scholarly journals How task-set-size influences cognitive control: alpha power and medial-frontal negativities reflect cognitive effort

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigbur Roland ◽  
Ullsperger Markus
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Set Size

A Review of the Role of Cue Processing in Task Switching

2013 ◽  
Vol 221 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Jost ◽  
Wouter De Baene ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Marcel Brass
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Set Switching ◽  
Controversial Topic ◽  
Cue Encoding ◽  
Cue Processing

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.

scholarly journals Theta and alpha power across fast and slow timescales in cognitive control

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Huycke ◽  
Pieter Verbeke ◽  
C. Nico Boehler ◽  
Tom Verguts
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Alpha Power

scholarly journals Cognitive control over learning: Creating, clustering, and generalizing task-set structure.

2013 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne G. E. Collins ◽  
Michael J. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Task Set

scholarly journals Who Comes First? The Role of the Prefrontal and Parietal Cortex in Cognitive Control

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1367-1375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Brass ◽  
Markus Ullsperger ◽  
Thomas R. Knoesche ◽  
D. Yves von Cramon ◽  
Natalie A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Related Potentials

Cognitive control processes enable us to adjust our behavior to changing environmental demands. Although neuropsychological studies suggest that the critical cortical region for cognitive control is the prefrontal cortex, neuro-imaging studies have emphasized the interplay of prefrontal and parietal cortices. This raises the fundamental question about the different contributions of prefrontal and parietal areas in cognitive control. It was assumed that the prefrontal cortex biases processing in posterior brain regions. This assumption leads to the hypothesis that neural activity in the prefrontal cortex should precede parietal activity in cognitive control. The present study tested this assumption by combining results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) providing high spatial resolution and event-related potentials (ERPs) to gain high temporal resolution. We collected ERP data using a modified task-switching paradigm. In this paradigm, a situation where the same task was indicated by two different cues was compared with a situation where two cues indicated different tasks. Only the latter condition required updating of the task set. Task-set updating was associated with a midline negative ERP deflection peaking around 470 msec. We placed dipoles in regions activated in a previous fMRI study that used the same paradigm (left inferior frontal junction, right inferior frontal gyrus, right parietal cortex) and fitted their directions and magnitudes to the ERP effect. The frontal dipoles contributed to the ERP effect earlier than the parietal dipole, providing support for the view that the prefrontal cortex is involved in updating of general task representations and biases relevant stimulus-response associations in the parietal cortex.

The Case of the Cognitive (Opti)miser: Electrophysiological Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance Predict Demand Avoidance

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1550-1561
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Nador ◽  
Assaf Harel ◽  
Ion Juvina ◽  
Brandon Minnery
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Match To Sample ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
Filtering Efficiency ◽  
Task Irrelevant

People are often considered cognitive misers. When given a free choice between two tasks, people tend to choose tasks requiring less cognitive effort. Such demand avoidance (DA) is associated with cognitive control, but it is still not clear to what extent individual differences in cognitive control can account for variations in DA. We sought to elucidate the relation between cognitive control and cognitive effort preferences by investigating the extent to which sustained neural activity in a task requiring cognitive control is correlated with DA. We hypothesized that neural measures of efficient filtering will predict individual variations in demand preferences. To test this hypothesis, we had participants perform a delayed-match-to-sample paradigm with their ERPs recorded, as well as a separate behavioral demand-selection task. We focused on the ERP correlates of cognitive filtering efficiency (CFE)—the ability to ignore task-irrelevant distractors during working memory maintenance—as it manifests in a modulation of the contralateral delay activity, an ERP correlate of cognitive control. As predicted, we found a significant positive correlation between CFE and DA. Individuals with high CFE tended to be significantly more demand avoidant than their low-CFE counterparts. Low-CFE individuals, in comparison, did not form distinct cognitive effort preferences. Overall, our results suggest that cognitive control over the contents of visual working memory contribute to individual differences in the expression of cognitive effort preferences. This further implies that these observed preferences are the product of sensitivity to cognitive task demands.

Organizational Properties in a Cutaneous Memory-Scanning Task

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-22
Author(s):  
Gary Thorson
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Memory Scanning ◽  
Organizational Processes ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Scanning Task

An experiment investigated the notion that organizational properties operate in a memory-scanning task using cutaneous stimuli. The results indicated that the open-closed nature of the positive set is a significant factor in a cutaneous memory-scanning task. Set-size was not a significant factor. The data suggest there are some organizational processes in a cutaneous memory-scanning cask, however, these processes do not seem to be completely analogous to those used in visual and auditory memory-scanning tasks.

ERPs and Neural Oscillations during Volitional Suppression of Memory Retrieval

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1624-1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Eliot Depue ◽  
Nick Ketz ◽  
Matthew V. Mollison ◽  
Erika Nyhus ◽  
Marie T. Banich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Theta Oscillations ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Eeg Spectral Power

Although investigations of memory and the dynamics of ERP components and neural oscillations as assessed through EEG have been well utilized, little research into the volitional nature of suppression over memory retrieval have used these methods. Oscillation analyses conducted on the Think/No-Think (TNT) task and volitional suppression of retrieval are of interest to broaden our knowledge of neural oscillations associated not only during successful memory retrieval but also when retrieval is unwanted or suppressed. In the current study, we measured EEG during a TNT task and performed ERP and EEG spectral power band analyses. ERP results replicated other researchers' observations of increases in 500–800 msec parietal effects for items where retrieval was instructed to be elaborated compared with being suppressed. Furthermore, EEG analyses indicated increased alpha (8–12 Hz) and theta (3–8 Hz) oscillations across parietal electrodes for items that were instructed to be suppressed versus those to be elaborated. Additionally, during the second half of the experiment (after repeated attempts at control), increases in theta oscillations were found across both frontal and parietal electrodes for items that were instructed to be suppressed and that were ultimately forgotten versus those ultimately remembered. Increased alpha power for items that were instructed to be suppressed versus elaborated may indicate reductions of retrieval attempts or lack of retrieval success. Increased theta power for items that were instructed to be suppressed versus elaborated may indicate increased or prolonged cognitive control to monitor retrieval events.

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