Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevant
- University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Abstract
Conflict detection in sensory input is central to adaptive human behavior. Perhaps unsurprisingly, past research has shown that conflict may even be detected in absence of conflict awareness, suggesting that conflict detection is an automatic process that does not require attention. To test the possibility of conflict processing in the absence of attention, we manipulated task relevance and response overlap of potentially conflicting stimulus features across six behavioral tasks. Multivariate analyses on human electroencephalographic data revealed neural signatures of conflict only when at least one feature of a conflicting stimulus was attended, regardless of whether that feature was part of the conflict, or overlaps with the response. In contrast, neural signatures of basic sensory processes were present even when a stimulus was completely unattended. These data reveal an attentional bottleneck at the level of objects, suggesting that object-based attention is a prerequisite for cognitive control operations involved in conflict detection.
Data availability
The data and analysis scripts used in this article is available on Figshare https://uvaauas.figshare.com/projects/Preserved_sensory_processing_but_hampered_conflict_detection_when_stimulus_input_is_task-irrelevant/115020
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Analyses scripts for manuscript: Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevantFigshare, https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.14730297.v1.
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Raw behavioral dataset for manuscript: Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevantFigshare, https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.14730396.v1.
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Decoded EEG (time-frequency) dataset for manuscript: Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevantFigshare, https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.14730402.v1.
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Decoded EEG (time-domain) dataset for manuscript: Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevantFigshare, https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.14754870.v1.
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Raw EEG dataset for manuscript: Preserved sensory processing but hampered conflict detection when stimulus input is task-irrelevantFigshare, https://doi.org/10.21942/uva.14709420.v1.
Article and author information
Author details
Stijn Adriaan Nuiten
Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort
Funding
H2020 European Research Council (ERC-2016-STG_715605)
- Simon van Gaal
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants after explanation of the experimental protocol. This study was approved by the local ethics committee of the University of Amsterdam (projects: 2015-BC-4687, 2017-BC-8257, 2019-BC-10711).
Copyright
© 2021, Nuiten et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
