The Prefrontal Cortex and Executive Cognitive Functioning

Stanley Teacher Prep PresentationJim GrigsbyKaren OnderkoOctober 30, 2014

Overview• What are Executive Cognitive Functions?

– Examples• Prefrontal cortex anatomy and connections• Why is Executive Functioning important in

education?• A bit about neuroplasticity• Habit and Executive Functioning• Executive Functioning and State• What can disturb Executive Functioning?• What can improve Executive Functioning?• A Model of EF in Education?/Behavioral Change?

Executive Cognitive Functioning• Formulation of plans• Anticipation of the possible consequences of an intended action• Organization of one’s approach to the solution of a problem• Taking an active approach to the solution of a problem rather than

passively responding with whatever comes to mind• Using an intention or plan to guide one’s ongoing behavior• Critically monitoring the accuracy of one’s performance, continually

comparing the outcome with what was intended (“insight”)• Initiation of purposeful, goal-directed activity under appropriate

circumstances• Responding adaptively to novel situations or stimuli• Inhibition of irrelevant or inappropriate behavior• Inhibition of distractibility• Keeping track of two or more activities simultaneously (working

memory)• Flexibly focusing and shifting attention• Understanding another person’s perspective

“In short, the executive cognitive functions permit an individual to engage actively with life; to respond flexibly to unfamiliar situations; to inhibit irrelevant or routine behavior when it is advantageous to do so; and to learn from experience in real time.”

- Jim Grigsby and David Stevens, Neurodynamics of Personality

The prefrontal cortex affects:

“many of the most quintessential attributes that define human nature: ambition, empathy, foresight, a complex personality, a sense of morality, and a sense of dignity as a human being.”

- V.S. Ramachadran, The Tell-Tale Brain

Stanley BPS 7 Goals for Learners(All examples of strong EF)

• Self-Awareness - including self-advocacy and confidence in one’s beliefs and abilities

• Collaboration – cooperation, communication and empathy

• Respect – as well as appreciation, for one’s role as a responsible community member

• Curiosity – including creativity, risk-taking and the ability to think anew

• Perseverance – finding success through hard work and internal motivation

• Academic Resourcefulness – problem solving, critical thinking, applying skills and concepts

• Joyful, Lifelong Learning – finding fulfillment in pursuing one’s passions

Examples of EF – good and bad• Poor EF: Knee Defender fight on board a United

Airlines flight to Denver forces a diversion to Chicago

• Good EF: Maria Joao Pires practices wrong piano concerto. But the show must go on.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100243153/pianist-maria-joao-pires-panics-as-she-realises-the-orchestra-has-started-the-wrong-concerto/

• Examples from the classroom?

Anatomy of Executive Functioning

• Many regions of the brain are associated with executive functioning.

• Primary area is the prefrontal cortex (PFC)• Other areas affecting executive ability include:

– Cerebellum

– Basal ganglia

– Thalamus

The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC)

• The prefrontal cortex has three main regions:– Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (the front, sides, and top)

– Orbital prefrontal cortex (just above the eyes)

– Medial prefrontal cortex (between the hemispheres)

Who/Where/What is the Executive?

• The prefrontal area combines working memory with long-term memory, current behavior, and both short- and long-term goals. These are referred to as the executive functions.

• But there is no “executive” in the brain, and nothing to regulate behavior.

• The brain and behavior are both self-organizing systems.

• “Behavior reflects the emergent properties of a dynamic, hierarchically ordered, modular, distributed, self-organizing functional system, the primary objective of which is the successful adaptation of the the individual to his or her physical and social environment.”

– Jim Grigsby and David Stevens, Neurodynamics of Personality

Your prefrontal cortex links information back and forth across other brain regions and has the vastest neural network and the most reciprocal interconnections with other brain

structures.

“All neural roads eventually lead to the frontal lobes.”- Kolb & Whishaw, Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology

Damage to the frontal lobe

Predictive Power of Executive FunctioningWalter Mischel’s 1968 Marshmallow Test

In the follow up in the 1980s, the children who participated in the original research were teenagers. Mischel found that those who were not as good at delaying gratification were much more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention in class and had serious problems with their temper. The difference between a child who could only wait thirty seconds and a child who could wait fifteen minutes was that the high-delayer had an SAT score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than the kid who couldn’t wait.

Most recent follow up:

Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later

B. J. Caseya, Leah H. Somervillea, Ian H. Gotlibb, Ozlem Aydukc, Nicholas T. Franklina, Mary K. Askrend, John Jonidesd, Marc G. Bermand, Nicole L. Wilsone, Theresa Teslovicha, Gary Gloverf, Vivian Zayasg, Walter Mischel, and Yuichi Shodae

10.1073/pnas.1108561108 PNAS August 29, 2011

Predictive Power of Executive FunctioningPsychol Sci. 2005 Dec;16(12):939-44.

Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents.

Duckworth AL, Seligman ME

Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania

Self-discipline of 140 8th grade students measured by self reports, teacher and parent reports and monetary choice questionnaires in the fall predicted final grades, school attendance and admittance to competitive HS program.

Replicated study of 164 8th grade students added a behavioral delay-of-gratification task, a questionnaire on study habits and a group administered IQ test in addition to the above.

