Dissociating Components of Cognitive Control Using High-density Event-related Potentials: Implementation of Control, Conflict

of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science DISSOCIATING COMPONENTS OF COGNITIVE CONTROL USING HIGHDENSITY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS: IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTROL, CONFLICT PROCESSING, AND ERROR MONITORING By Michael James Larson May 2004 Chair: William M. Perlstein Major Department: Clinical and Health Psychology Recent theories suggest that cognitive control is a dynamic process instantiated within a fronto-cortical network that implements regulative or strategic control over topdown processes, monitors and detects processing conflicts, and signals for adjustments in performance when necessary. We examined this complement of cognitive control processes behaviorally and neurally. To do this, we acquired high-density brain eventrelated potentials (ERPs) while 24 neurologically-normal participants performed a cued, single-trial Stroop task that temporally dissociated instruction-related regulative processes (i.e., representing and maintaining the attentional demands of the task), from evaluative processes (i.e., conflict processing, error monitoring). Implementation of control was reflected in a right frontal instruction-related slow-wave associated with the more attentionally demanding color-naming task. A mid-to-lateral frontal stimulusrelated conflict N450 was elicited by the incongruent color-naming task condition.