Cognitive Control Processes Research Articles

Distractor filtering and its electrophysiological correlates in schizophrenia

ObjectivePatients with schizophrenia are characterized by compromised working memory (WM) performance and increased distractibility. Theta synchronization (especially over the frontal midline areas) is related to cognitive control and executive processes during WM encoding and retention. Alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) is associated with information processing and attention. MethodsParticipants (35 patients and 39 matched controls) performed a modified Sternberg WM task, containing salient and non-salient distractor items in the retention period. A high-density 128 channel EEG was recorded during the task. Theta (4–7 Hz) and fast alpha (10–13 Hz) event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) were analyzed during the retention and encoding period. ResultsPatients with schizophrenia showed worse WM performance and increased attentional distractibility in terms of lower hit rates and increased distractor-related commission errors compared to healthy controls. Theta synchronization was modulated by condition (learning vs. distractor) in both groups but it was modulated by salience only in controls. Furthermore, salience of distractors modulated less the fast alpha ERD in patients. ConclusionsOur results suggest that patients with schizophrenia process salient and non-salient distracting information less efficiently and show weaker cognitive control compared to controls. SignificanceThese differences may partly account for diminished WM performance and increased distractibility in schizophrenia.

Proportion of conflict, contingency learning, and recency effects in a Stroop task

Recent research on the relation between learning and cognitive control has assumed that conflict modulates learning, either by increasing arousal and hence improving learning in high-conflict situations, or by inducing control, and hence inhibiting the processing of distracters and their eventual association with the imperative responses. We analyse whether the amount of conflict, manipulated through the proportion of congruency in a set of Stroop inducer trials, affects learning of contingencies established on diagnostic trials composed by neutral words associated with colour responses. The results reproduced the list-wide proportion of congruency effect on the inducer trials, and showed evidence of contingency learning on the diagnostic trials, but provided no indication that this learning was modulated by the level of conflict. Specific analyses conducted to control for the impact of episodic effects on the expression of learning indicated that contingency effects were not driven by the incremental processes that could be expected by associative learning, but rather they were due to the impact of the most recent trial involving the same distracter. Accordingly, these effects disappeared when tested selectively on trials that required a non-matching response with respect to the previous occurrence of the distracter. We interpret this result in the context of the debate on how learning and memory interact with the processes of cognitive control.

Limitations of cognitive control on emotional distraction \u2013 Congruency in the Color Stroop task does not modulate the Emotional Stroop effect

Emotional information receives prioritized processing over concurrent cognitive processes. This can lead to distraction if emotional information has to be ignored. In the cognitive domain, mechanisms have been described that allow control of (cognitive) distractions. However, whether similar cognitive control mechanisms also can attenuate emotional distraction is an active area of research. This study asked whether cognitive control (triggered in the Color Stroop task) attenuates emotional distraction in the Emotional Stroop task. Theoretical accounts of cognitive control, and the Emotional Stroop task alike, predict such an interaction for tasks that employ the same relevant (e.g., color-naming) and irrelevant (e.g., word-reading) dimension. In an alternating-runs design with Color and Emotional Stroop tasks changing from trial to trial, we analyzed the impact of proactive and reactive cognitive control on Emotional Stroop effects. Four experiments manipulated predictability of congruency and emotional stimuli. Overall, results showed congruency effects in Color Stroop tasks and Emotional Stroop effects. Moreover, we found a spillover of congruency effects and emotional distraction to the other task, indicating that processes specific to one task impacted to the other task. However, Bayesian analyses and a mini-meta-analysis across experiments weigh against the predicted interaction between cognitive control and emotional distraction. The results point out limitations of cognitive control to block off emotional distraction, questioning views that assume a close interaction between cognitive control and emotional processing.

