EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Cognitive Control

Mental abilities that involve planning, controlling, and regulating the flow of information processing.

Lateral PFC

Involved in selective attention, short-term memory, planning, action selection, and response inhibition.

Ventromedial PFC (vmPFC)

Involved in emotion and reward processing, as well as decision making.

Medial frontal cortex / Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

Responsible for error detection, resolving conflict, and rational cognitive functions.

Goal-Oriented Behavior

Actions that require cognitive control and are directed toward achieving a specific goal.

Dorsolateral PFC

Involved in goal planning and sequencing, associated with psychological inertia when damaged.

Sequencing

Choosing the order of actions to optimally achieve a goal, as demonstrated by the Tower of London task.

Goal Maintenance

The ability to maintain focus on a current goal and resist distractions.

Switching

The ability to shift from one subgoal to another, important for multitasking.

Perseveration

Difficulty in adjusting responses when the rules change, often seen in frontal lobe patients.

Inhibitory Control

The ability to suppress inappropriate behaviors and responses.

Stroop Task

A cognitive task used to measure inhibition by requiring individuals to name the color of ink words are written in, not the word itself.

Go/No-Go Task

A task measuring response inhibition, where participants must withhold responses to specific stimuli.

Error Detection Hypothesis

Proposes that the anterior cingulate cortex is involved in detecting errors to enhance cognitive control.

Error Related Potential (ERN)

An ERP component generated by the ACC that shows up when an incorrect response is made.

Response Conflict Hypothesis

Suggests the ACC evaluates response conflicts and is involved in higher-level attention.

Cognitive Flexibility

The ability to switch between thinking about different concepts or to think about multiple concepts simultaneously.

Tower of London Task

A cognitive task that assesses planning and sequencing capabilities.

Trail-Making Task

A neuropsychological test of cognitive flexibility and the ability to switch attention between tasks.

Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

A test that evaluates the ability to sort cards according to changing rules, highlighting cognitive flexibility.

Self-Monitoring

The process of evaluating one's own performance in achieving goals.