Conflicts as Aversive Signals for Control Adaptation

The dynamic adaptation of cognitive control in the face of competition from conflicting response tendencies is one of the hallmarks of flexible human action control. Here, we suggest an alternative framework that places conflicttriggered control adaptation into the broader context of affect regulation. Specifically, we review evidence showing that (a) conflicts are inherently aversive, that (b) aversive stimuli in the absence of conflict also trigger behavioral adjustments, and, finally, that (c) conflict stimuli do trigger processes of affective counter-regulation. Together with recent findings showing that conflict-triggered control adaptation depends on the subjective experience of the conflict, we suggest that it is the subjective aversive conflict experience that originally motivates control adaptations. Such a view offers new perspectives for investigating and understanding intra- and interindividual differences in the regulation of cognitive control by differentiating between the individual sensitivity to experience and the individual ability to utilize the aversive signal

Sampling motif-constrained ensembles of networks

The statistical significance of network properties is conditioned on null models which satisfy spec- ified properties but that are otherwise random. Exponential random graph models are a principled theoretical framework to generate such constrained ensembles, but which often fail in practice, either due to model inconsistency, or due to the impossibility to sample networks from them. These problems affect the important case of networks with prescribed clustering coefficient or number of small connected subgraphs (motifs). In this paper we use the Wang-Landau method to obtain a multicanonical sampling that overcomes both these problems. We sample, in polynomial time, net- works with arbitrary degree sequences from ensembles with imposed motifs counts. Applying this method to social networks, we investigate the relation between transitivity and homophily, and we quantify the correlation between different types of motifs, finding that single motifs can explain up to 60% of the variation of motif profiles.Comment: Updated version, as published in the journal. 7 pages, 5 figures, one Supplemental Materia

Contact Decision Behaviour in a Knowledge Context. A Discrete Choice Modelling Approach Using Stated Preference Data

Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Telecommunication Media Choice Behaviour in Academia: An Austrian-Swiss Comparison

Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Barriers to Communication: Reflections on Methodological Approaches

Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Scholarly Communication in Europe. Stated Communication Media Choice and Contact Decision Models Based on Laboratory Choice Experiments In Universities

Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Communication Media Choice Behaviour in a University Setting: A Conceptual Framework and Some Empirical Tests

Series: Discussion Papers of the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScienc

Bilingualism and Creativity: Benefits in Convergent Thinking Come with Losses in Divergent Thinking

Bilingualism is commonly assumed to improve creativity but the mechanisms underlying creative acts, and the way these mechanisms are affected by bilingualism, are not very well understood. We hypothesize that learning to master multiple languages drives individuals toward a relatively focused cognitive-control state that exerts strong top-down impact on information processing and creates strong local competition for selection between cognitive codes. Considering the control requirements posed by creativity tasks tapping into convergent and divergent thinking, this predicts that high-proficient bilinguals should outperform low-proficient bilinguals in convergent thinking, while low-proficient bilinguals might be better in divergent thinking. Comparing low- and high-proficient bilinguals on convergent-thinking and divergent-thinking tasks indeed showed a high-proficient bilingual advantage for convergent thinking but a low-proficient bilingual advantage for fluency in divergent thinking. These findings suggest that bilingualism should not be related to “creativity” as a unitary concept but, rather, to the specific processes and mechanisms that underlie creativity

Conflicts as Aversive Signals for Control Adaptation

The dynamic adaptation of cognitive control in the face of competition from conflicting response tendencies is one of the hallmarks of flexible human action control. Here, we suggest an alternative framework that places conflict-triggered control adaptation into the broader context of affect regulation. Specifically, we review evidence showing that (a) conflicts are inherently aversive, that (b) aversive stimuli in the absence of conflict also trigger behavioral adjustments, and, finally, that (c) conflict stimuli do trigger processes of affective counter-regulation. Together with recent findings showing that conflict-triggered control adaptation depends on the subjective experience of the conflict, we suggest that it is the subjective aversive conflict experience that originally motivates control adaptations. Such a view offers new perspectives for investigating and understanding intra- and interindividual differences in the regulation of cognitive control by differentiating between the individual sensitivity to experience and the individual ability to utilize the aversive signal

Efficient multitasking: parallel versus serial processing of multiple tasks

In the context of performance optimizations in multitasking, a central debate has unfolded in multitasking research around whether cognitive processes related to different tasks proceed only sequentially (one at a time), or can operate in parallel (simultaneously). This review features a discussion of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence regarding parallel versus serial task processing in multitasking. In addition, we highlight how methodological differences and theoretical conceptions determine the extent to which parallel processing in multitasking can be detected, to guide their employment in future research. Parallel and serial processing of multiple tasks are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, questions focusing exclusively on either task-processing mode are too simplified. We review empirical evidence and demonstrate that shifting between more parallel and more serial task processing critically depends on the conditions under which multiple tasks are performed. We conclude that efficient multitasking is reflected by the ability of individuals to adjust multitasking performance to environmental demands by flexibly shifting between different processing strategies of multiple task-component scheduling