Cognitive plasticity of executive control mechanisms: Effects of computerized training, Individual differences, Training/Transfer specificity

执行控制是指有意识地控制行为的能力，以便在具有挑战性的情况下实现目标，在这种情况下自动反应是不适当的。它在日常活动中扮演着至关重要的角色，比如开车、做饭和管理我们的财务，它的受损严重影响了生活质量。认知可塑性是获得或提高认知技能的能力。它在不同的人和不同的人的一生中有很大的差异。关于执行控制的认知可塑性的研究表明，对于通过练习和培训可以提高执行控制的程度，研究结果褒贬不一。这类知识对于更好地理解认知过程的基本原则和人类认知的限度，以及更好地了解它们在一生中的发展适应是至关重要的。到目前为止，发表的研究结果存在差异，但有几个限制阻碍了明确的解释。现有的文献有一定的局限性，因为大多数研究没有包含执行控制的复杂性，并且只关注一种类型的任务。多年来一直有人提出，行政职能不是一个单一的概念。事实上，对神经受损患者的研究以及大脑成像技术的最新进步表明，执行控制依赖于一系列不同的注意力控制机制，如更新记忆中的信息，抑制自动反应，以及在同时进行的任务之间切换或分配注意力。此外，最近的发现表明，一些机制随着年龄的增长而减弱，而另一些机制则可以保留下来。认知训练研究有助于促进对基本注意力控制机制的理解。这项研究项目旨在研究通过使用专门设计用于评估培训对行为和相关大脑成像模式的培训效果的实验任务，通过特定执行机制进行培训的改进模式。研究个体和年龄在可塑性上的差异将有助于我们进一步了解注意控制机制之间的差异和共性，以及如何增强和优化注意控制机制。

Executive control refers to the ability to intentionally govern behaviours in order to achieve goals in challenging situations in which automatic responses are inappropriate. It plays a crucial role in daily activities such as driving, cooking, and managing our finances and its impairment severely impacts quality of life. Cognitive plasticity is the capacity to acquire or improve cognitive skills. It greatly varies from individual to individual and across the lifespan. Studies on cognitive plasticity for executive control have shown mixed findings on the extent to which it can be enhanced through practice and training. Such knowledge is paramount to better understanding the fundamental principles of cognitive processes and the limits of human cognition and with respect to their developmental adaptation across the lifespan. Studies published so far have resulted in discrepancies in findings, but several limitations prevent definitive interpretation. The existing literature is somewhat limited in that most studies do not embrace the complexity of executive control and focus only on one type of task. It’s been proposed for many years that executive function is not a unitary concept. In fact, studies with patients suffering from neurological damages as well as recent advancements in brain imaging techniques suggest that executive control relies on a subset of distinct attentional control mechanisms such as updating information in memory, inhibiting automatic responses and switching or dividing-attention between concurrent tasks. Moreover, recent findings suggest that some mechanisms decline with age while others could be preserved. Cognitive training studies could help foster understanding of basic attentional control mechanisms. This research project aims at studying patterns of improvement through training across specific executive mechanisms using experimental tasks especially designed to assess training effects on behaviours and associated brain imaging patterns. It is believed that studying individual and age-related differences in plasticity will extend our knowledge about differences and commonalities among attentional control mechanisms and how they can be enhanced and optimized.