Date of Award

7-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Psychological Science

Program

Psychological Science (MS)

First Advisor/Chairperson

Joshua Carlson

Abstract

Empirical evidence has suggested a close relationship between human working memory capacity and cognitive control approaches. Proactive control refers to the anticipatory, sustainable maintenance of cognitive control process. However, the relationship between higher working memory capacity and the use of proactive cognitive control has been inconsistent. Understanding the neural bases would substantially expand our current understanding of cognitive control and working memory models. Specifically, the examination of P3b amplitude, part of the event-related potential, evoked by a cue would provide further understanding in neural mechanisms of cognitive control. The current study examined participants’ cognitive control approaches and their electrocortical activity using 64 channel high-density electroencephalography. Participants completed a N-back task followed by two versions of AX-CPT tasks in counterbalanced order. We hypothesized that overall higher P300 amplitude were found in AX-CPT interference task, regardless of individuals’ proactive control tendency. A significantly positive correlation between N back performance and P300 was also expected. We also hypothesized that based on AX-CPT interference task, P300 amplitude was significantly higher in individuals who tend to use proactive control compared to reactive control. We found significantly higher P300 in AX-CPT baseline task which was contrary to the hypothesis. No significantly positive correlation between N back performance and P300 was found. For AX-CPT interference task, no significant difference was found in individuals with proactive and reactive tendency. The implications of the research could fill the gap of neuroimaging studies in the correlation between individuals’ working memory and cognitive control in healthy young adults.

Access Type

Open Access

Additional Files
Conghao Gao.pdf (233 kB)
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