When in Doubt, Do it Both Ways: Brain Evidence of the Simultaneous Activation of Conflicting Motor Responses in a Spatial Stroop Task

Response competition is often considered an important contributor to the delayed reaction to stimuli for which physical and semantic information are in conflict (“Stroop” effect). Response competition implies that brain areas associated with correct and incorrect responses (e.g., left and right moto...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cognitive neuroscience 2001-05, Vol.13 (4), p.523-536
Main Authors: DeSoto, M. Catherine, Fabiani, Monica, Geary, David C, Gratton, Gabriele
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain
Brain - physiology
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Conflict (Psychology)
Contingent Negative Variation
Diagnostic Imaging
Dominance, Cerebral
Female
Hand - physiology
Humans
Infrared Rays
Male
Motor Activity - physiology
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Optics and Photonics
Physiological aspects
Reaction Time
Scattering, Radiation
Scientific imaging
Signal processing
Visual evoked response
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Summary:Response competition is often considered an important contributor to the delayed reaction to stimuli for which physical and semantic information are in conflict (“Stroop” effect). Response competition implies that brain areas associated with correct and incorrect responses (e.g., left and right motor cortices) should be simultaneously activated in conflict conditions. However, there is at present little direct evidence of this phenomenon, in part because of the paucity of brain imaging techniques that can independently monitor the time course of activation of adjacent brain areas, such as the motor areas. In the present study, we show that the event-related optical signal (EROS) can provide these types of data. The results confirm the prediction that conflict trials elicit simultaneous activation of both motor cortices, whereas nonconflict trials elicit brain activity only in the contralateral motor cortex. These data support a parallel view of the human information processing system.
ISSN:0898-929X
1530-8898
DOI:10.1162/08989290152001934