Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update
Section snippets
A cortical response to conflict
The first claim of the conflict-monitoring theory is that specific brain structures, and in particular the ACC, respond to the occurrence of conflict. This idea was originally motivated by a review of studies in which ACC activation had been observed during the performance of cognitive tasks 4, 5. In the majority of such studies, ACC engagement was associated with one of three behavioral contexts: (1) tasks that required the overriding of prepotent responses, (2) tasks that required selection
Conflict monitoring and the modulation of control
According to the conflict-monitoring hypothesis, the ACC response to conflict triggers strategic adjustments in cognitive control, which serve to reduce conflict in subsequent performance. Initial evidence for this proposal was drawn from cognitive psychology, where several observations suggested the occurrence of adjustments in strategy following the occurrence of conflict. For example, Gratton et al. [58] showed, in the flanker task, that interference is reduced following incompatible trials (
Conflict monitoring in the larger context of ACC function
As noted earlier, an important assertion of the conflict-monitoring hypothesis is that conflict monitoring constitutes one instance of a more general evaluative function. In earlier work, we suggested that the ACC might serve to detect events or internal states indicating a need to shift the focus of attention or strengthen top-down control ([4], see also [20]), an idea consistent, for example, with the fact that the ACC responds to pain [48]. Although this idea remains plausible, recent
Acknowledgements
The authors' work is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (K01 MH65241 to M.M.B.; K02 MH64190 to C.S.C.; MH62196 to J.D.C.), and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (C.S.C.).
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