Cognitive Control of Distraction: How Does Task- Engagement Modulate the Effects of Between-Sequence Semantic Similarity?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Marsh ◽  
Patrik Sorqvist ◽  
Robert W. Hughes
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Francisca Alonso-Sanchez ◽  
Sabrina D Ford ◽  
Michael MacKinley ◽  
Angelica M Silva ◽  
Roberto Limongi ◽  
...  

Computational semantics, a branch of computational linguistics, involves automated meaning analysis that relies on how words occur together in natural language. This offers a promising tool to study schizophrenia. At present, we do not know if these word level choices in speech are sensitive to illness stage (i.e. acute untreated vs. stable established state), track cognitive deficits in major domains (e.g. cognitive control, processing speed) and relate to established dimensions of formal thought disorder. Here we study samples of descriptive discourse in patients with untreated first episode of schizophrenia (x̅ 2.8 days of lifetime daily dose exposure) and healthy subjects (246 samples of 1-minute speech; n=82, FES=46, HC=36) using a co-occurrence based vector embedding of words. We obtained six-month follow-up data in a subsample (99 speech samples, n=33, FES=20, HC=13). At baseline, the evidence for higher semantic similarity during descriptive discourse in FES was substantial, compared to null difference ( Bayes Factor =6 for full description; 32 for 10-words window). Moreover, the was a linear increase in semantic similarity with time in FES compared to HC (Bayes Factor= 6). Higher semantic similarity related to lower Stroop performance (accuracy and interference, response time), and was present irrespective of the severity of clinically ascertained thought disorder. Automated analysis of non-intrusive 1-minute speech samples provides a window on cognitive control deficits, role functioning and tracks latent progression in schizophrenia.


Author(s):  
Raoul Bell ◽  
Laura Mieth ◽  
Axel Buchner ◽  
Jan Philipp Röer

AbstractThe duplex-mechanism account of auditory distraction postulates that two distinct forms of auditory distraction can be distinguished by whether or not they can be cognitively controlled. While the interference-by-process component of auditory distraction is postulated to be automatic and independent of cognitive control, the stimulus-aspecific attention capture by auditory deviants and the stimulus-specific attentional diversion by auditorily presented distractor sentences should be suppressed by increased task engagement. Here we test whether incentive-induced changes in task engagement affect the disruption of serial recall by auditory deviants (Experiment 1) and distractor sentences (Experiment 2). Monetary incentives substantially affected recall performance in both experiments. However, the incentive-induced changes in task engagement had only limited effects on auditory distraction. In Experiment 2, increased task engagement was associated with a small decrease of distraction relative to a quiet condition, but strong effects of auditory distraction on performance persisted in conditions of high task engagement in both experiments. Most importantly, and in contrast to the predictions of the duplex-mechanism account, the effects of stimulus-aspecific attention capture (Experiment 1) and stimulus-specific attentional diversion (Experiment 2) remained unaffected by incentive-induced changes in task engagement. These findings are consistent with an automatic-capture account according to which only the processes responsible for the deliberate memorization of the target items are dependent on controlled mental effort while the attention capture by auditory deviants and the attentional diversion by distractor speech are largely automatic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Kelley ◽  
Larry L. Jacoby

Abstract Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Bettina S. Wiese ◽  
Olivia Chaillié ◽  
Ruth Noppeney ◽  
Anna M. Stertz

Abstract. The study investigates how commuting strain affects daily self-control capacities at work and at home. Irritability (i.e., increased readiness to express negative emotions when facing frustration) and concentration (i.e., a cognitive control capacity that relies on attention) were used as indicators of (impaired) self-control. Based on 5-day diary data from N = 185 train commuters, we found that on days with a strenuous ride from home to work, commuters indicated higher irritability and lower concentration capacity at work. On days with higher strain during the work-to-home ride, commuters reported to be more irritable back home. Moreover, commuters with low emotional stability turned out to be more affected by commuting strain but only if considering self-control impairment at home.


Author(s):  
Solène Ambrosi ◽  
Patrick Lemaire ◽  
Agnès Blaye

Abstract. Dynamic, trial-by-trial modulations of inhibitory control are well documented in adults but rarely investigated in children. Here, we examined whether 5-to-7 year-old children, an age range when inhibitory control is still partially immature, achieve such modulations. Fifty three children took flanker, Simon, and Stroop tasks. Above and beyond classic congruency effects, the present results showed two crucial findings. First, we found evidence for sequential modulations of congruency effects in these young children in the three conflict tasks. Second, our results showed both task specificities and task commonalities. These findings in young children have important implications as they suggest that, to be modulated, inhibitory control does not require full maturation and that the precise pattern of trial-by-trial modulations may depend on the nature of conflict.


Author(s):  
Stefan Scherbaum ◽  
Simon Frisch ◽  
Maja Dshemuchadse

Abstract. Folk wisdom tells us that additional time to make a decision helps us to refrain from the first impulse to take the bird in the hand. However, the question why the time to decide plays an important role is still unanswered. Here we distinguish two explanations, one based on a bias in value accumulation that has to be overcome with time, the other based on cognitive control processes that need time to set in. In an intertemporal decision task, we use mouse tracking to study participants’ responses to options’ values and delays which were presented sequentially. We find that the information about options’ delays does indeed lead to an immediate bias that is controlled afterwards, matching the prediction of control processes needed to counter initial impulses. Hence, by using a dynamic measure, we provide insight into the processes underlying short-term oriented choices in intertemporal decision making.


2013 ◽  
Vol 221 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Jost ◽  
Wouter De Baene ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Marcel Brass

The role of cue processing has become a controversial topic in research on cognitive control using task-switching procedures. Some authors suggested a priming account to explain switch costs as a form of encoding benefit when the cue from the previous trial is repeated and hence challenged theories that attribute task-switch costs to task-set (re)configuration. A rich body of empirical evidence has evolved that indeed shows that cue-encoding repetition priming is an important component in task switching. However, these studies also demonstrate that there are usually substantial “true” task-switch costs. Here, we review this behavioral, electrophysiological, and brain imaging evidence. Moreover, we describe alternative approaches to the explicit task-cuing procedure, such as the usage of transition cues or the task-span procedure. In addition, we address issues related to the type of cue, such as cue transparency. We also discuss methodological and theoretical implications and argue that the explicit task-cuing procedure is suitable to address issues of cognitive control and task-set switching.


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