Abstract
To process information selectively and to continuously fine-tune selectivity of information processing are important abilities for successful goal-directed behavior. One phenomenon thought to represent this fine-tuning are conflict adaptation effects in interference tasks, i.e., reduction of interference after an incompatible trial and when incompatible trials are frequent. The neurocognitive mechanisms of these effects are currently only partly understood and results from brainimaging studies so far are mixed. In our study we validate and extend recent findings by examining adaption to recent conflict in the classical Stroop task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Consistent with previous research we found increased activity in a fronto-parietal network comprising the medial prefrontal cortex, ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex when contrasting incompatible with compatible trials. These areas have been associated with attentional processes and might reflect increased cognitive conflict and resolution thereof during incompatible trials. While carefully controlling for non-attentional sequential effects we found smaller Stroop interference after an incompatible trial (conflict adaptation effect). These behavioral conflict adaptation effects were accompanied by changes in activity in visual color-selective areas (V4, V4α), while there was no modulation by previous trial compatibility in a visual word-selective area (VWFA). Our results provide further evidence for the notion, that adaptation to recent conflict seems to be based mainly on enhancement of processing of the task-relevant information.
Highlights
While our senses are able to process an enormous amount of information, we are unable to process all the information that is available in the environment at any point in time
To examine if adaptation to recent conflict involves enhancement or suppression of sensory information processing, we identified inferotemporal brain regions involved in color
There was an interaction effect between conflict in the current trial and conflict in the previous trial [conflict adaptation; F(1, 17) = 8.1, p < 0.05], reflecting that Stroop interference was smaller after an incompatible trial (98 ms) than after a compatible trial (128 ms)
Summary
While our senses are able to process an enormous amount of information, we are unable to process all the information that is available in the environment at any point in time. Given this limitation, for successful goal-directed behavior our information processing system has to be selective: It has to process goalrelevant information with higher priority than irrelevant information. In everyday life and during performance of tasks used in laboratory research our cognitive system seems to move along a continuum from more to less selective information processing (Durstewitz and Seamans, 2008; Diamond, 2013). Subjects might have to indicate the identity of a letter while ignoring distractor letters on the left and right of the target stimulus (Eriksen flanker task; Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974) or to indicate the color of a color word while ignoring its word meaning (Stroop color-word task; Stroop, 1935)
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