Cognitive and brain consequences of conflict.

Full Abstract

Tasks involving conflict between stimulus dimensions have been shown to activate dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal areas. It has been proposed that the dorsal anterior cingulate is involved a domain general process of monitoring conflict, while prefrontal areas are involved in resolving conflict. We examine three tasks that all require people to respond based on one stimulus dimension while ignoring another conflicting dimension, but which vary in the source of conflict. One of the tasks uses language stimuli (Stroop effect) and two use nonlanguage spatial conflicts appropriate for children and nonhuman animals. In Experiment 1, 12 participants were studied with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing each of the three tasks. Reaction times for each of the three tasks were significantly longer in the incongruent condition compared with the congruent condition, demonstrating that each task elicits a conflict. By studying the same people in the same session, we test the hypothesis that conflict activates a similar brain network in the three tasks. Significant activations were found in the anterior cingulate and left prefrontal cortex for all three conflict tasks. Within these regions, the conflict component demonstrated evidence for significant common activation across the three tasks, although the peak activation point and spatial extent were not identical. Other areas demonstrated activation unique to each task. Experiments 2-4 provide behavioral evidence indicating considerable independence between conflict operations involved in the tasks. The behavioral and fMRI results taken together seem to argue against a single unified network for processing conflict, but instead support either distinct networks for each conflict task or a single network that monitors conflict with different sites used to resolve the conflict.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Fan, Jin (J); Flombaum, Jonathan I (JI); McCandliss, Bruce D (BD); Thomas, Kathleen M (KM); Posner, Michael I (MI);

Affiliation: Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York, 10021, USA. jif2004(-atsign-)med.cornell.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 18 (issue 1) : pp 42-57

Dates: Created 2002/12/31; Completed 2003/03/19; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12507442, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Attention - physiology
Brain Mapping
Color Perception - physiology
Conflict (Psychology)
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Nerve Net - physiology
Orientation - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Problem Solving - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Reading

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.