Finding: Self-discipline (as measured in the fall) accounted for more than twice as much variance as IQ in final grades, HS selection, school attendance…

Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study

• Followed 1,037 individuals born in 1972-1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand

• Self-control during first decade of life was measured using nine measures of self control: observational ratings of children’s lack of control (ages 3 and 5); parent, teacher and self-reports of impulsive aggression, hyperactivity, lack of persistence, inattention and impulsivity (at 5,7,9 & 11 years old)

• Then, as 32-year old adults (with a 96% retention rate), health, wealth and crime outcomes were assessed by physical exams, blood tests, personal interviews, record searches and informant reports.

Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study - Findings

• Children with less self control (i.e., children who were less persistent, more impulsive and had poorer attention regulation) 30 years later had:– Poorer health

– Greater likelihood of alcohol or drug problems

– More financial problems

– More single-parent child rearing

– More criminal convictions

than those with better inhibitory control as young children (controlling for IQ, gender, social class and home lives and family circumstances growing up).

Self-control gradient.

Moffitt T E et al. PNAS 2011;108:2693-2698

©2011 by National Academy of Sciences

Executive Functioning in School

• Without good EF, it can look like a student is not paying attention or is deliberately not controlling themselves

• They may: be pulled out of the learning environment; miss information; fall behind; feel upset; act out…

• They are in a downward spiral

• And consequences become irrelevant to a child who can’t conceive of them and can’t use impulse control to avoid them.

Executive Functions can be Trained by Strengthening Neural Connections

• Scenario 1: Poor EF leads to problems paying attention in class, completing assignments and inhibiting impulsive behaviors. School is less fun and the teacher is always getting annoyed with the student and complying with school demands is hard. The teacher comes to expect low self regulation and poor work and the children come to see themselves as poor students.

• Scenario 2: Children who have better EF are likely to be praised for good behavior, enjoy school more and want to spend more time working. Their teachers enjoy them and a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop is created.

• Results: One child wants out and doesn’t expect to succeed. The other wants in and fully expects to succeed.

Neuroplasticity is behind both scenarios

• In the brain, neurons that “fire together, wire together”• So neural networks that are repeatedly activated

become stronger and more efficient (and the opposite is also true)

• And practiced neural networks can become habits

• Think of a stream bed:

– The bed affects where the water flows

– But, the water flow itself can also change the course of the stream bed

Example of rapid brain change

(Casasanto, D. and Bottini, R. (2013), Spatial language and abstract concepts. WIREs Cogn Sci. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1271)

By Changing Habits, We Strengthen Executive Functioning

• We engage in habits unconsciously.• By drawing attention to them at the time, we become

conscious of them.– This prevents them from being enacted automatically and

unconsciously.– Repeatedly drawing awareness to a habit will disrupt its

performance.– Focusing attention helps strengthen connections in the

prefrontal cortex.

• It’s still easier to do what is a habit than to inhibit the habit, or perform a novel behavior.

By Developing Habits, We Scaffold Executive Functioning

• EF involves the ability to initiate goal-directed, deliberate behavior, and to inhibit habitual, inappropriate, or irrelevant behavior.

• EF typically involves effort, so it goes against the grain to use EF rather than do what is easiest.

• Developing habits that support our executive functions can scaffold those efforts.

• What skills can be transferred to habit?

Positive General Habits for School

• Step-by-step approach to work; rely on visual organizational aids

• Use visual schedules and review them several times a day

• Create checklists and to do lists – estimate how long tasks will take

• Break longer assignments into chucks and assign time frames for completing each chunk

Habit vs. Voluntary Control of Behavior

Most human activity—whether simple or complex—is habitual, a function of procedural learning.

Effort is required to:inhibit habitual activity

disrupt a habit

respond to novel situations

engage in novel activity

create new habits

Brain Activation for Habits

• MRIs of brains in habit mode – PFC shows little activity

• Example of learning to drive

• Once the mechanics of driving are mastered, one can focus on navigation, defensive driving and can respond to dangerous situations

Habits

• Procedural learning causes the things we do repeatedly to become habits.– They become automatic and nonconscious.

– Habits are very efficient, and we rely on them most of the time. They require less effort than deliberate action.

• Sometimes habits are not useful or adaptive.– Then we need to change them.

• The likelihood that we’ll perform a habitual behavior depends on our state.

Executive Function and State

• To a large extent, our state determines our level of motivation.

• Our state of mind at any time determines how likely we are to do a particular thing.– Example: If ‘’m depressed, I’ll have depressing

thoughts about myself, but if I’m happy, I won’t.

– A very desperate state may lead to desperate behavior.

• State is more complex than this, but different factors affect state, which affects what we do.– This includes whether we will use our executive

functions, or just go with the flow of habits.

Executive Function – StateRelationship

• Stress

• Expectations/Mood

• Energy level

• Blood glucose levels

• Hormones

• Pain

• Poor health/Inflammation

• And many more….

How EF can be worsened

• Injury

• Illness/Disorders

• Lack of adequate sleep

• Age

• State: apathy, stress, energy level

• Habit/Negative feedback loop

How EF can be improved

• Age/brain development

• State

• Practice

• Habit/Positive feedback loops

• Meditation