Making sense of all the conflict: A theoretical review and critique of conflict-related ERPs

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.06.007

International Journal of Psychophysiology

Volume 93, Issue 3, September 2014, Pages 283-297

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.06.007 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
The error-related negativity (ERN) is modulated by attention to the target stimulus.
•
N2, N450, and conflict SP are distinct potentials.
•
Conflict adaptation provides a tool to examine conflict-related control.
•
Application in clinical populations could lead to treatment options.

Abstract

Cognitive control theory suggests that goal-directed behavior is governed by a dynamic interplay between areas of the prefrontal cortex. Critical to cognitive control is the detection and resolution of competing stimulus or response representations (i.e., conflict). Event-related potential (ERP) research provides a window into the nature and precise temporal sequence of conflict monitoring. We critically review the research on conflict-related ERPs, including the error-related negativity (ERN), Flanker N2, Stroop N450 and conflict slow potential (conflict SP or negative slow wave [NSW]), and provide an analysis of how these ERPs inform conflict monitoring theory. Overall, there is considerable evidence that amplitude of the ERN is sensitive to the degree of response conflict, consistent with a role in conflict monitoring. It remains unclear, however, to what degree contextual, individual, affective, and motivational factors influence ERN amplitudes and how ERN amplitudes are related to regulative changes in behavior. The Flanker N2, Stroop N450, and conflict SP ERPs represent distinct conflict-monitoring processes that reflect conflict detection (N2, N450) and conflict adjustment or resolution processes (N2, conflict SP). The investigation of conflict adaptation effects (i.e., sequence or sequential trial effects) shows that the N2 and conflict SP reflect post-conflict adjustments in cognitive control, but the N450 generally does not. Conflict-related ERP research provides a promising avenue for understanding the effects of individual differences on cognitive control processes in healthy, neurologic and psychiatric populations. Comparisons between the major conflict-related ERPs and suggestions for future studies to clarify the nature of conflict-related neural processes are provided.

Section snippets

Introduction: cognitive control and conflict monitoring

Cognitive control theory provides an influential model for understanding the specific roles and neuroanatomical substrates of prefrontal cortex function (e.g., Botvinick et al., 2001, Miller and Cohen, 2001, O'Reilly et al., 2010, Shenhav et al., 2013). Cognitive control specifically refers to the ability to guide thoughts and actions in accord with internal intentions (Miller and Cohen, 2001). Two main component processes necessary for the accurate completion of goal-directed behavior are

The error-related negativity

The error negativity (Ne; Falkenstein et al., 1991) or error-related negativity (ERN; Gehring et al., 1993) is a response-locked ERP that occurs within 100 ms of an erroneous response and has been localized to the ACC (Brazdil et al., 2005, Bush et al., 2000, Stemmer et al., 2004, van Veen and Carter, 2002a; see Fig. 1). The ERN is relatively robust across multiple sensory modalities (Miltner et al., 1997) during tasks that involve the inhibition of prepotent or automatic responses (e.g., the

Stimulus-locked ERPs associated with conflict monitoring

Additional support for the role of conflict monitoring in the recruitment of cognitive control comes from stimulus-locked ERP research using paradigms such as the Eriksen Flanker Task (Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974) and the Stroop task (MacLeod, 1991, Stroop, 1935). For example, two functionally-related cognitive control indices of conflict monitoring are the N2 and N450, respectively. Both of these ERPs are thought to reflect ACC-mediated signaling for dynamic modulations of cognitive control (

Comparing the N2 and N450 stimulus-locked ERPs

The N2 and N450 belong to the conflict-monitoring family of ERPs and seem to represent similar cognitive control signals related to conflict monitoring (see Folstein and Van Petten, 2008). However, nuanced differences between the two components may shed light on the distinction between the functional significance of the N2 and N450. Comparing tasks with various congruent/incongruent trial probability ratios may be helpful in distinguishing these two components. Previous research indicates that

Summary and conclusions

Summarizing this large body of information provides interesting insights into the role of ERPs in our understanding of conflict-related processing. Returning to the original questions summarized from the early Botvinick et al. (2001) and Yeung et al. (2004, 2006) papers, current ERP evidence provides some interesting topics for discussion. First, the ERN and N2 ERPs provide some index of conflict-related processing. However, the precise functional significance of the N450 and conflict SP ERPs

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The difference between the audiovisual incongruent condition and the audiovisual congruent condition is known as cross-modal conflict, which is an important behavioral index to measure the conflict control function. Previous studies have found conflict control deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but it is not clear whether and how cross-modal conflict occurs in children with ADHD at different processing levels. The current study adopted the cross-modal matching paradigm to recruit 25 children with ADHD (19 boys and 6 girls) and 24 TD children (17 boys and 7 girls), aiming to investigate the cross-modal conflict effect at the perception and response levels of children with ADHD. The results showed that both groups of children showed significant cross-modal conflict, and there was no significant difference between the ADHD and TD groups in the number of error trials and mean response time. However, the cross-modal conflict effect caused by auditory distractors was different between the ADHD and TD groups; the TD group had stronger auditory conflict at the response level, whereas the ADHD group had weaker auditory conflict. This indicates that the ADHD group had a deficit of auditory conflict at the response level.
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Conflict adaptation can be expressed as greater performance (shorter response time and lower error rate) after incongruent trials when compared to congruent trials. It has been observed in designs that minimize confounding factors, i.e., feature integration, contingency learning, and temporal learning. Our current study aimed to further elucidate the temporal evolution mechanisms of conflict adaptation. To address this issue, the current study employed a combination of behavioral, univariate, and multivariate analysis (MVPA) methods in a modified color-word Stroop task, where half of the trials required button presses (DO trials), and the other half only required observation (LOOK trials). Both behavioral and the ERP results (N450 and SP) in the LOOK-DO transition trials revealed significant conflict adaptation without feature integration, contingency learning, and temporal learning, providing support for the conflict monitoring theory. Furthermore, during the LOOK trials, significant Stroop effect in the N450 and SP components were observed, indicating that conflict monitoring occurred at the stimulus level and triggered reactive control adjustments. The MVPA results decoded the congruent-incongruent and incongruent-incongruent conditions during the conflict adjustment phase but not during the conflict monitoring phase, emphasizing the unique contribution of conflict adjustment to conflict adaptation. The current research findings provided more compelling supporting evidence for the conflict monitoring theory, while also indicating that future studies should employ the present design to elucidate the specific processes of conflict adaptation.
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In this systematic review, 18 articles met inclusion criteria to be qualitatively analyzed for converging evidence of brain activity, measured using event-related potential (ERP), related to retrospectively reported childhood adversity/trauma. Using the PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, 917 articles were assessed for inclusion and were filtered using study parameters. The most common ERP components listed in the literature were P100, N170, N200, P200, P300, ERN, and LPP. We discuss levels of evidence for changed brain activity, each ERP component, and the tasks used to evoke them. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was found to be the most commonly cited measure. We note the need to assess the duration and intensity of childhood adversity/trauma measurements in the strengths and limitations of the reported childhood adversity/trauma measurements. No concrete converging evidence was found to support a relationship between ERP-measured brain activity and retrospectively reported childhood adversity/trauma. Thus, a discussion of limitations and future directions for this field of research is presented.
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¹: All authors contributed equally and are considered co-first-authors.

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Invited ReviewMaking sense of all the conflict: A theoretical review and critique of conflict-related ERPs

Highlights

Abstract

Section snippets

Introduction: cognitive control and conflict monitoring

The error-related negativity

Stimulus-locked ERPs associated with conflict monitoring

Comparing the N2 and N450 stimulus-locked ERPs

Summary and conclusions

Brain Res.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

NeuroImage

Trends Cogn. Sci.

NeuroImage

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Biol. Psychol.

Neuropsychologia

Brain Cogn.

Neuropsychologia

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

Neuropsychologia

Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.

Biol. Psychol.

Biol. Psychiatry

Brain Cogn.

Brain Cogn.

Neuropsychologia

NeuroImage

Biol. Psychol.

Neuropsychologia

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Biol. Psychol.

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Neuropsychologia

Neurophysiological evidence of error-monitoring deficits in patients with schizophrenia

Cereb. Cortex

Neurocognitive components of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems: implications for theories of self-regulation

Psychophysiology

Executive function the search for an integrated account

Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci.

Strategic control and medial frontal negativity: beyond errors and response conflict

Psychophysiology

Decision making, impulse control and loss of willpower to resist drugs: a neurocognitive perspective

Nat. Neurosci.

Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory — Second Edition (BDI-II)

Stimulus–response compatibility in Huntington's disease: a cognitive-neurophysiological analysis

J. Neurophysiol.

A review of mild head trauma. Part I: meta-analytic review of neuropsychological studies

J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol.

Conflict monitoring and cognitive control

Psychol. Rev.

Conflict monitoring versus selection-for-action in anterior cingulate cortex

Nature

Anterior cingulate cortex and response conflict: effects of frequency, inhibition and errors

Cereb. Cortex

Intracerebral error-related negativity in a simple go/no-go task

J. Psychophysiol.

Learned predictions of error likelihood in the anterior cingulate cortex

Science

Anterior cingulate cortex, error detection, and the online monitoring of performance

Science

Anterior cingulate cortex and conflict detection: an update of theory and data

Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci.

Neural evidence for enhanced error detection in major depressive disorder

Am. J. Psychiatry

High and low stimulus-driven conflict engage segregated brain networks, not quantitatively different resources

Brain Topogr.

Cognitive control adjustments and conflict adaptation in major depressive disorder

Psychophysiology

The effects of induced state negative affect on performance monitoring processes

Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci.

Effects of repetition priming on neurophysiological and behavioral indices of conflict adaptation and cognitive control

Psychophysiology

Cognitive performance and electrophysiological indices of cognitive control: a validation study of conflict adaptation

Psychophysiology

Psychometric properties of conflict monitoring and conflict adaptation indices: response time and conflict N2 event-related potentials

Psychophysiology

Anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex: who's in control?

Invited Review
Making sense of all the conflict: A theoretical review and critique of conflict-related ERPs