[Perceptual conflict and response competition: event-related potentials of the stroop effect].

Abstract

Increased amplitude of P3 and N4 peaks associated with stimulus-related activation has been suggested to reflect conflict detection process. The variations in amplitudes for incorrect responses were complicated. While the amplitude of the N2 and P3 components increased only for incongruent stimuli, those of the N3 and N4 components increased for both congruent and incongruent stimuli. It was concluded that these earlier and later activations were associated with response competition and error detection processes, respectively. In this respect, these findings support both the perceptual conflict and the response competition hypotheses of Stroop interference.