executive function
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Introduction
Complex cognitive abilities.
The ability to initiate, plan & execute purposeful behavior.
Components include:
- abstract thinking
- planning
- organization
Pathology
- lesions of the prefrontal-subcortical circuits
- generally bilateral
- dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
- thalamus (dorsomedial nucleus)
- head of caudate nucleus
- globus pallidus
- age-related changes in executive function
- cognitive processing speed decreases
- abstractions become more concrete
Diagnostic procedures
Assessment:
- generate lists of words (i.e. animal names)
- sort cards
- change criteria for 1 or 2 as test proceeds