Cognitive control mechanisms resolve conflict through cortical amplification of task-relevant information

Abstract

A prominent model of how the brain regulates attention proposes that the anterior cingulate cortex monitors the occurrence of conflict between incompatible response tendencies and signals this information to a cognitive control system in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Cognitive control is thought to resolve conflict through the attentional biasing of perceptual processing, emphasizing task-relevant stimulus information. It is not known, however, whether conflict resolution is mediated by amplifying neural representations of task-relevant information, inhibiting representations of task-irrelevant information, or both. Here we manipulated trial-by-trial levels of conflict and control during a Stroop task using face stimuli, while recording hemodynamic responses from human visual cortex specialized for face processing. We show that, in response to high conflict, cognitive control mechanisms enhance performance by transiently amplifying cortical responses to task-relevant information rather than by inhibiting responses to task-irrelevant information. These results implicate attentional target-feature amplification as the primary mechanism for conflict resolution through cognitive control.

Are neurocognitive factors associated with repetition of self-harm? A systematic review

“…Cognitive control is a set of flexible and adaptive brain processes, which come into play when we engage in intentional actions, as opposed to unintentional and inflexible automatic brain processes (Egner and Hirsch, 2005). Cognitive tasks designed to explore an individual's cognitive control aim to simultaneously activate automatic and conscious responses to the same stimulus, which depending on the situation may give rise to a conflict in that individual (Cona et al, 2016;Lu and Proctor, 1995).…”

On the functions, mechanisms, and malfunctions of intracortical contextual modulation

“…Neuroimaging studies of people performing the Stroop task indicate that cognitive control mechanisms in pre-frontal cortex enhance performance by transiently amplifying cortical responses to relevant information in perceptual areas (Egner and Hirsch, 2005). Though there is still debate over how best to interpret cortical signals recorded during Stroop tasks, such findings suggest that attentional amplification of relevant features may be involved in the cognitive control exerted by prefrontal cortex.…”

Dissociating perception from action during conscious and unconscious conflict adaptation.

“…Selective adaptation of perceptual congruency effects was also demonstrated in the neuroimaging study of Egner and Hirsch (2005). Using a face-word Stroop task, these authors found that the fusiform face area (FFA; i.e., the visual area specialized in face processing) was more activated during incongruent trials following incongruent trials than incongruent trials following congruent trials.…”

“…The perceptual dissimilarity between the prime and target might have caused more interference in this experiment due to the absence of a metacontrast mask. In turn, this higher perceptual conflict in the previous trial might have increased the need for reducing it in the current trial, possibly through a mechanism of attentional amplification to target task-relevant features (Egner & Hirsch, 2005).…”