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Previous studies found that bodily states have an impact on divergent thinking, but it remains to be seen how generalizable this effect could be, how exactly it depends on cognitive control, and whether similar effects can be found on convergent thinking. To address these questions, we examined the bodily state effect on divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and cognitive control in two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants performed the Alternate Uses Task, the Remote Associates Task, and an auditory Stroop task under one of the three bodily states: sitting, standing, or roaming. In Experiment 2, participants completed the three tasks while standing and while roaming. Results showed that bodily state had no significant effect on divergent thinking and the Stroop effect, while roaming shorten the reaction times (Experiment 1) and increased accuracy (Experiment 2) comparing with sitting or standing in the convergent thinking task. Bayesian analysis provided strong or moderately strong evidence for the null hypothesis for these effects. Taken together, the present experiments showed no stable bodily state effect on divergent thinking or convergent thinking and Stroop effect. Possible explanations for the discrepancy between the current results and those reported in previous studies were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How people learn and produce sequential actions (e.g., making coffee) has been the subject of empirical and theoreticalscrutiny, for it covers most human activities. One useful distinction is between stimulus-based control, in which actionselection is driven largely by the environment, and plan-based control, which assumes learning of structured sequences ofactions and effects. Task demands, instructions, and participants’ individual abilities and inclinations can all modulate thecontrol mode used. We investigate two sequence learning tasks, with one key difference: in the cued task either controlmode is possible, while learning in the reinforcement task requires plan-based control. Using measures of visuospatialworking memory (VWM) capacity, locus of control, need for structure, and IQ, we seek to explain individual differencesin choice of control mode and task performance, establishing a link between VWM capacity and performance, as well asexplicit knowledge evidencing plan-based control.

People learn and use complex sequential actions on a daily basis, despite living in a high-dimensional environment andbody. Sequential action learning is sometimes studied in cognitive psychology using button-pressing tasks such as Nissenand Bullemers (1987) serial respone time (SRT) task. However, the SRT task only measures the speed of button presses,neglecting the richand difficult to controltrajectory of the arm, which can show predictive movements and other contextualeffects. In this study, we evolve neural networks to carry out a mouse-based SRT task under conditions of differingprediction uncertainty. We replicate behaviors found in a recent human experiment, and explore ramifications for humansequence learning.

Creative association is inherent and essential to creativity and insight. Here we utilised a Chinese compound Remote Associates Task (cRAT) to identify the potential impact of word order (i.e., solution position hereinafter) and word frequency on creative association across two behavioural experiments. Experiment 1 identified the effects of (a) word order and word frequency on cRAT-induced association without considering the specific strategies used during solving such problems and (b) their interaction not only on performance in solving the cRAT, including solution time and accuracy, but also on difficulty rating. Following a coarse-to-fine approach, Experiment 2 examined the effect of both factors on creative association determined according to each participant's trial-by-trial reports regarding insight solution strategies. Main effects of word order and word frequency, and a two-way interaction, were found on the accuracy and self-rated difficulty. These findings shed light on creative association, multiply-constrained problem solving and constructing compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: "Metacontrol" describes the ability to maintain an optimal balance between cognitive control styles that are either more persistent or more flexible. Recent studies have shown a link between metacontrol and aperiodic EEG patterns. The present study aimed to gain more insight into the neurobiological underpinnings of metacontrol by using methylphenidate (MPH), a compound known to increase postsynaptic catecholamine levels and modulate cortical noise. Methods: In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study design, we investigated the effect of MPH (0.5 mg/kg) on aperiodic EEG activity during a flanker task in a sample of n = 25 neurotypical adults. To quantify cortical noise, we employed the fitting oscillations and one over f algorithm. Results: Compared with placebo, MPH increased the aperiodic exponent, suggesting that it reduces cortical noise in 2 ways. First, it did so in a state-like fashion, as the main effect of the drug was visible and significant in both pre-trial and within-trial periods. Second, the electrode-specific analyses showed that the drug also affects specific processes by dampening the downregulation of noise in conditions requiring more control. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the aperiodic exponent provides a neural marker of metacontrol states and changes therein. Further, we propose that the effectiveness of medications targeting catecholaminergic signaling can be evaluated by studying changes of cortical noise, fostering the idea of using the quantification of cortical noise as an indicator in pharmacological treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During our everyday life, the constant flow of information is divided into discrete events, a process conceptualized in Event Segmentation Theory (EST). How people perform event segmentation and the resulting granularity of encapsulated segments likely depends on their metacontrol style. Yet, the underlying neural mechanisms remain undetermined. The current study examines how the metacontrol style affects event segmentation through the analysis of EEG data using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and source localization analysis. We instructed two groups of healthy participants to either segment a movie as fine‐grained as possible (fine‐grain group) or provided no such instruction (free‐segmentation group). The fine‐grain group showed more segments and a higher likelihood to set event boundaries upon scene changes, which supports the notion that cognitive control influences segmentation granularity. On a neural level, representational dynamics were decodable 400 ms prior to the decision to close a segment and open a new one, and especially fronto‐polar regions (BA10) were associated with this representational dynamic. Groups differed in their use of this representational dynamics to guide behavior and there was a higher sensitivity to incoming information in the Fine‐grain group. Moreover, a higher likelihood to set event boundaries was reflected by activity increases in the insular cortex suggesting an increased monitoring of potentially relevant upcoming events. The study connects the EST with the metacontrol framework and relates these to overarching neural concepts of prefrontal cortex function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do we trust each other? We carried out three experiments to test whether interpersonal trust depends on perceived self–other overlap. As previous studies suggest that enfacing (feeling ownership for, and include more into oneself of the face of) an avatar might make one trust this avatar more, we exposed participants to faces of ingroup and outgroup avatars that moved in synchrony or out of synchrony with the participant's own facial movements, and assessed the impact of synchrony on self–other overlap and trust measures. Experiment 1 used ingroup faces and successfully showed that synchrony (manipulated within-participants) increased self–other overlap and trust, which we assessed by means of the Trust Game and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). In Experiment 2, which used outgroup faces and a within-participants design, synchrony still increased scores in the Trust Game but the IAT was no longer affected. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 but with synchrony varying between participants, which eliminated the synchrony effect in both trust measures. Importantly, Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) ratings were found to predict the IAT effect in synchronous conditions. Taken altogether, our findings suggest that interpersonal trust is mainly driven by perceived self–other overlap. Besides group identification, appearance, and voluntary movement, synchrony is just one of several sources contributing to perceived self–other overlap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]