Domain specificity versus generality of cognitive control processes

Ascertain whether cognitive control processes and abilities are domain specific or domain general across tasks and contexts.

Background

The review notes that theories of cognitive control differ in whether they posit a domain-general set of mechanisms or multiple domain-specific processes. This distinction has implications for how control is measured, trained, and mapped onto neural systems.

Resolving this question would sharpen predictions about transfer across tasks, inform targeted interventions, and clarify how brain networks support control across diverse cognitive domains.

References

Although much progress has been made towards characterizing cognitive control at multiple levels of analysis, many open questions remain. At present, working descriptions of cognitive control make different assumptions about what behaviors to focus on, the kinds of processes or representations involved, and how neural substrates instantiate control processes and representations. As such, questions remain about the goals and behaviors that exemplify "good" cognitive control, whether control processes and abilities are domain specific vs. domain general, and whether and how neural systems implement putative processes and mental representations.

— Neural dynamics of cognitive control: Current tensions and future promise  (2511.02063 - Zhou et al., 3 Nov 2025) in Introduction