Thinking, Feeling, and Moving: Competition for Brain Resources in Health and Disease

The processProcess of thinkingThinking depends on many brainBrain regions and their interconnections. Executive functionFunction, executive (EF) is a higher-level thinkingThinking processProcess that includes inhibitory controlControl, inhibitory, working memoryMemory, working, and cognitive flexibilityFlexibility, cognitive. The prefrontal cortexCortex, prefrontal contributes to the coordination and function of these networksNetwork. Furthermore, recent literature has suggested that EF, emotional regulationEmotional regulation, and gaitGait generation share many common brain networksBrain network. This chapter will provide a narrative review of EF from a clinical neuroscienceNeuroscience perspective, discuss its multidimensional construct in humans, and how executive functioning relates to emotional and gaitGait regulation. Further, this chapter will also discuss how EF networkNetwork connections are vulnerable to agingAging, neurodegeneration, and vascular insults, potentially leading to a triad of executive dysfunctionDysfunction, executive, late-lifeLife depressionDepression, and impaired gaitGait. The concept of frailtyFrailty and how cognitive and emotional frailtyFrailty stemming from limited brain networkBrain network resources can predispose an individual to this triad of symptoms will also be introduced. Non-modifiable (e.g., heredity) and modifiable (e.g., vascular) riskRisk factors predispose seniors to frailtyFrailty. Therefore, modifiable lifestyle factors such as healthy nutrition and exerciseExercise are recommended as an evidence-based preventative measureMeasure against cognitive and emotional frailtyFrailty, and in turn, cognitive disorders, depressionDepression, and gaitGait dysfunctionDysfunction.