Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium

Mark D'Esposito, Professor, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

The Neural Architecture of Cognitive Control: From Bench to Bedside

A fundamental question in cognitive neuroscience is how we can flexibly guide our behavior. Cognitive control involves the interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes. Bottom-up processes are responsible for guiding automatic behavior and are influenced by sensory input, whereas top-down processes are shaped by internal states like knowledge from previous experiences, intentions, and goals. In this talk, I will share a series of human studies that utilize diverse approaches to explore the neural mechanisms responsible for cognitive control. Furthermore, I will discuss potential strategies for remediating cognitive control deficits that are observed in a wide range of clinical conditions.