Conflict adaptation and sequential trial effects: Support for the conflict monitoring theory
Highlights
► Conflict adaptation is present in the N2 and P3 components of the ERP. ► Sequential incongruent trials are associated with decreased N2 amplitudes. ► Sequential congruent trials are associated with increased N2 amplitudes. ► Results suggest adaptive changes in cognitive control resources. ► Findings are consistent with the conflict monitoring theory.
Section snippets
Participants
All participants provided written informed consent as approved by the local Institutional Review Board. Participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. Exclusion criteria, assessed via participant self report, included current or previous diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder, psychoactive medication use, substance use or dependence, neurological disorders, head injury, left-handedness, or uncorrected visual impairment. Left-handed participants were excluded in an effort to
Behavioral
Response time and error rate data for conflict adaptation effects are presented in Table 1 and Fig. 2. A Previous-trial Congruency × Current-trial Congruency ANOVA on mean RTs revealed the significant main effects of Previous-trial Congruency, F(1,180) = 223.26, p < .001, η2p = .55, and Current-trial Congruency, F(1,180) = 3514.58, p < .001, η2p = .95. Participants generally responded faster after congruent trials than after incongruent trials and faster on congruent trials compared to incongruent trials
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of behavioral and electrophysiological indices of cognitive control to conflict adaptation and higher-order trial effects. Response times and error rates as well as N2 and P3 amplitudes demonstrated reliable conflict adaptation effects. Incongruent N2 and P3 amplitudes were significantly correlated with incongruent-trial RTs for conflict adaptation effects. For higher-order trial effects, congruent-trial RTs showed a linear trend
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