People are sensitive to environmental predictability when engaging cognitive control.

The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control Framework (DMC) posits that cognitive control is directed through two different modes: proactive and reactive control. Proactive control involves the maintenance and manipulation of information in preparation of a response while reactive control would involve little to no preparation until after a response prompt. The AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) is a cognitive control task that is often utilized in studies looking at proactive and reactive control as it measures context processing and goal maintenance. The aims of this study were to validate the auditory version of the AX-CPT and to then apply this task to young children to understand the role modality of stimulus presentation may play in the emergence of proactive control. The current study tested pupillometric and behavioral performance in a visual AX-CPT task as well as a novel auditory AX-CPT, in which animal sounds replaced letter stimuli as the cues and probes. Proactive and reactive control for the auditory AX-CPT were measured by pupillometry for both adults (Experiment 1a) and children (Experiment 1b). PBI (proactive behavioral index) scores for accuracy and reaction time in children (Experiment 1c) were calculated for both the visual and auditory AX-CPT. Though presented in a different modality, the data suggested that the auditory AX-CPT and the visual AX-CPT both effectively measured goal maintenance in relation to proactive and reactive control. A more thorough understanding of how children develop proactive control can lead to the implementation of educational strategies within the classroom and help propel young children’s learning.

According to the dual mechanism of control (DMC) framework, cognitive control can be recruited proactively to prevent response conflict when advance preparation is feasible or is up-regulated to overcome response conflict after it is detected. This study aimed at empirically dissociating proactive and reactive control processes proposed by the DMC and identifying corresponding event-related potential (ERP) correlates. Behavioral and electrophysiological indices of cognitive control were measured during a task-switch paradigm with or without informative advance cues, in which proactive control was feasible or not. Proactive control was associated with a (right-) frontal sustained ERP modulation during the cue-target interval. In line with the successful recruitment of proactive control, informative, as compared with uninformative, cue conditions were associated with reduced behavioral and ERP correlates of conflict. ERP correlates of conflict were evident both during conflict detection upon target presentation (N(inc)) and during conflict resolution-in particular, following uninformative cues. Reactive control assumed to support conflict resolution was associated with a (left-) frontal transient preresponse ERP modulation for uninformative, but not informative, cue conditions. Together, these data suggest that complementary proactive and reactive control processes operate in concert to flexibly support goal-directed behavior in response to variable task-demands, by either preventing or resolving response conflicts, as they are detected or anticipated.

Reward expectation reduces the interference of task-irrelevant emotional distractors by improving cognitive control. The current study investigated the effects of reward expectation on proactive and reactive cognitive control of negative distractors. Reward expectation (incentive vs. nonincentive trials) was manipulated by a precue signaling the opportunity to gain an extra monetary reward for fast and accurate response on a given trial, followed by the trial display with the response-relevant target stimuli in the periphery and an irrelevant, negative, or neutral distractor in the center. The frequency of negative distractors (high vs. low) was manipulated to induce a proactive or reactive control mode (between-participants factor). Mutilation images and angry faces were used as negative distractors in Experiments 1 (1A and 1B) and 2, respectively. Results revealed performance to be generally facilitated by reward expectation, and impaired by negative (vs. neutral) distractors. Importantly, reward expectation rendered a reduction of negative-distractor interference when observers operated in reactive (vs. proactive) control mode. Moreover, the interaction between reward expectation and cognitive control strategy was modulated by the emotional strength of the negative distractors (mutilation images vs. angry faces). Thus, reward incentive leads to more effective filtering of negative (emotional) distractors when these occur rarely (reactive control) rather than frequently (proactive control), especially with emotionally strong negative distractors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Four experiments examined the effect of proactive control on expressions of implicit racial bias. Whereas reactive control is engaged in response to a biasing influence (e.g., a stereotype, temptation, or distraction), proactive control is engaged in advance of such biases, functioning to strengthen task focus and, by consequence, limiting the affordance for a bias to be expressed in behavior. Using manipulations of response interference to modulate proactive control, proactive control was found to eliminate expressions of weapons bias, prejudice, and stereotyping on commonly used implicit assessments. Process dissociation analysis indicated that this pattern reflected changes in controlled processing but not automatic associations, as theorized, and assessments of neural activity, using event-related potentials, revealed that proactive control reduces early attention to task-irrelevant racial cues while increasing focus on task-relevant responses. Together, these results provide initial evidence for proactive control in social cognition and demonstrate its effectiveness at reducing expressions of implicit racial bias. Based on these findings and past research, we present a model of proactive and reactive control that offers a novel and generative perspective on self-regulation and prejudice reduction. (PsycINFO Database Record

“Cold” Cognitive Control and Attentional Symptoms in Anxiety: Perceptions Versus Performance

