Which of these is an example of an executive function?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Working memory is an executive function because it involves the active maintenance and manipulation of information to guide goal-directed behavior.

1) Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Executive functions are high-level cognitive processes that enable planning, decision-making, problem-solving, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and the temporary storage/manipulation of information. They are typically supported by prefrontal cortex (especially dorsolateral PFC).
- Working memory is the system that holds and manipulates information over short intervals to perform tasks (e.g., mental arithmetic, following multi-step instructions).
- The other options (minicolumn organisation, de novo mutation, prediction error) refer to structural, genetic, or computational/neural signaling concepts rather than executive-control processes.

2) Step-by-step reasoning
- Identify what an executive function must do: support deliberate, goal-directed cognition via control processes (maintain goals, update information, suppress distractions).
- Evaluate each answer option against that definition:
  a) Minicolumn organisation: describes cortical microarchitecture (structural), not a cognitive control process.
  b) De novo mutation: a genetic event creating a new variant; unrelated to moment-to-moment cognitive control.
  c) Prediction error: a learning signal (difference between expected and actual outcomes) important in reinforcement learning; it’s a computational/neurophysiological signal, not classically listed as an executive function.
  d) Working memory: directly fits the executive-function definition—maintains/manipulates information to achieve goals, measured by tasks like digit span or n-back, and localized to prefrontal networks.

3) Calculations
- No numerical calculations are required; the response is definitional and comparative.

4) Why the correct answer is correct
- Working memory meets the core criteria for executive function: it is a control process used to hold information online and manipulate it for planning and decision-making, and it is a canonical component of executive-function models.

5) Why other options are incorrect (brief)
- Minicolumn organisation: neuroanatomical structure, not a cognitive process.
- De novo mutation: genetic change, not a cognitive control mechanism.
- Prediction error: a teaching/learning signal in computational neuroscience, not an executive-control process.

Conclusion: The correct answer is d. Working memory, which matches the provided answer.

Which of these is an example of an executive function?单项选择题

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