Integration of Conflict Detection and Attentional Control Mechanisms: Combined ERP and fMRI Studies

Abstract

Attention involves powerful top-down mechanisms for the control of information processing in the brain, including specialized systems in the frontal and parietal cortex. These networks for attentional control are sensitive to momentary goals, enabling flexibility in behavior under changing conditions. One such influence is that which arises when competing inputs or responses are in conflict. A prominent system for conflict detection, cognitive control, and behavioral adjustment involves the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex. Here we describe how these attentional and conflict-resolution systems interact, and provide a synthesis and model of how these interactions support information processing. We show that conflict detected in the anterior cingulate system influences the activity of the frontal-parietal attention network to modulate attentional selection. As a result, when conditions lead to uncertainty that could be detrimental to successful performance, the brain combines information to strategically alter performance on a moment-to-moment basis.