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Updated: May 25, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Cognitive conflict in a syllable identification task causes transient activation of speech perception area
Bjørn Sætrevik1, Karsten Specht
1Operational Psychology Research Group, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christies gate 12, N-5015 Bergen, Norway. satrevik@gmail.com
Abstract:
It has previously been shown that task performance and frontal cortical activation increase after cognitive conflict. This has been argued to support a model of attention where the level of conflict automatically adjusts the amount of cognitive control applied. Conceivably, conflict could also modulate lower-level processing pathways, which would be evident as trial-to-trial changes in domain specific activation. The present fMRI experiment used a syllable identification task where conflict is manipulated by presenting recently ignored syllables. Results showed that on trials following a high conflict trial, activation increased primarily in the planum temporale region of the left temporal cortex, an area believed to be involved in syllable discrimination. The experiment thus showed a transient, domain specific attention effect that was modulated on a trial-to-trial basis. We argue that this indicates a self-regulating system where increased levels of conflict directs resources in order to improve performance.
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