The short-term and long-term dynamics of context-specific adaptations of cognitive control

Goal-oriented behaviour is characterized in particular by the ability to flexibly adapt cognitive control and attention to contextual circumstances. Research into such contextual adaptations makes particular use of the so-called context-specific proportion congruency (CSPC) effect and has shown great progress in recent years. However, this progress is currently being questioned from two sides: First, it is doubted that the present findings on contextual adaptations are linked to cognitive control at all, and second, it is doubted whether contextual adaptations reflect a flexible mechanism or whether they themselves may in turn lead to inflexibility in the long run.

In the present project, we aim to resolve these doubts by examining contextual adaptations for their underlying processes and mechanisms. In the first part of the project, we investigate to what extent contextual adaptations are conditioned by cognitive control and by stimulus-response contingencies - the alternative explanation. In the second part, we investigate the long-term consequences of contextual adaptations and how these adaptations interact with additional contextual demands.

In doing so, we follow an approach that focuses on two time scales: On a short-term scale, we investigate contextual adaptations using continuous-time methods, in particular mouse tracking and EEG frequency tagging. On a long-term scale, we investigate the costs and potentials of contextual adaptations by examining these adaptations over multiple sessions and by combining different contexts.

With this approach, we aim for an explanation of contextual adaptations that goes beyond the simplistic mutual exclusion of cognitive control and alternative mechanisms and provides a differentiated picture of the positive and negative effects of contextual adaptations. Thus, the project contributes to a more detailed explanation of contextual adaptation on a process and mechanism level.