Skip to main content
Article

Adaptation to Frequent Conflict in the Eriksen Flanker Task

An ERP Study

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000041

We examined adaptation to frequent conflict in a flanker task using event-related potentials (ERPs). A prominent model of cognitive control suggests the fronto-central N2 as an indicator of conflict monitoring. Based on this model we predicted (1) an increased N2 amplitude for incompatible compared to compatible stimuli and (2) that this difference in N2 amplitude would be less pronounced under conditions of frequent conflict (high cognitive control). In this model, adaptation to frequent conflict is implemented as modulation of early visual processing. Traditionally, variations in processing selectivity in the flanker task have been related to a zoom lens model of visual attention. Therefore, we further predicted (3) effects of conflict frequency on early visual ERP components of the event-related potential, and (4) generalization of conflict adaptation due to increased conflict frequency in the flanker task to other visuospatial tasks, intermixed within flanker task trials. Frequent conflict was associated with reduced flanker interference in response times (RTs) and error rate. Consistent with the literature, amplitude of the fronto-central N2 was larger and latency of the central P3 longer for incompatible stimuli. Both effects were smaller when conflict was frequent, supporting the notion of fronto-central N2 as indicator of conflict monitoring. Neither amplitude nor latency of the posterior P1, as index of early visual processing, was modulated by conflict frequency. Additionally, conflict frequency in the flanker task did not affect the pattern of RTs in a probe task. In sum, our results suggest that conflict adaptation operates in a task-specific manner and does not necessarily alter early information processing, that is, the spatial focus of visual attention.

