Mendl, Jonathan and Banerjee, Sayani and Fischer, Rico and Dreisbach, Gesine and Koester, Moritz (2024) Control in context: The theta rhythm provides evidence for reactive control but no evidence for proactive control. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, 61 (10). ISSN 0048-5772, 1469-8986
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
A prime goal of psychological science is to understand how humans can flexibly adapt to rapidly changing contexts. The foundation of this cognitive flexibility rests on contextual adjustments of cognitive control, which can be tested using the list-wide proportion congruency effect (LWPC). Blocks with mostly incongruent (MI) trials show smaller conflict interference effects compared to blocks with mostly congruent (MC) trials. A critical debate is how proactive and reactive control processes drive contextual adjustments. In this preregistered study (N = 30), we address this conundrum, by using the theta rhythm as a key neural marker for cognitive control. In a confound-minimized Stroop paradigm with short alternating MC and MI blocks, we tested reaction times, error rates, and participants' individualized theta activity (2-7 Hz) in the scalp-recorded electroencephalogram. An LWPC effect was found for both, reaction times and error rates. Importantly, the results provided clear evidence for reactive control processes in the theta rhythm: Theta power was higher in rare incongruent compared with congruent trials in MC blocks, but there was no such modulation in MI blocks. However, regarding proactive control, there were no differences in sustained theta power between MC and MI blocks. A complementary analysis of the alpha activity (8-14 Hz) also revealed no evidence for sustained attentional resources in MI blocks. These findings suggest that contextual adjustments rely mainly on reactive control processes in the theta rhythm. Proactive control, in the present study, may be limited to a flexible attentional shift but does not seem to require sustained theta activity. Human behavior needs to be constantly adjusted to changing contexts. The present study measured theta rhythm to investigate two sides of this ability: (1) proactive control, engaged in advance, and (2) reactive control, engaged only when needed. We conclude that mainly reactive control processes drive context adjustments. Opposed to prominent theories, proactive control does not seem to require sustained theta activation and may be established through a swift attentional shift toward relevant information.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | WORKING-MEMORY CAPACITY; COGNITIVE CONTROL; ANTERIOR CINGULATE; FRONTAL THETA; PROPORTION-CONGRUENT; STROOP TASK; OSCILLATIONS; INTERFERENCE; ADJUSTMENTS; MECHANISMS; cognitive control; EEG; oscillation/time frequency analyses |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology |
| Divisions: | Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie II (Allgemeine und Angewandte Psychologie) - Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Developmental Cognitive Psychology – Prof. Dr. Dr. Moritz Köster |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Dec 2025 06:39 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Dec 2025 06:39 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/63907 |
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