cognition, working memory
– Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• Hot cognition, impulse control, social behavior
– Medial frontal cortex
• Motivation, reward, guidance of other prefrontal regions
The big questions:
How does our brain enable efficient, goal-oriented behavior?
And which brain networks are involved in goal-oriented behavior?
- Input is often very complex,
- Output on the other hand is limited to 1, maybe 2 actions at the same time
- And in each environment we can act in many different ways choices how does our
brain choose?
-
To enable efficient, goal oriented behavior, you need to:
1. Keep the right goals, subgoals and order of subgoals in mind: Working memory (task sets +
timing) DLPFC
Comparable to RAM of a
computer, more RAM
more capacity to process
information at the same time
People with higher WM
capacity:
Score better on IQ tests
Perform better at school
Display more creative
insight
Are more proactive at
work
INTERFACE BETWEEN:
H 13
Please read the book, but focus on the slides for the exam!
Cognitive functions that are necessary to perform efficient, goal-
directed behavior (prefrontal):
– Plan
– Flexibly change plans and actions
– Working memory
– Learn
– Process feedback
– Performance monitoring
– Detect mistakes
– Inhibit wrong responses
Subdivision prefrontal cortex
, Subdivision in
– Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
• Cold cognition, working memory
– Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• Hot cognition, impulse control, social behavior
– Medial frontal cortex
• Motivation, reward, guidance of other prefrontal regions
The big questions:
How does our brain enable efficient, goal-oriented behavior?
And which brain networks are involved in goal-oriented behavior?
- Input is often very complex,
- Output on the other hand is limited to 1, maybe 2 actions at the same time
- And in each environment we can act in many different ways choices how does our
brain choose?
-
To enable efficient, goal oriented behavior, you need to:
1. Keep the right goals, subgoals and order of subgoals in mind: Working memory (task sets +
timing) DLPFC
Comparable to RAM of a
computer, more RAM
more capacity to process
information at the same time
People with higher WM
capacity:
Score better on IQ tests
Perform better at school
Display more creative
insight
Are more proactive at
work
INTERFACE BETWEEN:
