University:
Western Sydney University
Course:
MEDI 2003 | Clinical Sciences 2
Academic year:

2024
Views:

419

Pages:

2
Author:

Mariam A.

Frontal lobe Controlled vs. automatic processing  Many behaviours are driven by bottom-up processes dependent on well-established neural pathways. This is largely by nature of sensory stimuli and their strong associations with certain behaviour responses.  In a controlled mode, the basic sensory, memory and motor processes that mediate automatic behaviour are still engaged but are not simply triggered by the environment. Instead, they are shaped and controlled by a top-down fashion.  Controlled behaviours are goal-directed and learned. Cognitive control  External world is processed in separate systems specialised for different sensory modalities.  Knowledge of the external world is required to plan and execute complex, goal-directed behaviours.  One must learn the predictive relationship between disparate sensory cues, their context, possible actions and the consequences they produce.  Controlled processing depends on maintaining relevant information “online”. Capacity  High level cognitive capacities are limited to, on average, seven items held in the mind at a given moment. This is contrasted to automatic processes, which have a high capacity; many can be triggered as long as there is no direct conflict between them.  The limited capacity requires selection of what is processed.  Selection is central to the function of the cognitive system. o The cognitive control system does not analyse sensory information or program exact movements; these are handled by specialised sensory and motor modules. o The cognitive control system selects among these processes by favouring some over others.  In the sensory domain, this is referred to as attention. Executive control  Requires extensive and diverse connections to other regions of the brain in order to have access to information from sensory and motor systems, and memory.  Requires information about goals and how to achieve them, representing diverse multivariate relationships between sensory information, stored knowledge, actions and consequences.  It needs to be plastic and modifiable by experience. Requires short-term storage mechanisms to keep goal-related information “online” and available until the goal is achieved.  It must represent goal-related information in a form that is flexible and easy to modify. Executive functions are largely subserved by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). 