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Cog neuroscience > Lec 11: Cognitive Control > Flashcards

Lec 11: Cognitive Control Flashcards

1
Q

How do we maintain goal-relevant information?

A

working memory

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2
Q

how do we manage distractions and suppress
actions as appropriate?

A

inhibition

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3
Q

How do we alter our behavior when we err or
when circumstances happen to change?

A

cognitive flexibility

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4
Q

How do we break down complex goals into a
reasonable steps that are prioritized?

A

planning

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5
Q

How do we navigate and solve novel problems
that stand between us and goal completion?

A

reasoning/problem solving

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6
Q

executive functions vs cognitive control (terminology)

A
  • executive function is the clinical term
  • neuroscientists saw this as one part of the brain being considered more important (CEO analogy)
  • cognitive control is the term from neuroscientists
  • suggest that abilities control other abilities
  • maybe there are multiple control areas not just one (executive commitee)
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7
Q

What are the necessary components of an executive region?

A
  1. generate neural activity that biases other regions
  2. maintenance in the face of distractions
  3. housing “appropriate” representations
  4. Plasticity
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8
Q

evidence for the PFC generating neural activity that biases other regions

A
  • enhancement and suppression
  • mental brakes in the stroop task
  • OFC lesions associated with difficulty controlling emotion, particularly frustration and anger
  • apathy and the breakdown of the “intention-action-evaluation” cycle
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9
Q

evidence for PFC and maintenance in the face of distractions

A
  • involves keeping relevant info in mind and keeping goal irrelevant info out
  • WM domain
  • dopamine gets projected to the prefrontal cortex, which increases the “signal to noise” (SNR) ratio in PFC neurons
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10
Q

evidence for PFC and housing “appropriate” representations

A
  • frontal lobe needs to be “in the know” about what is going on in your world to make best decisions
  • the dorsal (where) and ventral (what) streams move towards the PFC
  • frontal lobe also has lots of connections to back parts of the brain
  • frontal lobe is also almost entirely association cortex (works with all types of info)
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11
Q

apathy and the “intention-action-evaluation” cycle

A
  • the cycle helps with motivation
  • frontal lobe damage can lead to apathy
  • apathy is the loss of motivation and not wanting to do things you would normally be motivated by
  • apathy can be due to a breakdown in any area of the cycle
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12
Q

utilization behaviours

A
  • involuntary tendency to grasp, manipulate, or use objects in the immediate environment, driven by external cues rather than intentional decision-making
  • acting on environment rather than being driven by goals
  • symptom of environmental dependency syndrome
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13
Q

Environmental dependency syndrome

A

encompassing utilization behaviour and imitation behaviour, where the individual becomes excessively reliant on environmental cues to guide actions and behaviour

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14
Q

counterfactual thinking

A
  • “what if” thinking
  • thinking about how you may have done something differently
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15
Q

what subtraction can be used to identify brain areas associated with counterfactual thinking?

A

counterfactual thinking - thinking about a past memory
- shows lots of frontal lobe activation

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16
Q

PFC damage and counterfactual thinking

A
  • damage shows deficit in counterfactual thinking
  • more likely to behave in routine and systematic ways despite outcome
  • have reduced plasticity
17
Q

Controlled processing is needed when tasks involve:

A
  1. Planning or decision making
  2. Components of troubleshooting
  3. They are ill-learned or contain novel sequences of action
  4. They are judged to be dangerous or technically difficult
  5. They require the overcoming of a strong habitual response or resisting temptation
18
Q

Supervisory Attentional System (SAS)

A
  • explains how habits and routines are formed and how we stop inappropriate routines
    involves:
  • perceptual system
  • trigger data base
  • contention scheduling
  • effector system
  • supervisory attentional system
19
Q

How the supervisory attentional system (SAS) works

A
  • Starts at the perceptual system: things you are seeing
  • flows into the trigger data base: set of motor memories for how to use things
  • leads to contention scheduling: arranges list of possible things you could do based on what you are used to doing
  • ends at effector system: acting on what you see
  • this is how we develop habits and routines
  • supervisory attentional system acts as the “mental brakes”
  • it is how we stop inappropriate routines in the wrong context

Cog neuroscience (11 decks)

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