I think this is a neuroscience/cogntive science concept, I found that : "Cognitive control enables appropriate action selection according to stimuli, but also present context or past cues, while taking our internal goals into account. Cognitive control and learning are profoundly and reciprocally linked. On one side, cognitive control requires that a repertoire of behaviors be learnt, as well as their values in different conditions, for appropriate use. On the other side, cognitive control is needed for learning of a repertoire of behaviors, notably to regulate the exploration-exploitation trade-off, but also to generalize, decide to switch, infer a structure in a problem, etc. . ..Thus, cognitive control and learning are strongly linked in the flexibility that characterizes human prefrontal executive function." (Learning and cognitive control : a computational theory of human prefrontal executive function, Anne Collins, 2010) -- etc. "The model may be used in functional imaging studies to understand computations executed in the brain, with prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine as main points of interest. " (ibid.)

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001293

Dear Annie,

Most papers I red about this topic refer to cognitive control as the ability to monitor the performance on a specific task and outcome, while adjusting according to the perceptual information and attention bias on task specific information.

I added some papers I used as references.

Lawrence

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v8/n12/full/nn1594.html

http://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/lavielab/reprints/lavie-etal-04.pdf

http://drsmorey.org/bibtex/upload/Botvinick:etal:2001.pdf

Article The Role of the Medial Frontal Cortex in Cognitive Control

University of California at Davis say, " "Cognitive control" is a construct from contemporary cognitive neuroscience that refers to processes that allow information processing and behavior to vary adaptively from moment to moment depending on current goals, rather than remaining rigid and inflexible. Cognitive control processes include a broad class of mental operations including goal or context representation and maintenance, and strategic processes such as attention allocation and stimulus-response mapping. Cognitive control is associated with a wide range of processes and is not restricted to a particular cognitive domain. For example, the presence of impairments in cognitive control functions may be associated with specific deficits in attention, memory, language comprehension and emotional processing. Given its pervasive influence, impaired cognitive control could account for many of the widespread impairments exhibited by people with schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders. " I find a interesting connect with autistic children that are highly functional - in fact gifted in some areas yet lack social skills and social awareness.

Thanks. Does the term "cognitive control" have a use in the mathematics education research literature?

There is so much written about cognitive control in elementary mathematics education: ttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Steven_Thorne/publication/222416020_Rising_mean_IQ_Cognitive_demand_of_mathematics_education_for_young_children_population_exposure_to_formal_schooling_and_the_neurobiology_of_the_prefrontal_cortex/links/02e7e51ba0ce5e843b000000.pdf

https://www.uni-trier.de/.../DeSmedtEtAl2011.pdf

There is even more about cognitive control  and the connection between mathematics and bi-lingual students' thinking.

Article Rising Mean IQ: Cognitive Demand of Mathematics Education fo...

In my research, cognitive control is most of the time supported by selective attention, focussed attention, and divided attention where frontal executive functions are exercises. My papers  will be useful to answer your questions: see  my list with the following key words: Luria-Nebraska battery, neuropsychological... attention...selective attention, focussed attention, divided attention, attentional strategy.  Best regards: Jacinthe Baribeau ( Ph.D. director, senior scientist, professor). and also my paper that I also authored as ''J. Baribeau-Braun''.

Dear Annie,

It is interesting how divergent thinking is seen by some to be a source of creativity whilst others see it as a sign of being distracted. I was talking to a sculptor recently who told me that his approach to research was the same as his approach to art: he reads a lot a disassociated articles then somehow a new idea emerges in his consciousness without the need to search for it. He has come up with a technique that is showing amazing results with severe Alzheimer's patients.

What does this mean for mathematics education, I hear you ask. Alan Schoenfeld talks about controlling the limited conceptual and procedural knowledge that you have in order to achieve a better outcome in a problem solving context. In the modern world mathematicians increasingly need to be able to work in multidisciplinary teams so a narrow view of control and creativity is unhelpful.

We need to stimulate all aspects of our cognition so that we can achieve better results together.