Brain reflections: A circuit‐based framework for understanding information processing and cognitive control

Abstract

Here, I propose a view of the architecture of the human information processing system, and of how it can be adapted to changing task demands (which is the hallmark of cognitive control). This view is informed by an interpretation of brain activity as reflecting the excitability level of neural representations, encoding not only stimuli and temporal contexts, but also action plans and task goals. The proposed cognitive architecture includes three types of circuits: open circuits, involved in feed-forward processing such as that connecting stimuli with responses and characterized by brief, transient brain activity; and two types of closed circuits, positive feedback circuits (characterized by sustained, high-frequency oscillatory activity), which help select and maintain representations, and negative feedback circuits (characterized by brief, low-frequency oscillatory bursts), which are instead associated with changes in representations. Feedforward activity is primarily responsible for the spread of activation along the information processing system. Oscillatory activity, instead, controls this spread. Sustained oscillatory activity due to both local cortical circuits (gamma) and longer corticothalamic circuits (alpha and beta) allows for the selection of individuated representations. Through the interaction of these circuits, it also allows for the preservation of representations across different temporal spans (sensory and working memory) and their spread across the brain. In contrast, brief bursts of oscillatory activity, generated by novel and/ or conflicting information, lead to the interruption of sustained oscillatory activity and promote the generation of new representations. I discuss how this framework can account for a number of psychological and behavioral phenomena. K E Y W O R D Salpha, beta, gamma, theta rhythms, cognitive control, ERPs, information processing, oscillatory brain activity | IN TRO DUCT ORY C ONCE P TSIn this article, 1 I present a new framework describing the architecture of the human information processing system and of the dynamic mechanisms used to maintain or modify this architecture to respond to changing task demands, which is the hallmark of cognitive control (hence, the placement of this article within a special issue of Psychophysiology on the "Dynamics of Cognitive Control: A View Across Methodologies"). This view is based on extant literature on brain activity associated with cognitive control and on my work on the analysis of brain activity data with high temporal resolution during stimulus-response paradigms. Importantly, this view is based on the consideration that time-resolved brain measures (ERPs;Fabiani, Gratton, & Federmeier, 2007; event-related-spectral perturbations, ERSPs, Makeig, 1 The expression "brain reflections" in the title of this article is used to convey three different concepts: (a) this article contains my own reflections about how humans process information; (b) the importance of feedback information, in which processing layers reflect...

Dynamics of cognitive control: Theoretical bases, paradigms, and a view for the future

“…This conclusion would be inconsistent with the expectation that occasional shifts across attention settings should generate phasic, short-lived spurts of activity, an expectation supported by the ERP findings. 7 This example illustrates how methods with different temporal and spatial resolution may provide divergent views of the functional significance of different brain networks, and helps highlight the need for theories that encompass these different temporal dynamics and may reconcile seemingly inconsistent results (see G. Gratton, 2018). Within this framework, oscillatory brain activities, and especially theta and alpha rhythms, could play a significant role in helping to propagate or limit activation across brain regions.…”

“…This mechanism of "local partial gating" of sensory input enables monitoring to occur, while still maintaining selection for particular input information. G. Gratton (2018) presents a more detailed description of how brain oscillatory activity may play such a critical control role in the flexible organization of information processing.…”

Electrophysiology as a theoretical and methodological hub for the neural sciences

“…Network models allow definitions of high-level latent psychological constructs, such as defining "conflict" as Hopfield energy between competing units (Hopfield, 1982) and defining "control" as synchronous activity between detector, goal, and effector representations (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001;Yeung et al, 2004). More recent models have focused on biological plausibility by demonstrating how frontal theta oscillations can emerge from reentrant projections and facilitate phase-amplitude gamma coupling during events indicating the need for control (Gratton, 2018;Verguts, 2017). Theory and data can be contrasted with simulations of different event-related phase-and power-based perturbations, allowing empirical comparisons of controversial issues like oscillatory phase reset and potential influence of filter ringing in the ERN (Trujillo & Allen, 2007;Yeung, Bogacz, Holroyd, Nieuwenhuis, & Cohen, 2007).…”

Emerging themes in cognitive control: Commentary on the special issue of Psychophysiology entitled “Dynamics of Cognitive Control: A View Across Methodologies”

“…Another way to think about how connectivity might aid in cognitive control is to consider the nature of oscillatory relationships between brain regions. In a broad-reaching and thought-providing conceptual synthesis, G. Gratton (2018) argues that the nature of oscillatory patterns in the brain serves as a mechanism to support various cognitive processes, including cognitive control. Broadly, this framework suggests three distinct types of oscillatory patterns.…”