scholarly journals Multiple expectancies underlie the congruency sequence effect in confound-minimized tasks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Erb ◽  
Andy J. Aschenbrenner
Keyword(s):  
Flanker Task ◽  
Congruent Trial ◽  
Feature Integration ◽  
Contingency Learning ◽  
Sequence Effect ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Recent Trial ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Congruency Sequence Effect ◽  
Stroop Tasks

The congruency sequence effect (CSE) occurs when the congruency effect observed in tasks such as the Eriksen flanker task is smaller on trials preceded by an incongruent trial relative to trials preceded by a congruent trial. The CSE has been attributed to a range of factors including repetition expectancy, conflict monitoring, feature integration, and contingency learning. To clarify the debate surrounding the CSE and the mechanisms underlying its occurrence, researchers have developed confound-minimized congruency tasks designed to control for feature-integration and contingency-learning effects. A CSE is often observed in confound-minimized tasks, indicating that the effect is driven by repetition expectancy, conflict monitoring, or a combination of the two. Here, we propose and test a variant of the repetition expectancy account that emphasizes how multiple expectations can be formed simultaneously based upon the congruency type (congruent vs. incongruent) and the congruency repetition type (congruency repetition vs. congruency alternation) of the most recent trial. Data from confound-minimized versions of the prime-probe task were found to support this novel account. Data from confound-minimized versions of the Eriksen flanker, Simon, and Stroop tasks indicate that repetition-priming confounds often remain in these tasks, potentially undermining the conclusions of previous work. We discuss the implications of these findings for ongoing theoretical debates surrounding the CSE.

EEG Signal Decomposition Evidence for a Role of Perceptual Processes during Conflict-related Behavioral Adjustments in Middle Frontal Regions

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1381-1393
Author(s):  
Nico Adelhöfer ◽  
Christian Beste
Keyword(s):  
Time Window ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Decomposition Methods ◽  
Signal Decomposition ◽  
Conflict Monitoring ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Congruency Sequence Effect ◽  
Trial History

Conflict monitoring processes are central to cope with fluctuating environmental demands. However, the efficacy of these processes depends on previous trial history/experience, which is reflected in the “congruency sequence effect” (CSE). Several theoretical accounts have been put forward to explain this effect. Some accounts stress the role of perceptual processes in the emergence of the CSE. As yet, it is elusive how these perceptual processes are implemented on a neural level. We examined this question using a newly developed moving dots flanker task. We combine decomposition methods of EEG data and source localization. We show that perceptual processes modulate the CSE and can be isolated in neurophysiological signals, especially in the N2 ERP time window. However, mechanisms relating perception to action are also coded and modulated in this time window. We show that middle frontal regions (BA 6) are associated with processes dealing with purely perceptual processes. Inferior frontal regions (BA 45) are associated with processes dealing with stimulus–response transition processes. Likely, the neurophysiological modulations reflect unbinding processes at the perceptual level, and stimulus–response translation level needed to respond correctly on the presented (changed) stimulus–response relationships. The data establish a direct relationship between psychological concepts focusing on perceptual processes during conflict monitoring and neurophysiological processes using signal decomposition.

scholarly journals Conflict adaptation and related neuronal processing in Parkinson’s disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rea Rodriguez-Raecke ◽  
Christoph Schrader ◽  
Pawel Tacik ◽  
Dirk Dressler ◽  
Heinrich Lanfermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Conflict Adaptation ◽  
Sequence Effect ◽  
Inferior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Congruency Sequence Effect

AbstractNon-motor symptoms like cognitive impairment are a huge burden for patients with Parkinson’s disease. We examined conflict adaptation by using the congruency sequence effect as an index of adaptation in 17 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 18 healthy controls with an Eriksen flanker task using functional magnet resonance imaging to reveal possible differences in executive function performance. We observed overall increased response times in patients with Parkinson’s disease compared to healthy controls. A flanker interference effect and congruency sequence effect occurred in both groups. A significant interaction of current and previous trial type was revealed, but no effect of response sequence concerning left or right motor responses. Therefore, top-down conflict monitoring processes are likely the main contributors leading to the congruency sequence effect in our paradigm. In both groups incongruent flanker events elicited activation in the middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the insula in contrast to congruent flanker events. A psychophysiological interactions analysis revealed increased functional connectivity of inferior parietal cortex as a seed to the left prefrontal thalamus during incongruent vs. congruent and neutral stimuli in patients with Parkinson’s disease that may reflect compensatory facilitating action selection processes. We conclude that patients with Parkinson’s disease exhibit conflict adaptation comparable to healthy controls when investigated while receiving their usual medication.

scholarly journals Observing conflicting actions elicits conflict adaptation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiel Cracco ◽  
Senne Braem ◽  
Marcel Brass
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Control ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Response Conflict ◽  
Action Representation ◽  
Action Perception ◽  
Sequence Effect ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Congruency Sequence Effect ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Abstract Shapes

A key prediction of ideomotor theories is that action perception relies on the same mechanisms as action planning. While this prediction has received support from studies investigating action perception in one-on-one situations, situations with multiple actors pose a challenge because in order to co-represent multiple observed actions, observers have to represent more actions in their motor system than they can physically execute. If representing multiple observed actions, like representing individual observed actions, recycles action planning processes, this should lead to response conflict by observation. In 5 experiments, we tested this hypothesis by investigating whether simply seeing two conflicting actions is sufficient to elicit response conflict and therefore adaptive control, in the same way as planning conflicting actions does. Experiments 1-3 provided meta-analytical evidence (N = 262) that seeing two conflicting gestures triggers a reverse congruency sequence effect on a subsequent, unrelated prime-probe task. Experiment 4 (N = 250) replicated this finding in a high-powered study. Finally, Experiment 5 (N = 253) revealed that the same effect was not present when using unfolding abstract shapes instead of moving hands. Together, these experiments show that not just planning but also seeing two conflicting actions elicits adaptive control and provide initial evidence that this is driven by motor conflict. These findings have important implications both for theories of action representation and research on cognitive control.

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.

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.

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