Quantitative Relation between Conflict and Response Inhibition in the Flanker Task

2005 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiro Takezawa ◽  
Makoto Miyatani
Keyword(s):  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Preceding Trial ◽  
Conflict Detection ◽  
Quantitative Relation ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Detection Mechanism ◽  
Response Facilitation ◽  
Distance Conditions

The 2001 conflict monitoring hypothesis of Botvinick and colleagues posits that the amount of conflict raised by incongruent stimuli in a flanker task affects subsequent cognitive control, such as response inhibition. The present experiment yielded empirical evidence of the quantitative relation between conflict and response inhibition. Participants judged the direction of a target arrow flanked by distractor arrows presented above and below the target. The amount of conflict was manipulated by varying the distance between the target and the directional distractors. Analysis showed that response times were longer for incongruent trials than for congruent trials, and response times on incongruent trials were longer for the small distance than for the large distance conditions. In addition, the response times in congruent trials became longer as the amount of conflict in the preceding trial increased. These results are consistent with Botvinick, et al.'s hypothesis that the conflict-detection mechanism determines the amount of response inhibition depending on the amount of conflict. Responses on incongruent trials were faster and more accurate when the preceding trial was incongruent than when it was congruent, and the size of this response facilitation was not influenced by the amount of conflict. These results suggest that the conflict detection mechanism modulates the subsequent behaviors by two forms of control which are differently affected by the amount of conflict.

scholarly journals Anticipating Conflict Facilitates Controlled Stimulus-response Selection

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1461-1472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel Correa ◽  
Anling Rao ◽  
Anna C. Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Conflict Detection ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Proactive Control ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Sequential Effects ◽  
Monitoring Model

Cognitive control can be triggered in reaction to previous conflict, as suggested by the finding of sequential effects in conflict tasks. Can control also be triggered proactively by presenting cues predicting conflict (“proactive control”)? We exploited the high temporal resolution of ERPs and controlled for sequential effects to ask whether proactive control based on anticipating conflict modulates neural activity related to cognitive control, as may be predicted from the conflict-monitoring model. ERPs associated with conflict detection (N2) were measured during a cued flanker task. Symbolic cues were either informative or neutral with respect to whether the target involved conflicting or congruent responses. Sequential effects were controlled by analyzing the congruency of the previous trial. The results showed that cueing conflict facilitated conflict resolution and reduced the N2 latency. Other potentials (frontal N1 and P3) were also modulated by cueing conflict. Cueing effects were most evident after congruent than after incongruent trials. This interaction between cueing and sequential effects suggests neural overlap between the control networks triggered by proactive and reactive signals. This finding clarifies why previous neuroimaging studies, in which reactive sequential effects were not controlled, have rarely found anticipatory effects upon conflict-related activity. Finally, the high temporal resolution of ERPs was critical to reveal a temporal modulation of conflict detection by proactive control. This novel finding suggests that anticipating conflict speeds up conflict detection and resolution. Recent research suggests that this anticipatory mechanism may be mediated by preactivation of ACC during the preparatory interval.

Impairments of response conflict monitoring and resolution in schizophrenia

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1251-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. YÜCEL ◽  
C. VOLKER ◽  
A. COLLIE ◽  
P. MARUFF ◽  
J. DANCKERT ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Schizophrenia Group ◽  
Multiple Stimulus ◽  
Attentional Shifts ◽  
Attentional Dysfunction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
External Stimuli

Background. It has been argued recently that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia occurs as a result of an inability to inhibit automatic attentional shifts to compelling external stimuli. However, this hypothesis is based on performance on paradigms that require overt or covert shifts of spatial attention.Method. We investigated responses to foveally presented stimuli in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls as they performed unidimensional and bidimensional versions of the flanker task. In both tasks, centrally presented target stimuli were flanked by peripheral stimuli that were either congruent or incongruent with the behavioural goal of the subject. In the bidimensional task, the flanking stimuli could be congruent and incongruent on multiple stimulus characteristics.Results. On the unidimensional flanker task, the behavioural goal modulated the responses of the schizophrenia group such that response times (RTs) to target stimuli that were flanked by congruent stimuli were faster than RTs to target stimuli flanked by incongruent stimuli. However, on the bidimensional flanker task, the responses of schizophrenia patients were no longer constrained by the behavioural goal and RTs to both congruent and incongruent stimuli were equivalent.Conclusions. It appears that the attentional dysfunction in schizophrenia may reflect difficulty in resolving multiple and simultaneous response conflicts. These findings suggest a possible role for the anterior cingulate cortex in the attentional impairments associated with schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Midfrontal-occipital Ɵ-tACS modulates cognitive conflicts related to bodily stimuli

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Fusco ◽  
M Fusaro ◽  
S M Aglioti
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Theta Oscillations ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Related Area ◽  
Specific Stimulus ◽  
Extrastriate Body Area ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies ◽  
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Abstract Neurophysiological studies show that during tasks tapping cognitive control (like the Flanker task), midfrontal theta (MFϴ) oscillations are associated with conflict and error processing and neural top- down modulation of perceptual processing. What remains unknown is whether perceptual encoding of category-specific stimuli (e.g. body vs letters) used in Flanker-like tasks is modulated by theta oscillations. To explore this issue, we delivered transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) in the theta frequency band (6Hz) over the medial frontal cortex (MFC) and the extrastriate body area (EBA) while healthy participants performed two variants of the classical Flanker task, one with stimuli representing human hands (i.e. Hand-Flanker) and the other with stimuli representing coloured letters (i.e. Letter-Flanker). More specifically, we aimed at investigating whether ϴ-tACS involving a body-related area may modulate the long-range communication between neuronal populations underlying conflict monitoring and visuo-perceptual encoding of hand stimuli without affecting the conflict driven by letter stimuli. Results showed faster correct response times during ϴ-tACS in the Hand-Flanker compared to γ-tACS (40Hz) and sham. Importantly, such an effect did not emerge in the Letter-Flanker. Our findings show that theta oscillations over midfrontal-occipital areas modulate bodily specific, stimulus content driven aspects of cognitive control.

