Towards a neurocomputational account of meta-control based on Bayesian inference in a context-specific hierarchy of time scales (A09)

• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178833530

The computational mechanisms by which cognitive control processes are adapted to changing demands in dynamic and uncertain environments (e.g., to focus attention on a task versus to monitor the environment for unexpected changes) are insufficiently understood. Project A09 conceives of meta-control as a Bayesi-an inference problem and plans to develop a ‘hierarchical active inference’ model of meta-control and to test it in behavioral and fMRI studies using novel sequential decision-making tasks. The aim is to advance the theoretical framework of the CRC by developing a computational model of meta-control that provides a mechanistic account of context-sensitive control adjustments at different time-scales.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 940: Volition and Cognitive Control: Mechanisms, Modulators and Dysfunctions
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Dresden
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Thomas Goschke; Professor Dr. Stefan Kiebel