Executive Function and the Frontal Lobes: A Meta-Analytic Review

@article{Alvarez2006ExecutiveFA,
  title={Executive Function and the Frontal Lobes: A Meta-Analytic Review},
  author={J. A. Castellanos Alvarez and Eugene K. Emory},
  journal={Neuropsychology Review},
  year={2006},
  volume={16},
  pages={17-42}
}
Currently, there is debate among scholars regarding how to operationalize and measure executive functions. These functions generally are referred to as “supervisory” cognitive processes because they involve higher level organization and execution of complex thoughts and behavior. Although conceptualizations vary regarding what mental processes actually constitute the “executive function” construct, there has been a historical linkage of these “higher-level” processes with the frontal lobes. In… 
View on Springer
sites.oxy.edu
1,685 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
87
Background Citations
782
Methods Citations
87
Results Citations
54

1,685 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Neuropsychology of executive functions in patients with focal lesion in the prefrontal cortex: A systematic review
A Meta-Analysis of Executive Functions in Frontal Cortex: Comparing Healthy and Neuropsychiatric Groups
TLDR
The results indicate the relationship between healthy adult performance on neuropsychological testing is less associated with cortical size compared to neuropsychiatric adults.
The Physiology of Executive Functioning
Executive function (EF) has been defined as a multifaceted construct that involves a variety of high-level cognitive abilities (De Frias, Dixon, & Strauss, 2006). For most of the last century,…
Prefrontal cortex and executive functions in healthy adults: A meta-analysis of structural neuroimaging studies
  • Peng Yuan, N. Raz
  • Psychology, Biology
    Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
  • 2014
The Development of Executive Function
Research on executive function has grown dramatically over the past three decades. Even though the term emerged only 40 years ago, the concept of executive function can be traced back to far earlier…
Age-Related Changes in Executive Functions: Evidence from Coordinate-Based Meta-Analyses
TLDR
The results support the use of neural scaffolds in terms of greater activation and additional neural circuits in the aging brain and suggest the IFJ to be a key region of executive functions, which is activated across tasks, stimuli, and subcomponents.
Using the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System Tower Test to Examine ADHD Sensitivity in Children: Expanding Analysis Beyond the Summary Score
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects many children and is commonly regarded as a disorder of executive function (EF; Willcutt et al. Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 57,…
Components of executive function model regional prefrontal volumes.
TLDR
The neural correlates found for the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Scale support the prefrontal modularity of both unitary and diverse EF, contributing to emerging evidence that aggregate measurements of EF may serve broader but less robust frontal neural correlates than distinct EF skills.
Executive functions after orbital or lateral prefrontal lesions: Neuropsychological profiles and self-reported executive functions in everyday living
TLDR
It was demonstrated that LPFC damage is particularly prone to cause cognitive executive deficit, while OFC injury is more strongly associated with self-reported dysexecutive symptoms in everyday living.
Executive Functioning and Intelligence
TLDR
This chapter examines the relationships between executive functioning and intelligence through a review of their definitions and empirical evidence and a discussion of the potential conclusions and implications that can be drawn about the relationship between these two elusive constructs.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 252 REFERENCES
Executive functions and the frontal lobes: a conceptual view
TLDR
Data is presented from several studies to support statements that there is no unitary executive function, and the most important role of the frontal lobes may be for affective responsiveness, social and personality development, and self-awareness and unconsciousness.
The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex “Frontal Lobe” Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis
TLDR
The results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity ofExecutive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.
Does the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Measure Prefontral Function?
  • F. Barceló
  • Psychology
    The Spanish Journal of Psychology
  • 2001
TLDR
It is strongly suggested that WCST scores cannot be regarded as valid nor specific markers of prefrontal lobe function, however, they do provide some relevant clues to update current knowledge about prefrontal function.
Methodology of Frontal and Executive Function
Testing central executive functioning with a pencil-and-paper test, A. Baddeley et al theory and methodology in executive function research, P.W. Burgess executive and non-executive functions in…
Dissociating executive functions of the prefrontal cortex.
  • T. Robbins
  • Psychology, Biology
    Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
  • 1996
TLDR
Patients with frontal damage are shown to have deficits in their use of strategies to improve performance in a spatial working memory task and capacity to make an extra-dimensional shift due to a high-order failure of inhibition in an attentional set-shifting paradigm.
Adult clinical neuropsychology: lessons from studies of the frontal lobes.
TLDR
This work advocates an approach to clinical neuropsychology that is informed by recent findings from cognitive neuroscience, and reviews both standard and newer techniques for assessment of frontal lobe functions, including control operations involved in language, memory, attention, emotions, self-regulation, and social functioning.
The prefrontal cortex: Executive and cognitive functions.
TLDR
Roberts, theories and models of executive function based on neuropsychological studies in humans, a computational approach to prefrontal cortex, cognitive control and schizophrenia - recent developments and current challenges.
Strategy application disorder: the role of the frontal lobes in human multitasking
TLDR
The evidence suggests that the potential frontal brain regions most implicated in multitasking are the anterior cingulate; B.A. 10 and immediately adjacent areas; and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with each making a unique contribution to different aspects of performance.
The involvement of orbitofrontal cerebrum in cognitive tasks
A meta-analytic review of the relation between antisocial behavior and neuropsychological measures of executive function.
...
...