The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) holds a prominent place in models of the neural architecture supporting cognitive control and conflict processing. The findings of empirical and computational work lead to the prediction that the ACC is sensitive to response conflict and insensitive to nonresponse conflict. We tested this prediction in two experiments using event-related brain potentials in combination with a task in which some trials included only nonresponse conflict and others included nonresponse and response conflict. A N450 associated with the activity of neural generators in the ACC and anterior frontal region was elicited on trials including only nonresponse and nonresponse and response conflict. This finding is inconsistent with the hypothesis that activation of the ACC is limited to response conflict and may identify one avenue of development in future applications of conflict theory.

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The current study used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the effects of aging, increasing the working memory demands of the ongoing activity, and a prospective memory load on the neural correlates of prospective remembering and target recognition. The behavioral data revealed that the success of prospective memory was sensitive to working memory load in younger, but not older, adults and that a prospective memory load had a greater effect on the performance of older adults than that of younger adults. The ERP data revealed age-related differences in the neural correlates of the detection of prospective cues, post-retrieval processes that support prospective memory, and target recognition. Our results support the hypothesis that there are age-related differences in the ability to recruit preparatory attentional processes that underlie prospective memory, and demonstrate that younger and older adults may recruit somewhat different neural generators to support prospective memory and working memory.

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