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Executive Control (executive + control)
Selected AbstractsDevelopment of Executive Control and Language ProcessingLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2009Reiko Mazuka Research in executive function development has shown that children have poor control of inhibition functions, including the inhibition of prepotent responses, control of attention, and flexibility at rule-shifting. To date, links between the development of executive function and children's language development have not been investigated explicitly. Yet, recent studies on children's sentence processing report that children tend to perseverate during sentence processing. We argue that such perseveration may be due to immature executive function. [source] A longitudinal, microgenetic study of the emergence of false belief understanding and inhibition skillsDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004Emma Flynn Two theories that attempt to explain the relationship between false belief understanding and inhibition skills were investigated: (1) theory of mind development improves self-control, and (2) executive control is necessary for developing a theory of mind. A microgenetic approach was adopted, with a group of 21 children completing a battery of inhibition and false belief understanding tasks every four weeks for six phases of testing. The results showed that the majority of children were able to perform well on a test of executive inhibition before having a good understanding of false beliefs, thus supporting theory (2). The results also illustrated that while the children's inhibition skills developed relatively gradually, their understanding of false beliefs progressed from a consistent lack of understanding through a period of unstable performance, during which some children failed tests that they had previously passed. [source] Control of semantic interference in episodic memory retrieval is associated with an anterior cingulate-prefrontal activation patternHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 2 2001Manfred Herrmann Prefrontal activation is a consistent finding in functional neuroimaging studies of episodic memory retrieval. In the present study we aimed at a further analysis of prefrontal neural systems involved in the executive control of context-specific properties in episodic memory retrieval using an event-related fMRI design. Nine subjects were asked to learn two 20-item word lists that consisted of concrete nouns assigned to four semantic categories. Ten items of both word lists referred to the same semantic category. Subjects were instructed to determine whether nouns displayed in random order corresponded to the first 20-item target list. The interference evoked by the retrieval of semantically related items of the second list resulted in significantly longer reaction times compared to the noninterference condition. Contrasting the interference against the noninterference retrieval condition demonstrated an activation pattern that comprised a right anterior cingulate and frontal opercular area and a left-lateralized dorsolateral prefrontal region. Trial averaged time series revealed that the PFC areas were selectively activated at the interference condition and did not respond to the familiarity of learned words. These findings suggest a functionally separable role of prefrontal cortical areas mediating processes associated with the executive control of interfering context information in episodic memory retrieval. Hum. Brain Mapping 13:94,103, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Psychiatric Comorbidity in Long-Term Abstinent Alcoholic IndividualsALCOHOLISM, Issue 5 2007Victoria Di Sclafani Background: A high prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders has been demonstrated in individuals with an alcohol use disorder in both community and treatment samples, with higher comorbidity in treatment samples. In this study, we examined lifetime and current psychiatric diagnoses in long-term abstinent alcoholic individuals (LTAA; mean abstinence=6.3 years; n=52) compared with age and gender-comparable non-alcoholic controls (NC; n=48). We asked the following questions: (1) to achieve long-term abstinence, must an individual be relatively psychiatrically healthy (i.e., comparable with NC) and (2) can ongoing abstinence be maintained in the face of a current psychiatric disorder? Methods: Lifetime and current (prior 12 months) psychiatric diagnoses were assessed in the mood, anxiety, and externalizing disorder domains using the computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule (c-DIS). Results: Over 85% of LTAA had a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis, compared with 50% of NC. Long-term abstinent alcoholic individuals had a higher prevalence than NC of lifetime mood, anxiety, and externalizing disorder diagnoses. Long-term abstinent alcoholic individuals also had a greater prevalence than NC of current mood and anxiety diagnoses. Although LTAA had a greater lifetime prevalence of an antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) than NC, no LTAA or NC had a current ASPD diagnosis. Finally, there was no association of duration of abstinence with lifetime or current psychiatric diagnoses, consistent with psychiatric diagnoses having little effect on relapse. Conclusions: Our results suggest that: (1) the presence of a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis does not militate against achieving long-term abstinence, (2) abstinence can be maintained in the presence of a current mood or anxiety disorder, and (3) a current diagnosis of ASPD may not be compatible with long-term abstinence. The relatively low levels of antisocial behavior compared with preabstinence (as indicated by no LTAA meeting current criteria for ASPD) raises the question of whether the neurobiology underlying antisocial behavior is changed in abstinence, or brought under increased executive control, or both. [source] The Appointment and Removal Process for judges in Argentina: The Role of Judicial Councils and Impeachment Juries in Promoting Judicial IndependenceLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 2 2007Rebecca Bill Chávez ABSTRACT This article explores the conditions that allow judicial councils and impeachment juries to promote judicial autonomy. In theory, these bodies intervene in the appointment and removal of judges in order to reduce executive control over court composition, thereby promoting