A Match Made by Modafinil: Probability Matching in Choice Decisions and Spatial Attention

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 657-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy J. Geng ◽  
Steffan Soosman ◽  
Yile Sun ◽  
Nicholas E. DiQuattro ◽  
Beth Stankevitch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Probability Match ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Probability Matching ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
Information Selection ◽  
Probabilistic Sampling ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Low Probability

When predicting where a target or reward will be, participants tend to choose each location commensurate with the true underlying probability (i.e., probability match). The strategy of probability matching involves independent sampling of high and low probability locations on separate trials. In contrast, models of probabilistic spatial attention hypothesize that on any given trial attention will either be weighted toward the high probability location or be distributed equally across all locations. Thus, the strategies of probabilistic sampling by choice decisions and spatial attention appear to differ with regard to low-probability events. This distinction is somewhat surprising because similar brain mechanisms (e.g., pFC-mediated cognitive control) are thought to be important in both functions. Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine the relationship between choice decisions and attentional selection within single trials to test for any strategic differences, then to determine whether that relationship is malleable to manipulations of catecholamine-modulated cognitive control with the drug modafinil. Our results demonstrate that spatial attention and choice decisions followed different strategies of probabilistic information selection on placebo, but that modafinil brought the pattern of spatial attention into alignment with that of predictive choices. Modafinil also produced earlier learning of the probability distribution. Together, these results suggest that enhancing cognitive control mechanisms (e.g., through prefrontal cortical function) leads spatial attention to follow choice decisions in selecting information according to rule-based expectations.

scholarly journals Inhibitory Mechanisms in the Processing of Negations: A Neural Reuse Hypothesis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Beltrán ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Manuel de Vega
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Functional Relation ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Inhibitory Effects ◽  
General Domain ◽  
Inhibitory Mechanisms ◽  
Neural Reuse ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

AbstractNegation is known to have inhibitory consequences for the information under its scope. However, how it produces such effects remains poorly understood. Recently, it has been proposed that negation processing might be implemented at the neural level by the recruitment of inhibitory and cognitive control mechanisms. On this line, this manuscript offers the hypothesis that negation reuses general-domain mechanisms that subserve inhibition in other non-linguistic cognitive functions. The first two sections describe the inhibitory effects of negation on conceptual representations and its embodied effects, as well as the theoretical foundations for the reuse hypothesis. The next section describes the neurophysiological evidence that linguistic negation interacts with response inhibition, along with the suggestion that both functions share inhibitory mechanisms. Finally, the manuscript concludes that the functional relation between negation and inhibition observed at the mechanistic level could be easily integrated with predominant cognitive models of negation processing.

Auditory spatial attention gradients and cognitive control as a function of vigilance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Golob ◽  
Jeremy T. Nelson ◽  
Jaelle Scheuerman ◽  
Kristen B. Venable ◽  
Jeffrey R. Mock
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Auditory Spatial Attention

scholarly journals Neural Dynamics of Cognitive Control over Working Memory Capture of Attention

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Whitehead ◽  
Mathilde M. Ooi ◽  
Tobias Egner ◽  
Marty G. Woldorff
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Behavioral Studies

The contents of working memory (WM) guide visual attention toward matching features, with visual search being faster when the target and a feature of an item held in WM spatially overlap (validly cued) than when they occur at different locations (invalidly cued). Recent behavioral studies have indicated that attentional capture by WM content can be modulated by cognitive control: When WM cues are reliably helpful to visual search (predictably valid), capture is enhanced, but when reliably detrimental (predictably invalid), capture is attenuated. The neural mechanisms underlying this effect are not well understood, however. Here, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of ERPs time-locked to the onset of the search display to determine how and at what processing stage cognitive control modulates the search process. We manipulated predictability by grouping trials into unpredictable (50% valid/invalid) and predictable (100% valid, 100% invalid) blocks. Behavioral results confirmed that predictability modulated WM-related capture. Comparison of ERPs to the search arrays showed that the N2pc, a posteriorly distributed signature of initial attentional orienting toward a lateralized target, was not impacted by target validity predictability. However, a longer latency, more anterior, lateralized effect—here, termed the “contralateral attention-related negativity”—was reduced under predictable conditions. This reduction interacted with validity, with substantially greater reduction for invalid than valid trials. These data suggest cognitive control over attentional capture by WM content does not affect the initial attentional-orienting process but can reduce the need to marshal later control mechanisms for processing relevant items in the visual world.

Contributions of Brain Function and Structure to Three Different Domains of Cognitive Control in Normal Aging

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Jenny R. Rieck ◽  
Giulia Baracchini ◽  
Cheryl L. Grady
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Functional Activity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Diffusion Imaging ◽  
Normal Aging ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
And Task

Cognitive control involves the flexible allocation of mental resources during goal-directed behavior and comprises three correlated but distinct domains—inhibition, shifting, and working memory. The work of Don Stuss and others has demonstrated that frontal and parietal cortices are crucial to cognitive control, particularly in normal aging, which is characterized by reduced control mechanisms. However, the structure–function relationships specific to each domain and subsequent impact on performance are not well understood. In the current study, we examined both age and individual differences in functional activity associated with core domains of cognitive control in relation to fronto-parietal structure and task performance. Participants ( N = 140, aged 20–86 years) completed three fMRI tasks: go/no-go (inhibition), task switching (shifting), and n-back (working memory), in addition to structural and diffusion imaging. All three tasks engaged a common set of fronto-parietal regions; however, the contributions of age, brain structure, and task performance to functional activity were unique to each domain. Aging was associated with differences in functional activity for all tasks, largely in regions outside common fronto-parietal control regions. Shifting and inhibition showed greater contributions of structure to overall decreases in brain activity, suggesting that more intact fronto-parietal structure may serve as a scaffold for efficient functional response. Working memory showed no contribution of structure to functional activity but had strong effects of age and task performance. Together, these results provide a comprehensive and novel examination of the joint contributions of aging, performance, and brain structure to functional activity across multiple domains of cognitive control.

Neurocognitive underpinnings of social development during childhood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaus Steinbeis
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Subcortical Regions ◽  
Cortical Regions

This chapter reviews the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social development during middle childhood. The author focuses on social abilities (e.g., theory of mind and empathy) and prosocial behavior (e.g., sharing and helping). The chapter discusses studies and theories on developmental changes in these social phenomena and references evidence of neurocognitive underpinnings where available. The author argues that changes in social development during childhood can best be explained in developments in regulatory processes, such as behavioral control, emotion regulation, conflict processing, and self-other control. The author refers to this cluster of functions as social control mechanisms. Changes in these social control mechanisms are driven by the maturation of neural circuitry comprising prefrontal cortical regions and their interactions with subcortical regions. Crucially, while the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social development are distinct for different abilities and behaviors, it appears to be domain-general processes that predominantly shape social development during middle childhood.

scholarly journals Development of the MAM model of schizophrenia in mice: Sex similarities and differences of hippocampal and prefrontal cortical function

2019 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 193-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kleanthi Chalkiadaki ◽  
Aggeliki Velli ◽  
Evangelos Kyriazidis ◽  
Vasiliki Stavroulaki ◽  
Vasilis Vouvoutsis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Function ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Similarities And Differences
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