Desender Kobe, Van den Bussche Eva
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University Ghent, Belgium.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2012 Feb 3;6:3. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00003. eCollection 2012.
Facing response conflict, subjects try to improve their responses by reducing the influence of the detrimental information which caused the conflict. It was speculated that this adaptation to conflict can only occur when the conflicting information is consciously perceived. In this review we give an overview of the research looking at the possibility of unconscious stimuli to provoke this conflict adaptation. In a first part we discuss adaptation to conflict on a trial-by-trial basis. When the previous trial contained conflicting information, subjects will adapt to this by reducing the influence of the conflicting information on the current trial. However, the interesting question is whether this is also possible when the conflicting information remains unconscious. In a second part we will discuss blockwise adaptation to conflict. If conflict is very frequent, subjects will adapt to this by reducing the conflicting information sustainably. Again the question is whether this is possible when the conflict was never experienced consciously. In a third part we will discuss the neural basis of conscious and unconscious conflict adaptation. We will critically discuss the research on these topics and highlight strengths and weaknesses of the used paradigms. Finally, we will give some suggestions how future research can be more conclusive in this respect.
面对反应冲突时，受试者试图通过减少导致冲突的有害信息的影响来改善他们的反应。据推测，只有当冲突信息被有意识地感知到时，这种对冲突的适应才会发生。在这篇综述中，我们概述了有关无意识刺激引发这种冲突适应可能性的研究。在第一部分，我们逐次试验地讨论对冲突的适应。当前一个试验包含冲突信息时，受试者会通过减少冲突信息对当前试验的影响来对此进行适应。然而，有趣的问题是，当冲突信息保持无意识时这是否也有可能。在第二部分，我们将讨论对冲突的逐块适应。如果冲突非常频繁，受试者会通过持续减少冲突信息来对此进行适应。同样的问题是，当冲突从未被有意识地体验过时这是否有可能。在第三部分，我们将讨论有意识和无意识冲突适应的神经基础。我们将批判性地讨论关于这些主题的研究，并突出所用范式的优点和缺点。最后，我们将给出一些建议，说明未来研究在这方面如何能更具决定性。
