Uncertainty and Cognitive Control

Mushtaq, F.; Bland, A.R.; Schaefer, A.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00249

Uncertainty and Cognitive Control

Mushtaq, F.; Bland, A.R.; Schaefer, A.

Authors

F. Mushtaq

A.R. Bland

A. Schaefer

Abstract

A growing trend of neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational research has investigated the topic of outcome uncertainty in decision-making. Although evidence to date indicates that humans are very effective in learning to adapt to uncertain situations, the nature of the specific cognitive processes involved in the adaptation to uncertainty are still a matter of debate. In this article, we reviewed evidence suggesting that cognitive control processes are at the heart of uncertainty in decision-making contexts. Available evidence suggests that: (1) There is a strong conceptual overlap between the constructs of uncertainty and cognitive control; (2) There is a remarkable overlap between the neural networks associated with uncertainty and the brain networks subserving cognitive control; (3) The perception and estimation of uncertainty might play a key role in monitoring processes and the evaluation of the “need for control”; (4) Potential interactions between uncertainty and cognitive control might play a significant role in several affective disorders.

Citation

Mushtaq, F., Bland, A., & Schaefer, A. (2011). Uncertainty and Cognitive Control. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, Article 249. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00249

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 11, 2011
Online Publication Date	Oct 3, 2011
Publication Date	Oct 3, 2011
Deposit Date	Sep 11, 2011
Publicly Available Date	Sep 17, 2015
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Print ISSN	1664-1078
Publisher	Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	2
Article Number	249
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00249
Keywords	Uncertainty, Cognitive control, Executive function, Emotion, Volatility, Ambiguity, Monitoring, Motivation.

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Copyright Statement
© 2011 Mushtaq, Bland and Schaefer. This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.