title: Event-related potentials and neural oscillations dissociate levels of cognitive control.
abstract: Recent models of human behavior suggest a hierarchical organization of cognitive control processes. These models assume that different sub-goals of cognitive control processes are nested in each other, such that higher-level sub-goals can only be accomplished when lower-level sub-goals have been realized. While the neuroanatomical localization of this organizational principle has already been successfully tested, the exact temporal nature remains to be explored. The present study applied event-related potentials (ERPs) and investigated neural oscillations during performance of three different nested cognitive control tasks. Results demonstrated a parametric modulation of the P300 component as well as beta-band (13-25Hz) oscillations as a function of different levels of cognitive control. Moreover, conditions requiring flexible updating of information exhibited similar alpha-band (8-13Hz) oscillations, which differed from the condition without flexible updating (low-level). These results suggest dissociable mechanisms of flexible information updating and complexity of cognitive control processes indexed by different oscillatory effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Germany; Department of Neurology, First Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Mingou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Doñamayor
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Münte
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Germany. Electronic address: joerg.bahlmann@neuro.uni-luebeck.de.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bahlmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive control; Control hierarchy; ERPs; Time-frequency analysis