title: Parallel temporal dynamics in hierarchical cognitive control.
abstract: Cognitive control allows us to follow abstract rules in order to choose appropriate responses given our desired outcomes. Cognitive control is often conceptualized as a hierarchical decision process, wherein decisions made at higher, more abstract levels of control asymmetrically influence lower-level decisions. These influences could evolve sequentially across multiple levels of a hierarchical decision, consistent with much prior evidence for central bottlenecks and seriality in decision-making processes. However, here, we show that multiple levels of hierarchical cognitive control are processed primarily in parallel. Human participants selected responses to stimuli using a complex, multiply contingent (third order) rule structure. A response deadline procedure allowed assessment of the accuracy and timing of decisions made at each level of the hierarchy. In contrast to a serial decision process, error rates across levels of the decision mostly declined simultaneously and at identical rates, with only a slight tendency to complete the highest level decision first. Simulations with a biologically plausible neural network model demonstrate how such parallel processing could emerge from a previously developed hierarchically nested frontostriatal architecture. Our results support a parallel processing model of cognitive control, in which uncertainty on multiple levels of a decision is reduced simultaneously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, 190 Thayer St., Providence, RI 02912, United States; Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and Emory University, 1920 Briarcliff Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States. Electronic address: carolyn_ranti@alumni.brown.edu.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ranti
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, 190 Thayer St., Providence, RI 02912, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chatham
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, 190 Thayer St., Providence, RI 02912, United States; Brown Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Box 1953, 2 Stimson Ave, Providence, RI 02912, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Badre
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009415:Nerve Net; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Basal ganglia; Computational model; Executive function; Prefrontal cortex; Serial vs. parallel