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Recent studies demonstrated the role of executive functions in Prospective Memory (PM), even though it is still debated how these processes are overlapped. Our aim was to understand the role of executive functions in PM. Thus, we developed an experimental procedure in which we manipulated the level of executive load required by cognitive tasks. Experiment 1 required a simple arithmetic activity together with a PM task to be performed at a given time (time-based condition) or following cue presentation (event-based condition). In Experiment 2 we varied the complexity of the ongoing task (a PASAT test) maintaining the same procedure of Experiment 1. We examined the effect of executive load manipulation in a patient (man, 52 y.o.) with a severe disexecutive syndrome following post-anoxic brain damage and 9 healthy participants. Patient’s performance significantly differed in PM accuracy only in PASAT-time condition. The difference between simple arithmetic and PASAT task in time- based condition was statistically significant as compared to the difference observed in the control sample. No differences were found in event-based conditions. These results suggested a partial independence between executive functions and PM in tasks involving an automatic retrieval of PM intention (event based). Nevertheless, these mechanisms seem to share resources in complex tasks requiring PM self-retrieval (time based). Our findings support a multiprocess framework, which assumes the role of controlled processes in PM under certain task conditions and emphasized the strong influence of planning, monitoring and attention abilities even in complex daily-life PM tasks.

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the processes associated with the planning and execution of delayed intentions. PM involves a complex balance between the memory of an intention and the maintenance of concurrent activities, thus requiring different cognitive mechanisms. Recent studies have examined the involvement of WM in the PM in order to investigate whether these two processes share cognitive resources or they are independent mechanisms. It was shown that PM is supported by the central executive component of working memory (WM), which organizes the execution of joined actions through selection of relevant information and suppression of the irrelevant ones. According to the preparatory attention and memory model (PAM), PM task performance is always influenced by the availability of WM resources, since controlled attentional processes are needed. Differently, the multiprocess framework posits that a delayed intention can be automatically retrieve, at least under certain circumstances, suggesting that PM and WM are distinct mechanisms.This study aims to examine the role of WM in PM, by comparing the performance of MB, a patient with a disexecutive syndrome and proved PM difficulties acquired after brain damage, to that of nine healthy participants. Two experiments were developed, in which subjects had to perform an ongoing activity together with a PM switching task. We administered two distinct ongoing tasks for the Experiments, differing for the amount of cognitive resources required: a simple arithmetic (Experiment 1) and a high-load WM task (PASAT test, Experiment 2). As a further variable, the modality of PM retrieval was manipulated by introducing both time and event-based conditions for each experiments. In the time-based conditions, the PM task had to be performed at a given time, whereas in the event-based condition PM retrieval occurred following cue presentation. MB’s performances in PM tasks significantly differ from the controls only in the PASAT time

El presente proyecto pretende llevar adelante una caracterización de las estructuras de governance en dos áreas clave de política pública de la provincia de Córdoba como son el sistema previsional y el desarrollo vial. La hipótesis que guía la investigación es que estas dos áreas presentan una serie de ineficiencias que deben imputarse a factores institucionales que han impedido la generación de transacciones intertemporales eficientes y, en consecuencia, la adopción de políticas de largo plazo y de alta calidad. El objetivo general del proyecto es establecer los aspectos fundamentales de las estructuras de governance que han dado lugar a la configuración y a los resultados en estas dos áreas con el fin de realizar recomendaciones de rediseño institucional orientados a mejorar la eficiencia en estos ámbitos de la gestión pública. Los objetivos particulares son: 1) establecer las características básicas que ha asumido el policy making en el área previsional y de desarrollo de la red vial en los últimos años; 2) especificar en estas áreas los resultados de las políticas públicas, evaluándolos en términos de los resultados y elaborando al respecto una serie de indicadores que permitan establecer las brechas de eficiencia existentes; 3) establecer en cada caso las instituciones políticas implicadas y la organización de las reglas bajo las cuales las decisiones son tomadas, elaborando una serie de indicadores de “calidad institucional”; 4) precisar en cada área los actores involucrados (políticos, electores, burócratas y grupos de interés), estableciendo en cada caso los incentivos que instituciones vigentes implican para cada uno de ellos; 5) desarrollar en cada una de estas dimensiones una estrategia comparativa con la provincia de Santa Fé, de tal modo de poder dar mayor precisión a las conclusiones y a los respectivos indicadores; 6) Desarrollar un modelo formal que de cuenta de las características del proceso de policy making en las dos áreas estudiadas. La estrateg, Fil: Nazareno, Marcelo Gabriel. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales; Argentina, Fil: Cingolani, Mónica Susana. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales; Argentina, Fil: Freille, Sebastián. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales; Argentina, Fil: Cingolani, Mónica Susana. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales; Argentina