Brown team focuses on executive function within brain

PROVIDENCE – A team of Brown researchers led by postdoctoral fellow Theresa Desrochers recently published new findings on ways in which executive functioning is managed in the brain.

The new study, published in Neuron, included imaging scans of the frontal neocortex performed while subjects performed sequential tasks. The significance of a part of the brain known as the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex came to the fore during the study. When the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex was stimulated, subjects’ ability to perform the tasks diminished.

“The health consequences are big,” study co-author David Badre, associate professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences, said. “Cognitive control of behavior is very fragile, and it is easily disrupted by neurological disease and disorder, like stroke or traumatic brain injury. Among the major complaints in everyday life among these patients is an inability to complete multi-step tasks.”

Knowing the precise way that the brain handles executive function is important to developing treatment for several conditions. The study was funded by The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

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