Are there control processes, and (if so) can they be studied?

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_E98CF0DD13DC
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Are there control processes, and (if so) can they be studied?
Journal
Psychological Research
Author(s)
Wylie G.R., Sumowski J.F., Murray M.
ISSN
1430-2772 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0340-0727
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2011
Volume
75
Number
6
Pages
535-443
Language
english
Abstract
Generally, so-called control processes are thought to be necessary when we must perform one out of several competing actions. Some examples include performance of a less well-practiced action instead of a well-practiced one (prepotency); learning a new action (novelty); and rapidly switching from one action to another (task-switching). While it certainly is difficult to perform the desired action in these circumstances, it is less clear that a separate set of processes (e.g., control processes) are necessary to explain the observed behavior. Another way to approach the study of control processes is to investigate physiological dependent measures (e.g., electrophysiological or neuroimaging measures). Although these offer another avenue of inquiry into control processes, they have yet to furnish unambiguous evidence that control processes exist. While this might suggest that there are no control processes, it is also possible that our methods are insufficiently sensitive to measure control processes. We have investigated this latter possibility using tasks that are neuroanatomically distinct, though within the same modality (vision). This approach did not yield evidence for a separable set of control processes. However, recent works using a task-switching paradigm in which subjects switch between a visual and an auditory task suggest that switching both task and modality may be importantly different than switching task within a given modality. This may represent a way forward in the study of control processes.
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
24/11/2011 12:59
Last modification date
20/08/2019 17:12
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