Planning
Goal-directed action sequencing
Also searched as Goal-directed action sequencing.
In depth
A subdomain of executive function: sequencing actions toward a goal before starting. Assessed with the Tower of London task, which loads the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
What drives it
Remembering to remember increases it.
Verbatim: 'not PM function as such, but only specific subprocesses of PM - such as planning of an intention or the initiation and execution of PM responses requiring executive control - and rely on the prefrontal cortex' (PMC4848737, PMC3590133, PMID 21048200). Scope (patient observational study): clinical cohorts (ADHD, schizophrenia, JME); planning measured as a component of complex PM paradigms. The relationship is bidirectional. PMID 21048200 · PMC4848737
What it drives
It increases Executive function.
The DSM-5 Neurocognitive Work Group agreed on six principal domains of cognitive function, each with subdomains. Executive function comprises planning, decision making, working memory, responding to feedback, inhibition and cognitive flexibility. Taxonomic edge, not a causal mechanism: this is a DSM-5 domain/subdomain relationship, not a pathway acting on another. Sachdev 2014, Nat Rev Neurol 10:634-642 — Classifying neurocognitive disorders: the DSM-5 approach. doi 10.1038/nrneurol.2014.181
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.