Elsevier

Acta Psychologica

Volume 115, Issues 2–3, February–March 2004, Pages 105-121
Acta Psychologica

Executive control emerging from dynamic interactions between brain systems mediating language, working memory and attentional processes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2003.12.003Get rights and content

Abstract

In this theoretical paper, we review findings from a series of recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies of working memory and executive control which provide evidence for the following theses: 1. Working memory in humans is represented by two brain systems which differ from each other with respect to their functional-neuroanatomical organization and probably also with respect to their evolutionary origin. 2. One of these brain systems relies on prefronto-parietal and prefronto-temporal cortical networks that presumably also mediate attentional selection by the top–down modulation of domain-specific sensory association areas towards behaviorally relevant information. 3. The other system is implemented by mainly left-hemispheric premotor and parietal brain regions which to a greater part also underlie language functions and which may also be involved in the retrieval and maintenance of verbal goal representations during advance preparation for task switches. 4. Context-sensitive behavioral adaptation is supported by a complementary mechanism for the detection of conflicts and for the triggering of cognitive control processes that relies on parts of the medial frontal cortex. Based on these empirical results reported in the literature we propose a neurocognitive model of executive control according to which the human ability to flexibly adapt to changing behavioral requirements, i.e. executive control, depends on dynamic and context-sensitive interactions between these brain systems.

Section snippets

Theories of executive functions

Theories of executive functions have frequently postulated a unitary “central executive” that controls, coordinates, and supervises task-specific processing modules (e.g., Baddeley, 1986; Norman & Shallice, 1986). During the last decade substantial efforts have been made to evaluate functional-neuroanatomical models of higher cognitive functions by combining behavioral methods from cognitive psychology with new neuroimaging techniques. Corroborating neuropsychological findings of dissociations

An evolutionary perspective on working memory systems: cognitive differences between humans and non-human primates

The control of non-automatized goal-directed action requires the temporary maintenance of information about current task demands and goals. This function has been ascribed to a “working memory”, that is conceptualized as a set of linked and interacting information processing components which allow temporary storage and simultaneous manipulation of information and which, thus, play a key role for higher cognitive functions such as language, planning and problem-solving (e.g., Baddeley, 1992;

The functional neuroanatomy of human working memory

The first of these studies provided evidence that brain regions involved in explicit verbal rehearsal can be dissociated from a second, prefronto-parietal working memory system subserving non-articulatory maintenance of phonological information. While under single-task conditions, verbal memory activated Broca’s area, the lateral premotor cortex, and parietal areas, silent articulatory suppression was found to eliminate memory-related activity in these “classical” verbal working memory areas.

The relationship between working memory, selective attention, and cognitive control

Interestingly, evidence from numerous neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies suggests that similar prefronto-parietal and prefronto-temporal brain systems are involved both in the temporary maintenance of task-relevant information in working memory (e.g., Fuster, 1989; Goldman-Rakic, 1996; Gruber & von Cramon, 2003; Jonides et al., 1993; LaBar, Gitelman, Parrish, & Mesulam, 1999; Ungerleider et al., 1998), as well as in selective attention which is mediated by the top–down modulation of

In search of the neural correlates of verbal goal retrieval during advance preparation in task switching

With respect to the second working memory system (see Fig. 1 on the right), which presumably evolved together with human language and which repeatedly has been shown to underlie verbal rehearsal and inner speech (Andreasen et al., 1995; Awh et al., 1996; Cohen et al., 1997; Fiez et al., 1996; Gruber, 2001; Gruber, Kleinschmidt, Binkofski, Steinmetz, & von Cramon, 2000; Gruber and von Cramon, 2001a, Gruber and von Cramon, 2003; Jonides et al., 1998; Paulesu, Frith, & Frackowiak, 1993; Petrides,

Dilemmas of control: antagonistic constraints on adaptive behavior

One fascinating question that we have started to investigate in more recent behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies concerns dynamic interactions among the various brain systems involved in different working memory and cognitive control functions. These studies are based on the assumption that a complex, ever-changing environment imposes fluctuating and in part antagonistic requirements on human behavior. These antagonistic requirements can be conceived of in terms of “control dilemmas” (

Conflict-triggered goal shielding and inhibition of distracting stimulus dimensions during task switching

In order to be able to meet the antagonistic requirements of goal maintenance (“shielding”) and goal switching in a changing environment, adaptive behavior presumably has to rely on dynamic interactions between brain systems subserving complementary components of executive control. On the basis of the empirical evidence reported in this selective review, we propose that the brain systems which have been found in previous studies to support different working memory and attentional functions

Towards a neurocognitive model of complementary, interacting components of executive control

In conclusion, animal studies as well as behavioral and neuroimaging studies in humans reviewed in this paper have yielded a number of theoretically significant findings, which we tried to integrate in a hypothetical neurocognitive model of interacting components of executive control that is schematically depicted in Fig. 3. The model is intended as a tentative summary of pertinent findings and shares a number of features with other recent proposals (see, for instance, Botvinick et al., 2001).

Acknowledgments

Some of the studies mentioned in this article are supported by the German Research Council (DFG) in the context of the priority program “Executive functions” (grants Gr 1950/1-1, Go 720/2-1, and Go 720/3-1). We thank the Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and in particular D. Yves von Cramon for providing the fMRI facilities that made this work possible. We thank Susanne Karch for her assistance in the acquisition and statistical analyses of neuroimaging data.

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