RT journal article
T1 Development of neural mechanisms of conflict and error processing during childhood: implications for self-regulation.
A1 Checa Fernández, Purificación
A1 Castellanos, Concepción
A1 Abundis-Gutierrez, Alicia
A1 Rueda Cuerva, Mª Rosario
A2 Psicología
K1 executive attention, error processing, conflict resolution, self-regulation, development
AB Regulation of thoughts and behavior requires attention, particularly when there is conflict between alternative responses or when errors are to be prevented or corrected. Conflict monitoring and error processing are functions of the executive attention network, a neurocognitive system that greatly matures during childhood. In this study, we examined the development of brain mechanisms underlying conflict and error processing with event-related potentials (ERPs), and explored the relationship between brain function and individual differences in the ability to self-regulate behavior. Three groups of children aged 4–6, 7–9, and 10–13 years, and a group of adults performed a child-friendly version of the flanker task while ERPs were registered. Marked developmental changes were observed in both conflict processing and brain reactions to errors. After controlling by age, higher self-regulation skills are associated with smaller amplitude of the conflict effect but greater amplitude of the error-related negativity. Additionally, we found that electrophysiological measures of conflict and error monitoring predict individual differences in impulsivity and the capacity to delay gratification. These findings inform of brain mechanisms underlying the development of cognitive control and self-regulation.
PB Frontiers
SN 1664-1078
YR 2014
FD 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/16488
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/16488
LA eng
NO Research presented in this article was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ref. PSI2011.27746) to M. Rosario Rueda and a pre-doctoral FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation awarded to the fist author. The research presented in this paper was part of the doctoral dissertation of the first author.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 15-nov-2026