title: Investigating the neural correlates of the Stroop effect with magnetoencephalography.
abstract: Reporting the ink color of a written word when it is itself a color name incongruent with the ink color (e.g. "red" printed in blue) induces a robust interference known as the Stroop effect. Although this effect has been the subject of numerous functional neuroimaging studies, its neuronal substrate is still a matter of debate. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of interference-related neural events using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and voxel-based analyses (SPM8). Evoked magnetic fields (EMFs) were acquired in 12 right-handed healthy subjects performing a color-word Stroop task. Behavioral results disclosed a classic interference effect with longer mean reaction times for incongruent than congruent stimuli. At the group level, EMFs' differences between incongruent and congruent trials spanned from 380 to 700 ms post-stimulus onset. Underlying neural sources were identified in the left pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and in the left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) confirming the role of these regions in conflict processing.
authors.affiliation: LCFC - Laboratoire de Cartographie fonctionnelle du Cerveau ULB-Hôpital Erasme and UNI - ULB Neurosciences Institute, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium, sgaler@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galer
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Op De Beeck
authors.forename: Charline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Urbain
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bourguignon
authors.forename: Noémie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ligot
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wens
authors.forename: Brice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marty
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Bogaert
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peigneux
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: De Tiège
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D057190:Stroop Test; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*