Associations of Irritability With Functional Connectivity of Amygdala and Nucleus Accumbens in Adolescents and Young Adults With ADHD

Objective Irritability is a common characteristic in ADHD. We examined whether dysfunction in neural connections supporting threat and reward processing was related to irritability in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. Method We used resting-state fMRI to assess connectivity of amygdala and nucleus accumbens seeds in those with ADHD (n = 34) and an age- and gender-matched typically-developing comparison group (n = 34). Results In those with ADHD, irritability was associated with atypical functional connectivity of both seed regions. Amygdala seeds showed greater connectivity with right inferior frontal gyrus and caudate/putamen, and less connectivity with precuneus. Nucleus accumbens seeds showed altered connectivity with middle temporal gyrus and precuneus. Conclusion The irritability-ADHD presentation is associated with atypical functional connectivity of reward and threat processing regions with cognitive control and emotion processing regions. These patterns provide novel evidence for irritability-associated neural underpinnings in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. The findings suggest cognitive and behavioral treatments that address response to reward, including omission of an expected reward and irritability, may be beneficial for ADHD.

Negative affective processing is associated with cognitive control in early childhood: An fNIRS study.

The association between emotion and cognition has recently gathered interest in the field of cognitive neuroscience. However, the neural mechanism of negative emotion processing and its association with cognitive control in early childhood remains unclear. In the present study, we compared the processing of three emotions (i.e., negative, neutral, and positive emotions) and investigated the association between negative emotion processing and cognitive control in children aged 4-6 years (N = 43). Results indicated that children revealed greater brain activation when processing negative emotions than processing neutral and positive emotions. We also found a significant negative association between brain activation during negative emotion processing and reaction times of cognitive control, which represented children with better cognitive control evoked higher brain activation when processing negative emotions. The current study proposes a neural mechanism underlying emotion processing and provides important insights into the risk and future behavioral outcomes of potential psychological disorders.

Large-scale functional brain networks of maladaptive childhood aggression identified by connectome-based predictive modeling.

Disruptions in frontoparietal networks supporting emotion regulation have been long implicated in maladaptive childhood aggression. However, the association of connectivity between large-scale functional networks with aggressive behavior has not been tested. The present study examined whether the functional organization of the connectome predicts severity of aggression in children. This cross-sectional study included a transdiagnostic sample of 100 children with aggressive behavior (27 females) and 29 healthy controls without aggression or psychiatric disorders (13 females). Severity of aggression was indexed by the total score on the parent-rated Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. During fMRI, participants completed a face emotion perception task of fearful and calm faces. Connectome-based predictive modeling with internal cross-validation was conducted to identify brain networks that predicted aggression severity. The replication and generalizability of the aggression predictive model was then tested in an independent sample of children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Connectivity predictive of aggression was identified within and between networks implicated in cognitive control (medial frontal, frontoparietal), social functioning (default mode, salience), and emotion processing (subcortical, sensorimotor) (r=0.31, RMSE = 9.05, p=0.005). Out-of-sample replication (p<0.002) and generalization (p=0.007) of findings predicting aggression from the functional connectome was demonstrated in an independent sample of children from the ABCD study (n=1,791; n=1,701). Individual differences in large-scale functional networks contribute to variability in maladaptive aggression in children with psychiatric disorders. Linking these individual differences in the connectome to variation in behavioral phenotypes will advance identification of neural biomarkers of maladaptive childhood aggression to inform targeted treatments.

Assessing combinatorial effects of HIV infection and former cocaine dependence on cognitive control processes: A functional neuroimaging study of response inhibition

Individuals with a diagnosis of co-morbid HIV infection and cocaine use disorder are at higher risk of poor health outcomes. Active cocaine users, both with and without HIV infection, show clear deficits in response inhibition and other measures of executive function that are instrumental in maintaining drug abstinence, factors that may complicate treatment. Neuroimaging and behavioral evidence indicate normalization of executive control processes in former cocaine users as a function of the duration of drug abstinence, but it is unknown to what extent co-morbid diagnosis of HIV affects this process. To this end, we investigate the combinatorial effects of HIV and cocaine dependence on the neural substrates of cognitive control in cocaine-abstinent individuals with a history of cocaine dependence. Blood-oxygen level dependent signal changes were measured as 86 participants performed a Go/NoGo response inhibition task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Four groups of participants were selected based on HIV and cocaine-dependence status. Participants affected by both conditions demonstrated the lowest response accuracy of all participant groups. In a region of interest analysis, hyperactivation in the left putamen and midline-cingulate hyperactivation was observed in individuals with both HIV and cocaine dependence relative to individuals with only one condition. Results of a whole-brain analysis indicate response inhibition-related hyperactivation in the bilateral supplementary motor area, bilateral hippocampi, bilateral primary somatosensory areas, right dorsal anterior cingulate, and left insula in the CD+/HIV+ group relative to all other groups. These results indicate complex and interactive alterations in neural activation during response inhibition and highlight the importance of examining the neurocognitive effects of co-morbid conditions.

