Lecture 9: Executive Functions & Attention (terms)

Executive functions

Mental processes needed when you concentrate and/or pay attention when going on automatic, relying on instinct or intuition is insufficient

Inhibitor control (of attention)

Controlling ones’ attention, behaviour, thoughts, and/or emotions

Working memory

Holding information in the mind and mentally working with it

Cognitive flexibility

Adapting mentally to changing environments

Hot EFs

Involved with reward, emotion, and motivation

Cold EFs

Purely cognitive information processing and uses logic

Regions involved with hot EFs

Orbital (OFC) and medial prefrontal cortex (PFC)

Posterior cingulate cortex  (PCC)

Perigenual and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex = ventral ACC

Regions involved with cold EFs

Lateral prefrontal cortex

Dorsolateral and ventral prefrontal cortex

Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex

Sustained attention (vigilance)

Ability to focus on something for a long period of time

Divided attention

Ability to focus on multiple task at once

Selective attention

Ability to direct your attention to something while filtering everything else around

Inattentional blindness

Failure to notice something when performing another task

Change blindness

Failure to detect changes in the presence, identity, or location of objects in a scene