Kopp Bruno, Al-Hafez Bilal, Steinke Alexander
Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Brain Sci. 2023 Jun 6;13(6):919. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13060919.
Wisconsin card-sorting tasks provide unique opportunities to study cognitive flexibility and its limitations, which express themselves behaviorally as perseverative errors (PE). PE refer to those behavioral errors on Wisconsin card-sorting tasks that are committed when cognitive rules are maintained even though recently received outcomes demand to switch to other rules (i.e., cognitive perseveration). We explored error-suppression effects (ESE) across three Wisconsin card-sorting studies. ESE refer to the phenomenon that PE are reduced on repetitive trials compared to non-repetitive trials. We replicated ESE in all three Wisconsin card-sorting studies. Study 1 revealed that non-associative accounts of ESE, in particular the idea that cognitive inhibition may account for them, are not tenable. Study 2 suggested that models of instrumental learning are among the most promising associative accounts of ESE. Instrumental learning comprises goal-directed control and the formation of corresponding associative memories over and above the formation of habitual memories according to dual-process models of instrumental learning. Study 3 showed that cognitive, rather than motor, representations of responses should be conceptualized as elements entering goal-directed instrumental memories. Collectively, the results imply that ESE on Wisconsin card-sorting tasks are not only a highly replicable phenomenon, but they also indicate that ESE provide an opportunity to study cognitive mechanisms of goal-directed instrumental control. Based on the reported data, we present a novel theory of cognitive perseveration (i.e., the 'oal-directed nstrumental ontrol' GIC model), which is outlined in the Concluding Discussion.
威斯康星卡片分类任务为研究认知灵活性及其局限性提供了独特的机会，这些局限性在行为上表现为持续性错误（PE）。PE是指在威斯康星卡片分类任务中，即使最近得到的结果要求切换到其他规则（即认知固着），认知规则仍被维持时所犯的那些行为错误。我们在三项威斯康星卡片分类研究中探讨了错误抑制效应（ESE）。ESE是指与非重复试验相比，重复试验中PE减少的现象。我们在所有三项威斯康星卡片分类研究中都复制了ESE。研究1表明，ESE的非联想性解释，特别是认知抑制可能是其原因的观点，是站不住脚的。研究2表明，工具性学习模型是ESE最有前景的联想性解释之一。根据工具性学习的双过程模型，工具性学习包括目标导向控制以及除了习惯性记忆形成之外相应联想记忆的形成。研究3表明，反应的认知表征而非运动表征应被概念化为进入目标导向工具性记忆的元素。总体而言，结果表明威斯康星卡片分类任务中的ESE不仅是一种高度可重复的现象，而且还表明ESE为研究目标导向工具性控制的认知机制提供了一个机会。基于所报告的数据，我们提出了一种关于认知固着的新理论（即“目标导向工具性控制”GIC模型），该模型在结论讨论中进行了概述。
