Week 1 - Executive Functions

Question 1

What are School Psychologists experts in?

Answer 1

1. Learning
2. Behavior
3. Mental health
4. School systems

Question 2

What do school psychologists provide?

Answer 2

1. Academic, behavioral and mental health support
2. Evaluation, assessment, and data analysis
3. Consultation with teachers and families

Question 3

What do school psychologists support?

Answer 3

1. Struggling and diverse learners
2. Student achievement and well-being
3. School - family communication

Question 4

How do school psychologists promote positive behavior and mental health?

Answer 4

• Promote student motivation and engagement
• Conduct psychological and academic assessments
• Individualize instruction and interventions
• Manage student and classroom behavior
• Monitor student progress
• Collect and interpret student and classroom data
• Reduce inappropriate referrals to special education

Question 5

How do school psychologists support diverse learners?

Answer 5

• Assess diverse learning needs
• Provide culturally responsive services to students and families from diverse backgrounds
• Plan appropriate Individualized Education Programs for students (with disabilities)
• Modify and adapt curricula and instruction
• Adjust classroom facilities and routines to improve student engagement and learning
• Monitor and effectively communicate with parents about student progress

Question 6

How do school psychologists create safe, positive school climates?

Answer 6

1. Prevent bullying and other forms of violence
2. Support social-emotional learning
3. Assess school climate and improve school connectedness
4. Implement and promote positive discipline and restorative justice
5. Implement school-wide positive behavioral supports
6. Identify at risk students and school vulnerabilities
7. Provide crisis prevention and intervention services

Question 7

What is executive functioning?

Answer 7

1. Concentration
2. Juggling multiple demands
3. Adapting to changing circumstances
4. Working with others
5. Dealing with setbacks
6. Inhibiting immediate rewards

Question 8

Consequences of low EF

Answer 8

1. Worse school performance
2. Difficulty keeping jobs
3. Lower income
4. Difficulties maintaining relationships
5. increased risk for mental health problems

Question 9

Definition EF

Answer 9

Umbrella term for various cognitive processes that give rise to goal-directed behavior

1. Novel & demanding situations
2. Flexible adjustment
3. Adaptive behavior, creativity

Question 10

What are the three core components of EF

Answer 10

1. Working Memory
2. Inhibitory control
3. Cognitive Flexibility

Question 11

What is working memory?

Answer 11

The ability to hold information in
mind (maintenance) and mentally
work with it (manipulation)

Question 12

What is inhibitory control?

Answer 12

The ability to suppress interfering
thought and actions that are not
relevant to the task at hand

Question 13

Cognitive flexibility

Answer 13

The ability to change one’s
perspective or approach to a
problem, flexibly adjusting to new
demands, rules, or priorities

Question 14

In which clinical groups is EF impaired?

Answer 14

1. ADHD
2. Learning disabilities
3. Depression

Question 15

Measure of simple EF

Answer 15

1. Go/No-Go Task

Question 16

Advantages of measures of simple EF?

Answer 16

Advantages:
* Better predictor of EF problems in daily life
* Better predictor of school performance

Disadvantages:
* More difficult to identify disability
* More difficult to track development

Question 17

Measure of Complex EF

Answer 17

1. Tower of London
2. Stroop Task
3. Delayed Gratification task
4. Dimensional Change Card Sorting Test
5. WCST

Question 18

Tower of London

Answer 18

Measures: spatial problem solving, planning

Task difficulty increases
with the number of
moves needed to solve
the problem

Question 19

Stroop Task

Answer 19

Measures: automatic response inhibition

Question 20

Delayed gratification task

Answer 20

Measures: self-regulation, inhibition

Question 21

Dimensional Change Card Sorting Test

Answer 21

Measures: cognitive flexibility, switching and shifting

Question 22

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Answer 22

1. More difficult than DCCS
2. No explicit instructions about rule
3. No instruction when rule changes
4. You have to infer sorting rule based on
   feedback

Question 23

Brief/Brief-2

Answer 23

• Often used in clinical practice or school setting to
  assess executive functioning in 5-18 year
• Filled out by teachers and/or parent
• BRIEF-2 also 11-18 year olds can fill out a form

Question 24

Brain regions of EF

Answer 24

1. Dorsolateral PFC: Working Memory
2. Orbitalfrontal Cortex: Inhibition
3. Medial PFC: Cognitive Flexibility

Question 25

Neuroscience methods

Answer 25

1. Patients with frontal lobe damage 2. NFL Players 3. Imaging healthy brains of children and adolescents 4. Task related fMRI

Question 26

Feedback learning

Answer 26

1. Learning from previous behavior * Essential to learn from feedback on your behavior in order to learn 2. Multiple executive functions * In order to learn from feedback you rely on multiple executive functions, such as working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition

Question 27

What does feedback learning predict?

Answer 27

Feedback learning performance and neural activity predict Real-world Learning: * Reading fluency * Mathematics

Question 28

What happens to executive functions in adolescence?

Answer 28

Impulsive, not thinking about long-term consequences, difficulty planning No deficits in executive functions PFC better than in childhood (although not fully developed yet) but peak in emotional sensitivity

Question 29

Which executive brain area develops relatively late?

Answer 29

DLPFC

Question 30

By what is behavior influenced during adolescence

Answer 30

Cognitive and emotional brain regions Adolescents are driven by immediate rewards

Question 31

What was the result of the marshmallow test?

Answer 31

Test predicted performance on the emotional go/no-go task 40 years later! Ability to suppress GO reaction to happy faces in adulthood is associated with ability to self-regulate at age 4 Implications: * Individual differences appear early in development * Can we improve EF? Effective interventions