Cognitive control during a spatial Stroop task: Comparing conflict monitoring and prediction of response-outcome theories

Cognitive control is applied in situations that require overriding a habitual and automatic response. The conflict monitoring hypothesis posits a control system responsible for detecting conflicting occasions and adapting to them, leading to performance improvement, regardless of how stimuli are presented. Here we evaluate this prediction in two versions of one of the most popular tasks in cognitive control, namely the Stroop task. We hypothesized that nearby-items interference combines with task interference to transform the multi-item version into a multi-task that defies control adaptation. Adopting an alternative methodology tracking within-task performance, we compared the classical multi-item version of the Stroop task and its single-item counterpart in adults and children. Our results indicated a within-task performance decline only in the multi-item version of the task, in both incongruent and neutral conditions, modulated by the presumed maturity of the control system. Our findings are interpreted as evidence of cognitive overload due to capacity limitations, as proposed by cognitive resource theory. These results challenge the conflict monitoring hypothesis and its recent extension, and they also raise substantial concerns regarding the calculation and use of indices of interference based on the commonly used multi-item version of the Stroop task.

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Alertness and cognitive control: Interactions in the spatial Stroop task

Attention Perception & Psychophysics ◽

10.3758/s13414-020-01993-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 82 (5) ◽

pp. 2257-2270 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Darryl W. Schneider

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Spatial Stroop

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Differential effects of faces and words in cognitive control in older adults with and without major depressive disorder: An emotional Stroop task study

Applied Neuropsychology Adult ◽

10.1080/23279095.2021.1927037 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

L. Ros ◽

E. Satorres ◽

L. Fernández-Aguilar ◽

I. Delhom ◽

J. López-Torres ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Differential Effects ◽

Emotional Stroop Task

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Second language (L2) proficiency, socioeconomic status (SES), and intelligence (IQ) are significant predictors of cognitive control differences among young adult unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728918000822 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (04) ◽

pp. 866-882 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

ZHILONG XIE ◽

TERESA SIGNORELLI PISANO

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Second Language ◽

Young Adult ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Incongruent Condition ◽

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test ◽

Card Sorting ◽

Conflict Monitoring ◽

L2 Proficiency

The current study investigates how second-language (L2) proficiency contributes to cognitive control differences among three groups of unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals matched for socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence (IQ), education, age, culture, and L1 background. A Flanker task and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were administered to measure conflict monitoring, inhibition, and mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses revealed faster performance for the High-L2 Group compared to the Low-L2 Group in the congruent, neutral, and incongruent conditions of the Flanker task. However, there were no group differences on the WCST. Multiple step-wise regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency was a predictor for the Flanker task performance in all three conditions, SES in the neutral and the incongruent condition, and IQ in the congruent condition. These results suggest that L2 proficiency, along with SES and IQ, contribute significantly to cognitive control differences in conflict monitoring among young-adult bilinguals.

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Modulation of Conflict Processing by Theta-Range tACS over the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2019/6747049 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Albert Lehr ◽

Niklas Henneberg ◽

Tarana Nigam ◽

Walter Paulus ◽

Andrea Antal

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Control Network ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Cognitive Control Network ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Behavioral response conflict arises in the color-word Stroop task and triggers the cognitive control network. Midfrontal theta-band oscillations correlate with adaptive control mechanisms during and after conflict resolution. In order to prove causality, in two experiments, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 6 Hz to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during Stroop task performance. Sham stimulation served as a control in both experiments; 9.7 Hz tACS served as a nonharmonic alpha band control in the second experiment. We employed generalized linear mixed models for analysis of behavioral data. Accuracy remained unchanged by any type of active stimulation. Over both experiments, the Stroop effect (response time difference between congruent and incongruent trials) was reduced by 6 Hz stimulation as compared to sham, mainly in trials without prior conflict adaptation. Alpha tACS did not modify the Stroop effect. Theta tACS can both reduce the Stroop effect and modulate adaptive mechanisms of the cognitive control network, suggesting midfrontal theta oscillations as causally involved in cognitive control.

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