The Continuous Goal Dynamics of Cognitive Control: Combining Behavioral Experiments and Dynamic Field Modelling.

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To pursue appropriate goals in a world full of distraction, cognitive control processes support the shielding and switching of goals according to current affordances. While cognitive psychology has learned much about cognitive control in the last decade, much less is known about the temporal and spatial dynamics of goal representations. How are goals represented in working memory, how and when do cognitive control processes intervene to stabilize or shift these representations?Until recently, a discrete view of goal dynamics prevailed, implicitly supported by the discrete format of standard tasks and also mirrored in the modelling literature. However, in fact, it is still unresolved if goals could also be represented as continuous and possibly overlapping representations. This could lead to a radical change of the affordances to cognitive control processes, e.g. how to keep goal activations patterns stable or how to switch between overlapping patterns of goals.To investigate continuous goal dynamics in time and representational space, this project will merge the line of cognitive control research with research about working memory dynamics and dynamic neural field modelling. Behavioral experiments will use continuous tasks to enable the study of goal dynamics, supported by modelling, based on dynamic neural field models. By this combination, we will gain insight into goal driven behaviour and cognitive control, constraining future theories of volition, and executive functions.