The effect of working memory capacity on conflict monitoring

Fronto-parietal network oscillations reveal relationship between working memory capacity and cognitive control

“…Reversal of the Simon effect after incongruent trials is larger for low- than for high-WMC individuals (Weldon et al, 2013; Gulbinaite and Johnson, 2014). Following the executive-attention theory of WMC (Engle and Kane, 2004), this pattern of results can be explained by individual differences in the ability to keep task goals continuously active (proactive cognitive control mode).…”

“…Although the executive-attention theory of WMC does not make specific predictions about WMC-related differences in trial-to-trial adjustments in cognitive control (operationalized as congruency sequence effects), previous studies have demonstrated that differences between high- and low-WMC individuals are more pronounced on post-incongruent trials (Hutchison, 2011; Weldon et al, 2013; Gulbinaite and Johnson, 2014), with modest or no WMC-related differences in post-congruent trial conflict effects. These findings suggest that not only there are WMC-related differences in efficiency of conflict resolution – as proposed by Kane and Engle (2003) – but also differences in how optimally adjustments to the conflict signal are made.…”

“…This theory has received mixed empirical support. For example, although congruency effects can be larger for low- compared to high-WMC individuals (e.g., Kane and Engle, 2003; Weldon et al, 2013), this effect seems to depend on the task and contextual factors such as the ratio of congruent and incongruent trials (Kane and Engle, 2003; Heitz and Engle, 2007; Keye et al, 2009; Morey et al, 2012; Weldon et al, 2013). …”

Neural correlates of cognitive style and flexible cognitive control

“…Consistently, neuroimaging studies 54 have found a dissociation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and 55 dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the roles of conflict monitoring 56 and resolution, respectively (Botvinick et al, 2001(Botvinick et al, , 2004MacDonald 57 et al, 2000). 58 With respect to individual differences in conflict adaptation, previous 59 studies have correlated conflict adaptation effects with age (Kray et al,60 2012; Larson et al, 2012), working memory capacity (Soutschek et al,61 2013; Weldon et al, 2013), and emotion (Padmala et al, 2011;van 62 Steenbergen et al, 2010). These studies have focused on the relationship 63 between conflict adaptation and other cognitive abilities or the 64 differences between groups that are distinguished by biological features,…”

“…However, these studies 448 do not provide specific mechanisms of how cognitive style relates to 449 individual differences in cognitive control as we explained above. cognitive factors, such as age (Kray et al, 2012;Larson et al, 2012) 459 and working memory capacity (Soutschek et al, 2013;Weldon et al, The preference for spatial style was not considered in our data 509 analyses because our task was composed of object and verbal stimuli.…”