Cognitive control
Γνωστικός έλεγχος
The active holding of a pattern that carries both a goal and the means of reaching it, which then biases what you notice and what you do. The pattern does not update at the moment the news does, so for a while the plan steering you is the one that no longer applies.
How to spot it
Ten minutes after the next change, ask which plan your hands are working to right now.
The research behind the term
The term is not our invention. It comes from published research, and what follows is what that research found — our own synthesis of the published abstract, not a translation of the original.
Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function — doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167
What it found
- Cognitive control arises from the active maintenance, in the prefrontal cortex, of patterns of activity that represent goals and the means of achieving them.
- These patterns send bias signals to other brain structures, guiding the flow of activity so that the appropriate mappings of inputs, internal states and outputs are produced.
- The theory rests on converging evidence from neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroimaging and computational modelling.
How it found it
Theoretical paper that proposes a unifying mechanism for prefrontal cortex function and supports it with a review of evidence from four methodological traditions.
Practised in
The term does not stay a definition. It appears inside missions where the pattern happens in real time and you have to recognise it as it happens to you.
The Rule Changed Mid-Build
Sources
Every claim on this page maps to published research. The citations link to the original source.
- Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function — doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167