Psyc 620 Fall 2008

Psychology 620 Executive Function Instructor Name: Office: Phone: Email:

A. Cris Hamilton, PhD 474 Sewall Hall 713-348-2184 [email protected]

Office Hours: Wed, 9-11am or by appt Course Description: Graduate seminar examining executive function/ cognitive control. Readings will address historical perspectives of executive function, methodological concerns, and executive function in a number of different domains of cognition (i.e., memory, language, motor control, etc.) Course Assignments: Each student will be responsible for leading discussions on two topics during the semester. Each student must also submit four papers throughout the semester. Papers: Students must submit four papers that summarize four of the twelve topics listed on the syllabus. Students may choose any four topics, but may not submit papers on the topics for which they lead discussions. Each paper must be three pages long (double-spaced with 12 pt font) and summarize and integrate the assigned readings. Papers must be submitted at the beginning of class on the day the topic is to be discussed. Grading: Course grades will be assigned based on four papers and your presentation and participation during seminar discussions.

Psyc 620 Fall 2008 Week

Topic

Week 1 8/27

Course Introduction

Week 2 9/03

Historical Perspectives

Harlow, J.M (1868). Recovery after severe injury to the head. Publication of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 2, 327-346. Ackerly, S. (1935). Instinctive, emotional and mental changes following prefrontal lobe extirpation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 92, 717-729. Hebb, D.O. (1945). Human behaviour after extensive bilateral removal from the frontal lobes. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 44, 421-436. Week 3 – 9/10

Psychometric & Methodological Issues

Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49-100 Burgess, P. W. (1997). Theory and methodology in executive function research. In P. Rabbitt (Ed.), Methodology of frontal and executive function (pp. 81 – 116). Hove, UK: Psychology Press. Burgess, P. W., Alderman, N., Evans, J., Emslie, H., & Wilson, B. A. (1998). The ecological validity of tests of executive function. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4, 547– 558. Week 4 – 9/17

HURRICANE IKE RECOVERY

Week 5 – 9/24

Attention & EF

Norman, D. A., & Shallice, T. (1986). Attention to action: Willed and automatic control of behavior. In R. J. Davidson, G. E. Schwartz, & D. Shapiro (Eds.), Consciousness and

Psyc 620 Fall 2008 self-regulation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 4, pp. 1 – 18). New York: Plenum. Miller, E. K. & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience. 24, 167-202. Miller, B. T. & D’Esposito, M. (2005). Searching for “the top” in top-down control. Neuron, 48, 535-538. Week 6 10/01

Short-Term/ Working Memory

May, C.P.; Hasher, L. & Kane, M.J. (1999). The role of interference in memory span. Memory & Cognition, 27, 5, 759-767. Engle, R. W. (2002). Working Memory Capacity as Executive Attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 11, 1, 19-23. Jonides, J. & Nee, D. E. (2006). Brain mechanisms of proactive interference in working memory. Neuroscience, 139, 181-193. Week 7 – 10/08

EF and Memory

Anderson, M.C., Ochsner, K., Kuhl, B., Cooper, J., Robertson, E., Gabrieli, S.W., Glover, G., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2004). Neural systems underlying the suppression of unwanted memories. Science, 303, 232-235. Johnson, S.K., & Anderson, M.C. (2004). The role of inhibitory control in forgetting semantic knowledge. Psychological Science, 15, 448-453. Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., Ehsan, S., Hopper, S., Lambon Ralph, M. A. (in press). Selective short-term memory deficits arise from impaired domain-general semantic control mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Week 8 10/15

MID-TERM RECESS

Psyc 620 Fall 2008 Week 9 – 10/22

Individual Differences

Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Young, S. E., DeFries, J. C., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (in press). Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Hasher, L., Lustig, C., & Zacks, R. T. (2007). Inhibitory mechanisms and the control of attention. In A. Conway, C. Jarrold, M. Kane, A. Miyake, A., & J. Towse (Eds.), Variation in working memory. pp. 227-249. New York: Oxford University Press. Kane, M.J., Conway, A.R.A., Hambrick, D.Z., & Engle, R.W. (2007). Variation in working memory capacity as variation in executive attention and control. In A.R.A. Conway, C. Jarrold, M.J. Kane, A. Miyake, and J.N. Towse (Eds.), Variation in Working Memory, (pp 21-48). NY: Oxford University Press. Kane, M.J., Brown, L.H., Jennifer C. McVay, Silvia, P.J., Myin-Germeys, & Kwapil, T.R. (2007). For whom the mind wanders and when. Psychological Science, 18, 7, 614621. Week 10 – 10/29

