Exploring our ability to switch between focus and flexibility

In our modern, digitalised society, we are faced with a fundamental challenge: how do we balance maintaining a stable focus and concentration while flexibly navigating the many demands placed on us?

Meta-control is the key to solving this dilemma. It is our ability to manage and regulate when to be flexible or stay focussed.

‘Our meta-control is rarely perfect, and we all experience being trapped in a Facebook feed or being so distracted that we can't concentrate on reading a book,’ says Anders Petersen, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology.

‘At the same time, we know that meta-control can be affected when we are too tired or too excited – when our arousal is not optimal,’ he elaborates.

Neural model to provide answers

Arousal is a measure of alertness, receptivity to sensory input and readiness to respond to stimuli. However, it is still unclear exactly how arousal affects our meta-control. Anders Petersen wants to unravel this question in a new research project.

‘We will develop a new psychological neural network model that accounts for the underlying perceptual and neural processes associated with meta-control and show how these processes are affected by changing arousal levels,’ he explains.

The project includes a series of experiments that challenge meta-control in healthy subjects while manipulating their arousal levels and recording their behaviour and brain activity.

‘We combine principles from rigorous mathematical models of perception with dynamic neural network models of control. We expect to achieve a synergy that will improve our understanding of meta-control and arousal under changing conditions,’ says Anders Petersen.

The project, called ‘The Cognitive Control and Flexibility Project (CoCoFlex)’, is supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark with DKK 3.2 million.