Irrelevant visual details interfere with decisions under uncertainty, brain research shows
Researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered that uncertainty during task-switching increases the brain's susceptibility to irrelevant visual distractions. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggests that cognitive flexibility declines as the brain struggles to filter out noise when rules change.
Why it matters
Understanding the neural mechanisms of cognitive flexibility could lead to better treatments for age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Add as preferred source A visual summary of the team's study and their findings. Credit: A combination of hand drawn illustrations, data plots and AI generated content. Cognitive flexibility, the ability to adjust one's way of thinking or behavior as a situation changes, is known to gradually decline with age or due to some conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and substance use disorders. One aspect of cognitive flexibility is being able to switch between different tasks without becoming distracted and losing focus.
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