References

  • Aron, A. R. , Robbins, T. W. , Poldrack, R. A. (2004). Inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 170–177. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bartholow, B. D. , Pearson, M. A. , Dickter, C. L. , Sher, K. J. , Fabiani, M. , Gratton, G. (2005). Strategic control and medial frontal negativity: Beyond errors and response conflict. Psychophysiology, 42, 33–42. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Botvinick, M. M. , Braver, T. S. , Barch, D. M. , Carter, C. S. , Cohen, J. D. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108, 624–652. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Clark, V. P. , Hillyard, S. A. (1996). Spatial selective attention affects early extrastriate components of the visual evoked potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 8, 387–402. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Coles, M. G. H. , Gratton, G. , Bashore, T. R. , Eriksen, C. W. , Donchin, E. (1985). A psychophysiological investigation of the continuous flow model of human information processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11, 529–553. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Corballis, P. M. , Gratton, G. (2003). Independent control of processing strategies for different locations in the visual field. Biological Psychology, 64, 191–209. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Crump, M. J. C. , Gong, Z. , Milliken, B. (2006). The contest-specific proportion congruent Stroop effect: Location as a contextual cue. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 316–321. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Delorme, A. , Makeig, S. (2004). EEGLAB: An open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 134, 9–21. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Dien, J. , Spencer, K. M. , Donchin, E. (2004). Parsing the late positive complex: Mental chronometry and the ERP components that inhabit the neighborhood of the P300. Psychophysiology, 41, 665–678. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eimer, M. (1993). Spatial cueing, sensory gating and selective response preparation: An ERP study on visuo-spatial orienting. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 88, 408–420. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eimer, M. (2000). The time course of spatial orienting elicited by central and peripheral cues: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Biological Psychology, 53, 253–258. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eriksen, C. W. (1990). Attentional search of the visual field. In D. Brogan (Ed.), Visual search (pp. 3–19). London, UK: Taylor & Francis. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Eriksen, B. A. , Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16, 143–149. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eriksen, C. W. , James, J. D. St. (1986). Visual attention within and around the field of focal attention: A zoom lens model. Perception & Psychophysics, 40, 225–240. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eriksen, C. W. , Yeh, Y.-Y. (1985). Allocation of attention in the visual field. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11, 583–587. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Fernandez-Duque, D. , Knight, M. B. (2008). Cognitive control: Dynamic, sustained, and voluntary influences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 340–355. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Folstein, J. R. , Van Petten, C. (2008). Influence of cognitive control and mismatch on the N2 component of the ERP: A review. Psychophysiology, 45, 152–170. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Gratton, G. , Coles, M. G. H. , Donchin, E. (1992). Optimizing the use of information: Strategic control of activation of responses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121, 480–506. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Heil, M. , Osman, A. , Wiegelmann, J. , Rolke, B. , Hennighausen, E. (2000). N200 in the Eriksen-task: Inhibitory executive processes?. Journal of Psychophysiology, 14, 218–225. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Hillyard, S. A. , Anllo-Vento, L. (1998). Event-related brain potentials in the study of visual selective attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 95, 781–787. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hommel, B. (1994). Spontaneous decay of response code activation. Psychological Research, 56, 261–268. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Kopp, B. , Rist, F. , Mattler, U. (1996). N200 in the flankers task as a neurobehavioral tool for investigating executive control. Psychophysiology, 33, 282–294. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • LaBerge, D. (1983). Spatial extent of attention to letters and words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 9, 371–379. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • LaBerge, D. , Brown, V. (1989). A model of perceptual classification in children and adults. Psychological Review, 96, 101–124. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Lehle, C. , Hübner, R. (2008). On-the-fly adaptation of selectivity in the flanker task. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 814–818. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Logan, G. D. , Zbrodoff, N. J. (1979). When it helps to be misled: Facilitative effects of increasing the frequency of conflicting stimuli in Stroop-like tasks. Memory & Cognition, 7, 166–174. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Luck, S. J. , Hillyard, S. A. (1990). Electrophysiological evidence for parallel and serial processing during visual search. Perception & Psychophysics, 48, 603–617. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Luck, S. J. , Hillyard, S. A. , Mouloua, M. , Woldorff, M. G. , Clark, V. P. , Hawkins, H. L. (1994). Effects of spatial cuing on luminance detectability: Psychophysical and electrophysiological evidence for early selection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 887–904. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Martinez, A. , Di Russo, F. , Anllo-Vento, L. , Sereno, M. I. , Buxton, R. B. , Hillyard, S. A. (2001). Putting spatial attention on the map: Timing and localization of stimulus selection processes in striate and extrastriate visual areas. Vision Research, 41, 1437–1457. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mattler, U. (2006). Distance and ratio effects in the flanker task are due to different mechanisms. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 1745–1763. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Polich, J. , Margala, C. (1997). P300 and probability: Comparison of oddball and single-stimulus paradigms. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 25, 169–176. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Roth, A. , Roesch-Ely, D. , Bender, S. , Weisbrod, M. , Kaiser, S. (2008). Increased event-related potential latency and amplitude variability in schizophrenia detected through wavelet-based single trial analysis. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 66, 244–254. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Simon, J. R. , Craft, J. L. , Small, A. M. Jr. (1971). Reactions toward the apparent source of an auditory stimulus. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 89, 203–206. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Stuermer, B. , Leuthold, H. , Soetens, E. , Schroeter, H. , Sommer, W. (2002). Control over location-based response activation in the Simon task: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 1345–1363. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Tzelgov, J. , Henik, A. , Berger, A. (1992). Controlling stroop effects by manipulating expectations for color words. Memory & Cognition, 20, 727–735. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Van Veen, V. , Carter, C. S. (2002). The anterior cingulate as a conflict monitor: fMRI and ERP studies. Physiology & Behavior, 77, 477–482. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Vietze, I. , Wendt, M. (2009). Context specificity of conflict frequency-dependent control. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 1391–1400. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Wendt, M. , Heldmann, M. , Muente, T. F. , Kluwe, R. H. (2007). Disentangling sequential effects of stimulus- and response-related conflict and stimulus-response repetition using brain potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 1104–1112. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Wendt, M. , Kluwe, R. H. , Vietze, I. (2008). Location-specific vs. hemisphere-specific adaptation of processing selectivity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 135–140. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Wendt, M. , Luna-Rodriguez, A. (2009). Conflict-frequency affects flanker interference: Role of stimulus-ensemble-specific practice and flanker-response contingencies. Experimental Psychology, 56, 206–217. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar