Cognitive Control Under Stress

Steinhauser, Marco; Maier, Martin E.; Hübner, Ronald

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01935.x

Cited by 74 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…If so, even worriers and those with GAD who have high trait-level capacity for effortful control may experience increasing autonomic arousal symptoms during prolonged periods of worry, as their ability to suppress images and shift to a verbal mode of processing wanes. Second, during periods of other cognitive load or stress, such individuals may experience heightened autonomic arousal symptoms during bouts of worry because their capacity for effortful control and ability to constrain worry to a verbal mode has been depleted (Steinhauser et al, 2007). Furthermore, such heightened arousal may lead to an upward spiral in worry and autonomic arousal symptoms because perceptions of arousal appear to maintain worry among those high in GAD symptoms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity in Autonomic Arousal Level in Perseverative Worry: The Role of Cognitive Control and Verbal Thought

Toh

Vasey

2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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One puzzle in high worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the heterogeneity in the level of autonomic arousal symptoms seen among affected individuals. While current models agree that worry persists, in part, because it fosters avoidance of unpleasant internal experiences, they disagree as to whether worry does so by suppressing activation of autonomic arousal or by fostering persistent autonomic hyperarousal. Our Cognitive Control Model predicts that which pattern of autonomic arousal occurs depends on whether or not a worrier has sufficient cognitive control capacity to worry primarily in a verbal versus imagery-based manner. Because this model has been supported by only one study to date, the present study sought to replicate and extend that study’s findings. Results from an online survey in an unselected sample of over 900 college students provide further support for our model’s central tenet and initial support for its prediction that higher effortful control is associated with a higher percentage of verbal thought during worry. Finally, we report tentative evidence that autonomic arousal symptoms in worry and GAD vary as a function of individual differences in cognitive control capacity because higher capacity is linked to a greater predominance of verbal thought during worry.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity in Autonomic Arousal Level in Perseverative Worry: The Role of Cognitive Control and Verbal Thought

Toh

Vasey

2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…Indeed, evidence has shown that stress disrupts synaptic plasticity and cognitive control processing in prefrontal cortex (Alexander et al, 2007, Diamond et al, 2007, Steinhauser et al, 2007), although it facilitates striatum-dependent processes (Schwabe et al, 2007, Quirarte et al, 2009). The similarity between cocaine and stress effects on model-free and model-based learning mechanisms is extremely intriguing, especially because stress is a critical risk factor for the development of addiction as well as for relapse to drug seeking after abstinence (Piazza and Le Moal, 1996, Sinha, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition from ‘model-based’ to ‘model-free’ behavioral control in addiction: Involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral striatum

Lucantonio¹,

Caprioli²,

Schoenbaum³

2014

Neuropharmacology

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Cocaine addiction is a complex and multidimensional process involving a number of behavioral and neural forms of plasticity. The behavioral transition from voluntary drug use to compulsive drug taking may be explained at the neural level by drug-induced changes in function or interaction between a flexible planning system, associated with prefrontal cortical regions, and a rigid habit system, associated with the striatum. The dichotomy between these two systems is operationalized in computational theory by positing model-based and model-free learning mechanisms, the former relying on an “internal model” of the environment and the latter on pre-computed or cached values to control behavior. In this review, we will suggest that model-free and model-based learning mechanisms appear to be differentially affected, at least in the case of psychostimulants such as cocaine, with the former being enhanced while the latter are disrupted. As a result, the behavior of long-term drug users becomes less flexible and responsive to the desirability of expected outcomes and more habitual, based on the long history of reinforcement. To support our specific proposal, we will review recent neural and behavioral evidence on the effect of psychostimulant exposure on orbitofrontal and dorsolateral striatum structure and function.

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“… 6 We thank Marco Steinhauser for noting that Steinhauser et al (2007) arrived at a similar conclusion to account for changes in preparation strategies under stress. Specifically, it was argued that switch-specific preparation requires that task switches are detected and this switch detection is resource-consuming.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

Variability in Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Processes Across the Adult Lifespan

Karayanidis¹,

Whitson²,

Heathcote³

et al. 2011

Front. Psychology

117

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Task-switching paradigms produce a highly consistent age-related increase in mixing cost [longer response time (RT) on repeat trials in mixed-task than single-task blocks] but a less consistent age effect on switch cost (longer RT on switch than repeat trials in mixed-task blocks). We use two approaches to examine the adult lifespan trajectory of control processes contributing to mixing cost and switch cost: latent variables derived from an evidence accumulation model of choice, and event-related potentials (ERP) that temporally differentiate proactive (cue-driven) and reactive (target-driven) control processes. Under highly practiced and prepared task conditions, aging was associated with increasing RT mixing cost but reducing RT switch cost. Both effects were largely due to the same cause: an age effect for mixed-repeat trials. In terms of latent variables, increasing age was associated with slower non-decision processes, slower rate of evidence accumulation about the target, and higher response criterion. Age effects on mixing costs were evident only on response criterion, the amount of evidence required to trigger a decision, whereas age effects on switch cost were present for all three latent variables. ERPs showed age-related increases in preparation for mixed-repeat trials, anticipatory attention, and post-target interference. Cue-locked ERPs that are linked to proactive control were associated with early emergence of age differences in response criterion. These results are consistent with age effects on strategic processes controlling decision caution. Consistent with an age-related decline in cognitive flexibility, younger adults flexibly adjusted response criterion from trial-to-trial on mixed-task blocks, whereas older adults maintained a high criterion for all trials.

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Cognitive Control Under Stress

Cited by 74 publications

References 29 publications

Heterogeneity in Autonomic Arousal Level in Perseverative Worry: The Role of Cognitive Control and Verbal Thought

Heterogeneity in Autonomic Arousal Level in Perseverative Worry: The Role of Cognitive Control and Verbal Thought

Transition from ‘model-based’ to ‘model-free’ behavioral control in addiction: Involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral striatum

Variability in Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Processes Across the Adult Lifespan

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