A Formal Approach to Modeling the Cost of Cognitive Control

Kayhan Özcimder, Biswadip Dey, Sebastian Musslick, Giovanni Petri, Nesreen K. Ahmed, Theodore L. Willke, Jonathan D. Cohen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper introduces a formal method to model the level of demand on control when executing cognitive processes. The cost of cognitive control is parsed into an intensity cost which encapsulates how much additional input information is required so as to get the specified response, and an interaction cost which encapsulates the level of interference between individual processes in a network. We develop a formal relationship between the probability of successful execution of desired processes and the control signals (additive control biases). This relationship is also used to specify optimal control policies to achieve a desired probability of activation for processes. We observe that there are boundary cases when finding such control policies which leads us to introduce the interaction cost. We show that the interaction cost is influenced by the relative strengths of individual processes, as well as the directionality of the underlying competition between processes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Subtitle of host publicationComputational Foundations of Cognition
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages895-900
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780991196760
StatePublished - 2017
Event39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: Jul 26 2017Jul 29 2017

Publication series

NameCogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition

Conference

Conference39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period7/26/177/29/17

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

  • cognitive control
  • identity
  • intensity
  • multi-tasking

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Formal Approach to Modeling the Cost of Cognitive Control'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this