How metacontrol biases and adaptivity impact performance in cognitive search tasks

Abstract

Cognitive control requires a balance between persistence and flexibility. We studied inter-and intraindividual differences in the metacontrol bias towards persistence or flexibility in cognitive search tasks from various cognitive domains that require continuous switching between persistence and flexibility. For each task, clustering and switching scores were derived to assess persistence and flexibility, respectively, as well as a total performance score to reflect general performance. We compared two, not mutually exclusive accounts according to which the balance between clustering and switching scores is affected by (1) individual, trait-like metacontrol biases towards persistence or flexibility and/or (2) the metacontrol adaptivity to bias states according to changing situational demands. We found that clustering and switching scores failed to generalize across tasks. However, clustering and switching were inversely related and predicted the total performance scores in most of the tasks, which in turn partially generalized across tasks and task domains. We conclude that metacontrol-biases towards persistence or flexibility can be adapted easily to specific task demands and individual resources, possibly overwriting individual metacontrol trait biases. Moreover, we suggest that total performance scores might serve to measure metacontrol adaptivity in future studies if task-restrictions and resources are known and/ or well balanced.

Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting

“…The tasks thus present participants with a dilemma, which can only be solved by finding a reasonable balance between the antagonistic skills; that is, to be persistent and flexible at the same time, or at least in quick succession. Microdosing therefore might promote the speed or smoothness of switching between persistence and flexibility—an ability that Mekern et al (2019a, b) refer to as “adaptivity.” Taken together, whereas large doses of psychedelics might induce an hyper-flexible mode of brain functioning, and possibly a breakdown of control (Carhart-Harris et al 2014), microdoses may be able to drive brain functioning towards an optimal, highly adaptive balance between persistence and flexibility.…”

To Stay or Not to Stay: The Stability-Flexibility Trade-Off in Value-Based Decision Making

“…The trade-off between stability and flexibility is often investigated in the context of switch costs, such that increased flexibility means it is easier to switch from one task to another, thus decreasing switch costs, while increased stability means it is more difficult to switch from one task to another, thus increasing switch costs. This trade-off has been demonstrated empirically in the context of task switching (Armbruster et al, 2012;Ueltzhöffer et al, 2015) and set shifting (Dreisbach & Goschke, 2004), but also in a variety of other tasks requiring different degrees of stability and flexibility, such as cognitive search tasks (e.g., Hills, Todd, & Goldstone, 2010;Mekern, Sjoerds, & Hommel, 2019), the Simon task (Plessow, Fischer, Kirschbaum, & Goschke, 2011), and dual-task paradigms (Fischer & Hommel, 2012;Zwosta, Hommel, Goschke, & Fischer, 2013).…”

“…However, it is debated if and how well stability-flexibility biases truly generalize over tasks: While some studies report that measures of stability and flexibility are correlated across tasks (e.g., Hills, Todd, & Goldstone, 2008;Hills et al, 2010), other studies find the opposite (e.g., Mekern et al, 2019). This would go against the notion of a general stability-flexibility trait bias.…”

“…However, there is evidence for a state-dependent stability-flexibility bias. For example, the stability-flexibility trade-off has been shown to be modulated by affect (Dreisbach & Goschke, 2004;Goschke & Bolte, 2014) and by task demands (Mekern et al, 2019). As discussed by Mekern and colleagues (2019), people might adjust their individual stability-flexibility bias according to situational constraints and demands, and this bias might differ between tasks even if an underlying trait bias exists.…”

Learning from amyloid trials in Alzheimer's disease. A virtual patient analysis using a quantitative systems pharmacology approach

“…Of interest, the 5‐HTTLPR L/L genotype is over‐represented in obsessive compulsive disorder 16 and in aggression associated with AD 20 . We speculate that this could be due to the fact that the 5‐HTTLPR L/L allele overstabilizes representations in the cortical network at the expense of flexibility 21 …”