The dynamics of cognitive control: evidence for within-trial conflict adaptation from frequency-tagged EEG

A central topic in the cognitive sciences is how cognitive control is adapted flexibly to changing task demands. Conflict monitoring theory originally proposed conflict triggered adjustments of cognitive control after a conflict trial to improve subsequent performance. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that readjustments of cognitive control occur continuously within a conflict trial itself. Using frequency tagged electroencephalogram in a flanker task, we traced the allocation of attention to target and distracter stimuli. We found evidence for a conflict-triggered within-trial contrast enhancement dissociating target and distracters. This contrast enhancement vanished for consecutive trials with constant tagging frequencies, indicating that trial-to-trial conflict adaptation effects may, at least partly, be the product of interacting processes serving conflict resolution within trials.