Anterior cingulate cortex activity can be independent of response conflict in Stroop-like tasks.

@article{citeulike:842086, abstract = {Cognitive control includes the ability to formulate goals and plans of action and to follow these while facing distraction. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the presence of conflicting response alternatives in Stroop-like tasks increases activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), suggesting that the ACC is involved in cognitive control. However, the exact nature of ACC function is still under debate. The prevailing conflict detection hypothesis maintains that the ACC is involved in performance monitoring. According to this view, ACC activity reflects the detection of response conflict and acts as a signal that engages regulative processes subserved by lateral prefrontal brain regions. Here, we provide evidence from functional MRI that challenges this view and favors an alternative view, according to which the ACC has a role in regulation itself. Using an arrow-word Stroop task, subjects responded to incongruent, congruent, and neutral stimuli. A critical prediction made by the conflict detection hypothesis is that ACC activity should be increased only when conflicting response alternatives are present. Our data show that ACC responses are larger for neutral than for congruent stimuli, in the absence of response conflict. This result demonstrates the engagement of the ACC in regulation itself. A computational model of Stroop-like performance instantiating a version of the regulative hypothesis is shown to account for our findings.}, address = {F. C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EK Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.}, author = {Roelofs, Ardi and van Turennout, Miranda and Coles, Michael G H G. }, citeulike-article-id = {842086}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.0606265103}, issn = {0027-8424}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, keywords = {attention, fmri, kristina}, month = {September}, posted-at = {2006-09-13 19:46:05}, priority = {2}, title = {Anterior cingulate cortex activity can be independent of response conflict in Stroop-like tasks.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0606265103}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:842086 L3 - citeulike-article-id:842086 TI - Anterior cingulate cortex activity can be independent of response conflict in Stroop-like tasks. JF - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A AD - F. C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EK Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands. SN - 0027-8424 N2 - Cognitive control includes the ability to formulate goals and plans of action and to follow these while facing distraction. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the presence of conflicting response alternatives in Stroop-like tasks increases activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), suggesting that the ACC is involved in cognitive control. However, the exact nature of ACC function is still under debate. The prevailing conflict detection hypothesis maintains that the ACC is involved in performance monitoring. According to this view, ACC activity reflects the detection of response conflict and acts as a signal that engages regulative processes subserved by lateral prefrontal brain regions. Here, we provide evidence from functional MRI that challenges this view and favors an alternative view, according to which the ACC has a role in regulation itself. Using an arrow-word Stroop task, subjects responded to incongruent, congruent, and neutral stimuli. A critical prediction made by the conflict detection hypothesis is that ACC activity should be increased only when conflicting response alternatives are present. Our data show that ACC responses are larger for neutral than for congruent stimuli, in the absence of response conflict. This result demonstrates the engagement of the ACC in regulation itself. A computational model of Stroop-like performance instantiating a version of the regulative hypothesis is shown to account for our findings. KW - attention KW - fmri KW - kristina AU - Roelofs, Ardi AU - van Turennout, Miranda AU - Coles, Michael G H PY - 2006/09/05/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0606265103 ER -