Attention, Memory and Cognitive Control

人脑处理着大量的信息。这一过程必须非常高效，才能与我们周围的世界产生流畅和目标驱动的行为。但是，高效信息处理的关键特性是什么呢？实验心理学中的许多研究表明，智能的、目标驱动的行为的一个关键属性是信息处理的选择性。为了理解选择性在信息处理中的重要性，想象一下，如果路边的所有人、所有的交通信号、所有的汽车和所有的声音在支持驾驶的精神活动流中得到同等的重视，那么驾驶的任务就是这样的。当然，我们会发现在这种情况下开车会让人不知所措。相反，有经验的司机很可能会发现开车是毫不费力的。此外，在开车时获取大脑处理的海量信息很可能是高度选择性的。事实上，在长途驾车后，人们经常会有这样的印象，即沿途经历的许多事情根本没有得到真正的关注(和记住)。如何选择相关信息进行进一步处理，而忽略不相关的信息？这个问题处于实验心理学领域的核心，该领域研究认知控制--决定哪些信息被关注，哪些信息被忽视的心理过程。这一研究领域的一个关键区别是对注意力的自愿控制和非自愿控制。在我们的驾驶示例中，自愿控制允许司机在搜索特定街道时选择性地关注十字路口的标志。在这种情况下，驾车前往特定目的地的意图导致司机特别注意街道标志，而可能在行人和建筑物经过时忽略它们。相比之下，无意识控制可能会让司机注意并对距离最近的车辆做出反应，尽管可能会将自愿的思维过程专门用于接下来的一天。通常情况下，对注意力的自愿控制是由当下的意图驱动的，而对注意力的非自愿控制是由对经过充分学习的注意程序的自动提取驱动的。在这项拟议的研究中，我们重点研究了在模拟我们在现实世界中遇到的任务类型的实验室任务中，对注意力的自愿和非自愿控制的区别。我们的研究特别感兴趣的是，在一个时间点进行认知控制对在接下来的时间点进行类似的认知控制行为的效率的影响。研究这个问题的目的是为了更好地了解认知控制可以随着时间的推移而获得的程度，而不是每次需要时都必须以一种费力的方式重新实施。

The human brain processes vast amounts of information. This processing must be remarkably efficient to produce fluent and goal-driven behaviour with the world around us. But what are the key properties of efficient information processing? Much research in experimental psychology suggests that a key property of intelligent, goal-driven behaviour is selectivity of information processing.  To appreciate the importance of selectivity in information processing, imagine the task of driving if all people on the roadside, all traffic signals, all cars, and all sounds were given equal importance in the flow of mental activity that supports driving. Surely we would find driving under these circumstances to be overwhelming. Instead, an experienced driver is likely to find the task of driving to be effortless. Moreover, access to the vast amounts of information processed by the brain while driving is likely to be highly selective. Indeed, after driving a long distance one often has the impression that much of what was experienced along the way was not really attended to (and remembered) at all. How is relevant information selected for further processing, and irrelevant information ignored? This issue lies at the heart of a field of experimental psychology that studies cognitive control - mental processes that dictate what information is attended and what information is ignored. A key distinction in this area of research is between voluntary and involuntary control over attention. In the context of our driving example, voluntary control allows a driver to focus selectively on signs at intersections as a particular street is searched for. In this case, the intention to drive to a particular destination leads the driver to pay particular attention to street signs while perhaps ignoring people and buildings as they are passed. In contrast, involuntary control might allow a driver to attend and respond to the distance to the nearest vehicle despite perhaps dedicating voluntary thought processes to the workday ahead. Typically, voluntary control over attention is driven by intentions in the moment, whereas involuntary control over attention is driven by the automatic retrieval of well-learned attentional routines. In the proposed research, we focus on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary control over attention in a laboratory task that simulates the types of tasks we encounter in the real world. Of particular interest in our research is the influence of engaging in cognitive control at one point in time on the efficiency of a similar act of cognitive control at a following point in time. The aim of studying this issue is to gain a better understanding of the extent to which cognitive control can be learned across time, rather than having to be implemented anew in an effortful manner each time it is required.