Cognitive Control Lecture Flashcards
(19 cards)
Features of attention
Enables us to focus on one aspect of the sensory input
Avoid sensory overload
Limited capacity
Top down or bottom up
Many things compete for limited resources - attention bias
Attentional control
A set of processes involved in maintaining an operative goal and goal-relevant information while suppressing goal irrelevant information
What is an operative goal?
A goal the substantially affects current information processing and action
Distraction
When goal irrelevant information receives priority over goal relevant information
3 sources of distraction
The perceived environment
Self generated information
Habits
Unity and diversity structure of control
Updating, shifting, inhibition
Selective attention and brain oscillations
Top down attentional effect in alpha, depending on where direct your attention the amplitude will change in regions relevant for processing incoming information
What is the inhibition timing hypothesis?
If the amplitude of the oscillation is small, cells with a high level of excitation will fire rhythmically, entrained to the phase of the oscillation
Purpose of Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Use of electromagnetic induction to excite neurons. At high currents action potentials can be triggered
What is inhibitory control for?
Situations where distracting, interfering information is present and needs to be suppressed, inhibited for goal directed performance
What are race models?
A race between relevant and irrelevant information
What are automatic processes?
Fast, no attention, engaged involuntary
Controlled process
Slow, needs attention, are engaged voluntarily
The spotlight model
An alternative but not incompatible model where less activation can allow for more fixation
The role of theta in cognitive control
Theta creates dynamic functional networks for the transfer of goal related information to help optimise behaviour under certainty
What does rhythmic alternation between excitation and inhibition at mid frontal regions create?
Temporal windows for the transfer of goal related information to other task relevant regions which oscillate at a similar frequency having temporal windows of similar lengths
Why is theta important for cognitive control?
Cross regional phase synchrony creates large scale rapidly adaptable functional networks whose main function is to optimise behaviour under uncertainty
Switch cost in task switching
Trials after a switch are slower, more error prone than repetition trials
Mixing cost in task switching
Reparation trials within a mixed block are slower, more error propane than performance of the same task
Reflects additional decision
