Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Cognitive Control

Cognitive control is the set of mental processes that enable goal-directed regulation of thought and behaviour, allowing an individual to override automatic or habitual responses, resist distraction, and flexibly adapt actions to changing demands. Often equated with executive function, it comprises core components i…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 8 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 22× across the literature 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

Cognitive control is the set of mental processes that enable goal-directed regulation of thought and behaviour, allowing an individual to override automatic or habitual responses, resist distraction, and flexibly adapt actions to changing demands. Often equated with executive function, it comprises core components including inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, which together support planning, decision-making, and the management of complex tasks. Cognitive control is supported by distributed brain networks, particularly the prefrontal cortex and its interactions with parietal, cingulate, and subcortical regions, and its operation can be measured through behavioural conflict tasks and through neuroimaging of functional connectivity. Resting-state and task-based connectivity studies indicate that the configuration of these networks predicts an individual's capacity to resolve conflict, including emotional conflict, and that the emotional validity of stimuli modulates control processes. Cognitive control develops through childhood and adolescence and changes with ageing, and it can be influenced by interventions: combined cognitive and aerobic training has been examined for its effects on working memory and executive function in older adults, while neurofeedback approaches are explored in conditions such as autism spectrum disorder. Impairments are implicated in disorders ranging from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to dementia and in maladaptive decision-making. Understanding its mechanisms is therefore central to cognitive neuroscience, psychophysiology, and the design of interventions to enhance self-regulation.

Research published in this journal

8 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 8 articles above have been cited 22 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Cognitive Control, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Psychophysiology Practice and Research.

Journal editorial board
Parsa Ravanfar · United States Rossella Di Monaco · Italy Volker Zschorlich · Germany

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.