On How to Be Flexible (or Not): Modulation of the Stability-Flexibility Balance

Abstract

Defining Stability and Flexibility Stability is characterized by goal maintenance and goal shielding, thereby preventing interference from distractors. Flexibility is a consequence of reduced goal maintenance and shielding, resulting in an increased ability to switch actions and thoughts to changing task 800030C DPXXX10.

Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

“…However, our results showed the opposite pattern; not only did we not find an advantage in inhibition, but our data revealed a disadvantage in this regard. A plausible explanation for this finding might be accounted for by the stability-flexibility dilemma (Dreisbach & Fröber, 2019;Goschke, 2000Goschke, , 2013. In brief, the executive cognitive system has a limited amount of resources that can be allocated in order to achieve an effective adaptation in an environment in constant change.…”

A computational perspective on the roles of affect in cognitive control

“…For instance, being in a 70 positive or negative mood may alter what a person believes the requirements and payoffs of a 71 task to be (e.g., answering email can seem easier when we are in a good mood). Research has 72 demonstrated both forms of affective influence in the lab, showing that cognitive control varies as 73 a function of affective experiences evoked by the incentives for performancethose integral to 74 performance evaluation (i.e., performance-contingent rewards; e.g., Krebs et al, 2010;Locke & 75 Braver, 2008; Padmala & Pessoa, 2011; for reviews see: Botvinick & Braver, 2015;Parro et al, 76 2018)and as a function of affective experiences evoked by factors unrelated (incidental) to task 77 performance, for instance those that induce a particular mood state (i.e., positive mood induction 78 or performance non-contingent rewards; e.g., Dreisbach & Goschke, 2004;van Steenbergen, 79 Band, Hommel, Rombouts, & Nieuwenhuis, 2015; for reviews see: Inzlicht et al, 2015;Pessoa, 80 2008;Dreisbach & Fröber, 2018). While a number of such influences of affect on control 81 allocation have been documented (see Table 1 for a non-exhaustive overview of the empirical 82 findings), the mechanisms by which these influences occur remain mysterious.…”

“…C) Positive mood (high utility discounting) increases the switch cost in reaction times and in error rates. directing information processing (Dreisbach & Fischer, 2012;Dreisbach & Fröber, 2018;Inzlicht 358 et al, 2015), normative theories of cognitive control have largely overlooked affect's role in 359 control allocation. In this study, we leveraged a computational implementation of the EVC theory 360 (Lieder et al, 2018;Musslick et al, 2015;Shenhav et al, 2013) to simulate several candidate 361 mechanisms through which cognitive control can be influenced by integral affect (e.g., 362…”

“…These theories and our own identify potential roles for affect in the 428 selection/allocation of control, but there is an important gap between the selection of control and 429 its execution (for early work see: Ach, 1935; Gollwitzer, 1993) and other theories have proposed 430 that affect/emotion could directly influence the way in which control is executed. For instance, it 431 has been proposed that positive affect may increase cognitive flexibility (e.g., task-switching) by 432 influencing the gating of information into and/or out of working memory (Ashby, Isen, & 433 Turken, 1999;Dreisbach & Fröber, 2018). There is reason to believe that positive affect may 434 influence both the selection and execution of control, through associated increases in dopamine 435 (Westbrook & Braver, 2016).…”

“…Ashby and colleagues have proposed that the increases in flexibility due to 442 positive affect are mediated via the influence of positive affect on dopamine (Ashby, Isen, & 443 Turken, 1999). More recently, it has been proposed that positive affect can lower the updating 444 threshold of working memory and thus increase flexibility (Dreisbach & Fröber, 2018). These 445 mechanisms are assumed to be mediated by dopamine, a neurotransmitter crucial for reward 446 processing and cognitive control (Cools, 2019).…”