Con X icts as signals: bridging the gap between con X ict detection and cognitive control

“Cognitive conXicts” are said to occur when several incompatible action tendencies or motivations co-exist in our cognitive system. The processing problems arising from cognitive conXicts are often assumed to reXect basic principles of the cognitive architecture. “Cognitive control” comes into play whenever conXicts need to be resolved to guarantee Xawless behavior; how exactly cognitive conXicts are resolved is one of the major challenges that current models of cognitive control are facing. Most of the existing research on conXicts in the human information processing system has focused on the processes that elicit conXicts and the processes that monitor and resolve conXict. Importantly, very little research has tried to understand the consequences of conXicts for subsequent information processing. In contrast, all the articles in this Special Issue reXect the belief that conXicts are functional and that they can be viewed as signals that trigger information processing within the cognitive system and lead to adaptation of the system conWguration. Thus, the research described in this Special Issue has begun to unravel the processes that mediate between the conXict signal indicating discrepancies or problems in the information processing system and subsequent optimization mechanisms. Hence, conXict-driven behavioral optimization becomes the research focus. One seminal theory that drew our attention to the role of conXicts and their subsequent adaptation processes is the conXict monitoring account described by Botvinick and colleagues (Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001; Botvinick, Cohen, & Carter, 2004). In the Botvinick et al. model, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) monitors the occurrence of potential conXicts. Detected conXicts then trigger resolution processes in the prefrontal cortex. Only recently has Botvinick (2007) extended his account to the ACC by proposing that the ACC is involved in biasing behavior away from tasks or strategies that have been eVortful in the past. Here, conXicts can be viewed as signals that trigger subsequent processes with the objective of avoiding imminent conXicts. ConXicts are, thus, seen to trigger proactive control strategies (Braver, Gray, Burgess, 2007) that prevent conXicts from occurring in the future. Although adaptation after conXict is corroborated by empirical Wndings in diVerent domains of cognitive psychology the origins of the adaptive consequences of conXicts are still under debate. This Special Issue, therefore, gives an overview of various approaches that highlight diVerent aspects of adaptive conXict control processing. Twelve contributions to this Special Issue deal with diVerent types of conXicts as well as diVerent adaptation processes after conXicts and center around Wve central questions. First, do diVerent types of conXicts lead to diVerent adaptive processes or do diVerent conXicts always lead to similar adaptive processes? Second, what exactly is the relation between conXict-induced adaptation and the topdown regulation of information processing? Here, concepts such as working memory and Xuid intelligence might play important roles. Adaptive processing is, of course, closely linked to the anticipation of the outcome of future actions. As anticipation processes may not only be inXuenced by cognitive consequences of conXicts but also by aVective evaluation, third, one may ask, about the role of aVect in adaptive processing that follows conXicts. Fourth and Wfth, are there meaningful and stable interindividual diVerences and developmental patterns in the types of signals that are B. Stürmer (&) · W. Sommer · P. Frensch Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489 Berlin, Germany e-mail: birgit.stuermer@cms.hu-berlin.de