Different temporal dynamics after conflicts and errors in children and adults

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 8; p. e0238221
• Main Authors: Dubravac, Mirela, Roebers, Claudia M., Meier, Beat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 31.08.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological - physiology; Adjustment; Adjustment (Psychology); Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age; Bilingualism; Biology and Life Sciences; Child; Child development; Children; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Cognitive development; Comparative analysis; Computer and Information Sciences; Conflict, Psychological; Electroencephalography - methods; Engineering and Technology; Female; Humans; Male; Methods; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Psychological aspects; Psychological conflict; Psychological research; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction time; Reaction Time - physiology; Reaction time task; Social Sciences; Young Adult; Young adults; Switzerland
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238221

After perceiving cognitive conflicts or errors, children as well as adults adjust their performance in terms of reaction time slowing on subsequent actions, resulting in the so called post-conflict slowing and post-error slowing, respectively. The development of these phenomena has been studied separately and with different methods yielding inconsistent findings. We aimed to assess the temporal dynamics of these two slowing phenomena within a single behavioral task. To do so, 9-13-year-old children and young adults performed a Simon task in which every fifth trial was incongruent and thus induced cognitive conflict and, frequently, also errors. We compared the reaction times on four trials following a conflict or an error. Both age groups slowed down after conflicts and did so even more strongly after errors. Disproportionally high reaction times on the first post-error trial were followed by a steady flattening of the slowing. Generally, children slowed down more than adults. In addition to highlighting the phenomenal and developmental robustness of post-conflict and post-error slowing these findings strongly suggest increasingly efficient performance adjustment through fine-tuning of cognitive control in the course of development.