The Influence of Online Game Behaviors on the Emotional State and Executive Function of College Students in China.

Background and Objective: Since the classification of gaming disorder (GD) by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “mental disorder caused by addictive behaviors,” there has been controversy regarding whether online game behaviors can lead to mental disorder. This study aims to clarify the correlation between the online game behaviors of college students and anxiety, depression, and executive function of college students in China, from a questionnaire-based investigation.Methods: Based on the whole class random sampling method, a questionnaire survey was conducted among college students in Northern Anhui, China from March 7 to March 27, 2020. The questionnaires included the Internet Game Addiction (IGA) Scale, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Adult Version, BRIEF-A), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire Scale (PHQ-9).Results: A total of 850 participants completed the survey, including 353 males (41.53%) and 497 females (58.47%). The primary age group was 18–27 years (91.53%), and the educational background was a bachelor's degree (94.7%). The study found that the online behavior of 17.76% of college students was online game behavior. This study did not identify any students who met the criteria for IGA, and 3% met the criteria for indulgent behavior. A dual role of online games was identified; moderate online game activities can improve the emotional state and executive function of college students, while excessive online game behaviors that may not reach the degree of addiction can also harm emotional state and executive function.Conclusions: This study suggests that although IGA has been regarded as a mental disease, online game behavior should be treated differently. Online game activities should not be entirely denied, but mental disorders caused by excessive gaming activities deserve attention. In particular, the emotional state and executive function of students with excessive online game behaviors should be monitored and intervened in advance to avoid game behaviors turning into indulgent behaviors or addiction. As a cognitive control process, executive function may play a key role in regulating IGA and emotional state.

The Quest for Signals in Noise: Leveraging Experiential Variation to Identify Bilingual Phenotypes.

Increasing evidence suggests that bilingualism does not, in itself, result in a particular pattern of response, revealing instead a complex and multidimensional construct that is shaped by evolutionary and ecological sources of variability. Despite growing recognition of the need for a richer characterization of bilingual speakers and of the different contexts of language use, we understand relatively little about the boundary conditions of putative “bilingualism” effects. Here, we review recent findings that demonstrate how variability in the language experiences of bilingual speakers, and also in the ability of bilingual speakers to adapt to the distinct demands of different interactional contexts, impact interactions between language use, language processing, and cognitive control processes generally. Given these findings, our position is that systematic variation in bilingual language experience gives rise to a variety of phenotypes that have different patterns of associations across language processing and cognitive outcomes. The goal of this paper is thus to illustrate how focusing on systematic variation through the identification of bilingual phenotypes can provide crucial insights into a variety of performance patterns, in a manner that has implications for previous and future research.

Distinguishing Multiple Coding Levels in Theta Band Activity During Working Memory Gating Processes

Cognitive control and working memory (WM) processes are essential for goal-directed behaviour. Cognitive control and WM are probably based on overlapping neurophysiological mechanisms. For example, theta-band activity (TBA) plays an important role in both functions. For cognitive control processes, it is known that different aspects of information about stimulus content, motor processes and stimulus–response relationships are encoded simultaneously in the TBA. All this information is probably processed during WM gating processes and must be controlled during them. However, direct data for this are lacking. This question is investigated in this study by combining methods of EEG temporal signal decomposition, time–frequency decomposition and beamforming. We show that portions of stimulus-related information, motor response-related information and information related to the interaction between the stimulus and motor responses in the TBA are influenced in parallel and to a similar extent by WM gate opening and gate closing processes. Nevertheless, it is stimulus-related information in the theta signal in particular that modulates behavioural performance in WM-gating. The data suggest that the identified processes are implemented in specific neuroanatomical structures. In particular, the medial frontal cortex, temporal cortical regions and insular cortex are involved in these dynamics. The study shows that principles of information coding relevant to cognitive control processes are also crucial for understanding WM gating.

