Memory systems, metacognition, and cognitive control

这项研究将通过对非人类灵长类动物的比较分析，帮助我们了解人类思维的关键方面。这个项目将研究非人类灵长类动物监控或反省自己思维的能力。监视和控制思维的能力被称为“认知控制”，当人们注意、记住和抑制不想要的行为时，就会表现出来。这项研究将帮助我们了解是什么使人类思维独特，并将提供更好的动物模型，用于了解和开发人类脑部疾病的治疗方法。该项目将培养从本科到博士后水平的科学家。该研究小组将参与亚特兰大动物园关于灵长类动物认知的公共教育，以及公立学校的科学推广活动。具体来说，这项工作将：1)利用亚特兰大动物园的馆藏改进本科研究课程；2)通过研究项目开发、拨款写作和科学交流方面的培训，为研究生（目前14%的学生是代表性不足的群体）从事科学事业做好准备；3)通过在大脑意识周期间访问学校，通过诸如“根与芽”等项目，以及与亚特兰大动物园的公众互动，分享对科学的热情。4)通过埃默里大学的研究经验项目来培训学生，这些项目包括来自代表性不足群体的学生；5)通过扩展现有的实验室网站来共享信息，该网站针对的是对认知科学感兴趣的公众以及对灵长类动物研究感兴趣的本科生。认知控制对人类的复杂认知至关重要，认知控制的差异可能是人类和其他灵长类动物之间认知能力差异的基础，包括将感知引导到所需信息、在记忆中主动维护信息和抑制不当行为。在人类中，认知控制与外显认知有关，因为外显认知，如情景记忆，可以被元认知监控，而内隐认知，如启动和习惯，则不那么容易被监控。元认知是一种监控自己正在进行的认知过程，并对其进行认知控制的能力，例如，通过积极地将信息保存在工作记忆中，或者在掌握新词汇时停止学习。来自心理物理和记忆测试的证据表明，一些蠓会内省地监测一些认知过程，这可以通过选择性地回避困难的测试来证明。PI将扩展这项工作，并通过对灵长类动物的比较研究，推进复杂认知进化和人类独特之处的知识。这项提议的研究意义重大，因为它将确定认知监测和控制在复杂的灵长类认知中的作用，并开始研究语言的进化如何改变人类的记忆。这项工作将促进我们对元认知和认知控制进化的理解。首先，提出的工作将确定认知系统在获得元认知监测方面的差异程度。这将包括比较不同的记忆系统以及听觉和视觉感觉模式。其次，这些研究将确定元认知系统运行的信息类型，以施加认知控制，例如工作记忆中的抽象代码。第三，利用我们最近在这两个分类群中比较记忆的令人兴奋的发现，这项工作将促进我们对认知进化和认知差异的理解。拟议的工作包括指导从本科到博士后水平的发展科学家的研究经验，亚特兰大动物园关于灵长类动物认知的公共教育，公立学校的科学推广活动和国际合作。该项目由社会、行为和经济科学理事会的感知、行动和认知计划以及生物科学理事会的行为系统集群共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This research will help us understand critical aspects of human thinking through comparative analysis of non-human primates. This project will study the ability of nonhuman primate species to monitor, or introspect about, their thinking. The ability to monitor and control thinking is referred to as “cognitive control” and is shown when humans pay attention, remember, and inhibit unwanted behavior. This research will help us know what makes human thinking unique, and will provide better animal models to use to understand and develop treatments for human brain diseases. This project will train scientists from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level. The research group will participate in public education about primate cognition at Zoo Atlanta, and science outreach activities in public schools. Specifically this work will, 1) improve an undergraduate research course using the Zoo Atlanta collection, 2) prepare graduate students (14% of current students are underrepresented groups) for careers in science through training in research program development, grant writing, and scientific communication, 3) share enthusiasm for science through visits to schools during Brain Awareness Week, through programs such as Roots & Shoots, and by interaction with the public at Zoo Atlanta, 4) train students through Emory research experience programs, which involve students from underrepresented groups, 5) share information through expansion of an existing lab website, aimed at the public interested in cognitive science as well as undergraduates interested in primate research.Cognitive control is critical for complex cognition in humans, and differences in cognitive control may underlie many differences in cognitive ability between humans and other primates, including in directing perception to needed information, active maintenance of information in memory, and inhibition of inappropriate behavior. In humans, cognitive control is associated with explicit cognition, in that explicit cognition, such as episodic memory, is accessible to metacognitive monitoring whereas implicit cognition, such as priming and habits, is not so accessible. Metacognition is the capacity to monitor one’s own ongoing cognitive processes, and to exert cognitive control over them, for example by actively holding information in working memory or ceasing to study new vocabulary words as they are mastered. Evidence from both psychophysical and memory tests indicates that some cercopithecoids introspectively monitor some cognitive processes, demonstrated by selective avoidance of difficult tests. The PI will extend this work and advance knowledge of the evolution of complex cognition and of what makes humans unique with comparative studies of primates. The proposed research is significant because it will identify the role of cognitive monitoring and control in complex primate cognition, and begin to investigate how the evolution of language has changed human memory. The work will advance our understanding of the evolution of metacognition and cognitive control. First, the proposed work will identify the extent to which cognitive systems differ in their access to metacognitive monitoring. This will include comparing different memory systems as well as the auditory versus visual sensory modalities. Second, these studies will determine the kinds of information metacognitive systems operate upon to exert cognitive control, for example abstract codes in working memory. Third, the work will advance our understanding of cognitive evolution and differences in memory between cercopithecoid and hominoid primates, leveraging our exciting recent findings comparing memory in these taxa. The proposed work involves mentored research experiences for developing scientists from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level, public education about primate cognition at Zoo Atlanta, science outreach activities in public schools, and international collaboration. This project is funded by both the Perception, Action and Cognition program in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate and the Behavioral Systems Cluster in the Directorate for Biological 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.