Chapter 14 - The Executive Brain

Links and Media

Documentary clip discussing Phineas Gage, the prefrontal cortex, and interviews with Antonio Damasio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK1sj4JEJ2o
Interview with Professor Tim Shallice discussing his research into executive functions and other aspects of neuropsychology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlZxAQkwtOM
Demonstrates some classic tests of frontal lobe function (e.g. Wisconsin card sort) and contains some interviews with experts (such as Patricia Goldman-Rakic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX5YTPtKCs
A lecture from Professor Jamie Ward, author of The Student’s Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience on “The Executive Brain”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOrEw4kwSE

Additional Reading

A good review paper discussing how different tests of executive functions are affected by damage to different regions of the prefrontal cortex
Stuss, D. T. & Alexander, M. P. (2007). Is there a dysexecutive syndrome? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 362(1481), 901–915.
A neuropsychological study examining the effects of damage to the most anterior region of the prefrontal cortex
Roca, M., Torralva, T., Gleichgerrcht, E., Woolgar, A., Thompson, R., Duncan, J., & Manes, F. (2011). The role of Area 10 (BA10) in human multitasking and in social cognition: A lesion study. Neuropsychologia, 49(13), 3525–3531.
A study examining how cognitive control and value-based decision making are dissociated
Glascher, J., Adolphs, R., Damasio, H., Bechara, A., Rudrauf, D., Calamia, M., … Tranel, D. (2012). Lesion mapping of cognitive control and value-based decision making in the prefrontal cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(36), 14681–14686.

Quizzes

Flashcards