Electrophysiological dynamics reveal distinct processing of stimulus‐stimulus and stimulus‐response conflicts

Abstract

The present study examined electroencephalogram profiles on a novel stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) task in order to elucidate the distinct brain mechanisms of stimulus-stimulus (S-S) and stimulus-response (S-R) conflict processing. The results showed that the SRC effects on reaction times (RTs) and N2 amplitudes were additive when both S-S and S-R conflicts existed. We also observed that, for both RTs and N2 amplitudes, the conflict adaptation effects-the reduced SRC effect following an incongruent trial versus a congruent trial-were present only when two consecutive trials involved the same type of conflict. Time-frequency analysis revealed that both S-S and S-R conflicts modulated power in the theta band, whereas S-S conflict additionally modulated power in the alpha and beta bands. In summary, our findings provide insight into the domain-specific conflict processing and the modular organization of cognitive control.

Selective perturbation of cognitive conflict in the human brain–A combined fMRI and rTMS study

“…demonstrated that also with varying stimulus characteristics, the combination of S-S and S-R conflicts leads to additive effects. Further evidence came from studies that revealed conflict specific trial-sequence-effects910, as well as studies that demonstrated specific effects on different types of conflict resolution in aging111213. However, there are also studies that demonstrated a clear interaction between the Stroop or Flanker paradigm and the Simon task and thus challenge basic assumptions of the DO model1415.…”

Temporal and spectral profiles of conflict processing among multiple frames of reference

“…More importantly, the additive effect of the two conflicts on N2 and early P3 suggested that separate CM modules exist for II and EI conflicts. Numerous data from previous studies also consistently support this conclusion (Folstein & Van Petten, ; Li et al, ; Li et al, ; van Veen & Carter, ; K. Wang et al, ). For example, Li et al () adopted a modified Simon‐spatial Stroop task and found additive effects of the Simon and spatial Stroop conflicts on the RT and N2 components, supporting the distinct processing mechanism of these two kinds of conflicts.…”

“…For the 1CM1EC model, only one general CM and one general EC exist for all SRC conflicts (Botvinick et al, ; Botvinick, Cohen, & Carter, ). For the 2CM1EC model, two specific CMs exist for different SRC conflicts, whereas only one shared EC exists for all SRC conflicts (Li, Nan, Wang, & Liu, ; Li et al, ; Liu et al, ; K. Wang, Li, Zheng, Wang, & Liu, ; Yang et al, ). For the 2CM2EC model, two specific CMs and two specific ECs exist for two different SRC conflicts (Egner, ; Egner, Delano, & Hirsch, ).…”

“…Increasing amounts of ERP data have demonstrated that the N2 component, which occurs approximately 250–350 ms after the presentation of a stimulus, is an effective indicator for CM (Folstein & Van Petten, ). The N2 amplitude is thought to index the degree of conflict: more negative N2 amplitudes reflect higher conflict levels (Folstein & Van Petten, ; Frühholz, Godde, Finke, & Herrmann, ; Li et al, ; van Veen & Carter, ; K. Wang et al, ; Yang et al, ). Yang et al used SRC conflict tasks to collect behavioral and ERP data and identified an additive effect of the N2 components of different SRC conflicts, supporting the existence of distinct conflict processing mechanisms for cognitive control.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that the theta rhythm (4–8 Hz) is engaged in cognitive control, error monitoring, and feedback processing during learning task functions (Cavanagh & Frank, ; Cohen, ; Kahana, Sekuler, Caplan, Kirschen, & Madsen, ; Luu, Tucker, & Makeig, ), which may be related to II conflict processing. Beta band activity (13–20 Hz) is related to sensorimotor function (Li et al, ; K. Wang et al, ) and is proposed to play a pivotal role in maintenance of the status quo (Engel & Fries, ), which may be related to EFOR and EI conflict processing, and the alpha rhythm (8–13 Hz) co‐occurs with P3 and is related to attention and memory neuroelectric effects (Polich, ).…”