# Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control

> **NIH NIH R37** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $636,895

## Abstract

This project focuses on understanding the psychological and neural mechanisms that give rise to cognitive control.
Cognitive control processes are a component of human mental function that is fundamentally important in a wide range of
domains, including attention, working memory, episodic memory, and decision making. Cognitive control disruptions are
thought to be a major source of functional impairment for individuals suffering from a variety of mental health disorders and
neuropsychiatric diseases, which is why they feature prominently in the NIMH RDoC matrix. Over the last decade, we have
developed a theoretically coherent and mechanistic model, the Dual Mechanisms of Control (DMC) framework, which has
the following core tenets: 1) cognitive control can operate in distinct modes, proactive and reactive; 2) these modes are
associated with unique dynamic neural signatures, involving a shift between sustained and transient engagement of
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and its interactions with the cingulo-opercular network (CON) and fronto-striatal
circuitry; 3) they represent a core dimension of variability, present across a range of cognitive domains (i.e., indicating a
psychologically coherent construct); 4) this variability is both state-related (and thus affected by task/situation and
endogenous factors) and trait-related (a key component of individual variation); and 5) the variation encompasses cognitive
control function in healthy young adults, but also in more extreme forms, contributes to dysfunction present in various
impaired populations (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, ADHD, aging). Under a current MERIT award, we have been
directly testing these core tenets of the DMC framework, through a large-scale project, which samples monozygotic (MZ)
twin pairs and participants from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and to comprehensively characterize proactive and
reactive control at the behavioral, neural, and genetic levels. The current proposal takes full advantage of the extensive
infrastructure we have already developed for this project to dramatically expand its scope, explanatory depth, and utility to
the scientific community. Specifically, we propose a rigorous, multi-pronged study, that integrates our optimized cognitive
control task battery with mindfulness skills training (MT), a longitudinal design with repeated neuroimaging assessments,
comprehensive “neuro-psychometric” characterization of individual variation utilizing state-of-the-art analytic techniques,
and incorporation of current best practices (i.e., following Open Science Framework [OSF] recommendations), to maximize
the transparency, reproducibility, and ease of dissemination of project tools and findings. Success is in this effort will have
important theoretical and clinical implications, by providing a clearer understanding of the sources of normal human
variation, and even more importantly, highlighting potential risk vulnerability factors for a range of men...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10379086
- **Project number:** 5R37MH066078-19
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** TODD S BRAVER
- **Activity code:** R37 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $636,895
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-08-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10379086

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10379086, Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (5R37MH066078-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10379086. Licensed CC0.

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