Traditionally, cognition and emotion are seen as separate domains that are independent
at best and in competition at worst. The French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal
(1623–1662) famously said “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point”
(The heart has its reasons that reason does not know). Consistent with this quote,
many studies in the past have underscored dissociable effects and non-overlapping
brain structures of affect and cognition during the control and monitoring of goal-directed
behavior (e.g., Bush et al., 2000). Over the last century, however, psychologists
and neuroscientists have increasingly appreciated strong reciprocal connections and
interactions between cognition and emotion. Initially this was demonstrated in cognitive
functions such as perception, attention, learning, memory and decision-making. For
instance, an emotional stimulus can alter low-level visual perception (e.g., Bocanegra
and Zeelenberg, 2009), and it can capture attention (e.g., Anderson and Phelps, 2001).
Likewise, emotional stimuli are better learned and remembered than neutral ones (e.g.,
McGaugh, 1990) and they can provide strong incentives to bias decision-making (Bechara
et al., 1997).
Hence, the independent or competitive view is gradually being replaced by an interactive
view. Currently, we focus on interactions of emotion and motivation with cognitive
control. Empirical articles and review papers included in this Research Topic timely
reveal the extent of overlap and synergistic effects between cognitive control and
a wide range of affective processes, both in the normal adult brain, as well as in
specific (pathological) conditions, best characterized by either poor or unripe prefrontal-based
executive functions as well as impaired affective processes.
Broadly speaking, the original contributions included in this Research Topic tackle
one (or more) out of three possible topics. The first and most represented consists
of the influence of emotion on cognitive control. Krypotos et al. (2011) focus on
the effect of individual differences in emotion regulation, measured by heart rate
variability, on response inhibition. van Steenbergen et al. (2011) demonstrate attentional
focusing after the presentation of negative pictures. Stürmer et al. (2011) discuss
the effect of reward on conflict adaptation. Ridderinkhof et al. (2012) showed that
positive affect restored decision learning in patients with Parkinson's disease. Reeck
and Egner (2011) demonstrated that irrelevant emotional information distracts more
than non-emotional information, supporting affective prioritization in human information
processing. Demanet et al. (2011) study the effect of affective stimuli on voluntary
task switching. Cavanagh et al. (2011) show that depression is associated with larger
error (ERN) signals, suggesting an influence of motivational state on early error
processing. Danielmeier and Ullsperger (2011) study the effect of errors (motivationally
salient events) on post-error processing. Finally, Chiew and Braver (2011) review
the influences of motivational state on early error processing.
In the second category, papers establish a conceptual or anatomical common substrate
for cognitive control and emotion. Lowe and Ziemke (2011) endorse a perspective in
which emotions are predictions of action tendencies. Aarts et al. (2011) review the
literature supporting the hypothesis that (striatal) dopamine regulates the interaction
between (appetitive) motivation and cognition. Mushtaq et al. (2011) look at similarities
between uncertainty and cognitive control. Mueller (2011) reviews the developmental
trajectories of cognitive and emotion control during adolescence. Berggren et al.
(2011) emphasize the link between trait-related distractibility in healthy adults
and their performance in standard cognitive tasks. Tops and Boksem (2011, 2012) propose
that there are two cognitive control systems (one ventral and one dorsal), both of
which are partially cognitive and partially affective. Su et al. (2011) propose the
glance-look model, specifying how affect and cognitive control interact to produce
the attentional blink.
In the third category, a relatively modest number of papers look at the influence
of cognitive control on emotion. Krämer et al. (2011) demonstrate a correlation between
cognitive control and aggression, suggesting an influence of the former on inhibiting
the latter. The paper by Schmidt et al. (2011) reviews the effect of cognitive control
on inhibition of thoughts for (being able to) sleep. Paret et al. (2011) demonstrate
how cognitive control plays an important role in complex affective processes, such
as emotion regulation and the reappraisal of our emotional life. Huizenga et al. (2012)
investigate how repeated application of cognitive control influences motivational
processing. Finally, the paper by Danielmeier and Ullsperger (2011) investigates the
aftereffects of making an error.
In all, the main contribution of this special issue is to highlight similarities and
reciprocal influences between cognitive control and emotion. Rather than separate
modules, the papers gathered in this special issue concur in suggesting that emotion
and cognitive control are two sides of the same coin, as they both contribute, through
synergistic effects, to the optimization of behavior. As such, this special issue
emphasizes the need to move beyond the classical division or dichotomy between cognitive
control and emotion in order to model and account for human goal-directed behavior
across various tasks and situations.