To learn or to gain: neural signatures of exploration in human decision-making.

Individuals not only take actions to obtain immediate rewards but also to gain more information to guide future choices. An ideal exploration-exploitation balance is crucial for maximizing reward over the long run. However, the neural signatures of exploration in humans remain unclear. Using quantitative meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments on exploratory behaviors, we sought to identify the concordant activity pertaining to exploration over a range of experiments. The results revealed that exploration activates concordant brain activity associated with risk (e.g., dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula), cognitive control (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus), and motor processing (e.g., premotor cortex). These stereotaxic maps of exploration may indicate that exploration is highly linked to risk processing, but is also specifically associated with regions involved in executive control processes. Although this explanation should be treated as exploratory, these findings support theories positing an important role for the prefrontal-insular-motor cortical network in exploration.

On the interdependence of post-error control and memory.

Post-error cognitive control processes are evident in post-error slowing (PES) and post-error increased accuracy (PIA). A recent theory (Wessel, 2018) proposes that post-error control disrupts not only ongoing motor activity but also current task-set representations, suggesting an interdependence of post-error control and memory. In 2 experiments, we directly tested this interdependence using response repeat/switch targets. As participants' memory of the previously-given response determined their next response, we predicted that participants would not show post-error performance improvements, or may even exhibit decrements (memory obstruction hypothesis). In line with a weak version of the memory obstruction hypothesis, participants' performance did not improve post-error regardless of preparation time across several measures (intertrial interval 500 ms-3000 ms). This could not alternatively be explained by a lack in post-error processing or error awareness. Thus, our results suggest an interdependence of memory and cognitive control in post-error processing, and we offer a novel way of directly assessing this interdependence using response repeat/switch targets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Impact of emotionally-charged images and trial order on downstream cognitive processing: An ERP study

Theories of emotion-cognition interactions suggest that emotional valence can both facilitate or limit cognitive performance. One cause for the mixed findings may be the order (random versus non-random presentation) in which emotional stimuli are presented. To investigate the impact of stimuli order on cognitive control processing, EEG data were recorded as 130 undergraduate students (M age = 22.2, SD = 5.4; 79 female) completed a modified version of the AX-Continuous Performance Task in which the cue was followed by an emotionally-valenced image (positive, negative, and neutral). Specifically, the task was designed so that valenced images were presented in either a block or random order, prior to probe presentation. We examined two event-related potentials (ERPs), the N2, which reflects aspects of cognitive control, and the late positive potential (LPP), which reflects attention allocation to emotional stimuli. We assessed the impact of emotionally oriented attention (LPP) on downstream cognitive control (N2) and how this relationship might differ for a block versus random (order of emotional image) task design. Consistent with the LPP literature, we found a main effect of image valence with the negative trials showing larger LPPs than the positive and neutral trials. For N2s, we found that the negative trials were associated with smaller N2s than both the positive and neutral trials. We observed that as LPP amplitude increased, subsequent N2 amplitude was reduced, specifically for negative trials in the random design. These results suggest an emotion-related depletion of neural cognitive resources. Lastly, we found larger N2s for the block design versus the random design. Together, these results indicate the importance of paying attention to both trial order (block versus random) and within trial stimulus sequence when designing emotion induction tasks.

Caffeine selectively mitigates cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation impairs a wide range of cognitive processes, but the precise mechanism underlying these deficits is unclear. One prominent proposal is that sleep deprivation impairs vigilant attention, and that impairments in vigilant attention cause impairments in cognitive tasks that require attention. Here, we test this theory by studying the effects of caffeine on visual vigilant attention and on placekeeping, a cognitive control process that plays a role in procedural performance, problem solving, and other higher order tasks. In the evening, participants (N = 276) completed a placekeeping task (UNRAVEL) and a vigilant attention task (the Psychomotor Vigilance Task [PVT]) and were then randomly assigned to either stay awake overnight in the laboratory or sleep at home. In the morning, participants who slept returned to the lab, and all participants consumed a capsule that contained either 200 mg of caffeine or placebo. After an absorption period, all participants completed UNRAVEL and PVT again. Sleep deprivation impaired performance on both tasks, replicating previous work. Caffeine counteracted this impairment in vigilant attention but did not significantly affect placekeeping for most participants, though it did reduce the number of sleep-deprived participants who failed to maintain criterion accuracy. These results suggest that sleep deprivation impairs placekeeping directly through a causal pathway that does not include visual vigilant attention, a finding that has implications for intervention research and suggests that caffeine has limited potential to reduce procedural error rates in occupational settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Bilingualism and Cognitive and Auditory Processing: A Comprehensive Review

