When viewing familiar stimuli (e.g., common words), processing is highly automatized such that it can interfere with the processing of incompatible sensory information. At least two mechanisms may help mitigate this interference. Early selection accounts posit that attentional processes filter out distracting sensory information to avoid conflict. Alternatively, late selection accounts hold that all sensory inputs receive full semantic analysis and that frontal executive mechanisms are recruited to resolve conflict. To test how these mechanisms operate to overcome conflict induced by highly automatized processing, we developed a novel version of the color-word Stroop task, where targets and distractors were simultaneously flickered at different frequencies. We measured the quality of early sensory processing by assessing the amplitude of steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by targets and distractors. We also indexed frontal executive processes by assessing changes in frontal theta oscillations induced by color-word incongruency. We found that target- and distractor-related SSVEPs were not modulated by changes in the level of conflict whereas frontal theta activity increased on high compared to low conflict trials. These results suggest that frontal executive processes play a more dominant role in mitigating cognitive interference driven by the automatic tendency to process highly familiar stimuli.

中文翻译：

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当无法避免冲突时：早期选择和正面执行控制在缓解Stroop冲突中的相对贡献。

当查看熟悉的刺激（例如，常用词）时，处理会高度自动化，从而会干扰不兼容的感官信息的处理。至少两种机制可以帮助减轻这种干扰。早期选择说明了注意过程会滤除分散注意力的感官信息以避免冲突。或者，后期选择帐户认为所有感官输入都接受完整的语义分析，并且招募了正面执行机制来解决冲突。为了测试这些机制如何克服由高度自动化的处理引起的冲突，我们开发了一种新版本的颜色词Stroop任务，其中目标和干扰物同时以不同的频率闪烁。我们通过评估目标和干扰物引起的稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEP）的幅度来测量早期感觉处理的质量。我们还通过评估由颜色词不一致引起的额叶振荡的变化来索引额叶执行过程。我们发现，与目标和干扰物相关的SSVEP不受冲突水平变化的调节，而与低冲突试验相比，额叶theta活动在高位时增加。这些结果表明，额叶执行过程在缓解认知干扰方面起着更主要的作用，而认知干扰是由处理高度熟悉的刺激的自动趋势驱动的。我们还通过评估由颜色词不一致引起的额叶振荡的变化来索引额叶执行过程。我们发现，与目标和干扰物相关的SSVEP不受冲突水平变化的调节，而与低冲突试验相比，额叶theta活动在高位时增加。这些结果表明，额叶执行过程在缓解认知干扰方面起着更主要的作用，而认知干扰是由处理高度熟悉的刺激的自动趋势驱动的。我们还通过评估由颜色词不一致引起的额叶振荡的变化来索引额叶执行过程。我们发现，与目标和干扰物相关的SSVEP不受冲突水平变化的调节，而与低冲突试验相比，额叶theta活动在高位时增加。这些结果表明，额叶执行过程在缓解认知干扰方面起着更主要的作用，而认知干扰是由处理高度熟悉的刺激的自动趋势驱动的。