Conflict Adaptation is Induced by the Observation of Conflict: an ERP Study

Recent research shows that the observation of conflict can induce conflict adaptation. In the present study, to examine the neural dynamics of conflict adaptation, the behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded from fifteen healthy human subjects when they performed a letter Flanker task within the conflict observation paradigm. Behavioral results showed a significant interaction between the congruency in the observation condition and the congruency in the response condition for response time (RT). Event-related potentials (ERPs) results showed that in the observation condition, the mean amplitude of the N450 was more negative in the incongruent type compared with the congruent type, which was found only in the centro-frontal region; in the response condition, the amplitude difference was significantly smaller for SP_(iI-iC)than for SP_(cI-cC)and a significant negative correlation between the SP_{[(cI-cC)－(iI-iC)]}and the RT_{[(cI-cC)-(iI-iC)]}in the centro-frontal region. These results confirm that in the observation task, modulations of amplitude of N450 reflect the process of conflict detection; in the response task, modulations of amplitude of SP reflect conflict adaptation that is induced by the observation of conflict.