Cognition and Behavior Report

Name	Executive functions
Description	The executive system is a theorized cognitive system in psychology that controls and manages other cognitive processes. It is responsible for processes that are sometimes referred to as the executive function, executive functions, supervisory attentional system, or cognitive control. However, executive function and cognitive control are not synonymous with an executive system with the former potentially carried out by specific brain areas or networks (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex in attention, cf. Botvinick et al., 2001; see also Verguts & Notebaert, 2009). The concept is used by psychologists and neuroscientists to describe a loosely defined collection of brain processes that are responsible for planning, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, rule acquisition, initiating appropriate actions and inhibiting inappropriate actions, and selecting relevant sensory information.
No. of Studies (Positive/Negative)	28 (28/0)

Name in Literature	Reference	Research Type	Statistical Result	Relation Description
impaired executive cognitive function	Paelecke-Habermann, 2005	patients and normal controls		Euthymic patients with MDD showed deficits in all tests rela...... Euthymic patients with MDD showed deficits in all tests related to executive functions compared to healthy controls. More...
executive function	Nebes, 2002	patients and normal controls		The individual who became depressed during the followup show...... The individual who became depressed during the followup showed a similar decline on the measures of executive function More...
poorer performance on tests of executive function	Baldwin, 2004	patients and normal controls		Patients who did not respond to antidepressant monotherapy h...... Patients who did not respond to antidepressant monotherapy had significantly poorer performance than controls on tests involving visuospatial ability, language, word recognition and tests of executive function, whereas there were no differences between control subjects and responders. More...
impaired executive function	Lampe, 2004	patients and normal controls		Significantly higher levels of apathy, anhedonia and psychom...... Significantly higher levels of apathy, anhedonia and psychomotor retardation, and worse performance on tests of executive function were found in the patient group compared with the healthy controls. More...
executive function	O'Brien, 2004	patients and normal controls		Depressed subjects showed multiple impairments in attention,...... Depressed subjects showed multiple impairments in attention, working memory, visual memory, verbal memory, new learning, and executive function in relation to comparison subjects. More...
executive function	Rapoport, 2005	patients only		Subjects with major depression, compared to those without, w...... Subjects with major depression, compared to those without, were found to have significantly lower scores on measures of executive function. More...
executive function	Rapp, 2005	patients only		Patients with late-onset major depressive disorder showed sp...... Patients with late-onset major depressive disorder showed specific deficits in executive function More...
impairment of central executive function	Rose, 2006	patients and normal controls		These observations support a relatively specific impairment ...... These observations support a relatively specific impairment of working memory/central executive function in MDD, which may potentially mediate the diverse pattern of cognitive dysfunction noted in MDD. More...
executive dysfunctions	Frodl, 2006	patients and normal controls		lower hippocampal volumes were correlated with poorer perfor...... lower hippocampal volumes were correlated with poorer performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The present findings emphasize that patients with reduced hippocampal volumes show more executive dysfunctions than their counterparts. More...
executive function	Baudic, 2007	patients and normal controls		Unipolar depressed patients showed deficits in most tasks as...... Unipolar depressed patients showed deficits in most tasks assessing executive function. In depressed patients, deficits were found on tasks assessing cognitive flexibility (Modified card sorting test (MCST) and Trail making test B), planification and elaboration of strategies (cognitive estimates), motor initiation (graphic sequences), categorisation and hypothesis making (MCST) and interference resistance (Stroop test). More...
executive dysfunction	Mantella, 2007	patients and normal controls		Depressed subjects also performed worse than normal comparis...... Depressed subjects also performed worse than normal comparison subjects on delayed memory, as well as in naming. Depressed patients compared to normal comparison subjects showed executive dysfunction. More...
impaired executive function	Michopoulos, 2008	patients and normal controls		The MDD patients performed worse than controls on PAL(paired...... The MDD patients performed worse than controls on PAL(paired associative learning) and both executive tasks. MDD patients showed neuropsychological deficits on tasks of executive function and memory, supporting the model of frontal-temporal dysfunction. More...
impaired on tasks of executive function	Sarosi, 2007	patients and normal controls		Patients with depression relative to controls were significa...... Patients with depression relative to controls were significantly impaired on tasks of executive function. More...
executive functions	Reppermund, 2009	patients and normal controls		In acute depression, we found impairments of information pro...... In acute depression, we found impairments of information processing/attention, memory, and executive functions. Cognitive impairments remained in a high proportion of patients, even after remission of psychopathological symptoms. More...
indecisiveness	Mitchell, 2009	patients only		The prevalence of depression in our sample was 54.4%. In thi...... The prevalence of depression in our sample was 54.4%. In this high prevalence setting the optimum specific symptoms for ruling in MDD were psychomotor retardation, diminished interest/pleasure and indecisiveness. More...
impaired executive attention	Hasler, 2009	patients and normal controls		In an additional examination using the affective Stroop task...... In an additional examination using the affective Stroop task we found evidence for impaired executive attention as a trait abnormality in MDD. More...
executive functions	Kaymak, 2010	patients and normal controls		Patients were found to have significantly lower scores on me...... Patients were found to have significantly lower scores on measures of attention, working memory, psychomotor speed, executive functions, and visual and verbal memory fields. More...
impaired executive function	Hammar, 2010	patients and normal controls		The patients were impaired compared with the control group o...... The patients were impaired compared with the control group on the Color-Word card task at both test occasions. Thus, the depressed patients showed no improvement of effortful attention/executive performance as a function of symptom reduction. More...
executive function	Kohler, 2010	patients and normal controls		Compared with healthy controls, participants with depression...... Compared with healthy controls, participants with depression scoring within the third tertile of white matter hyperintensities dropped two and three standard deviations in executive function and memory scores respectively. More...
impaired executive function	Maalouf, 2010	patients and normal controls	P-value = 0.045; P-value = 0.046	unipolar depression showed impaired executive function (p=0....... unipolar depression showed impaired executive function (p=0.045 and p=0.046, respectively). More...
execution	van Tol, 2011	patients and normal controls		Moderately/severely depressed patients with MDD showed incre...... Moderately/severely depressed patients with MDD showed increased left dorsolateral prefrontal activity as a function of task load, together with subtle slowing during task execution. More...
impaired executive function	Maalouf, 2011	patients and normal controls	P-value = 0.01, d=0.94; P-value = 0.015, d=0.77	MDD in acute episode (MDDa) showed impaired executive functi...... MDD in acute episode (MDDa) showed impaired executive function, as measured by using more moves to solve 4-move problems on a forward planning task, relative to depressed adolescents in remission (MDDr) and HC (p=0.01, d=0.94 and p=0.015, d=0.77 respectively). More...