The occurrence of tics in Tourette syndrome (TS) has often been linked to impaired cognitive control, but empirical findings are still inconclusive. A recent view proposes that tics may be the result of an abnormally strong interrelation between perceptual processes and motor actions, commonly referred to as perception-action binding. The general aim of the present study was to examine proactive control and binding effects in the context of task switching in adult human patients with TS and matched healthy controls. A cued task switching paradigm was employed in 24 patients (18 male, 6 female) and 25 controls while recording electroencephalography (EEG). Residue iteration decomposition (RIDE) was applied to analyze cue-locked proactive cognitive control and target-locked binding processes. Behavioral task switching performance was unaltered in patients with TS. A cue-locked parietal switch positivity, reflecting proactive control processes involved in the reconfiguration of the new task did not differ between groups. Importantly, target-locked fronto-central (N2) and parietal (P3) modulations, reflecting binding processes between perception and action, differed between groups. Underlying neurophysiological processes were best depicted after temporal decomposition of the EEG signal. The present results argue for unaltered proactive control but altered perception-action binding processes in the context of task switching, supporting the view that the integration of perception and action is processed differently in patients TS. Future studies should further investigate the specific conditions under which binding may be altered in TS and the influence of top-down processes, such as proactive control, on bindings.

The influence of monetary reward on proactive and reactive control in adolescent males

BackgroundResearch on cognitive control suggests an age-related decline in proactive control abilities whereas reactive control seems to remain intact. However, the reason of the differential age effect on cognitive control efficiency is still unclear. This study investigated the potential influence of fluid intelligence and processing speed on the selective age-related decline in proactive control. Eighty young and 80 healthy older adults were included in this study. The participants were submitted to a working memory recognition paradigm, assessing proactive and reactive cognitive control by manipulating the interference level across items.ResultsRepeated measures ANOVAs and hierarchical linear regressions indicated that the ability to appropriately use cognitive control processes during aging seems to be at least partially affected by the amount of available cognitive resources (assessed by fluid intelligence and processing speed abilities).ConclusionsThis study highlights the potential role of cognitive resources on the selective age-related decline in proactive control, suggesting the importance of a more exhaustive approach considering the confounding variables during cognitive control assessment.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that affect modulates cognitive control modes such as proactive and reactive control. Several studies have suggested that positive affect decreases proactive control compared to neutral affect. However, these studies only focused on the valence of affect and often omitted two of its components: arousal and approach motivation. Therefore, we designed the present study to test the hypothesis that cognitive control modes would differ as a function of arousal and approach motivated positive affect. In our study, we used an AX-continuous performance task (AX-CPT), commonly used to examine shifts in proactive and reactive control. We also measured P3b, contingent negative variation (CNV), N2 and P3a components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as indicators of the use of cognitive control modes. The findings of the present study demonstrated that approach motivated positive affect modified only the P3b and the CNV without effects on the N2 and P3a components. However, arousal induced by pictures modified P3b, CNV and N2 amplitudes. Specifically, the P3b amplitude was larger, and CNV amplitude was less negative in the high than in the low-approach motivated affect. In contrast, the P3b amplitude was larger and both the CNV and N2 amplitudes more negative in low- compared with high-arousal conditions. These ERP results suggest that approach motivated positive affect enhanced proactive control with no effect on reactive control. However, arousal influenced both proactive and reactive control. High arousal decreased proactive control and increased reactive control compared to low arousal. The present study provides novel insights into the relationship between affect, specifically, arousal and approach motivated positive affect and cognitive control modes. In addition, our results help to explain discrepancies found in previous research.

Event Abstract Back to Event Influence of task structure on proactive recruitment of cognitive control Rasa Gulbinaite1 and Addie Johnson1 1 University of Groningen, Netherlands Resolving conflicts between responses is one of the key functions of cognitive control. According to dualistic accounts, conflicts can be resolved transiently in a default “reactive” manner, or more “proactively” by anticipating and preventing interference. In a task in which a relevant response dimension overlaps with an irrelevant stimulus location dimension (i.e., the Simon task), trials may be congruent (C; stimulus position on same side as response) or incongruent (I; stimulus position opposite to response). The Simon Effect is that responses are faster and more accurate on C than on I trials. The Simon Effect is often eliminated or reversed when trials are preceded by I rather than C trials, presumably because reactive control is triggered by the incongruent information present in the previous trial. To assess the role of proactive control in this task we manipulated the proportion of congruency repetition trials (i.e., C trials followed by C trials or I trials followed by I trials). Proactive control was expected to be more evident in a 50% than in a 70%-congruency repetition condition because the greater unpredictability inherent in the trial sequence in the former case necessitates greater control. Proactive control is resource demanding. Thus, only individuals with sufficient working memory capacity (WMC) were expected to utilize it. Evidence of proactive control was found for a high- but not for a low-WMC group, as indicated by a significant three-way interaction between congruency repetition condition, previous trial congruency and current trial congruency for the high- and not for the low-WMC group. The current study provides evidence that proactive and reactive cognitive control mechanisms can be dissociated by their sensitivity to implicit task structure. Keywords: cognitive control, Simon effect Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Performance Monitoring and Cognitive Control Citation: Gulbinaite R and Johnson A (2011). Influence of task structure on proactive recruitment of cognitive control. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00276 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Rasa Gulbinaite Addie Johnson Google Rasa Gulbinaite Addie Johnson Google Scholar Rasa Gulbinaite Addie Johnson PubMed Rasa Gulbinaite Addie Johnson Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Mechanisms and neuronal networks involved in reactive and proactive cognitive control of interference in working memory

