title: The bivalency effect represents an interference-triggered adjustment of cognitive control: an ERP study.
abstract: When bivalent stimuli (i.e., stimuli with relevant features for two different tasks) occur occasionally among univalent stimuli, performance is slowed on subsequent univalent stimuli even if they have no overlapping stimulus features. This finding has been labeled the bivalency effect. It indexes an adjustment of cognitive control, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood yet. The purpose of the present study was to shed light on this question, using event-related potentials. We used a paradigm requiring predictable alternations between three tasks, with bivalent stimuli occasionally occurring on one task. The results revealed that the bivalency effect elicited a sustained parietal positivity and a frontal negativity, a neural signature that is typical for control processes implemented to resolve interference. We suggest that the bivalency effect reflects interference, which may be caused by episodic context binding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Cognition, Learning, and Memory, University of Bern, Muesmattstr. 45, 3000, Bern 9, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alodie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rey-Mermet
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: Beat
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meier
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult