Abstract
According to Botvinick’s (2007) integrative account, conflict monitoring is aversive because individuals anticipate cognitive demand, whereas the revised
reinforcement sensitivity theory (rRST) predicts that conflict processing is aversive because individuals anticipate aversive
reinforcement of erroneous responses. Because these accounts give different reasons for the aversive aspects of conflict,
we manipulated cognitive demand and the aversive reinforcement as a consequence of wrong choices in a go/no-go task. Thereby,
we also aimed to investigate whether individual differences in conflict sensitivity (i.e., in trait anxiety, linked to high
sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system [trait-BIS]) represent the effects of aversive reinforcement and cognitive
demand in conflict tasks. We expected that these manipulations would have effects on the frontal N2 component representing
activity of the anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, higher-trait-BIS individuals should be more sensitive than lower-trait-BIS
individuals to aversive effects in conflict situations, resulting in a more negative frontal N2 for higher-trait-BIS individuals.
In Study 1, with N = 104 students, and Study 2, with N = 47 students, aversive reinforcement was manipulated in three levels (within-subjects factor) and cognitive demand in two
levels (between-subjects factor). The behavioral findings from the go/no-go task with noncounterbalanced reinforcement levels
(Study 1) could be widely replicated in a task with counterbalanced reinforcement levels (Study 2). The frontal mean no-go
N2 amplitude and the frontal no-go N2 dipole captured predicted reinforcement-related variations of conflict monitoring, indicating
that the anticipation of aversive reinforcement induces variations in conflict monitoring intensity in frontal brain areas.
The aversive nature of conflict was underlined by the more pronounced conflict monitoring in higher- than in lower-trait-BIS
individuals.
reinforcement sensitivity theory (rRST) predicts that conflict processing is aversive because individuals anticipate aversive
reinforcement of erroneous responses. Because these accounts give different reasons for the aversive aspects of conflict,
we manipulated cognitive demand and the aversive reinforcement as a consequence of wrong choices in a go/no-go task. Thereby,
we also aimed to investigate whether individual differences in conflict sensitivity (i.e., in trait anxiety, linked to high
sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system [trait-BIS]) represent the effects of aversive reinforcement and cognitive
demand in conflict tasks. We expected that these manipulations would have effects on the frontal N2 component representing
activity of the anterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, higher-trait-BIS individuals should be more sensitive than lower-trait-BIS
individuals to aversive effects in conflict situations, resulting in a more negative frontal N2 for higher-trait-BIS individuals.
In Study 1, with N = 104 students, and Study 2, with N = 47 students, aversive reinforcement was manipulated in three levels (within-subjects factor) and cognitive demand in two
levels (between-subjects factor). The behavioral findings from the go/no-go task with noncounterbalanced reinforcement levels
(Study 1) could be widely replicated in a task with counterbalanced reinforcement levels (Study 2). The frontal mean no-go
N2 amplitude and the frontal no-go N2 dipole captured predicted reinforcement-related variations of conflict monitoring, indicating
that the anticipation of aversive reinforcement induces variations in conflict monitoring intensity in frontal brain areas.
The aversive nature of conflict was underlined by the more pronounced conflict monitoring in higher- than in lower-trait-BIS
individuals.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-21
- DOI 10.3758/s13415-012-0086-x
- Authors
- Anja Leue, Faculty of Medicine and Institute of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- Sebastian Lange, Faculty of Medicine and Institute of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- André Beauducel, Faculty of Medicine and Institute of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- Journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
- Online ISSN 1531-135X
- Print ISSN 1530-7026