CAREER: The evolution and development of cognitive control

认知控制是聪明、灵活的行为的一个决定性特征。这些调节性认知过程协调行为，使其与当前目标保持一致，并适合特定的环境;例如，通过关闭反射性反应（如直接获得奖励）并为长期目标发挥自我控制（如计划未来更好的奖励）。为什么有些人比其他人表现出更强大的认知控制？该项目将开发新的实验任务，跨越认知控制的多个核心组成部分，以评估其跨物种和过度成熟的出现。为此，该项目将利用几个大型自然种群的优势，其中灵长类动物（这里是黑猩猩，猕猴和狐猴）是半自由放养的，但受控的认知实验也是可能的。通过整合多个物种的数据，该项目将研究何时以及为什么会出现灵活的认知控制形式，并测试可能促进认知控制的不同拟议途径。针对从小学到研究生院的学生的培训、教育和外联活动将贯穿整个项目。该项目将在密歇根州、波多黎各和乌干达实施一项关于灵长类动物认知、行为和儿童保护的教育推广计划。本科生将通过实习和整合数据科学培训的课程工作来积累实践研究经验，包括通过一个新的灵长类动物认知和行为暑期实习计划，旨在扩大学生的代表性和进入该领域的机会。最后，研究团队将由博士后研究人员和研究生领导，为学员提供关键的国际研究经验。本项目有三个具体目标。第一个目标是确定人类认知控制的独特方面，并将其与黑猩猩进行比较。在非人类灵长类动物中，很少有标准化的认知控制评估。在这里，研究小组将开发一系列实验任务，包括工作记忆，抑制，更新，性能监测和计划的关键措施，以评估黑猩猩的认知控制结构。第二个目的是检验这一假设，即灵活的认知的出现与缓慢的生活史与延长的青少年发展期有关。该项目将调整认知控制电池，以比较黑猩猩（生活史较慢）和猕猴（生活史较快）的认知控制个体发育。第三个目的是通过对比两个关于智力的主要假设来研究塑造认知控制出现的一般进化途径：社会智力假设预测认知在复杂的社会生活中进化，而生态智力假设预测饮食生态学更重要。通过比较在自然历史上差异很大的八种密切相关的狐猴物种的认知控制能力，该项目将梳理出社会与生态复杂性的相对贡献，智能，灵活的行为的出现。这个项目将通过利用几个自然主义的黑猩猩，猕猴和狐猴种群的优势，在进化和发展的角度上架起认知的桥梁。总之，这项工作将解决跨物种建立强大的执行控制能力的最终功能和近似机制。 该项目由生物科学理事会的行为系统集群和社会、行为和经济科学理事会的生物人类学项目共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cognitive control is a defining characteristic of intelligent, flexible behavior. These regulatory cognitive processes coordinate behavior so it aligns with current goals and is appropriate for a given context; for example, by turning off reflexive responses (such as reaching directly for a reward) and exerting self-control in service of long-term goals (such as planning for better rewards in the future). Why do some individuals exhibit more robust cognitive control than others? This project will develop novel experimental tasks, spanning multiple core components of cognitive control, to assess its emergence across species and over maturation. To do so, the project will leverage the strengths of several large, naturalistic populations where primates (here, chimpanzees, macaques, and lemurs) are semi-free-ranging but controlled cognitive experiments are also possible. By integrating data across multiple species, the project will examine when and why flexible forms of cognitive control emerge and test different proposed pathways that may promote cognitive control. Training, education, and outreach aimed at students from elementary school through graduate school will be integrated throughout the project. The project will develop an educational outreach program on primate cognition, behavior, and conservation for children, implemented in Michigan, Puerto Rico, and Uganda. Undergraduates will grain hands-on research experience through internships and course work integrating data science training, including through a new a summer internship program in primate cognition and behavior aimed at broadening student representation and access to the field. Finally, research teams will be led by postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, providing key international research experiences for trainees.This project has three specific aims. The first aim is to identify unique aspects of cognitive control in humans and compare this with chimpanzees. There have been few standardized assessments of cognitive control in non-human primates. Here the research team will develop a battery of experimental tasks comprising key measures of working memory, inhibition, updating, performance monitoring, and planning to assess the structure of cognitive control in chimpanzees. The second aim is to test the hypothesis that the emergence of flexible cognition is linked to slow life histories with an extended period of juvenile development. The project will adapt the cognitive control battery to compare the ontogeny of cognitive control in chimpanzees (with slower life histories) and macaques (faster life histories). The third aim is to examine the general evolutionary pathways shaping the emergence of cognitive control by contrasting two major hypotheses about intelligence: the social intelligence hypothesis predicts that cognition evolves in response to complex social life, whereas the ecological intelligence hypothesis predicts that dietary ecology is more important. By comparing cognitive control capacities across eight closely-related lemur species that vary widely in natural history, the project will tease apart the relative contribution of social versus ecological complexity the emergence of intelligent, flexible behavior. This project will bridge evolutionary and developmental perspectives on cognition by leveraging the strengths of several naturalistic populations of chimpanzees, macaques, and lemurs varying in age. Together, this work will address the ultimate function and proximate mechanisms building robust executive control abilities across species. This project is jointly funded by the Behavioral Systems Cluster in the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Biological Anthropology Program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.