Distractor-specific control adaptation in multidimensional environments.

Goal-directed behaviour requires humans to constantly manage and switch between multiple, independent and conflicting sources of information. Conventional cognitive control tasks, however, only feature one task and one source of distraction. Therefore, it is unclear how control is allocated in multidimensional environments.

Need for cognition moderates the relief of avoiding cognitive effort.

When making decisions, humans aim to maximize rewards while minimizing costs. The exertion of mental or physical effort has been proposed to be one those costs, translating into avoidance of behaviors carrying effort demands. This motivational framework also predicts that people should experience positive affect when anticipating demand that is subsequently avoided (i.

Abnormal approach-related motivation but spared reinforcement learning in MDD: Evidence from fronto-midline Theta oscillations and frontal Alpha asymmetry.

Major depression is characterized by abnormal reward processing and reinforcement learning (RL). This impairment might stem from deficient motivation processes, in addition to reduced reward sensitivity. In this study, we recorded 64-channel EEG in a large cohort of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and matched healthy controls (HC) while they performed a standard RL task.

Integration of reward with cost anticipation during performance monitoring revealed by ERPs and EEG spectral perturbations.

Effort expenditure has an aversive connotation and it can lower hedonic feelings. In this study, we explored the electrophysiological correlates of the complex interplay of reward processing with cost anticipation. To this aim, healthy adult participants performed a gambling task where the outcome (monetary reward vs.

Dissociable effects of reward and expectancy during evaluative feedback processing revealed by topographic ERP mapping analysis.

Evaluative feedback provided during performance monitoring (PM) elicits either a positive or negative deflection ~250-300ms after its onset in the event-related potential (ERP) depending on whether the outcome is reward-related or not, as well as expected or not. However, it remains currently unclear whether these two deflections reflect a unitary process, or rather dissociable effects arising from non-overlapping brain networks. To address this question, we recorded 64-channel EEG in healthy adult participants performing a standard gambling task where valence and expectancy were manipulated in a factorial design.

TPJ-M1 interaction in the control of shared representations: New insights from tDCS and TMS combined.

There is extensive evidence that perceived and internally planned actions have a common representational basis: action observation can induce an automatic tendency to imitate others. If perceived and executed action, however, are based on shared representations, the question arises how we can distinguish self-related and other-related representations. It has been suggested that the control of shared representations involves a neural network centered on the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ).