Automaticity and inhibition in action planning

Automaticity and inhibition in action planning

We question the generalizability of Glover’s model because it fails to distinguish between different forms of planning. The highly controlled experimental situations on which this model is based, do not reflect some important factors that contribute to planning. We discuss several classes of action that seem to imply distinct planning mechanisms, questioning Glover’s postulation of a single “pl...

Automaticity and Emotion 1 Automaticity and Emotion

Action mirroring and action understanding in children

The past decade has experienced an increasing interest in action underestanding and children’s mirroring of others’ behavior. Behavioral investigations have focused on the development and significance of mimicry, goal prediction and imitation. Others have focused on the neural basis of action mirroring, identifying particular electrophysiological markers or related brain regions. A vivid debate...

Planning in Action: Interactivity Improves Planning Performance

Planning is an everyday activity that is extended in time and space, yet is frequently studied in the absence of interactivity. Successful planning relies on an array of executive functions including self-control. We investigated the effects of interactivity and self-control on planning using a sequential-task paradigm. Half of the participants first completed a video-viewing task requiring sel...

Planning and inhibition in corvids

Executive functions (EF) denote the host of top-down mental processes that mediate self-regulation to achieve a goal. Among other things, EF support cognitive flexibility by allowing inhibition of automatic responses in favour of obtaining future goals. Corvids, the bird group that is comprised of ravens, crows and jays, are distinguished by their cognitive flexibility. This thesis investigates...