Electrophysiological and behavioral indices of cognitive conflict processing across adolescence

Abstract

Cognitive control enables goal-oriented adaptation to a fast-changing environment and has a protracted development spanning into young adulthood. The neurocognitive processes underlying this development are poorly understood. In a cross-sectional sample of participants 8–19 years old (n = 108), we used blind source separation of EEG data recorded in a Flanker task to derive electrophysiological measures of attention and conflict processing, including a N2-like frontal negative component and a P3-like parietal positive component. Outside the recording session, we examined multiple behavioral measures of interference control derived from the Flanker, Stroop, and Anti-saccade tasks. We found a positive association between age and P3 amplitude, but no relationship between age and N2 amplitude. A stronger N2 was age-independently related to better performance on Stroop and Anti-saccade measures of interference control. A Gratton effect was found on the Flanker task, with slower reaction times on current congruent and better accuracy on current incongruent trials when preceded by incongruent as opposed to congruent trials. The Gratton effect on accuracy was positively associated with age. Together, the findings suggest a multifaceted developmental pattern of the neurocognitive processes involved in conflict processing across adolescence, with a more protracted development of the P3 compared to the N2.

Midfrontal theta oscillations and conflict monitoring in children and adults

“…Besides midfrontal theta power, conflict monitoring has been probed through event-related potentials, especially the N2. This component corresponds to a frontocentral negative deflection that is generated in the ACC and shows larger amplitudes on incongruent than congruent trials in the flanker task in both adolescents and adults (e.g., Erb & Cavanagh, 2019;Groom & Cragg, 2015;Overbye et al, 2021). In children, however, N2 findings are much less clear.…”

“…Some studies have reported a pronounced N2 congruency effect in children (Grützmann et al, 2021;Hadley et al, 2020;Johnstone & Galletta, 2013;Overbye et al, 2021), but others have shown no effect or a much-reduced effect before preadolescence (Abundis-Gutiérrez et al, 2014;Checa et al, 2014;Reuter et al, 2019;Rueda et al, 2004), making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about conflict monitoring efficiency at that age. In contrast, a congruency effect is consistently observed for the P3 across development (e.g., Johnstone & Galletta, 2013;Overbye et al, 2021;Rueda et al, 2004). The P3 is a later-occurring centroparietal positivity, which is associated with the frontoparietal network and reflects effortful/attentional processing of the target, that is, how much top-down control is implemented to resolve conflict (e.g., Erb & Cavanagh, 2019;Groom & Cragg, 2015;Johnstone & Galletta, 2013).…”

“…In children, however, N2 findings are much less clear. Some studies have reported a pronounced N2 congruency effect in children (Grützmann et al, 2021;Hadley et al, 2020;Johnstone & Galletta, 2013;Overbye et al, 2021), but others have shown no effect or a much-reduced effect before preadolescence (Abundis-Gutiérrez et al, 2014;Checa et al, 2014;Reuter et al, 2019;Rueda et al, 2004), making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about conflict monitoring efficiency at that age. In contrast, a congruency effect is consistently observed for the P3 across development (e.g., Johnstone & Galletta, 2013;Overbye et al, 2021;Rueda et al, 2004).…”

Age‐related differences in the error‐related negativity and error positivity in children and adolescents are moderated by sample and methodological characteristics: A meta‐analysis

“…Childhood and adolescence are periods of dramatic developmental changes in body and behavior, including changes in the brain and cognitive functions. A hallmark feature of neurocognitive development during this period is that various cognitive functions develop at different speeds, with the continued development of complex cognitive control subprocesses into young adulthood (Crone & Steinbeis, 2017 ; Downes et al, 2017 ; Overbye et al, 2021 ). These include implicit and explicit subprocesses, such as error processing, that become increasingly efficient during childhood and adolescence (Overbye et al, 2019 ).…”

The Effect of Safety Signs on the Monitoring of Conflict and Erroneous Response

“…For example, Chu et al (2019) indicated that the larger N2 amplitude was accompanied by the higher accuracy in the Stroop task (Chu et al, 2019), while Lamm et al (2006) found the contrary result that a greater N2 was associated with a worse performance in the Stroop task (Lamm et al, 2006). Overbye et al (2021) found no relationship between the N2 and the performance in the flanker task (Overbye et al, 2021). The implementation of cognitive control is effortful and involves several subprocesses (Miyake et al, 2000;Miyake and Friedman, 2012;Gratton et al, 2018).…”