scholarly journals Prolonged Interruption of Cognitive Control of Conflict Processing Over Human Faces by Task-Irrelevant Emotion Expression

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinyoung Kim ◽  
Min-Suk Kang ◽  
Yang Seok Cho ◽  
Sang-Hun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Emotion Expression ◽  
Conflict Processing ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Human Faces

Tracing bilingual advantage in cognitive control: Conflict processing and categorization switching

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Marzecova ◽  
M. Bukowski ◽  
J. Lupianez ◽  
M. Boros ◽  
Z. Wodniecka
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Conflict Processing

scholarly journals Auditory Working Memory Load Impairs Visual Ventral Stream Processing: Toward a Unified Model of Attentional Load

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Klemen ◽  
Christian Büchel ◽  
Mira Bühler ◽  
Mareike M. Menz ◽  
Michael Rose
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
Attentional Load ◽  
Relevant Task ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Attentional interference between tasks performed in parallel is known to have strong and often undesired effects. As yet, however, the mechanisms by which interference operates remain elusive. A better knowledge of these processes may facilitate our understanding of the effects of attention on human performance and the debilitating consequences that disruptions to attention can have. According to the load theory of cognitive control, processing of task-irrelevant stimuli is increased by attending in parallel to a relevant task with high cognitive demands. This is due to the relevant task engaging cognitive control resources that are, hence, unavailable to inhibit the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli. However, it has also been demonstrated that a variety of types of load (perceptual and emotional) can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, suggesting a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load. In the present study, we concurrently presented a relevant auditory matching task [n-back working memory (WM)] of low or high cognitive load (1-back or 2-back WM) and task-irrelevant images at one of three object visibility levels (0%, 50%, or 100%). fMRI activation during the processing of the task-irrelevant visual stimuli was measured in the lateral occipital cortex and found to be reduced under high, compared to low, WM load. In combination with previous findings, this result is suggestive of a more generalized load theory, whereby cognitive load, as well as other types of load (e.g., perceptual), can result in a reduction of the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, in line with a uniform effect of increased load irrespective of the type of load.

scholarly journals Do Reward-Related Distractors Impair Cognitive Performance? Perhaps Not

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorottya Rusz ◽  
Erik Bijleveld ◽  
Michiel A. J. Kompier
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Arithmetic Task ◽  
Bayesian Analyses ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Mental Arithmetic Task ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Math Problems

Over a hundred prior studies show that reward-related distractors capture attention. It is less clear, however, whether and when reward-related distractors affect performance on tasks that require cognitive control. In this experiment, we examined whether reward-related distractors impair performance during a demanding arithmetic task. Participants (N = 81) solved math problems, while they were exposed to task-irrelevant stimuli that were previously associated with monetary rewards (vs. not). Although we found some evidence for reward learning in the training phase, results from the test phase showed no evidence that reward-related distractors harm cognitive performance. This null effect was invariant across different versions of our task. We examined the results further with Bayesian analyses, which showed positive evidence for the null. Altogether, the present study showed that reward-related distractors did not harm performance on a mental arithmetic task. When considered together with previous studies, the present study suggests that the negative impact of reward-related distractors on cognitive control is not as straightforward as it may seem, and that more research is needed to clarify the circumstances under which reward-related distractors harm cognitive control.

scholarly journals Processing of Task-Irrelevant Race Information is Associated with Diminished Cognitive Control in Black and White Individuals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estée Rubien-Thomas ◽  
Nia Berrian ◽  
Alessandra Cervera ◽  
Binyam Nardos ◽  
Alexandra O. Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Behavioral Pattern ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Brain Behavior ◽  
Black Faces

AbstractThe race of an individual is a salient physical feature that is rapidly processed by the brain and can bias our perceptions of others. How the race of others explicitly impacts our actions toward them during intergroup contexts is not well understood. In the current study, we examined how task-irrelevant race information influences cognitive control in a go/no-go task in a community sample of Black (n = 54) and White (n = 51) participants. We examined the neural correlates of behavioral effects using functional magnetic resonance imaging and explored the influence of implicit racial attitudes on brain-behavior associations. Both Black and White participants showed more cognitive control failures, as indexed by dprime, to Black versus White faces, despite the irrelevance of race to the task demands. This behavioral pattern was paralleled by greater activity to Black faces in the fusiform face area, implicated in processing face and in-group information, and lateral orbitofrontal cortex, associated with resolving stimulus-response conflict. Exploratory brain-behavior associations suggest different patterns in Black and White individuals. Black participants exhibited a negative association between fusiform activity and response time during impulsive errors to Black faces, whereas White participants showed a positive association between lateral OFC activity and cognitive control performance to Black faces when accounting for implicit racial associations. Together our findings propose that attention to race information is associated with diminished cognitive control that may be driven by different mechanisms for Black and White individuals.

scholarly journals Cognitive control in bilinguals: Advantages in Stimulus–Stimulus inhibition

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
HENRIKE K. BLUMENFELD ◽  
VIORICA MARIAN
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Language Profiles

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals at suppressing task-irrelevant information and on overall speed during cognitive control tasks. Here, monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ performance was compared on two nonlinguistic tasks: a Stroop task (with perceptualStimulus–Stimulus conflictamong stimulus features) and a Simon task (withStimulus–Response conflict). Across two experiments testing bilinguals with different language profiles, bilinguals showed more efficient Stroop than Simon performance, relative to monolinguals, who showed fewer differences across the two tasks. Findings suggest that bilingualism may engage Stroop-type cognitive control mechanisms more than Simon-type mechanisms, likely due to increased Stimulus–Stimulus conflict during bilingual language processing. Findings are discussed in light of previous research on bilingual Stroop and Simon performance.

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.

Selective reinforcement of conflict processing in the Stroop task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Prével ◽  
Ruth Krebs ◽  
Nanne Kukkonen ◽  
Senne Braem
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Stroop Effect ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Conflict Processing ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Threshold Procedure ◽  
Reward Contingencies ◽  
New Guidelines

Motivation signals have been shown to influence the engagement of cognitive control processes. However, most studies focus on the invigorating effect of reward prospect, rather than the reinforcing effect of reward feedback. The present study aimed to test whether people strategically adapt conflict processing when confronted with condition-specific congruency-reward contingencies in a manual Stroop task. Results show that the size of the Stroop effect can be affected by selectively rewarding responses following incongruent versus congruent trials. However, our findings also suggest important boundary conditions. Our first two experiments only show a modulation of the Stroop effect in the first half of the experimental blocks, possibly due to our adaptive threshold procedure demotivating adaptive behavior over time. The third experiment showed an overall modulation of the Stroop effect, but did not find evidence for a similar modulation on test items, leaving open whether this effect generalizes to the congruency conditions, or is stimulus-specific. More generally, our results are consistent with computational models of cognitive control and support contemporary learning perspectives on cognitive control. The findings also offer new guidelines and directions for future investigations on the selective reinforcement of cognitive control processes.

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