Cognitive Control and Brain Functions

The ability of the brain to manage competing thoughts and actions, allowing us to focus on relevant information and achieve our goals.

A type of behavior that is triggered automatically by a specific stimulus or context. It's not under conscious control and is influenced by repeated past experiences.

A type of behavior that is driven by a conscious goal or desired outcome. It involves planning, considering different options, and actively choosing actions to reach the goal.

The brain region responsible for higher-level cognitive functions, including planning, decision-making, and goal-directed behavior.

A part of the PFC that plays a crucial role in maintaining goals in mind, filtering information, and initiating, inhibiting, or switching between actions based on goals.

A part of the PFC that monitors for conflicts between competing thoughts or actions. It helps us stay on track and adjust our behavior when needed.

The ability of the brain to temporarily store and manipulate information needed for current tasks, such as remembering instructions, planning ahead, or solving problems.

The process of selecting relevant information while suppressing irrelevant information in order to achieve a goal.

A brain region involved in monitoring and adjusting goal-directed behavior, particularly when there's a conflict or error. It's like the supervisor that checks if you're on the right track and makes corrections if needed.

Tasks that require holding information in mind over a period of time, even when the information is not currently present in the environment. Like remembering where you parked your car after going shopping.

The period between a cue and a response in a task that requires holding information in mind. Like the time you spend remembering the code before opening a door.

A task used to study working memory where a participant has to remember a location (e.g., where a light flashed) and then make an eye movement to that location. It's like a mental map for your eyes.

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex that fire during the delay period in a working memory task, keeping a specific piece of information active in the mind. Imagine them as tiny mental spotlights.

The ability of the prefrontal cortex to adapt and represent different types of information, allowing it to flexibly handle various tasks. It's like having mental toolboxes for different jobs.

A model suggesting that the prefrontal cortex represents the goal of a task while posterior brain regions (like sensory areas) provide the relevant information needed to reach the goal. It's like having a brain with both a commander (PFC) and soldiers (posterior areas).

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a crucial role in monitoring goal achievement by detecting errors, responding to negative feedback, managing response conflicts, and registering surprise. It helps us stay on track and adapt to changing situations.

The PFC has a hierarchical structure, with regions further back (posterior) handling simpler tasks and regions further forward (anterior) engaging in more complex processes. This gradient reflects the increasing complexity of action goals.

During goal-directed behavior, the PFC helps organize actions into a hierarchical structure, creating a plan of subgoals that lead to the ultimate goal. This process involves anticipating consequences and identifying the requirements for achieving each subgoal.

Patients with PFC lesions often struggle with planning tasks. This suggests the PFC's crucial role in creating and executing action plans.

A fMRI study showed that different areas of the PFC are activated depending on the complexity of a task. As tasks became more abstract or involved higher-level reasoning, anterior regions of the PFC showed greater activity.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) monitors goal achievement by detecting errors, negative feedback, response conflict, and surprising events.

The ACC modulates how much cognitive control is needed and how it should be used.

The lateral PFC maintains a sustained representation of the current task goal.

The posterior cortex (higher-level sensory areas) represent information relevant to the task, including stimuli and long-term memory knowledge.

The lateral PFC dynamically filters information based on current goals, acting like an attentional mechanism in the posterior cortex.

The posterior cortex inhibits irrelevant information and enhances relevant information, based on goals set by the lateral PFC.

Task goals influence the fMRI activity in the posterior cortex, specifically in category-selective higher-level visual areas.

Lateral PFC lesions lead to deficits in filtering, resulting in reduced suppression of irrelevant tones and reduced enhancement of attended tones in ERPs (P100).

Repetitive TMS (rTMS) to the lateral PFC reduces attentional modulation of the P100 in feature-based attention tasks.

The inferior frontal gyrus is activated when a stop signal is presented, regardless of whether the response is successfully stopped or not.

The region of the brain responsible for executive functions like planning, working memory, and goal-directed behavior, influencing behavior based on goals rather than immediate stimuli or context.

Inability to effectively plan and execute actions toward a goal, often characterized by repetitive behaviors and difficulty adapting to changes in the environment; a consequence of prefrontal cortex damage.

A condition where individuals are highly influenced by the environment, often engaging in imitative or environmentally driven actions, demonstrating a lack of internal goal direction.

A part of the prefrontal cortex responsible for monitoring cognitive processes, detecting errors and conflicts, and evaluating feedback, contributing to adaptive control by adjusting the level of cognitive effort as needed.

Brainwaves detected using an electroencephalogram (EEG) that follow incorrect responses. It's a signal associated with error detection.

Brainwaves detected using EEG that follow feedback about errors. It reflects the processing of error information and potential adjustments.

The brain's automatic shift to a state of internal reflection before an error occurs, potentially related to surprise or conflict.

A classic test of cognitive control that involves naming the ink color of written words, where the word itself is a conflicting color name.

Increased activity in the ACC due to conflicting information (like the Stroop task) triggers increased activity in the lateral PFC, helping reactivate the goal and overcome the conflict.

A hierarchical structure within the lateral PFC, with more posterior regions handling simpler actions and more anterior regions managing complex, abstract goals.

A similar hierarchical structure exists in the ACC, where more posterior regions monitor basic actions and more anterior regions manage complex goals.

The ACC's ability to control conflict between potential responses.

The brain's ability to control actions, involving inhibition of unwanted behaviors.

A method for studying brain activity where a subject performs a cognitive task while their brain responses are measured using magnetic fields.