Ch. 5: Cognitive Control & Working Memory

Cognitive Control

The ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals

Executive function

Related to cognitive control, the coordination of thoughts and actions to achieve a goal

Proactive Control

The process of applying cognitive control in anticipation of a challenge

Reactive Control

The process of applying cognitive control only after a challenge has initiated

Internal Attention

Attention that is directed to one’s thoughts and response selections rather than to the external world

Dual-task Experiment

An experiment that requires participants to do two tasks at the same time

Divided Attention

Wgen attention must be split across more than one object and task

Resources

The limitation in how much information the mind can process at any given time

Cognitive Load

The cognitive burden caused by holding information in working memory; related to the difficulty of a task

Automatic Process

Cognitive, or social cognitive, processes that can proceed efficiently, without effort or intention, and are more difficult to inhibit than controlled processes

Controlled process

Cognitive, or social cognitive, processes that require more effort, unfold more slowly, and are easier to inhibit than automatic processes

Cognitive Overlap

The degree to which the demands of simultaneous tasks compete for the same mental resources

Multiple Resource Theory

The theory that interference between tasks is greater than they compete for the same perceptual or cognitive resources

Cognitive Interference

A condition where performance suffers when task load is high or when two tasks overlap significantly

Human Factors

The use of psychology and engineering research to design products and processes that are safer and more efficient for people

Prefrontal Cortex

A region in frontal cortex crucial for cognitive control

Perseveration Errors

A persistent response that fails to adapt to changing rules or circumstances

Inhibition

In reference to cognitive control, the ability to suppress information, thoughts, or actions that may interfere with ongoing behavior

Stop-signal Task

An experimental task in which participants need to abort a response when a stop signal appears; a classic measure of inhibition

Stroop Interference

People are slower to name the ink color of a color word when the two conflict (the word green written in red ink)

Simon Task

A task in which a spatial incompatibility between the target location and the responding hand slows down response time

Spatial Interference Task

A task in which a spatial incompatibility between the target location and the responding hand slows down response time

Stimulus-Response Compatibility

It is easier to respond to a stimulus when teh relationship between the stimulus and response is intuitive or congruent (responding to a left arrow with your left hand instead of your right hand)

Conflict Monitoring

A core component of cognitive control, involving teh detection of interference

Conflict Resolution

In cognitive control, the ability to reduce interference, either through inhibition or through other behavioral adjustments

Error Detection

The detection of cognitive interference or response errors, an important component of cognitive controls.

Error-Related Negativity (ERN)

An electrical brain signal (event-related potential) that occurs when a person makes an error

Task-Switch Cost

The speed and accuracy penalty that comes with having to switch tasks

Preparation Effect

The effect seen when increasing the time between trials gives people more time to prepare and thus reduces the task-switch cost

Psychological Refractory Period

A cognitive delay that reveals a fundamental limitation in information processing; the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because a first stimulus is still being processed

Working Memory

A brain system for temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for cognitive tasks such as language, learning, and reasoning

Modal Model

The model that describes how fleeting perceptions are transformed and stored into more durable memories, across sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory

Storage

A capacity that helps sustain access to information in memory after it is no longer available in perception—no longer visible, audible, or touchable

Encode

The mental processing of information in a way that enables you to later have access to it

Sensory Memory

Following presentation of a stimulus, the phenomenon whereby a detailed representation of the stimulus appears to persist in one’s mind for a fraction of a second

Iconic Memory

Very short-term visual memory; highly detailed, but largely fades within a fraction of a second

Echoic Memory

Fleeting auditory memory for sounds and words, persisting for several seconds, but lost unless selected into short-term memory

Central executive

The primary system for controlling attention and thinking, responsible for manipulating information held in working memory

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1. Visuospatial Sketchpad

2. Episodic Buffer

3. Phonological Loop

Phonological Loop

The component of working memory that stores and rehearses auditory and speech-based information

Visuospatial Sketchpad

The component of working memory taht stores and manipulates visual information

Episodic Buffer

The component of working memory that integrates information from multiple internal sources into an episodic representation

Updating

An executive function that monitors and adjusts the content of working memory

N-back Task

A task that requires working memory updating to monitor a sequence of items and detect repetitions across N (0, 1, 2…) intervening items

Cognitive Flexibility

The ability to adjust thoughts and behaviors in response to changing demands

Phonological Store

The part of the phonological loop that holds sound- or speech-based information

Articulatory Rehearsal Loop

A component of the phonological loop in working memory taht allows a person to briefly remember verbal material by repeating it in their mind

Digit-Span Task

An experimental task in which the participant listens to and then repeats a series of numbers; used to test the storage capacity of working memory

Seven Plus or Minus Two

George Miller’s proposal for the number of items that can be stored in working memory

Chunks

A unit of information in working memory, flexibility defined in terms of what is meaningful to the person

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Historically, George Miller (1956) claimed that working memory capacity was seven plus or minus two chunks

Word-length effect

An effect in which the working memory capacity for words or other phonological stimuli depends on the spoken duration or syllable length of the words

Acoustic Similarity Effect

The reduced capacity of working memory for items that are similar in sound, compared with items that are dissimilar in sound

Irrelevant Speech Effect

The impairment of working memory by irrelevant speech

Articulatory Suppression

The disruption of rehearsal in working memory, induced by uttering irrelevant sounds

Visual Working Memory

The temporary storage of visual information, especially when the perceptual image is no longer available or has changed

Change-Detection Tasks

A visual working memory task that asks people to detect differences between two displays

Emotion Regulation

The ability to manage, modulate, and alter one’s emotions

Yerkes-Dodson Curve

A model that describes how performance, especially on difficult tasks, initially improves but then suffers as arousal, anxiety, or stress increase

Mental Workload

The amount of cognitive effort needed to perform a task

Scarcity Hypothesis

The hypothesis that scarcity impairs cognitive control

Cognitive Load Theory

The instructional design theory that learning can be facilitated by understanding different types of cognitive load, such as the difficulty of the material, the learner’s skill level, and the manner in which the material is taught

Attention Restoration Theory

The theory that being out in nature can restore cognitive fatiigue