The recruitment dynamics of cognitive control in insomnia

Insomnia patients report severe deficits in cognitive functioning. However, both
behavioral and neurological research on these complaints remains remarkable
scarce and inconclusive. The Dual Mechanisms of Control [12,13] theory proposes
that reduced cognitive efficiency might be caused by changes in the temporal
dynamics of the neural recruitment of cognitive control mechanisms. Cognitive
control reflects our ability to plan a new strategy, evaluate it, control its execution
and correct possible errors. More specifically, it is hypothesized that insomnia
patients have difficulty maintaining task goals to anticipate and prevent interference
before it occurs. Based on this theory, we use a more dynamic approach in the
current project in order to shed light on how insomniacs recruit cognitive control and
under which circumstances its efficiency fails. Furthermore, our project aims to
explore whether these biased patterns of neural activation are reversible and can be
trained. By incorporating a cognitive strategy training, we will examine whether a
shift towards a more efficient cognitive control recruitment can be established in
insomniacs. With this project we aim to increase our understanding of the
recruitment dynamics of cognitive control in insomniacs and its flexibility.
Consequently, these insights can provide promising indications with regards to
cognitive interventions in clinical practice.