Development of cognitive control part 2 Flashcards
A key position for MFC
Areas showing connectivity with the medial frontal cortex
according to DTI analyses
Influence decision making, goaloriented behavior and motor control
Medial frontal cortex and attentional hierarchy
Attend to different
dimensions of a visual
stimulus (color, shape,
motion)
Promiinat activation in ACC in divided attention conditon
Medial frontal cortex and error detection
Error-Related Negativity
ERP signal emerging
just after initiation of erroneous response
Originates in ACC
MFC activity is not limited to errors
Flanker task
* Participants respond by
pressing the key indicated
by the central arrow
* Activity in MFC is higher in
incongruent trials even if
participants do not make
mistakes
MFC as response conflict evaluator
Monitoring demands, not error occurrence engage MFC
Conflict monitoring to allocate attentional resources
The roles of lateral and medial FC
Lateral PFC task goal
Medial FC monitors and detects reponse conflict
Interactions of lateral and medial FC
Correlation of ACC and LPFC
activation across trials
LPFC activation is higher (goal- representation enhanced) following
the detection of incongruency on previous trial.
ACC signal change across trials
ACC signal is reduced if incongruent
trial follows another incongruent trial
(iI, blue) because goal is already strong
Interactions of lateral and medial FC
To facilitate attaining a goal, medial and lateral frontal
cortices must cooperate.
Important factors include level of task difficulty and
conflict detection.
Response selection and inhibition: age-differences
Ability to voluntarily select a
task-appropriate, goal-directed
response while suppressing a
more compelling but taskinappropriate response
Anti-saccade task: inhibition
of prepotent response
The default network: self-reference & mind-wandering
Active during “rest
Reflects self-referential processing
Ensures that we always (even in the absence of external
input) have some idea of what is going on around us
(sentinel hypothesis).
The default network: self-reference & mind-wandering
Components
* Prefrontal cortex
* Precuneus (posterior parietal cortex),
* Posterior cingulate cortex,
* Retrosplenial cortex
* TPJ (temporal-parietal junction)
* Medial temporal lobe
* Inferior parietal lobule
The default network and goal-directed behavior
dmPFC: activity enached uring daydreams and similar thoughts
Baseline
dmFPC: Activity is attenuated during goal-directed behavoir
Default network: functional connectivity in young and older adults
Pairwise-correlation of posterior cingulate cortex and
medial prefrontal cortex activities as two main nodes of
the default network
Adult-age related changes in task (dis)engagement
Older adults show REDUCTIONS of task-related deactivation in WM tasks and
weaker connectivity during rest (green regions)
The ensemble: unity and diversity of executive functions
Shifting
Updating
Inhibition
Executive functions and intelligence
Updating hightste correaltion with crystilized and fluid intelligence
The big picture: domain-general functions and their development
Cognitive control describes an ensemble of domain-general functions
*relate to gray + white matter + neurotransmitters
* Brain development follows a sequence from optimizing modality-specific local
networks to optimizing long-range connections between local networks (cortical
thinning, pruning, myelination)
* Development of cognitive control is tied to the myelination of the PFC and its
long-range connections
* Hierarchical structure of the PFC reflects abstractness of goal-representations
* Cognitive control functions overlap, but they also reveal diversity (Myake)
* Cognitive control functions correlate with IQ
* Domain-general functions are involved in all types of learning (IQ=headstart),
but expertise amounts to a gradual de-coupling from domain-general functions
Domain-general functions and expertise: a paradox?
Considering the massive age-related changes in cognitive control …
* What does this mean for acquiring expertise during childhood or
adolescence?
* How can expertise possibly be maintained throughout adulthood?
* … or can it?
