by Prof. John Duncan, University of Cambridge
When: 1 October 2026 at 3:00 pm
Where: Sala Seminari VIMM (Fondazione per la Ricerca Biomedica Avanzata Onlus, Via Orus 2, Padova)
Abstract: One classical approach to cognitive control seeks abstract control functions (e.g. inhibition, set switching), perhaps associated with specific coarse regions of the frontal lobe. I suggest that this way of posing the problem is mistaken. Behaviour is directed by a whole-brain model of the current situation, with many parts integrated into their correct roles and relationships. At the heart of this integration is the brain’s multiple-demand (MD) system, with components closely connected, but widely distributed across the cortex and associated subcortical nuclei. Information feeds into and out of this system through strong local connections with many brain networks; interconnectivity between MD regions supports integration. For different cognitive activities, this pattern of connectivity creates a picture of broad co-recruitment of MD regions, associated with local quantitative variations linked to different, more specialised brain networks. This picture will be illustrated by detailed activity patterns for three classical control functions – updating, switching and inhibition – and electrophysiological data from monkeys solving a spatial maze. Classical approaches to control, I suggest, should be discarded in favour of a whole-brain approach to construction and use of mental models.