Executive Functions
starting something right away
Initiation
You are on the train really enjoying listening to a history podcast - so much that you miss your stop!
Attention
It's 1848 in Central Vermont. Phineas Gage was tamping explosives into the group to prepare the way for a new railway line when he had a terrible accident. The detonation went off prematurely, and his tamping iron shot into his face, through his brain. Gage survived, however, his family and friends felt he changed so much he was "no longer Gage". Gage became listless and aggressive, his personality changed.
Frontal Lobe
The lobe of the brain where executive functioning primarily takes place.
Frontal Lobe
developing a well thought-out strategy before starting a task
Planning
You finish your homework at home and start playing video games afterward, forgetting to put your homework back in your folder in your backpack.
Organization
This part of the brain is responsible for cognitive skills that allow you to plan, organize, initiate, and control your responses to achieve a goal.
The frontal lobe.
using time efficiently to complete a task
Time Management
You get to class, take out your notebook and pencil, and begin the do now right away.
Initiation
Henry Gustav Molaison (known for years as H.M. in the literature to protect his privacy), who died in 2008, developed severe amnesia at age 27 after undergoing brain surgery as a form of treatment for the epilepsy he'd suffered since childhood. Molaison's surgery involved the removal of large parts of the (???) on both sides of his brain and the result was that he was almost entirely unable to store any new information in long-term memory. The extremity of Molaison's deficits was a surprise to experts of the day because many of them believed that memory was distributed throughout the cerebral cortex.
Hippocampus
Damage to this part of the brain can lead to drastic changes in personality or behavior, such as apathy and irritability.
The frontal lobe.
Our ability to achieve, sustain and change our level of alertness to meet the changing demands of the task or situation.
Self-regulation
It's 7pm on Thursday and you realize you have a two page homework assignment due tomorrow that you forgot about.
Time Management, Organization, Planning
The part of the brain where emotions are processed.
The amygdala.
having a place for everything
Organization
You get a score on an quiz that was way lower than you were expecting; you step out of the room for a short break to take a walk and clear your head.
Self-regulation
The part of the brain where memories are stored.
The hippocampus.