Attention, Memory and Cognitive Control

人类大脑处理大量的信息。这种处理过程必须非常高效，才能在我们周围的世界中产生流畅的、目标驱动的行为。但是高效信息处理的关键属性是什么呢？实验心理学的许多研究表明，智能的、目标驱动的行为的一个关键特性是信息处理的选择性。

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.