I periodically remind people of a couple of venues for work in the philosophy of neuroscience: The Synthese Topical Collection on Neuroscience and Its Philosophy. The deadline is purely nominal; submissions are processed as they come in and published online shortly after acceptance. To be considered, you need to submit …
Welcome to the Brains Blog’s Symposium series on the Cognitive Science of Philosophy! The aim of the series is to examine the use of methods from the cognitive sciences to generate philosophical insight. Each symposium is comprised of two parts. In the target post, a practitioner describes their use of …
We are excited about the next Neural Mechanisms webinar this Friday. As always, it is free. You can find information about how and when to join the webinar below or at the Neural Mechanisms website—where you can also join sign up for the mailing list that notifies people about upcoming …
One of the major shifts in scientists’ thinking about cognitive control in recent years has been the recognition that control is motivated. In other words, we engage cognitive control to plan and guide a task because, at some level, we are motivated to do that task. This simple recognition has …
Inhibition is arguably the function most colloquially associated with cognitive control. When we think of self-control or willpower, it is often our ability to stop ourselves from doing unwanted, distracting, or maladaptive tasks that we are thinking about. And it follows that the construct of inhibition has played a significant …
In my last post, I introduced the role of working memory in cognitive control as a source of contextual support. I then discussed the metaphor of a working memory gate that controls input and output from working memory. In today’s post, I will drill down a bit more into one …
In today’s post, I will introduce an example of one proposed mechanism of cognitive control that is discussed in detail in my book, On Task. This is the mechanism of working memory gating. Consider an example of an everyday act of control. You are driving your car when your cell …
