The proposed research addresses issues in executive control of cognitive processing that are central in basic research in cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, lifespan development, and individual differences. These issues have direct implications for mental health. Deficits in executive control have been identified in several disorders, including schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The main goal of the research is to develop behavioral methods for distinguishing between top-down effects that truly reflect executive control and bottom-up effects that mimic it. This issue is important in designing and interpreting measures of executive control in other areas of research, especially research on deficits in mental disorders. The goal of distinguishing top-down from bottom-up effects will be accomplished by developing and evaluating a priming model that attempts to account for behavior in task-switching experiments purely in terms of bottom-up processes. The footprints of executive control may be seen in the situations in which the priming model fails to provide a complete account. According to the priming model, top-down control may be required for peripheral processes but not for central processes. Perceptual and motor processes and orienting of attention may require executive processing, but memory retrieval does not. This hypothesis leads to two specific aims: (1) To develop the priming model and test its fundamental assumptions in experiments that require switching between central tasks that can be performed by memory retrieval. (2) To push the limits of the priming model by testing it in experiments that require switching perceptual and motor systems and changing the orientation of attention.
The first aim will establish the validity of the model, the second will establish its limits and set the stage for a general model of executive control. ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH073878-02
Application #
7439137
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-E (02))
Program Officer
Quinn, Kevin J
Project Start
2007-06-06
Project End
2010-05-31
Budget Start
2008-06-01
Budget End
2009-05-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$241,763
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Schneider, Darryl W; Logan, Gordon D (2015) Learning a nonmediated route for response selection in task switching. Mem Cognit 43:837-51
Schneider, Darryl W; Logan, Gordon D (2015) Chunking away task-switch costs: a test of the chunk-point hypothesis. Psychon Bull Rev 22:884-9
Thakkar, Katharine N; Schall, Jeffrey D; Logan, Gordon D et al. (2015) Response inhibition and response monitoring in a saccadic double-step task in schizophrenia. Brain Cogn 95:90-8
Thakkar, Katharine N; Schall, Jeffrey D; Logan, Gordon D et al. (2015) Cognitive control of gaze in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 225:254-62
Schneider, Darryl W; Logan, Gordon D (2014) Modelling response selection in task switching: testing the contingent encoding assumption. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 67:1074-95
Schneider, Darryl W; Logan, Gordon D (2011) Task-switching performance with 1:1 and 2:1 cue-task mappings: not so different after all. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 37:405-15
Thakkar, Katharine N; Schall, Jeffrey D; Boucher, Leanne et al. (2011) Response inhibition and response monitoring in a saccadic countermanding task in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 69:55-62
Bissett, Patrick G; Logan, Gordon D (2011) Balancing cognitive demands: control adjustments in the stop-signal paradigm. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 37:392-404
Liu, Xianyun; Crump, Matthew J C; Logan, Gordon D (2010) Do you know where your fingers have been? Explicit knowledge of the spatial layout of the keyboard in skilled typists. Mem Cognit 38:474-84
Verbruggen, Frederick; Logan, Gordon D (2009) Models of response inhibition in the stop-signal and stop-change paradigms. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 33:647-61

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