Motor/ Response Inhibition

Aron, A. R., Fletcher, P. C., Bullmore, E. T., Sahakian, B. J. & Robbins, T. W. (2003). Stop-signal inhibition disrupted by damage to right inferior frontal gyrus in humans. Nature Neuroscience, 6, 2, 115-116. Aron, A. R., Robbins, T. W., & Poldrack, R. A. (2004). Inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 170-177. Aron, A. R., Behrens, Smith, S., Frank, M. J. & Poldrack, R. A. (2007). Triangulating a cognitive control network using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 3743-3752. Week 11 – 11/05

Social/ Affective Processing

Blair, R.J.R. & Cipolotti, L. (2000). Impaired social response reversal. A case of ‘acquired sociopathy’. Brain, 123, 1122-1141. Beer, J. S., Shimamura, A. P., & Knight, R. T. (2004). Frontal lobe contributions to executive control of cognitive and social behavior. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.) The Newest Cognitive Neurosciences (3rd Edition) (pp.1091-1104). Cambridge: MIT Press

Psyc 620 Fall 2008 Lough, S., Kipps, C. M., Treise, C., Watson, P., Blair, J. R., & Hodges, J.R. (2006). Social reasoning, emotion and empathy in frontotemporal dementia. Neuropsychologia, 44, 950-958. Week 1211/12

Developmental Perspectives

Friedman, N. P., Haberstick, B. C., Willcutt, E. G., Miyake, A., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (2007). Greater attention problems during childhood predict poorer executive functions in late adolescence. Psychological Science, 18, 893-900. Braver, T.S. and West, R. (2007). Working memory, executive control and aging. In F.I. M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), The Handbook of Aging and Cognition (Third Edition). Psychology Press Healey, M. K., Campbell, K. L., & Hasher, L. (2008). Cognitive Aging and Increased Distractibility: Costs and Potential Benefits. In W. S. Sossin, J. C. Lacaille, V. F. Castellucci & S. Belleville (Eds.). Progress in Brain Research, Vol 169. (pp. 353-363). Amsterdam: Elsevier. Von Hippel, W. (2007). Aging, Executive Functioning, and Social Control. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 16, 240-243. Week 1311/19

EF and Language

Jefferies, E., Baker, S.S., Doran, M. & Lambon Ralph, M.A. (2007). Refractory effects in stroke aphasia: A consequence of poor semantic control. Neuropsychologia, 45, 10651079. Thompson-Schill, S.L., Bedny, M. & Goldberg, R. F. (2005). The frontal lobes and the regulation of mental activity. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 15, 1-6. Robinson, G., Blair, J., & Cipolotti, L. (1998). Dynamic aphasia: an inability to select between competing verbal responses. Brain, 121, 77-89. Week 14 – 11/26

Psychopharmacological Approaches to EF

Kimberg DY, D'Esposito M. (2003) Cognitive effects of the dopamine receptor agonist pergolide. Neuropsychologia, 41, 1020-1027.

Psyc 620 Fall 2008 Chamberlain, S.R., Muller, U., Blackwell, A. D., Clark, L., Robbins, T. W., & Sahakian, B. J. (2006). Neurochemical modulation of response inhibition and probabilistic learning in humans. Science, 311, 861-863. Arnsten, A. F. T. & Robbins, T. W. (2002). Neurochemical Modulation of Prefrontal Cortical Function in Humans and Animals. In D.T. Stuss and R.T. Knight (Eds), Principles of Frontal Lobe Function (pp 51-84). New York: Oxford University Press.

11/27

Thanksgiving Holiday

Week 15 12/3

EF and Intelligence

Dempster, F.N. (1991). Inhibitory processes: A neglected dimension of intelligence. Intelligence, 15, 157-173. Duncan, J., Burgess, P., & Emslie, H. (1995). Fluid intelligence after frontal lobe lesions. Neuropsychologia, 33, 261-268. Conway, A. R. A., Kane, M. J., & Engle, R. W. (2003). Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 547-552. Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Corley, R.P., Young, S.E. DeFries, J.C. and Hewitt, J. K. (2006). Not all executive functions are related to intelligence. Psychological Science, 17, 2, 172-179.