Objectives: Bilingualism and multilingualism are on the rise in many parts of the world. Learning and using other languages, in addition to the expected impact on language domains, can affect non-linguistic fields such as attention, working memory, cognitive control, and auditory processing. The objective of this study was a comprehensive review of the bilingual advantage and disadvantages with emphasis on its effect on the cognitive process and its relationship with auditory processing. Methods: A total of 133 articles were initially found in this field. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the review, 84 related articles were entered into this study. Then we searched articles published 2005-2020 in Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases. Keyword and MeSH terms were used in the search process: “bilingualism”, “cognitive process”, “auditory process”, and “auditory attention”. Results: Studies showed that bilingualism not only has advantages in the linguistic domain but also affects the cognitive domain, especially auditory attention, auditory memory capacity, and inhibitory control. Also, it has a protective effect against cognitive decline in aging. Structural changes in the brain in bilinguals support these effects. Most studies reported that enhanced attentional requests of bilingual exchange amplify connectivity among cognitive functions like attentional rein and auditory processing. These effects create more constancy in the auditory evoked response in bilinguals. Discussion: Learning foreign languages could provoke the autonomic sound processing capability of the auditory organ and make it highly efficient in challenging listening conditions. It also affects other cognitive processes such as auditory memory. However, a comprehensive framework for this relationship is still unknown, and further research is needed, especially to support neurophysiological evidence.

Further Evidence for the Binding and Retrieval of Control-States From the Flanker Task

In response-interference tasks, congruency effects are reduced in trials that follow an incongruent trial. This congruence sequence effect (CSE) has been taken to reflect top-down cognitive control processes that monitor for and intervene in case of conflict. In contrast, episodic-memory accounts explain CSEs with bottom-up retrieval of stimulus-response links. Reconciling these opposing views, an emerging perspective holds that memory stores instances of control - abstract control-states - creating a shortcut for effortful control processes. Support comes from a study that assessed CSEs in a prime-target task. Here, repeating an irrelevant context feature boosted CSEs, possibly by retrieving previously stored control-states. We present a conceptual replication using the Eriksen flanker task because previous research found that CSEs in the flanker task reflect different control mechanisms than CSEs in the prime-target task. We measured CSEs while controlling for stimulus-response memory effects and manipulated contextual information (vertical spatial location) independently from the stimulus information, which introduced the conflict (horizontal spatial location). Results replicate previous findings - CSEs increased for context-repetition compared to context-changes. This study shows that retrieval of control-states is not limited to a specific task or context feature and therefore generalizes the notion that abstract control parameters are stored into trial-specific event files.

Acute Psychosocial Stress Increases Cognitive-Effort Avoidance

Adverse effects following acute stress are traditionally thought to reflect functional impairments of central executive-dependent cognitive-control processes. However, recent evidence demonstrates that cognitive-control application is perceived as effortful and aversive, indicating that stress-related decrements in cognitive performance could denote decreased motivation to expend effort instead. To investigate this hypothesis, we tested 40 young, healthy individuals (20 female, 20 male) under both stress and control conditions in a 2-day study that had a within-subjects design. Cognitive-effort avoidance was assessed using the demand-selection task, in which participants chose between performing low-demand and high-demand variants of a task-switching paradigm. We found that acute stress indeed increased participants’ preference for less demanding behavior, whereas task-switching performance remained intact. Additional Bayesian and multiverse analyses confirmed the robustness of this effect. Our findings provide novel insights into how stressful experiences shape behavior by modulating our motivation to employ cognitive control.

