Revealing the effects of temporal orienting of attention on response conflict using continuous movements

Errors can play a major role for optimizing subsequent performance: Response conflict associated with (near) errors signals the need to recruit additional control resources to minimize future conflict. However, so far it remains open whether children and older adults also adjust their performance as a function of preceding response conflict. To examine the life span development of conflict detection and resolution, response conflict was elicited during a task-switching paradigm. Electrophysiological correlates of conflict detection for correct and incorrect responses and behavioral indices of post-error adjustments were assessed while participants in four age groups were asked to focus on either speed or accuracy. Despite difficulties in resolving response conflict, the ability to detect response conflict as indexed by the Ne/ERN component was expected to mature early and be preserved in older adults. As predicted, reliable Ne/ERN peaks were detected across age groups. However, only for adults Ne/ERN amplitudes associated with errors were larger compared to Nc/CRN amplitudes for correct trials under accuracy instructions, suggesting an ongoing maturation in the ability to differentiate levels of response conflict. Behavioral interference costs were considerable in both children and older adults. Performance for children and older adults deteriorated rather than improved following errors, in line with intact conflict detection, but impaired conflict resolution. Thus, participants in all age groups were able to detect response conflict, but only young adults successfully avoided subsequent conflict by up-regulating control.

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The Two Sides of Temporal Orienting

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000018 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 142-148 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Ángel Correa ◽

Paola Cappucci ◽

Anna C. Nobre ◽

Juan Lupiáñez

Keyword(s):

Executive Control ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Traffic Situation ◽

Target Onset ◽

Stimulus Features ◽

Two Sides ◽

Spatial Stroop Effect ◽

Probable Interval ◽

Spatial Stroop ◽

Temporal Orienting

Would it be helpful to inform a driver about when a conflicting traffic situation is going to occur? We tested whether temporal orienting of attention could enhance executive control to select among conflicting stimuli and responses. Temporal orienting was induced by presenting explicit cues predicting the most probable interval for target onset, which could be short (400 ms) or long (1,300 ms). Executive control was measured both by flanker and Simon tasks involving conflict between incompatible responses and by the spatial Stroop task involving conflict between perceptual stimulus features. The results showed that temporal orienting facilitated the resolution of perceptual conflict by reducing the spatial Stroop effect, whereas it interfered with the resolution of response conflict by increasing flanker and Simon effects. Such opposite effects suggest that temporal orienting of attention modulates executive control through dissociable mechanisms, depending on whether the competition between conflicting representations is located at perceptual or response levels.

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Indices of Heart Rate Variability and Performance During a Response-Conflict Task Are Differently Associated With ADHD and Autism

Journal of Attention Disorders ◽

10.1177/1087054720972793 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 108705472097279

Author(s):

Alessio Bellato ◽

Iti Arora ◽

Puja Kochhar ◽

Chris Hollis ◽

Madeleine J. Groom

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Heart Rate Variability ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Response Conflict ◽

Mediation Model ◽

Conflict Task ◽

Accurate Performance ◽

And Performance ◽

Comorbid Adhd ◽

The Relationship

We investigated autonomic arousal, attention and response conflict, in ADHD and autism. Heart rate variability (HRV), and behavioral/electrophysiological indices of performance, were recorded during a task with low and high levels of response conflict in 78 children/adolescents (7–15 years old) with ADHD, autism, comorbid ADHD+autism, or neurotypical. ANOVA models were used to investigate effects of ADHD and autism, while a mediation model was tested to clarify the relationship between ADHD and slower performance. Slower and less accurate performance characterized ADHD and autism; however, atypical electrophysiological indices differently characterized these conditions. The relationship between ADHD and slower task performance was mediated by reduced HRV in response to the cue stimulus. Autonomic hypo-arousal and difficulties in mobilizing energetic resources in response to sensory information (associated with ADHD), and atypical electrophysiological indices of information processing (associated with autism), might negatively affect cognitive performance in those with ADHD+autism.

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