Cognitive control: Mental abilities that involve planning, controlling, and regulating the flow of
information processing.
Ability to shift focus from one subgoal to another. People who cannot shift between
subgoals are said to “perseverate”
Prefrontal cortex: The lateral prefrontal cortex, frontal pole, medial frontal cortex, and
ventromedial prefrontal cortex, are all associated with cognitive control
Lesions impairs the ability to make goal-directed decisions
Uses a dynamic filtering mechanism (“which task has the most priority?”, ignore
distractions)
Prefrontal cortex damage cannot inhibit task-irrelevant information.
OFC lesions associated with difficulty controlling emotion, particularly frustration and
anger.
Goal-oriented action: Assessment of an expected reward and the knowledge that there is a
causal relationship between the action and the reward.
Goal-oriented behaviour requires the retrieval, selection and manipulation of task-
relevant information.
o Amplifies task-relevant information and inhibits task-irrelevant information
Habit: response to a stimulus that is no longer based on reward.
Working memory: Transient representation of task- relevant information. The prefrontal cortex
(especially the lateral prefrontal cortex) is a key component.
Physiological studies in primates show that cells in the prefrontal cortex remain active when the
stimulus is no longer present in delayed-response tasks.
Decision: Selection of one option among others based on the predicted value of the
consequences (reward)
Rewards can be primary reinforcers (food, water, sex) and secondary reinforcers (money
and status)
Prediction error (PE): Difference between the expected reward and what was actually obtained.
Dopamine neuron firing rate increases as outcome probability increases.
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