Cognitive and affective control

Cognitive and affective control
Author: Gilles Pourtois
Publisher: Frontiers E-books
Total Pages: 244
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 2889190927

Traditionally, cognition and emotion are seen as separate domains that are independent at best and in competition at worst. The French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) famously said “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point” (The heart has its reasons that reason does not know). Over the last century, however, psychologists and neuroscientists have increasingly appreciated their very strong reciprocal connections and interactions. Initially this was demonstrated in cognitive functions such as attention, learning and memory, and decision making. For instance, an emotional stimulus captures attention (e.g., Anderson & Phelps, 2001). Likewise, emotional stimuli are better learned and remembered than neutral ones (e.g., McGaugh, 1990) and they can provide strong incentives to bias decision making (Bechara et al., 1997). In more recent years, cognitive control has also been found to be intimately intertwined with emotion. This is consistent with an approach that considers cognitive control as an adaptive learning process (Braver & Cohen, 1999), reinforcement learning in particular (Holroyd & Coles, 2002; Verguts & Notebaert, 2009). From this perspective, cognitive control is not a cool encapsulated executive function, but instead involves rapidly calculating the value of situational, contextual, and action cues (Rushworth & Behrens, 2008) for the purpose of adapting the cognitive system toward future optimal performance. A wide array of research has shed light on cognitive control and its interactions with affect or motivation. Behaviorally, important phenomena include how people respond to difficult stimuli (e.g., incongruent stimuli, task switches), negative feedback, or errors and how this influences subsequent task processing. Neurally, an important target structure has been the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its connections to traditional “emotional” (e.g., amygdala) and “cognitive” areas (e.g., (pre)motor cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). ACC seems to play a predominant role in integrating distant effects from remote cognitive and emotion systems in order to guide and optimize behavior. The current special issue focuses on the bi-directional link between emotion and cognitive control. We invite studies that investigate the influence from emotion on cognitive control, or vice versa, the influence of cognitive control on emotion. Contributions can be of different types: We welcome empirical contributions (behavioral or neuroscientific) but also computational modeling, theory, or review papers. By bringing together researchers from the traditionally separated domains, we hope to further stimulate the crosstalk between emotion and cognitive control, and thus to deepen our understanding of both.

The Wiley Handbook of Cognitive Control

The Wiley Handbook of Cognitive Control
Author: Tobias Egner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1070
Release: 2017-01-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1118920473

Covering basic theory, new research, and intersections with adjacent fields, this is the first comprehensive reference work on cognitive control – our ability to use internal goals to guide thought and behavior. Draws together expert perspectives from a range of disciplines, including cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and neurology Covers behavioral phenomena of cognitive control, neuroanatomical and computational models of frontal lobe function, and the interface between cognitive control and other mental processes Explores the ways in which cognitive control research can inform and enhance our understanding of brain development and neurological and psychiatric conditions

The Emotional Mind

The Emotional Mind
Author: Tom Cochrane
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2018
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 110842967X

This book develops an original control theory of the emotions and related affective states, providing new perspectives on how the mind works as a whole. Discussing pains and pleasures, moods and behaviours, and character and personality, the book will be important for readers interested in the philosophy and cognitive science of emotion.

Psychology of Self-Regulation

Psychology of Self-Regulation
Author: Joseph P. Forgas
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2011-02-25
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1136874313

The ability to regulate and control our behaviors is a key accomplishment of the human species, yet the psychological mechanisms involved in self-regulation remain incompletely understood. This book presents contributions from leading international researchers who survey the most recent developments in this fascinating area. The chapters shed new light on the subtle and often subconscious ways that the people seek to regulate their thoughts, feelings and behaviors in everyday social life. The contributions seek answers to such intriguing questions as: How can we improve our ability to control our actions? How do people make decisions about which goals to pursue? How do we maintain and manage goal-oriented behavior? What happens when we run out of self-regulation resources? Can we match people and the regulatory demands of to specific tasks so as to optimize performance? What role does self-regulation play in sports performance, in maintaining successful relationships, and in managing work situations? The book offers a highly integrated and representative coverage of this important field, and is suitable as a core textbook in advanced courses dealing with social behavior and the applications of psychology to real-life problems.

Appraisal Processes in Emotion

Appraisal Processes in Emotion
Author: Klaus R. Scherer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2001-05-03
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780195351545

The scientific study of emotion has long been dominated by theories emphasizing the subjective experience of emotions and their accompanying expressive and physiological responses. The processes by which different emotions are elicited has received less attention, the implicit assumption being that certain emotions arise automatically in response to certain types of events or situations. Such an assumption is incompatible with data showing that similar situations can provoke a range of emotions in different individuals, or even the same individual at different times. Appraisal theory, first suggested by Magda Arnold and Richard Lazarus, was formulated to address this shortcoming in our understanding of emotion. The central tenet of appraisal theory is that emotions are elicited according to an individual's subjective interpretation or evaluation of important events or situations. Appraisal research focuses on identifying the evaluative dimensions or criteria that predict which emotion will be elicited in an individual, as well as linking the appraisal process with the production of emotional responses. This book represents the first full-scale summary of the current state of appraisal research. Separate sections cover the history of apraisal theory and its fundamental ideas, the views of some of the major theorists currently active in the field, theoretical and methodological problems with the appraisal approach including suggestions for their resolution, social, cultural and individual differences and the application of appraisal theory to understanding and treating emotional pathology, and the methodology used in appraisal research including measuring and analyzing self-report, physiological, facial, and vocal indicators of appraisal, and simulating appraisal processes via computational models. Intended for advanced students and researchers in emotion psychology, it provides an authoritative assessment and critique of the current state of the art in appraisal research.