Name in Literature	Related Components
	Level	Approved Name(Name in Literature)	Type	Reference	Research Type	Statistical Result	Relation Description	All
executive dysfunction		SLC6A3(DAT)	gene	Lavretsky, 2008	patients only		Subjects with DAT VNTR 10/10 genotype had greater cognitive ...... Subjects with DAT VNTR 10/10 genotype had greater cognitive executive dysfunction at baseline compared to others. More...
executive control of attention		CACNA1C(CACNA1C)	gene	Thimm, 2011	normal people		Risk allele carriers showed impaired performance in alerting...... Risk allele carriers showed impaired performance in alerting and orienting in addition to reduced neural activity in the right inferior parietal lobule [Brodmann area (BA) 40] during orienting and in the medial frontal gyrus (BA 8) during executive control of attention. More...
executive functioning		Lipoproteins, HDL(high-density lipoprotein)	molecule	Smith, 2007	patients only	b = 1.03; P-value = 0.035	Lower high-density lipoprotein levels also were associated w...... Lower high-density lipoprotein levels also were associated with poorer executive functioning (b = 1.03; p = .035). More...
lack of discrimination		P300(P300)	neurobiological system	Kemp, 2009	patients and normal controls		A subsequent reduction and delay in the P300 was also reveal...... A subsequent reduction and delay in the P300 was also revealed for MDD indicating that the pronounced lack of discrimination in clinical depression may also lead to impaired stimulus evaluation. More...
executive dysfunctions		Hippocampus(hippocampal volumes)	brain morphology and function	Frodl, 2006	patients and normal controls		lower hippocampal volumes were correlated with poorer perfor...... lower hippocampal volumes were correlated with poorer performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The present findings emphasize that patients with reduced hippocampal volumes show more executive dysfunctions than their counterparts. More...
executive performance		Hippocampus(hippocampus)	brain morphology and function	Vasic, 2008	patients and normal controls		depressive psychopathology and worse performance during the ...... depressive psychopathology and worse performance during the WCST were associated with decreased GMV (gray matter volume) of the hippocampus. More...
executive performance		right inferiorfrontal gyrus(right inferior frontal gyrus)	brain morphology and function	Vasic, 2008	patients and normal controls		Structure-cognition correlation analyses revealed that decre...... Structure-cognition correlation analyses revealed that decreased GMC(gray matter concentration) of the right medial and inferior frontal gyrus was associated with both depressive psychopathology and worse executive performance as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). More...
executive performance		right medial frontal gyrus(right medial frontal gyrus)	brain morphology and function	Vasic, 2008	patients and normal controls		Structure-cognition correlation analyses revealed that decre...... Structure-cognition correlation analyses revealed that decreased GMC(gray matter concentration) of the right medial and inferior frontal gyrus was associated with both depressive psychopathology and worse executive performance as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). More...
executive system		Cingulate gyrus(cingulate)	brain morphology and function	Wang, 2008	patients and normal controls		Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patie...... Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patients had attenuated activation in the regions of the executive system, including the right middle frontal gyrus, the cingulate, and inferior parietal areas. More...
executive system		Inferior parietal lobule(inferior parietal areas)	brain morphology and function	Wang, 2008	patients and normal controls		Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patie...... Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patients had attenuated activation in the regions of the executive system, including the right middle frontal gyrus, the cingulate, and inferior parietal areas. More...
executive system		right middle frontal gyrus(right middle frontal gyrus)	brain morphology and function	Wang, 2008	patients and normal controls		Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patie...... Relative to healthy comparison subjects, the depressed patients had attenuated activation in the regions of the executive system, including the right middle frontal gyrus, the cingulate, and inferior parietal areas. More...
executive function		White matter(white matter)	brain morphology and function	Kohler, 2010	patients and normal controls		Group differences in memory and executive function follow-up...... Group differences in memory and executive function follow-up scores were associated with ratings of white matter hyperintensities, especially of the deep white matter and periventricular regions. More...
execution		Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(dorsolateral prefrontal cortex)	brain morphology and function	van Tol, 2011	patients and normal controls		Moderately/severely depressed patients with MDD showed incre...... Moderately/severely depressed patients with MDD showed increased left dorsolateral prefrontal activity as a function of task load, together with subtle slowing during task execution. More...

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Genetic/Epigenetic Locus	Protein and Other Molecule	Cell and Molecular Pathway	Neural System	Cognition and Behavior	Symptoms and Signs	Environment	MDD

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