~ What is Executive Functioning? ~
|
Executive function is the term used to denote the functions that are subserved by a specific subregion within the brain called the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This area is responsible for nearly all of the higher-order cognitive (thinking) functions and behaviors in humans. The specific areas of the brain that house these functions are called the dorsolateral (DLPFC), orbitofrontal (OPFC), and ventromedial (VmPFC). You can see these areas depicted on the picture to your left showing a lateral or side view with the arrows pointed towards the front portion of the brain, and that rather ugly-looking solid tan-colored area being the back of the head and top of your neck (called the thalamus).
|
Housed within these three remarkably small brain regions are those functions that govern impulse control and inhibition, empathy, the ability to understand social appropriateness, the ability for abstraction, planning and initiation, multitasking, verbal fluency, working memory, the ability to self-regulate emotions, the ability to learn from consequences, the awareness of one's own behavior often referred to as meta-awareness, the ability to organize, problem solve, have mental flexibility often referred to as thinking on one's feet, decision-making and judgment, and fluid (vs. crystal) intelligence. As you can see, these are an enormous and significantly consequential array of functions that are essential to navigate one's environment and operate effectively in the world. Damage to one or more of these areas, will limit or prevent the functioning in these cognitive domains.
Another subregion, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) which lays adjacent and medial to the areas described above, has fairly recently been demonstrated to have significant bidirectional connections with the DLPFC in particular. The ACC is involved in goal-oriented performance monitoring such as those functions needed for divided attention, and error detection, as well as affective or emotional decision-making a function of the OPFC, and working memory, planning, and problem solving, functions of the OPFC
Given the significant array of vital functions subserved by the PFC, it should not come as a surprise to learn that the vast majority of psychiatric disorders are the byproduct of a brain that has in some way been impacted or damaged in one or more of these specific areas. Some of the more well-known disorders that are a function of alteration to this area are attention deficit disorders (ADD), autism and Asberger's disorders (recently referred to as 'spectrum' disorders), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourettes' syndrome, and others.
Want to know more? You can follow my blogs, attend a webinar or seminar, or take an e-course.
Another subregion, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) which lays adjacent and medial to the areas described above, has fairly recently been demonstrated to have significant bidirectional connections with the DLPFC in particular. The ACC is involved in goal-oriented performance monitoring such as those functions needed for divided attention, and error detection, as well as affective or emotional decision-making a function of the OPFC, and working memory, planning, and problem solving, functions of the OPFC
Given the significant array of vital functions subserved by the PFC, it should not come as a surprise to learn that the vast majority of psychiatric disorders are the byproduct of a brain that has in some way been impacted or damaged in one or more of these specific areas. Some of the more well-known disorders that are a function of alteration to this area are attention deficit disorders (ADD), autism and Asberger's disorders (recently referred to as 'spectrum' disorders), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourettes' syndrome, and others.
Want to know more? You can follow my blogs, attend a webinar or seminar, or take an e-course.