Cognitive control

The human brain is the most complex physical entity in the universe.

Cognitive control is the set of processes that organize, plan, and schedule mental operations.

According to the Carter Lab at the University of California, Davis:

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"Cognitive control" is a construct from contemporary cognitive neuroscience that refers to processes that allow information processing and behavior to vary adaptively from moment to moment depending on current goals, rather than remaining rigid and inflexible. Cognitive control processes include a broad class of mental operations including goal or context representation and maintenance, and strategic processes such as attention allocation and stimulus-response mapping. Cognitive control is associated with a wide range of processes and is not restricted to a particular cognitive domain. For example, the presence of impairments in cognitive control functions may be associated with specific deficits in attention, memory, language comprehension and emotional processing. Given its pervasive influence, impaired cognitive control could account for many of the widespread impairments exhibited by people with schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

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The abstract for the journal article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science indicates:

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The ability to flexibly break out of routine behaviors develops gradually and is essential for success in life. We discuss three key developmental transitions toward more flexible behavior. First, children develop an increasing ability to overcome habits by engaging cognitive control in response to environmental signals. Second, children shift from recruiting cognitive control reactively, as needed in the moment, to recruiting cognitive control proactively, in preparation for needing it. Third, children shift from relying on environmental signals for engaging cognitive control to becoming more self-directed. All three transitions can be understood in terms of the development of increasingly active and abstract goal representations in prefrontal cortex.

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The journal article Cognitive Control As a Double-Edged Sword published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences indicates:

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The ability to selectively focus attention and inhibit distraction (i.e., cognitive control) contributes to a broad set of cognitive functions aiding performance on explicit, goal-driven tasks. Recent developments have shown that a broader focus of attention, afforded by reduced control, is more beneficial in some learning, memory, and problem-solving contexts which depend on extracting and utilizing information from a variety of sources. In older adults, reduced control appears to provide advantages on some tasks, such as using previously acquired environmental information, learning regularities, and creative problem solving. This processing style allows older and, under some circumstances, younger adults to handle many challenges encountered in everyday life, and possibly contributes to the high functioning of many older adults outside the lab.

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Increasing cognitive control and cognitive function

• How Cognitive Control Can Boost Well-Being by Tchiki Davis, Ph.D.
• Eight Habits That Improve Cognitive Function
• 6 simple steps to keep your mind sharp at any age, Harvard Health Publishing

Increasing concentration/focus:

• Increasing concentration and focus

Videos on cognitive control and increasing cognitive control/function:

• Videos on cognitive control and increasing cognitive control/function - video playlist, Video playlist

See also

• Cognitive flexibility

External links

• Dynamics of cognitive control: Theoretical bases, paradigms, and a view for the future, Psychophysiology, 17 October 2017 https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13016
• Cognitive control articles from across Nature Portfolio, Nature (Science journal)