Experience a conflict—either consciously or not (commentary on Desender, Van Opstal, and Van den Bussche, 2014)

Frontiers in Psychology

Elger Abrahamse¹ 

关键词: conflict adaptation;    cognitive control;    response conflict;    consciousness;    conflict monitoring;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00179

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

A general target of human cognition is to prevent or adapt to its own conflicts in information processing. Research on this issue employs conflict paradigms (e.g., Stroop task) in which salient task-irrelevant features either help (congruent trials) or hinder (incongruent trials) task-relevant processing. An important exercise within this domain is to obtain a clear understanding of the concept of conflict, and of the precise circumstances under which it arises and triggers behavioral adaptations. Throughout the last century various proposals have circulated (see Botvinick et al., 2001), but since Botvinick et al. (2001) proposed their seminal conflict monitoring theory the field has widely adopted “response conflict” as the main trigger for cognitive adaptations. Yet, in a recent paper, Desender et al. (2014) provided great fuel for discussion. Based on a simple but clever paradigm, they claim that not response conflict per se but rather consciously experienced conflict drives adaptation. Here we outline why Desender and colleagues overestimate the importance of their data in supporting a crucial role for conflict awareness, but underrate other aspects of their study.

【 授权许可】

CC BY