The N270 component of the event-related potential reflects supramodal conflict processing in humans

It is unclear whether crossmodal information conflict can initiate the conflict processing system indexed by a component of the event-related potential (ERP) called the N270, which previously has been observed only for visual conflict. ERPs were recorded in ten subjects, while they were engaged in a visual-auditory discrimination task. A visual stimulus of a facial photograph was followed by an auditory stimulus of Chinese syllable [a] or [i], which might be sounded by the same gender of its preceding photograph (gender match) or by different gender (gender conflict). Subjects pressed a button for gender match and another for gender conflict. A prominent N270, similar to that evoked by visual conflicts, was elicited by the auditory stimuli in gender conflict condition. It is likely that N270 reflects the brain activity of a supra-modal conflict processing system.