Get into groups and come up with two or three things that you do everyday that are automatic or routine e.g. Reading signs, put plate in dishwasher after dinner

What did you come up with? Reading Looking where someone’s pointing Locking car door Cleaning teeth and washing face Put plate in dishwasher Checking my when icon appears Username and password Closing documents from top right corner

For each of those things, try and come up with an example of when you need to do something different e.g. new password

What did you come up with? Reading Looking where someone’s pointing –When driving Locking car door –Need to get something out of boot Cleaning teeth and washing face –Washed face earlier Put plate in dishwasher –Dishwasher’s clean Checking my when icon appears –Have an important deadline! Username and password –New password Closing documents from top right corner –Using mac not PC

Executive Function When we have to do something new or different to our automatic or routine behaviour we use what is called our ‘executive function’ The front part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex is very important for executive function

Wisconsin Card Sort Test There’s a famous test that psychologists use to test people’s executive function called the Wisconsin Card Sort Test. We’re going to play it now Think about what you have to do Does it remind you of anything?

Wisconsin Card Sort Test How could you match the cards? What’s the automatic behaviour? Was it easy or difficult?

Frontal lobe damage Patients become a completely different person –Can’t control their behaviour –Spend all their money, gambling –Can’t work –Can’t think about the future –Can’t adapt their behaviour –Take lots of risks In the WCST they get ‘stuck’ in one way of sorting the cards They might be able to tell you correctly where the card should go but they put it in the wrong place

Task You will be shown pairs of letters or numbers, one on the left, one on the right of the screen You will be told which side of the screen to watch Shout out the letters but not the numbers from this side. Ignore the other side. 57

watch left

57

LC

43

81

RH

49

72

16

KP

Task Now we’re going to do the same thing again. BUT Part-way through you will be given a new instruction about which side to watch –Look out for a + or – + means read the letters from the right side - means read the letters from the left side

watch left

46

21

WL

95

TP

58

63

47

MG

89

+

58

NO

OK

What were you supposed to do?

did you switch to the right? If not, this is known as goal neglect We can all have difficulty overcoming automatic responses at times

Anterior cingulate cortex When you have to overcome an automatic behaviour to do something differently, there’s competition in the brain between the two things Part of the brain, the anterior cingulate cortex, senses this competition It also senses when what you’re doing is different from what you intended to do It tells other parts of the brain dealing with what you’re supposed to be doing to boost their activity We’re going to do something to make your ACC fire.....

name the colour

XXXX

read the word

YELLOW

RED

BLUE

GREEN

BLUE

YELLOW

GREEN

RED

name the colour

RED

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

YELLOW

BLUE

RED

GREEN

Anterior cingulate cortex There’s competition between reading the word (automatic) and naming the ink colour (non-automatic) The ACC senses this competition It helps you to name the ink colour by telling the parts of the brain that deal with this to increase their activity, like in the attention example we did earlier.

Executive function Very important brain function Allows us to flexibly adapt our behaviour and not always do the ‘obvious’ thing Executive functions are supported by the frontal lobes of the brain –If you damage this area it has serious consequences A part of the frontal lobes called the anterior cingulate cortex detects the competition between different ways of responding and helps stop us from making the automatic response