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The developmental pattern of stimulus and response interference in a color-object Stroop task: an ERP study.
Ellen M M Jongen1, Lisa M Jonkman
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Section of Biological Developmental Psychology, Maastricht University, Faculty of Psychology, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands. E.Jongen@psychology.unimaas.nl
BMC Neuroscience
|September 9, 2008
Summary
Children’s cognitive control develops differently for stimulus and response interference. While stimulus interference control matures early, response interference control continues developing into adolescence, impacting error rates.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Stroop interference is typically stronger in children than adults.
- Standard Stroop tasks confound stimulus and response interference.
- Distinct maturational patterns for stimulus and response interference are hypothesized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate maturational differences in stimulus and response interference.
- To disentangle stimulus and response interference using a manual Color-Object Stroop task.
- To examine the temporal dynamics of interference using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- Employed a manual Color-Object Stroop task with congruent, stimulus incongruent, and response incongruent trials.
- Measured behavioral data (reaction time, errors) and event-related potentials (ERPs).
- Compared three child age groups (6-7, 8-9, 10-12 years) and adults.
Main Results:
- No behavioral stimulus interference was observed in any group.
- Children aged 6-7 showed ERP differences for stimulus interference (occipital P1-reduction, later component changes).
- Response interference showed comparable reaction time delays across groups, but increased errors in children; ERPs revealed age-related differences in parietal-occipital activity.
Conclusions:
- Stimulus interference control matures early in childhood (by 6-7 years).
- Response interference control development continues into late adolescence.
- 10-12 year-olds exhibit greater susceptibility to response interference errors than adults, indicating ongoing development.
