W9 Cognitive Control Flashcards
Inhibition (example)
in a supermarket, hungry, you don’t eat there and then, we inhibit this response. Not simply stimulus-response driven. Delay rewards and plan.
Flexibility
perform a large range of behaviours and tasks, select them flexibly, to suit different contexts. (e.g. following and adapting to task rules.)
Multi-tasking
Some taks can be done in parallel if they do not collide or copete (e.g. listening to music while reading a book). Seems to be related to attention, auto-pilot.
What is Cognition?
Basis for “intelligent” behaviour
Overrides reflexive, habitual responses in favour of complex, (often) long-term goals
Controls/orchestrates sensory, memory, and motor systems -> Cognitive Control
Key neural structure in mammals: Prefrontal cortex
Cognitive control
“Top-down” mental processes (in contrast to stimulus-driven “bottom-up” processes). Often requires effort or attention in (contrast to running on autopilot).
“Core” vs. “Higher-order” cognitive abilities
Core cognitive abilities
Working Memory, Inhibitory Control, Flexibility
Higher-order/insight related
Object permanence
Self-recognition
Mental time travel
Theory of mind
Tool use / causal reasoning
What is the impact of poor executive function?
Negatively impacts our mental, physical health, quality of life, school and job success public safety and marital harmony.
Working Memory
“Holding information in mind and mentally working with it (e.g., relating one thing to another, using information to solve a problem)”
Multicomponent Model (Baddeley)
What is a Go/NoGo task?
Participant needs to respond to some stimuli (Go stimuli), but not to others (NoGo stimuli)
Example: Traffic light is yellow and the changes either to green light (Go stimulus) or red light (NoGo stimulus)
Note that of course the assignment of Go and NoGo is arbitrary and depends on the task instructions
Inhibitory Control: Self control (1)
“Resisting temptations and not acting impulsively”
Avoiding indulging ( e.g. eating sweets when trying to cut down on sugar)
Obeying rules, (e.g. not cheating at a game)
Not snapping at someone
Maintaining social norms
Inhibitory control: Self control (2)
“The discipline to stay on task despite distractions”:
Making yourself do something to achieve long-term plans. (e.g. Revising so you get a good grade (long-term goal) rather than going to the pub (short-term gratification))
Delayed-gratification or delay discounting (Louis & Glimcher, 2010; Hofmann et al., 2009)
Failure to inhibit response
Social interactions
Embarrassing situations
Putting one’s foot in one’s mouth
Saying things without thinking
Inhibitory control: cognition inhibition: when is it useful.
Ability to inhibit unwanted or unproductive thoughts
Can pertain to upsetting thoughts
Also rules which no longer apply or are not relevant
Difficult to measure
Assess behavioral inhibition – generalize to cognitive inhibition
Key function of frontal lobe in inhbition
Neurological studies on frontal lobe damage, Utilization behaviours.
Directed (don’t do the thing) VS competitive (many actions competing and inhibiting one another) inhibition.
Cognitive control has access to a stopping mechanism, providing a “brake” on inappropriate responses.
Cognitive flexibility: Builds on inhibition and WM (Davidson et al., 2006)
Change perspectives – visually, spatially
Change perspectives – interpersonally
Relies on inhibition of old information
Loading new info into WM
Change priorities
Flexibly adapt to new opportunities
Admit defeat
Wisconsin Card Sorting test
Task: draw a card and assign it to category 1-4 to match either: Color, Number, Symbol
You receive feedback on whether this assignment was ‘correct’ or ‘wrong’. If the feedback was ‘correct’ you should keep assigning the next card to the same category. If the feedback was ‘wrong’ you should try to match another category.
What is the wisconsin card sorting test used for?
Used to examine cognitive impairments in patients with neurological damage or psychological disorders
Frontal lobe
Schizophrenia
Stroke
Obsessive-compulsive disorders
Interaction of Executive function
Performance monitoring
Updating
Selection
Shifting
Performance monitoring
Perseveration: Assesses if we are doing well, can we perceive that we are doing well or not. Perseveration Errors!
Updating
Understanding of the rule, failing: inflexibility
Selection
new plan in line with updated relues, conflict between rules.
Shifting
new plan, compulsivity; unable to shift to change behaviour
Self control
“Ability to control oneself” - no scientific definition available
Impaired self-control common in many clinical disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, drug-addiction and gambling
Value-based decision making and delay discounting
Attention
seems similar to aspects of cognitive control, e.g. selecting/prioritizing some processes over others
