Two Independent Frontal Midline Theta Oscillations during Conflict Detection and Adaptation in a Simon-Type Manual Reaching Task

Abstract

One of the most firmly established factors determining the speed of human behavioral responses toward action-critical stimuli is the spatial correspondence between the stimulus and response locations. If both locations match, the time taken for response production is markedly reduced relative to when they mismatch, a phenomenon called the Simon effect. While there is a consensus that this stimulusresponse (S-R) conflict is associated with brief (4 -7 Hz) frontal midline theta (fm) complexes generated in medial frontal cortex, it remains controversial (1) whether there are multiple, simultaneously active theta generator areas in the medial frontal cortex that commonly give rise to conflict-related fm complexes; and if so, (2) whether they are all related to the resolution of conflicting task information. Here, we combined mental chronometry with high-density electroencephalographic measures during a Simon-type manual reaching task and used independent component analysis and time-frequency domain statistics on source-level activities to model fm sources. During target processing, our results revealed two independent fm generators simultaneously active in or near anterior cingulate cortex, only one of them reflecting the correspondence between current and previous S-R locations. However, this fm response is not exclusively linked to conflict but also to other, conflict-independent processes associated with response slowing. These results paint a detailed picture regarding the oscillatory correlates of conflict processing in Simon tasks, and challenge the prevalent notion that fm complexes induced by conflicting task information represent a unitary phenomenon related to cognitive control, which governs conflict processing across various types of response-override tasks.

Midfrontal theta and pupil dilation parametrically track subjective conflict (but also surprise) during intertemporal choice

“…Although our EEG electrode array preclude us from localizing midfrontal theta sources, previous work suggests that midfrontal theta oscillations are generated in the ACC and surrounding mPFC (Asada et al, 1999;Debener et al, 2005;Töllner et al, 2017). Thus, future work should not only investigate whether common neural sources generate midfrontal theta dynamics in value-guided choice and inhibitory control tasks, but also use value-guided choice paradigms to gain further insights into the functional significance of midfrontal theta dynamics.…”

Brain reflections: A circuit‐based framework for understanding information processing and cognitive control

“…The role of theta bursts in cognitive control has been the target of extensive investigation over the last few years. Several articles have shown that theta bursts (typically lasting a few hundred milliseconds) are associated with conflict or with conditions requiring enhanced cognitive control (e.g., Harper, Malone, & Iacono, ; McDermott, Weisman, Proskovec, Heinrichs‐Graham, & Wilson, , Töllner et al, ). Although some authors (e.g., Töllner et al, ) have linked these increases in theta activity to conflict monitoring per se, others have linked the amplitude of this signal to task complexity (e.g., Cooper et al, —who also reported an increase in delta activity; Voytek et al, ), task switching (e.g., Cunillera et al, ), or in some cases to the anticipation of conflict (e.g, Chang, Ide, Li, Chen, & Li, ).…”

“…Several articles have shown that theta bursts (typically lasting a few hundred milliseconds) are associated with conflict or with conditions requiring enhanced cognitive control (e.g., Harper, Malone, & Iacono, ; McDermott, Weisman, Proskovec, Heinrichs‐Graham, & Wilson, , Töllner et al, ). Although some authors (e.g., Töllner et al, ) have linked these increases in theta activity to conflict monitoring per se, others have linked the amplitude of this signal to task complexity (e.g., Cooper et al, —who also reported an increase in delta activity; Voytek et al, ), task switching (e.g., Cunillera et al, ), or in some cases to the anticipation of conflict (e.g, Chang, Ide, Li, Chen, & Li, ). In general, investigators (e.g., Cooper et al, ; Phillips, Vinck, Everling, & Womelsdorf, ; Voytek et al, ) have associated bursts of frontal theta with facilitation of the reprogramming of the information processing system for a specific task (see also Bonneford et al, 2017, for attribution of this role to even lower frequency activities, such as delta).…”

Distinguishing stimulus and response codes in theta oscillations in prefrontal areas during inhibitory control of automated responses

“…Similar to other cognitive control processes [Cavanagh and Frank, ], response inhibition mechanisms are mediated via oscillations in the theta frequency band [Beste et al, ; Dippel et al, ; Huster et al, ; Isabella et al, ; Quetscher et al, ]. A possible reason why theta oscillations are important is that a large‐amplitude low‐frequency temporal scheme is ideal for organizing activities across large spatial distances [Buzsáki and Draguhn, ] and for integrating sensory and response‐related information during cognitive control [Cavanagh and Frank, ; Hoffmann and Beste, ; Nigbur et al, ; Töllner et al, ]. Both stimulus and response selection codes may therefore be evident in theta frequency oscillations during inhibitory control.…”