The impact of cognitive control demands on subsequent memory performance

The purpose of this project is to investigate how cognitive control demands at encoding influence subsequent memory performance. This provides new insights into the cognitive control processes invoked by cognitive conflict. Towards this goal, we manipulate the amount and the type of conflict. For example, we use a task switching paradigm in a study phase in which the participants carry out two classification tasks on different stimuli. In a subsequent memory test, we compare performance for switch and repetition trials, with the assumption that switch trials involves a conflict that has to be processed under higher cognitive control demands than repeat trials. The results show that in the study phase, the conflict stimuli produce performance costs. In the test phase, subsequent memory is typically lower for conflict stimuli compared to non-conflict stimuli. Thus, higher cognitive control demands at encoding are typically associated with lower subsequent memory performance. However, the specific effects depend on the type of conflict and also on the duration of the study-test interval. This research provides a new view on the nature of the impact of “cognitive control”