BackgroundAdolescence is commonly characterized by impulsivity, poor decision-making, and lack of foresight. However, the developmental neural underpinnings of these characteristics are not well established.Methodology/Principal FindingsTo test the hypothesis that these adolescent behaviors are linked to under-developed proactive control mechanisms, the present study employed a hybrid block/event-related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Stroop paradigm combined with self-report questionnaires in a large sample of adolescents and adults, ranging in age from 14 to 25. Compared to adults, adolescents under-activated a set of brain regions implicated in proactive top-down control across task blocks comprised of difficult and easy trials. Moreover, the magnitude of lateral prefrontal activity in adolescents predicted self-report measures of impulse control, foresight, and resistance to peer pressure. Consistent with reactive compensatory mechanisms to reduced proactive control, older adolescents exhibited elevated transient activity in regions implicated in response-related interference resolution.Conclusions/SignificanceCollectively, these results suggest that maturation of cognitive control may be partly mediated by earlier development of neural systems supporting reactive control and delayed development of systems supporting proactive control. Importantly, the development of these mechanisms is associated with cognitive control in real-life behaviors.

Cognitive control deficits are prominent in individuals with psychotic psychopathology. Studies providing evidence for deficits in proactive control generally examine average performance and not variation across trials for individuals-potentially obscuring detection of essential contributors to cognitive control. Here, we leverage intertrial variability through drift-diffusion models (DDMs) aiming to identify key contributors to cognitive control deficits in psychosis. People with psychosis (PwP; N = 122), their first-degree biological relatives (N = 78), and controls (N = 50) each completed 120 trials of the dot pattern expectancy (DPX) cognitive control task. We fit full hierarchical DDMs to response and reaction time (RT) data for individual trials and then used classification models to compare the DDM parameters with conventional measures of proactive and reactive control. PwP demonstrated slower drift rates on proactive control trials suggesting less efficient use of cue information. Both PwP and relatives showed protracted nondecision times to infrequent trial sequences suggesting slowed perceptual processing. Classification analyses indicated that DDM parameters differentiated between the groups better than conventional measures and identified drift rates during proactive control, nondecision time during reactive control, and cue bias as most important. DDM parameters were associated with real-world functioning and schizotypal traits. Modeling of trial-level data revealed that slow evidence accumulation and longer preparatory periods are the strongest contributors to cognitive control deficits in psychotic psychopathology. This pattern of atypical responding during the DPX is consistent with shallow basins in attractor dynamic models that reflect difficulties in maintaining state representations, possibly mediated by excess neural excitation or poor connectivity.

One expression of executive control involves proactive preparation for future events, and this contrasts with stimulus driven reactive control exerted in response to events. Here we describe findings from a response inhibition task, delivered using a smartphone-based platform, that allowed us to index proactive and reactive inhibitory self-control in a large community sample (n = 12,496). Change in stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) when participants are provided with advance information about an upcoming trial, compared to when they are not, provides a measure of proactive control while SSRT in the absence of advance information provides a measure of reactive control. Both forms of control rely on overlapping frontostriatal pathways known to deteriorate in healthy aging, an age-related decline that occurs at an accelerated rate in men compared to women. Here we ask whether these patterns of age-related decline are reflected in similar changes in proactive and reactive inhibitory control across the lifespan. As predicted, we observed a decline in reactive control with natural aging, with a greater rate of decline in men compared to women (~10 ms versus ~8 ms per decade of adult life). Surprisingly, the benefit of preparation, i.e. proactive control, did not change over the lifespan and women showed superior proactive control at all ages compared to men. Our results suggest that reactive and proactive inhibitory control partially rely on distinct neural substrates that are differentially sensitive to age-related change.

Reactive and proactive cognitive control as underlying processes of number processing in children