The influence of conflict monitoring on meta-reasoning and response times in a base rate task

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2548-2561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marin Dujmović ◽  
Pavle Valerjev
Keyword(s):  
Response Times ◽  
Conflict Detection ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Metacognitive Processes ◽  
Rate Information ◽  
Rate Ratios ◽  
The Impact

We examined the role of conflict monitoring processes in forming metacognitive judgements of confidence while performing base rate tasks. Recently proposed models of dual-process reasoning, as well as research, have shown that conflict detection might represent a link between Type 1 and Type 2 processing. Conflict detection has also been shown to affect metacognitive processes in reasoning tasks. By varying base rate probability and congruence, we generated base rate tasks of four distinct levels of congruence. The results of two experiments showed that participants were slower and less confident in conflict conditions regardless of their response. However, there were two distinct subsets of participants with different levels of sensitivity to conflict which resulted in different patterns of results when using low base rate ratios. In-depth analyses showed that the impact of base rate information in the formation of metacognitive judgements depended on congruence and response type. Base rate information was a more salient cue for metacognitive processes when responding according to base rates compared with responding according to belief. There is evidence that base rate information may serve as a direct cue for metacognition, independent of fluency.

Conflict Monitoring Across the Life Span

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Czernochowski
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Conflict Detection ◽  
Response Conflict ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
Additional Control ◽  
Performance Response ◽  
Conflict Detection And Resolution

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.

Observing painful events in others leads to a temporally extended general response facilitation in the self

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Michael Orquiola Galang
Keyword(s):  
Motor System ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Motor Evoked Potentials ◽  
Painful Stimulus ◽  
Facilitation Effect ◽  
Motor Responses ◽  
Response Facilitation ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
General Response ◽  
Muscle Specificity

Excitability in the motor cortex is modulated when we observe other people receiving a painful stimulus (Avenanti et al., 2005). However, the task dependency of this modulation is not well understood, as different paradigms have yielded seemingly different results. Previous neurophysiological work employing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) suggests that watching another person’s hand being pierced by a needle leads to a muscle specific inhibition, assessed via motor evoked potentials. Results from previous behavioural studies suggest that overt behavioural responses are facilitated due to pain observation (Morrison et al., 2007a; 2007b). There are several paradigmatic differences both between typical TMS studies and behavioural studies, and within behavioural studies themselves, that limit our overall understanding of how pain observation affects the motor system. In the current study, we combine elements of typical TMS experimental designs in a behavioural assessment of how pain observation affects overt behavioural responding. Specifically, we examined the muscle specificity, timing, and direction of modulation of motor responses due to pain observation. To assess muscle specificity, we employed pain and non-pain videos from previous TMS studies in a Go/No-Go task in which participants responded by either pressing a key with their index finger or with their foot. To assess timing, we examined response times for Go signals presented at 0ms or 500ms after the video. Results indicate that observation of another individual receiving a painful stimulus leads to a non-effector specific, temporally extended response facilitation (e.g., finger and foot facilitation present at 0ms and 500ms delays), compared to observation of non-pain videos. This behavioural facilitation effect differs from the typical motor inhibition seen in TMS studies, and we argue that the effects of pain observation on the motor system are state-dependent, with different states induced via task instructions. We discuss our results in light of previous work on motor responses to pain observation.

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

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 866-882 ◽  
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.

Working memory demand of a task modulates bilingual advantage in executive functions

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Jiao ◽  
Cong Liu ◽  
Ruiming Wang ◽  
Baoguo Chen
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Interference Suppression ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Processing Demand ◽  
Memory Experiment ◽  
Storage Demand

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of task demand in working memory on bilingual cognitive advantage (interference suppression and response inhibition) in young bilinguals. Methodology: Experiment 1 was performed with the flanker, Go/No-go, and modified flanker tasks, in which the first two tasks were involved in lower storage demand of working memory and the last task was involved in higher storage demand of working memory. Experiment 2 was performed with the Conditional-Go/No-go task, with a higher processing demand of working memory. Data and analysis: Reaction time and accuracy data were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Findings/Conclusions: In Experiment 1, results showed that compared to monolinguals, the bilingual advantage in interference suppression occurred in the task with high storage demand (i.e., modified flanker task) and not in the low demand task (i.e., flanker task); however, this advantage effect was not observed in response inhibition. In Experiment 2, with the increasing working memory processing demand of tasks, the bilingual advantage in response inhibition was observed. Originality: The current study firstly examined the effect of task working memory demand on the bilingual advantage and provided some restrictive conditions for the advantage. Significance/Implications: Our results provide new evidence to support the effect of bilingual cognitive advantage.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document