Chapter 12: Cognitive control

Question 1

Action-outcome decision

Answer 1

A decision that involves some form of evaluation (not necessarily conscious) of the expected outcomes.

Question 2

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

Answer 2

The anterior portion of the cingulate cortex, located below the frontal lobe along the medial surface.

This region is characterized by a primitive cellular architecture (three-layered cortex) and is part of the interface between the frontal lobe and the limbic system.

The ACC is implicated in various types of cognitive control, such as response monitoring, error detection, and attention

Question 2

Delayed-response task

Answer 2

A task in which the correct response must be produced after a delay period of several seconds. Such tasks require the operation of working memory because the animal or person must maintain a record of the stimulus information during the delay period.

Question 2

Cognitive control

Answer 2

Also called executive function. Processes that facilitate information processing. Control operations are thought to help coordinate activity across different neural regions.

For example, the representation of a current goal in the prefrontal cortex can help control the retrieval of information in the long-term memory.

Question 2

Descriptive decision theory

Answer 2

A theory that attempts to describe what people actually do, not what they should do.

Question 3

Dopamine (DA)

Answer 3

An organic chemical amine that in the brain functions as a neurotransmitter. It is formed from L-dopa by removal of a carboxyl group.

Question 3

Error-related negativity (ERN)

Answer 3

An electrophysiological signal correlated with the occurrence of errors. It is derived from the EEG record following an erroneous response and is seen as a prominent negative deflection in the ERP that is time-locked to the response. It is hypothesized to originate in the anterior cingulate.

Question 3

Goal-oriented action

Answer 3

An action that is planned and produced to achieve a particular result. Goal-oriented actions stand in contrast to more habitually or stimulus driven behavior and are strongly under the control of reinforcement.

Question 3

Goal-oriented behavior

Answer 3

Behavior that enables us to interact with the world in a purposeful manner. Goals reflect the intersection of our internal desires and drives, coupled with the current environmental context.

Question 3

Feedback-related negativity (FRN)

Answer 3

An electrophysiological signal correlated with the occurrence of errors. It is derived from the EEG record following an erroneous response and is seen as a prominent negative deflection in the ERP that is time-locked to feedback. It is hypothesized to originate in the anterior cingulate.

Question 3

Habit

Answer 3

A response that is under stimulus control. Habits are formally defined as behaviors that occur independently of reinforcement.

For example, if the reward is no longer given to a stimulus, the persistent response is referred to as a habit.

Question 3

Dynamic filtering

Answer 3

The hypothesis that a key component of working memory involves the selection of information that is most relevant, given current task demands. This selection is thought to be accomplished through the filtering of, exclusion of, potentially interfering and irrelevant information.

Question 3

Frontal pole (FP)

Answer 3

The most anterior part of the prefrontal cortex, including area 10 and parts of area 9. This region is hypothesized to play a critical role in the hierarchical representation of action goals.

Question 4

Inhibitory control

Answer 4

The hypothesis that one aspect of cognitive control is the regulation of habitual responses or environmentally dictated actions by active inhibition. A loss of inhibitory control is assumed to underlie the tendency of some patients with prefrontal lesions to produce socially inappropriate behavior.

Question 5

Lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC)

Answer 5

The region of the cerebral cortex that lies anterior to Brodmann area 6, along the lateral surface. This region has been implicated in various executive functions, such as working memory and response selection.

Question 6

Medial frontal cortex (MFC)

Answer 6

The medial region of the frontal cortex that includes parts of areas 24, 32, and inferior aspects of 6 and 8.

The MFC is associated with cognitive control – in particular, monitoring functions for error detection and resolving conflict.

Question 7

Monitoring

Answer 7

The cognitive control associated with evaluating whether current representations and/or actions are conductive to the achievement of current goals.

Errors can be avoided or corrected by a monitoring system. Monitoring is one of the hypothesized operations of a supervisory attentional system.

Question 8

Normative decision theory

Answer 8

A theory that defines how people ought to make decisions that yield the optimal choice.

Question 9

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

Answer 9

Also called the ventromedial zone. A region in the frontal lobe, located above the orbits of the eyes, that is implicated in a range of functions, including perceptual processes associated with olfaction and taste, as well as monitoring whether one’s behavior is appropriate.

Question 10

Perseveration

Answer 10

The tendency to produce a particular response on successive trials, even when the context has changed such that the response is no longer appropriate. Commonly observed in patients with prefrontal damage, perseveration is thought to reflect a loss of inhibitory control.

Question 11

Prefrontal cortex (PFC)

Answer 11

A region of cortex that takes part in the higher aspects of motor control and the planning and execution of behavior, perhaps especially tasks that require the integration of information over time and thus mandate the involvement of working memory mechanisms.

The prefrontal cortex has three or more main areas that are commonly referred to in descriptions of gross anatomy of the frontal lobe: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate and medial frontal regions, and the orbitofrontal cortex.

Question 12

Primary reinforcer

Answer 12

A reward or outcome that has a direct benefit for survival. The classic examples are food, water, and sex, since without these, the individual or the species would not survive.

Question 13

Response conflict

Answer 13

A situation in which more than one response is activated, usually because of some ambiguity in the stimulus information.

It has been hypothesized that he anterior cingulate monitors the level of response conflict and modulated processing in active systems when conflict is high.

Question 14

Reward prediction error (RPE)

Answer 14

A theoretical construct in theories of reinforcement learning that is defined as the difference between an expected and actual outcome or rewards.

A greater-than-expected reward yields a positive prediction, which can be used to increase the likelihood of the behavior.

A less-than-expected reward yields a negative prediction, which can be used to decrease the likelihood of the behavior.

Question 15

Secondary reinforcer

Answer 15

Rewards that do not have intrinsic, or direct, value, but have acquired their desirability as part of social and cultural norms. Money and social status are important secondary reinforcers.

Question 16

Stimulus-response decisions

Answer 16

An action-outcome decision that has become habitual through repetition.

Question 17

Temporal discounting

Answer 17

The observation that people tend to value immediate outcomes more highly than delayed outcomes, and that the subjective value of a reward decreases as the time to its receipt increases.

Question 18

Utilization behavior

Answer 18

An extreme dependency on the prototypical use of an object without regard for its use in a particular context.

Question 19

Value

Answer 19

An abstract entity referring to the overall preference given to a stimulus or action. The value is assumed to reflect the combination of a number of different attributes, such as how much reward will be received, the likelihood of that reward, and the efforts and costs required to achieve the reward.