judicial independence. Using the case of Argentina at the federal and the subnational levels, this study demonstrates that competitive politics enhances the capacity of judicial councils and impeachment juries to bolster judicial autonomy. Interparty competition provides incentives for the executive to develop a meaningful system of checks and balances, which includes an independent judiciary that can check executive power. In contrast, monolithic party control,defined as a prolonged period of unified government under a highly disciplined party,permits the executive to maintain a monopoly on power and thereby control judicial appointments and removals. [source] Monitoring in Language PerceptionLINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2009Nan Van De Meerendonk Monitoring is an aspect of executive control that entails the detection of errors and the triggering of corrective actions when there is a mismatch between competing responses or representations. In the language domain, research of monitoring has mainly focused on errors made during language production. However, in language perception, for example while reading or listening, errors occur as well and people are able to detect them. A hypothesis that was developed to account for these errors is the monitoring hypothesis for language perception. According to this account, when a strong expectation conflicts with what is actually observed, a reanalysis is triggered to check the input for processing errors reflected by the P600 component. In contrast to what has been commonly assumed, the P600 is thought to reflect a general reanalysis and not a syntactic reanalysis. In this review, we will describe the different studies that led to this hypothesis and try to extend it beyond the language domain. [source] Reform, Reorganization, and the Renaissance of the Managerial Presidency: The Impact of 9/11 on the Executive EstablishmentPOLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2006Richard S. Conley In the wake of 9/11, realigning the human and financial resources of the executive branch to fight the war on terrorism quickly became the defining mission of George W. Bush's transformed presidency. This article assesses the ways in which 9/11 impacted on the executive branch of the U.S. government, using a framework of "punctuated equilibrium" to posit that the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington added considerable force to trends already in motion. September 11 proved a catalyst for significant institutional changes, such as the enhanced role of the vice president in policy making and the reorganization of the federal government and intelligence apparatus. Organizational reforms, driven in a top-down fashion by the White House, reflect President Bush's confidence in the managerial presidency: the notion that preventing future terror threats is effectively a problem of executive control, bureaucratic coordination, and adequate funding. [source] Annotation: Deconstructing the attention deficit in fragile X syndrome: a developmental neuropsychological approachTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 6 2004K.M. Cornish Background:, Fragile X syndrome is one of the world's leading hereditary causes of developmental delay in males. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research that has begun to unravel the condition at its various levels: from the genetic and brain levels to the cognitive level, and then to the environmental and behavioural levels. Our aim in this review is to attempt to integrate some of the extensive body of knowledge to move the research a step closer to understanding how the dynamics of atypical development can influence the specific cognitive and behavioural end-states frequently observed in children and adolescents with fragile X syndrome. Methods:, We conducted a review of the current neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric approaches that have attempted to delineate the pattern of ,spared' and ,impaired' functions associated with the phenotype. Results:, The profile of findings suggests that fragile X syndrome should not be viewed merely as a catalogue of spared and impaired cognitive functions or modules. Instead, there appears to be a process of almost gradual modularisation whereby cognitive mechanisms become domain specific as a function of development itself (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992). The results of a decade of intense research point towards an early weakness in one or more components of executive control rather than single, static higher-level deficits (e.g., spatial cognition, speech processing). This weakness affects both the development of more complex functions and current performance. Conclusions:, The prevailing tendency to interpret developmental disorders in terms of fixed damage to distinct modular functions needs to be reconsidered. We offer this review as an example of an alternative approach, attempting to identify an initial deficit and its consequences for the course of development. Through better definition of the cognitive and behavioural phenotype, in combination with current progress in brain imaging techniques and molecular studies, the next decade should continue to hold exciting promise for fragile X syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders. [source] The possible functions of involuntary autobiographical memoriesAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2009Anne S. Rasmussen Involuntary autobiographical memories are memories of personal experiences that come to mind spontaneously,that is with no preceding attempt at retrieval. We propose that such memories form a basic mode of remembering that is as frequent, common and functional as voluntary remembering but presumably evolutionarily earlier than the latter. In contrast to voluntary recall, the activation of involuntary memories involves little executive control. It typically depends on a distinct feature-overlap between the remembered and current situation, which favours the activation of specific episodic information. Involuntary remembering may serve the overarching function of providing a sense of continuity across time, thereby automatically updating our personal sense of existence. Furthermore, since involuntary memories yield fast access to memories of specific events with a distinctive content-overlap to the current situation, they may serve important directive functions in novel situations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||