The ability to focus on information that is currently relevant to a particular goal, while inhibiting information that is not relevant
Cognitive control
Dependent on multiple executive functions, including working memory, inhibition, conflict monitoring, and has often been discussed in terms of facilitating flexible behavioral responses
Proposed functions of cognitive control
Attention (vs. orienting) – think 'top down'
Active maintenance (working memory)
Task switching
Strategic Retrieval
Inhibitory control
Performance monitoring
Who was Phineas Gage?
Suffered damage to his frontal lobes from an iron bar which may have an impacted personality and behavior.
Inhibition Tasks
Flanker task
Antisaccade Task
Human patients with damage to frontal lobes have difficulties suppressing the "reflective" saccades
Neural Recordings During Antisaccade Task
Neural Recordings During Countermanding Task
fMRI of Inhibition of Manual Movements
Performance Monitoring
Theories of the regulation of cognition suggest a system with two necessary components: one to implement control and another to monitor performance and signal when adjustments in control are needed
During task preparation
The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area 9) was more active for color naming (hard) than for word reading (easy), consistent with a role in the implementation of control
In contrast
The anterior cingulate cortex (Brodmann's area 24 and 32) was more active when responding to incongruent stimuli consistent with a role in performance monitoring
