Organizational Dysfunction

Executive dysfunction appears to consistently involve disruptions in task-oriented
behavior, which requires executive control in the inhibition of habitual responses and
goal activation. Such executive control is responsible for adjusting behavior to reconcile
environmental changes with goals for effective behavior. Impairments in set shifting
ability are a notable feature of executive dysfunction; set shifting is the cognitive ability
to dynamically change focus between points of fixation based on changing goals and
environmental stimuli. This offers a parsimonious explanation for the common
occurrence of impulsive, hyperactive, disorganized, and aggressive behavior in clinical
patients with executive dysfunction. Executive dysfunction, particularly in working
memory capacity, may also lead to varying degrees of emotional dysregulation, which
can manifest as chronic depression, anxiety, or hyperemotionality. Russell
Barkley proposed a hybrid model of the role of behavioral disinhibition in the
presentation of ADHD, which has served as the basis for much research of both ADHD
and broader implications of the executive system.
Other common and distinctive symptoms of executive dysfunction include utilization
behavior, which is compulsive manipulation/use of nearby objects due simply to their
presence and accessibility (rather than a functional reason); and imitation behaviour, a
tendency to rely on imitation as a primary means of social interaction. Research also
suggests that executive set shifting is a co-mediator with episodic memory of feeling-ofknowing
(FOK) accuracy, such that executive dysfunction may reduce FOK accuracy.
There is some evidence suggesting that executive dysfunction may produce beneficial
effects as well as maladaptive ones. Abraham et al. demonstrate that creative thinking
in schizophrenia is mediated by executive dysfunction, and they establish a
firm etiology for creativity in psychoticism, pinpointing a cognitive preference for broader
top-down associative thinking versus goal-oriented thinking, which closely resembles
aspects of ADHD. It is postulated that elements of psychosis are present in both ADHD
and schizophrenia/schizotypy due to dopamine overlap.
Cause
The cause of executive dysfunction is heterogeneous, as
many neurocognitive processes are involved in the executive system and each may be
compromised by a range of genetic and environmental factors. Learning and
development of long-term memory play a role in the severity of executive dysfunction
through dynamic interaction with neurological characteristics. Studies in cognitive
neuroscience suggest that executive functions are widely distributed throughout the
brain, though a few areas have been isolated as primary contributors. Executive
dysfunction is studied extensively in clinical neuropsychology as well, allowing
correlations to be drawn between such dysexecutive symptoms and their neurological
correlates.
Executive processes are closely integrated with memory retrieval capabilities for overall
cognitive control; in particular, goal/task-information is stored in both short-term and
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