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Temporal dynamics of reactive cognitive control as revealed by event-related brain potentials
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Temporal dynamics of reactive cognitive control as revealed by event-related brain potentials

Curtis D. Von Gunten, Hannah I. Volpert-Esmond and Bruce D. Bartholow
Psychophysiology, Vol.55(3), pp.e13007-n/a
03/2018
DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13007
PMCID: PMC5811320
PMID: 28960342

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Abstract

Reactive cognitive control refers to a complementary set of cognitive operations by which individuals monitor for and detect the presence of goal-interfering conflict (i.e., conflict monitoring/evaluation) and, subsequently, initiate attention-focusing and response selection processes to bolster goal-directed action in the face of such conflict (regulative control). The purpose of the current study was to characterize the nature of conflict adaptation in both components of this dynamic process across sequences of trials and, more broadly, across time as participants complete a cognitive control task. Fifty-two young adults completed a standard arrow flanker task while behavioral and ERP data were recorded. Multilevel modeling of sequences of compatible and incompatible trials over time showed that, whereas response time data demonstrated a typical conflict adaptation effect throughout the task, N2 and frontal slow wave (FSW) indices of conflict monitoring and regulative control, respectively, demonstrated significant conflict adaptation only during the early part of the task. Moreover, although differential change in N2 and FSW over time suggested that conflict monitoring and regulative control were dissociable, a reciprocal relation between them was maintained throughout the task and was not present in a component theoretically unrelated to conflict adaptation (visual attention-related N1). Findings are discussed in terms of compensatory processes that help to maintain goal-directed performance even as control-related neural responses become fatigued.
Life Sciences & Biomedicine Neurosciences Neurosciences & Neurology Physiology Psychology Psychology, Biological Psychology, Experimental Science & Technology Social Sciences

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