Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Jan;23(1):91-105. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21431.
Cognitive control allows humans to overrule and inhibit habitual responses to optimize performance in challenging situations. Contradicting traditional views, recent studies suggest that cognitive control processes can be initiated unconsciously. To further capture the relation between consciousness and cognitive control, we studied the dynamics of inhibitory control processes when triggered consciously versus unconsciously in a modified version of the stop task. Attempts to inhibit an imminent response were often successful after unmasked (visible) stop signals. Masked (invisible) stop signals rarely succeeded in instigating overt inhibition but did trigger slowing down of response times. Masked stop signals elicited a sequence of distinct ERP components that were also observed on unmasked stop signals. The N2 component correlated with the efficiency of inhibitory control when elicited by unmasked stop signals and with the magnitude of slowdown when elicited by masked stop signals. Thus, the N2 likely reflects the initiation of inhibitory control, irrespective of conscious awareness. The P3 component was much reduced in amplitude and duration on masked versus unmasked stop trials. These patterns of differences and similarities between conscious and unconscious cognitive control processes are discussed in a framework that differentiates between feedforward and feedback connections in yielding conscious experience.
认知控制使人类能够推翻和抑制习惯性反应，从而在具有挑战性的情况下优化表现。与传统观点相矛盾的是，最近的研究表明，认知控制过程可以在无意识的情况下启动。为了进一步捕捉意识和认知控制之间的关系，我们在修改后的停止任务中研究了在有意识和无意识触发的情况下抑制控制过程的动态。在可见（unmasked）停止信号后，对即将到来的反应进行抑制的尝试通常是成功的。不可见（masked）停止信号很少成功引发明显的抑制，但确实会减缓反应时间。不可见停止信号引发了一系列不同的 ERP 成分，这些成分在可见停止信号中也观察到了。N2 成分与不可见停止信号引发的抑制控制效率以及可见停止信号引发的减速幅度相关。因此，无论意识意识如何，N2 可能反映了抑制控制的启动。P3 成分在掩蔽与非掩蔽停止试验中的幅度和持续时间都大大降低。在产生意识体验的前馈和反馈连接之间进行区分的框架中，讨论了这些有意识和无意识认知控制过程之间的差异和相似之处。