Negative urgency as a risk factor for hazardous alcohol use: Dual influences of cognitive control and reinforcement processing

Negative Urgency (NU) is a prominent risk factor for hazardous alcohol use. While research has helped elucidate how NU relates to neurobiological functioning with respect to alcohol use, no known work has contextualized such functioning within existing neurobiological theories in addiction. Therefore, we elucidated mechanisms contributing to the NU–hazardous alcohol use relationship by combining NU theories with neurobiological dual models of addiction, which posit addiction is related to cognitive control and reinforcement processing. Fifty-five undergraduates self-reported NU and hazardous alcohol use. We recorded EEG while participants performed a reinforced flanker task. We measured cognitive control using N2 activation time-locked to the incongruent flanker stimulus, and we measured reinforcement processing using the feedback-related negativity (FRN) time-locked to better-than-expected negative reinforcement feedback. We modeled hazardous drinking using hierarchical regression, with NU, N2, and FRN plus their interactions as predictors. The regression model significantly predicted hazardous alcohol use, and the three-way interaction (NU × N2 × FRN) significantly improved model fit. In the context of inefficient processing (i.e., larger N2s and FRNs), NU demonstrated a strong relationship with hazardous alcohol use. In the context of efficient processing (i.e., smaller N2s and FRNs), NU was unrelated to hazardous alcohol use. Control analyses ruled out the potential impact of other impulsivity subscales, individual differences in dimensional negative affect or anxiety, and use of substances other than alcohol, and post hoc specificity analyses showed that this effect was driven primarily by heavy drinking, rather than frequency of drinking. This analysis provides preliminary evidence that brain mechanisms of cognitive control and reinforcement processing influence the relationship between NU and hazardous alcohol use, and confirms a specific influence of negative reinforcement processing. Future clinical research could leverage these neurobiological moderators for substance misuse treatment.

Midfrontal theta oscillation encodes haptic delay

Haptic technologies aim to simulate tactile or kinesthetic interactions with a physical or virtual environment in order to enhance user experience and/or performance. However, due to stringent communication and computational needs, the user experience is influenced by delayed haptic feedback. While delayed feedback is well understood in the visual and auditory modalities, little research has systematically examined the neural correlates associated with delayed haptic feedback. In this paper, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to study sensory and cognitive neural correlates caused by haptic delay during passive and active tasks performed using a haptic device and a computer screen. Results revealed that theta power oscillation was significantly higher at the midfrontal cortex under the presence of haptic delay. Sensory correlates represented by beta rebound were found to be similar in the passive task and different in the active task under the delayed and synchronous conditions. Additionally, the event related potential (ERP) P200 component is modulated under the haptic delay condition during the passive task. The P200 amplitude significantly reduced in the last 20% of trials during the passive task and in the absence of haptic delay. Results suggest that haptic delay could be associated with increased cognitive control processes including multi-sensory divided attention followed by conflict detection and resolution with an earlier detection during the active task. Additionally, haptic delay tends to generate greater perceptual attention that does not significantly decay across trials during the passive task.

The role of PFC networks in cognitive control and executive function.

Systems neuroscience approaches with a focus on large-scale brain organization and network analysis are advancing foundational knowledge of how cognitive control processes are implemented in the brain. Over the past decade, technological and computational innovations in the study of brain connectivity have led to advances in our understanding of how brain networks function, inspiring new conceptualizations of the role of prefrontal cortex (PFC) networks in the coordination of cognitive control. In this review, we describe six key PFC networks involved in cognitive control and elucidate key principles relevant for understanding how these networks implement cognitive control. Implementation of cognitive control in a constantly changing environment depends on the dynamic and flexible organization of PFC networks. In this context, we describe major empirical and theoretical models that have emerged in recent years and describe how their functional architecture and dynamic organization supports flexible cognitive control. We take an overarching view of advances made in the past few decades and consider fundamental issues regarding PFC network function, global brain dynamics, and cognition that still need to be resolved. We conclude by clarifying important future directions for research on cognitive control and their implications for advancing our understanding of PFC networks in brain disorders.