Think fast! The role of automaticity in the cognitive control of action

人类认知的研究传统上集中在执行控制和性能监控-需要记忆，注意力和精神努力的过程。 然而，我们的日常生活中包含了大量的行为，这些行为在几乎没有意识指导的情况下自动进行，并且长期以来一直对认知控制和行动中的“自动性”的作用感兴趣。高级大脑功能的双过程理论包括两个独立的认知系统-一个是有意识的和反射的，另一个是自动的和反射的-指导我们的决定和行动。这两种类型的控制很可能是由不同的皮层网络调节的，它们必须在快速反应和选择适当反应的竞争需求下无缝地相互作用。同样，错误检测通常是一个快速和高度自动化的过程，但有意识地意识到我们的错误对于学习和加强适当的行为至关重要。涉及对意外事件的快速运动反应的实验室任务可以揭示认知控制的许多方面，但迄今为止还没有精确地揭示这两种类型的控制之间的转换如何以及何时发生。在以前的研究中，我们已经表明，自动和控制的过程中，需要快速反应和抑制的任务被激活，并与意识控制下降的反应并不总是与性能下降。此外，一些研究表明，任务表现的改善与反应变异性降低有关，而不是反应减慢。这使我们得出了一个普遍的假设，即提高性能（例如，更好的抑制控制）与受控和自动处理之间的最佳转换密切相关，而不是增加执行（自上而下）控制。 ** 在拟议的研究中，我们将使用快速运动反应任务期间大脑活动的MEG功能成像，以揭示神经活动的时间组织，该组织指示自动反应的时间，以及快速反应选择和错误处理期间控制过程的入侵。我们将使用一种新颖的运动学测量和MEG的组合来测量目标导向（达到）任务期间的大脑活动，以分离与反应选择，启动和抑制控制相关的皮层活动，并确定控制处理覆盖自动反应的特定时间点。我们还将研究自动反应或任务外精神状态的时期与与内化思维相关的大脑网络激活之间的关系（例如，“默认模式”）。这将使用已建立的方法来实现，例如自我报告探测试验，除了瞳孔直径作为注意力控制波动的指标的独特措施之外。这些研究将使我们能够确定，除了注意力的失误导致的性能错误，这种大脑状态也可以反映时期的准确性能与最小的执行控制，并进一步，是否有差异的大脑反应信号早期（无意识）的错误检测和错误后的调整期间，不同的自动控制。在该项目的最后阶段，我们计划调整我们的反应抑制任务，以研究儿童的控制和自动处理的成熟与发展的目标。这将增强我们对正常认知发展和许多发育障碍中普遍存在的认知控制缺陷的理解，并为自动性在人类行为中的作用提供新的见解。

The study of human cognition has traditionally focused on executive control and performance monitoring - processes that require memory, attention and mental effort. However, our everyday life consists of a wide repertoire of behaviors that proceed automatically with little conscious guidance, and there has been a long-standing interest in the role of "automaticity" in cognitive control and action. Dual-process theories of higher brain function posit two separate cognitive systems - one conscious and reflective, the other automatic and reflexive - which guide our decisions and actions. These two types of control are likely regulated by different cortical networks, which must seamlessly interact under competing demands of rapid responding and selection of appropriate responses. Similarly, error detection is often a rapid and highly automatic process, yet conscious awareness of our errors is critical in learning and reinforcement of appropriate behaviors. Laboratory tasks involving rapid motor responses to unexpected events can reveal many aspects of cognitive control, but to date have not precisely revealed how and when transitions between these two types of control occur. In previous research, we have shown that automatic and controlled processes were activated in parallel during tasks requiring rapid responding and inhibition, and that responses associated with decreased conscious control were not always associated with decreased performance. Furthermore, several studies have shown that improvements in task performance are associated with decreased response variability, rather than response slowing. This has led us to the general hypothesis that improved performance (e.g., better inhibitory control) is closely related to optimal shifting between controlled and automatic processing, rather than increasing executive (top-down) control. **In the proposed research, we will use MEG functional imaging of brain activity during rapid motor response tasks in order to reveal the temporal organization of neural activity that indexes periods of automatic responding, and intrusions of controlled processes during rapid response selection and error processing. We will use a novel combination of kinematic measures and MEG to measure brain activity during goal-directed (reaching) tasks to separate cortical activity related to response selection, initiation, and inhibitory control, and identify specific time points at which controlled processing overrides automatic responses. We will also examine the relationship between periods of automatic responding or off-task mental states and activation of brain networks associated with internalized thought (e.g., "default-mode") during both successful response switching and failed inhibition. This will be achieved using established methods such as self-report probe trials, in addition to unique measures of pupil diameter as an index of fluctuations in attentional control. These studies will allow us to determine whether, in addition to attentional lapses leading to performance errors, such brain states can also reflect periods of accurate performance with minimal executive control, and further, whether there are differences in brain responses signaling early (unconscious) error detection and post-error adjustments during periods of varying automatic control. In a final phase of the project, we plan to adapt our response inhibition tasks to studies in children, with the goal of studying the maturation of controlled and automatic processing with development. This will enhance our understanding of both normal cognitive development and deficits of cognitive control prevalent in many developmental disorders, and provide novel insights into the role of automaticity in human behavior across the lifespan.