title: Cognitive conflict in a syllable identification task causes transient activation of speech perception area.
abstract: It has previously been shown that task performance and frontal cortical activation increase after cognitive conflict. This has been argued to support a model of attention where the level of conflict automatically adjusts the amount of cognitive control applied. Conceivably, conflict could also modulate lower-level processing pathways, which would be evident as trial-to-trial changes in domain specific activation. The present fMRI experiment used a syllable identification task where conflict is manipulated by presenting recently ignored syllables. Results showed that on trials following a high conflict trial, activation increased primarily in the planum temporale region of the left temporal cortex, an area believed to be involved in syllable discrimination. The experiment thus showed a transient, domain specific attention effect that was modulated on a trial-to-trial basis. We argue that this indicates a self-regulating system where increased levels of conflict directs resources in order to improve performance.
authors.affiliation: Operational Psychology Research Group, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christies gate 12, N-5015 Bergen, Norway. satrevik@gmail.com
authors.forename: Bjørn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sætrevik
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Specht
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*