Professor Gail Robinson - QBI : "Executive control functions in health and disease"
Speaker:
Professor Gail Robinson
Queensland Brain Institute
University of Queensland
Title: Executive control functions in health and disease
Executive control functions enable goal-directed adaptive behaviour by flexibly implementing a complex set of processes including generation, inhibition, task-setting, selection, monitoring and novel response creation. Human neuropsychological lesion studies in individuals with acquired brain disorders like stroke or brain tumours associate executive control functions with the frontal cortex, with specific regions critical for distinct executive control processes. Across the healthy lifespan, executive functions are not fully developed until early adulthood, for instance, achieving inhibitory control rather than acting on impulse. Normal ageing is also associated with disturbance to executive functions, to a greater degree than other cognitive abilities. This talk will focus on my group’s work on executive control functions in both healthy individuals across the adult lifespan and in those with disturbances to these abilities across a range of brain disorders, including neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and acquired brain injuries.
About Neuroscience Seminars
Neuroscience seminars at the QBI play a major role in the advancement of neuroscience in the Asia-Pacific region. The primary goal of these seminars is to promote excellence in neuroscience through the exchange of ideas, establishing new collaborations and augmenting partnerships already in place.
Seminars in the QBI Auditorium on Level 7 are held on Wednesdays at 12-1pm, which are sometimes simulcast on Zoom (with approval from the speaker). We also occassionally hold seminars from international speakers via Zoom. The days and times of these seminars will vary depending on the time zone of the speaker. Please see each seminar listed below for details.