Emotions

Emotions
Author: Tracy Mayne
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2001-01-03
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781572306226

This volume presents cutting-edge work in emotion theory and research. Contributors describe innovative methods, models, and measurements that illuminate and at times challenge traditional paradigms. Each chapter defines basic terms, reviews the historical development and evolution of the issue at hand, and discusses current research and directions for future investigation.

Child Development at the Intersection of Emotion and Cognition

Child Development at the Intersection of Emotion and Cognition
Author: Susan D. Calkins
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2010
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781433806865

Developmental theorists have long speculated that emotion and cognition are inseparable components of the developmental process. Some even suggest that the two components are fully integrated by school age. Yet, despite considerable theoretical work describing this interaction, relatively little empirical work has been conducted on the subject. This volume addresses the codevelopment of emotional and cognitive processes by integrating theoretical and empirical work on these processes. The first part of the book demonstrates the codependence of emotional and cognitive processes, noting that both processes are clearly necessary for successful regulation of thought and behavior and that children with early adjustment difficulties often have deficits in both types of processing. The second part considers possible neurological and genetic mechanisms for the emotion-cognition link. Finally, the last part explores implications for clinical and educational research, highlighting atypical emotional and cognitive processing and its effect on adjustment in academic and social settings.

Emotional Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities

Emotional Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities
Author: Pablo Fernández-Berrocal
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2016-09-07
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 2889199223

Nowadays, not only psychologists are interested in the study of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Teachers, educator, managers, employers, and people, in general, pay attention to EI. For example, teachers would like to know how EI could affect student’s academic results, and managers are concerned about how EI influences their employees’ performance. The concept of EI has been widely used in recent years to the extent that people start to applying it in daily life. EI is broadly defined as the capacity to process and use emotional information. More specifically, according to Mayer and Salovey, EI is the ability to: “1) accurate perception, appraise, and expression of emotion; 2) access and/or generation of feelings when they facilitate thought; 3) understand emotions and emotional knowledge; and 4) regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Mayer and Salovey 1997, p. 10). When new information arises into one specific area of knowledge, the work of the scientists is to investigate the relation between this new information and other established concepts. In this sense, EI could be considered as a new framework to explain human behaviour. As a young concept in Psychology, EI could be used to elucidate the performance in the activities of everyday life. Over the past two decades, studies of EI have tried to delimitate how EI is linked to other competences. A vast number of studies have reported a relation between EI and a large list of competences such as academic and work success, life satisfaction, attendee to emotions, assertiveness, emotional expression, emotional-based decision making, impulsive control, stress management, among others. Moreover, recent researches have shown that EI plays an important role in the prediction of behaviour besides personality and cognitive factors. However, it is not until quite recently, that studies on EI have considered the importance of individual differences in EI and their interaction with cognitive abilities. The general issue of this Research Topic was to expose the role of individual differences on EI in the development of a large number of competencies that support a more efficient performance in people’s everyday life. The present Research Topic provide an extensive review that may give light to the better understanding of how individual differences in EI affect human behaviour. We have considered studies that analyse: 1) how EI contributes to emotional, cognitive and social process beyond the well-known contribution of IQ and personality traits, as well as the brain system that supports the EI; 2) how EI contributes to relationships among emotions and health and well-being, 3) the roles of EI during early development and the evaluation in different populations, 4) how implicit beliefs about emotions and EI influence emotional abilities.

Goal-directed Behavior

Goal-directed Behavior
Author: Henk Aarts
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2012
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1848728735

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Handbook of Executive Functioning

Handbook of Executive Functioning
Author: Sam Goldstein
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 565
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1461481066

Planning. Attention. Memory. Self-regulation. These and other core cognitive and behavioral operations of daily life comprise what we know as executive functioning (EF). But despite all we know, the concept has engendered multiple, often conflicting definitions and its components are sometimes loosely defined and poorly understood. The Handbook of Executive Functioning cuts through the confusion, analyzing both the whole and its parts in comprehensive, practical detail for scholar and clinician alike. Background chapters examine influential models of EF, tour the brain geography of the executive system and pose salient developmental questions. A section on practical implications relates early deficits in executive functioning to ADD and other disorders in children and considers autism and later-life dementias from an EF standpoint. Further chapters weigh the merits of widely used instruments for assessing executive functioning and review interventions for its enhancement, with special emphasis on children and adolescents. Featured in the Handbook: The development of hot and cool executive function in childhood and adolescence. A review of the use of executive function tasks in externalizing and internalizing disorders. Executive functioning as a mediator of age-related cognitive decline in adults. Treatment integrity in interventions that target executive function. Supporting and strengthening working memory in the classroom to enhance executive functioning. The Handbook of Executive Functioning is an essential resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners and graduate students in clinical child, school and educational psychology; child and adolescent psychiatry; neurobiology; developmental psychology; rehabilitation medicine/therapy and social work.