Executive Functions and Dysfunction in Brain Health and Brain Disorders: Dates announced for Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg’s Symposium in Costa Rica

We are pleased to announce a fan­tas­tic 5‑day pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ty fea­tur­ing our Advi­sor and renowned author and neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist Elkhonon Gold­berg, Ph.D., ABPP., and titled “Exec­u­tive Func­tions and Dys­func­tion in Brain Health and Brain Dis­or­ders. Frontal Lobes, Dis­trib­uted Net­works, and the Whole Brain.”

The infor­ma­tion pre­sent­ed will aid prac­ti­tion­ers and researchers alike in advanc­ing their knowl­edge of brain sys­tems and the impli­ca­tions for con­cep­tu­al­iza­tion and treat­ment. The sym­po­sium will also pro­vide rich and reward­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to meet oth­er pro­fes­sion­als from around the world.

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Learn more and reg­is­ter HERE

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Dates: August 19 – 23, 2024.

Fee: $1,175 (USD) for the 5‑day pro­gram (trav­el and hotel expens­es are not includ­ed). $975 Ear­ly bird dis­count effec­tive until April 1, 2024. The seat­ing at the venue is lim­it­ed, please make sure to reg­is­ter promptly.

The Speaker:

Elkhonon Gold­berg, Ph.D., ABPP. is a clin­i­cal neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist and cog­ni­tive neu­ro­sci­en­tist, Found­ing Direc­tor of Luria Neu­ro­science Insti­tute and Gold­berg Brain-Mind Sym­posia, and Diplo­mate of The Amer­i­can Board of Pro­fes­sion­al Psy­chol­o­gy in Clin­i­cal Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy. Goldberg’s books The Wis­dom Para­dox (2005), and The New Exec­u­tive Brain (2009) have met with inter­na­tion­al acclaim. He coau­thored The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness (2013), named a Best Book by AARP, and recent­ly released Cre­ativ­i­ty: The Human Brain in the Age of Inno­va­tion. A sought-after edu­ca­tor, he has lec­tured world­wide. Elkhonon Gold­berg was a stu­dent and close asso­ciate of the great neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist Alexan­der Luria.

The Program:

Mon­day, August 19

• Gen­er­al review of the neur­al basis of exec­u­tive func­tions: frontal lobes and relat­ed struc­tures: stria­tum, dopamin­er­gic mod­u­la­tion, and others.
• Exec­u­tive func­tions in evo­lu­tion. Cor­ti­cal and sub­cor­ti­cal con­tri­bu­tions to exec­u­tive functions.
• Exec­u­tive func­tion in ontoge­ny. At what age are exec­u­tive func­tions ful­ly mature? The tra­jec­to­ry of pre­frontal mat­u­ra­tion and society.
• Sub­di­vi­sions of the pre­frontal cor­tex and major frontal-lobe syn­dromes: dor­so­lat­er­al, orbitofrontal, retic­u­lo-frontal dis­con­nec­tion and others.
• Func­tion­al sys­tems revis­it­ed in the age of neu­ro­science. From mod­ules to net­works. Large-scale net­works: Cen­tral Exec­u­tive, Default Mode, and others.
• Ele­ments of exec­u­tive func­tions: mod­els of the future, gen­er­a­tiv­i­ty, men­tal flex­i­bil­i­ty, impulse con­trol, and oth­ers. Their rela­tion­ship to mem­o­ry, atten­tion and oth­er com­plex func­tions. How sep­a­rate are the “cog­ni­tive domains”?

Tues­day, August 20

• New ideas in the cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science of exec­u­tive func­tions: net­works not loci. The mech­a­nisms of salience assignation.
• Deci­sion mak­ing in nov­el and ambigu­ous envi­ron­ments — untapped ter­ri­to­ry in neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy. Agent-cen­tered deci­sion mak­ing and its rela­tion­ship to the pre­frontal cor­tex. The role of the pre­frontal cor­tex in deal­ing with cog­ni­tive novelty.
• Lat­er­al­iza­tion of frontal-lobe struc­ture and func­tion. Per­se­ver­a­tion and left-frontal dys­func­tion. Field-depen­dent behav­ior and right-frontal dysfunction.
• Sex (or gen­der) and hand­ed­ness dif­fer­ences in the cor­ti­cal con­trol of exec­u­tive functions
• Frontal lobes and emo­tions. Dif­fer­en­tial impact of lat­er­al­ized pre­frontal lesions on affect.

Wednes­day, August 21

• The work­ing mem­o­ry conun­drum: work­ing mem­o­ry in ani­mals and humans. Work­ing mem­o­ry and salience assig­na­tion. Why most “work­ing mem­o­ry tests” are not.
• Intel­li­gence and the frontal lobes: both cou­pled and uncou­pled. Are exec­u­tive func­tions suf­fi­cient­ly assessed in “tests of intelligence?”
• Cre­ativ­i­ty and the frontal lobes: Hyper­frontal­i­ty, hypofrontal­i­ty and the cre­ative spark. Hyper­frontal­i­ty and hypofrontal­i­ty in brain health and brain disease.
• Frontal lobes and the lifes­pan: how neu­ro­bi­ol­o­gy and envi­ron­ment inter­act in the age of inno­va­tion. Do exec­u­tive func­tions decline with age? Does cul­ture influ­ence these process­es and how?
• Frontal lobes and con­scious­ness. Hypofrontal­i­ty revisited.

Thurs­day, August 22

• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion in neu­rode­vel­op­men­tal syn­dromes: Are ADHD and dysex­ec­u­tive syn­drome the same? Is ADHD over-diag­nosed at the expense of oth­er disorders?
• The triple-deck­er: over­com­ing the frag­men­ta­tion of clin­i­cal neu­ro­science and con­nect­ing the dots. Parkinson’s, Tourette and focal frontal lesions. Why are they togeth­er in this narrative?
• Rethink­ing Tourette syn­drome and its rela­tion­ship to ADHD. Not just tics. Exces­sive explorato­ry behav­ior in Tourette and why it is often mis­di­ag­nosed as hyper­ac­tiv­i­ty. The curse of diag­nos­tic pigeonholes.
• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion in demen­tias. Why exec­u­tive deficit is often over­looked in Alzheimer’s dis­ease; Lewy body demen­tia and cog­ni­tive impair­ment in Parkinson’s dis­ease. Fron­totem­po­ral demen­tia: behav­ioral, lan­guage, and com­bined variants.
• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion in demen­tias (con­tin­u­a­tion).

Fri­day, August 23

• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion in trau­mat­ic brain injury. When the “mild TBI” is not so mild. Retic­u­lo-frontal dis­con­nec­tion syndrome.
• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion in neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders: schiz­o­phre­nia and affec­tive dis­or­ders. Neu­ropsy­cho­log­i­cal and neu­roimag­ing findings.
• Exec­u­tive dys­func­tion and frontal-lobe vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty in long neu­ro-COVID. Pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary effects of COVID on the brain.
• Exec­u­tive func­tion assess­ment tools. Their strengths, lim­i­ta­tions, and what the new “frontal-lobe” assess­ment tools should tar­get. Agent-cen­tered cognition.
• Sum­ming up: What we have learned and the next frontiers.

If you have any ques­tions or require any fur­ther infor­ma­tion, please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact Dr. Gold­berg’s team: info at goldbergbrainsymposia.org