The neural dynamics of stimulus and response conflict processing as a function of response complexity and task demands.
Abstract
Both stimulus and response conflict can disrupt behavior by slowing response times
and decreasing accuracy. Although several neural activations have been associated
with conflict processing, it is unclear how specific any of these are to the type
of stimulus conflict or the amount of response conflict. Here, we recorded electrical
brain activity, while manipulating the type of stimulus conflict in the task (spatial
[Flanker] versus semantic [Stroop]) and the amount of response conflict (two versus
four response choices). Behaviorally, responses were slower to incongruent versus
congruent stimuli across all task and response types, along with overall slowing for
higher response-mapping complexity. The earliest incongruency-related neural effect
was a short-duration frontally-distributed negativity at ~200 ms that was only present
in the Flanker spatial-conflict task. At longer latencies, the classic fronto-central
incongruency-related negativity 'N(inc)' was observed for all conditions, but was
larger and ~100 ms longer in duration with more response options. Further, the onset
of the motor-related lateralized readiness potential (LRP) was earlier for the two
vs. four response sets, indicating that smaller response sets enabled faster motor-response
preparation. The late positive complex (LPC) was present in all conditions except
the two-response Stroop task, suggesting this late conflict-related activity is not
specifically related to task type or response-mapping complexity. Importantly, across
tasks and conditions, the LRP onset at or before the conflict-related N(inc), indicating
that motor preparation is a rapid, automatic process that interacts with the conflict-detection
processes after it has begun. Together, these data highlight how different conflict-related
processes operate in parallel and depend on both the cognitive demands of the task
and the number of response options.
Type
Journal articleSubject
ConflictEEG
Flanker
LPC
LRP
N2
N450
Stroop
Brain
Conflict (Psychology)
Electroencephalography
Evoked Potentials
Executive Function
Female
Humans
Language
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Reaction Time
Space Perception
Young Adult
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12003Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.01.035Publication Info
Donohue, Sarah E; Appelbaum, Lawrence G; McKay, Cameron C; & Woldorff, Marty G (2016). The neural dynamics of stimulus and response conflict processing as a function of
response complexity and task demands. Neuropsychologia, 84. pp. 14-28. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.01.035. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12003.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Lawrence Gregory Appelbaum
Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Greg Appelbaum is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences in the Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Appelbaum's research
interests primarily concern the brain mechanisms underlying visual cognition, how
these capabilities differ among individuals, and how they can be improved through
behavioral, neurofeedback, and neuromodulation interventions. Within the field of
cognitive neuroscience, his research has addressed visual pe
Marty G. Woldorff
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Woldorff's main research interest is in the cognitive neuroscience of attention.
At each and every moment of our lives, we are bombarded by a welter of sensory information
coming at us from a myriad of directions and through our various sensory modalities
-- much more than we can fully process. We must continuously select and extract the
most important information from this welter of sensory inputs. How the human brain
accomplishes this is one of the core challenges of modern cognitive neuro
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