ACC in cognitive control. Gehring et al.

(1990)
and Hohnsbein et al. (1989) described the error
negativity , a negative defl ection of the average
event-related potential (ERP) seen in responselocked
incorrect trials, that appeared to have a
medial frontal, possibly anterior cingulate source
(Dehaene et al., 1994). In studies this component
appeared related to the behavioral adjustments
that have been associated with error commission
(Gehring et al., 1993). Th is led to the hypothesis
that the ACC was involved in monitoring and
compensating for errors. Elegant in its conceptualization
and specifi cation, this theory was
diffi cult to reconcile with activation of the ACC
during correct responding which was so widely
observed during neuro-imaging studies.
An early event-related fMRI study suggested
that the ACC may have a diff erent role
in cognitive control that could account both for
ACC activity found during correct incongruent
trials and for ACC gfollgwrowing errors
(Carter et al., 1998). In this study, subjects
performed the Continuous Performance Test
(AX-CPT) under conditions that elicited high
error rates or induced high levels of response
confl ict. Results showed that an identical region
of the ACC responded to incorrect trials
and to correct trials with response confl ict. In
other words, the ACC was activated during
error trials and during trials where an incorrect
automatic response was overcome in favor
of responding correctly.
Carter et al. (1998) suggested a novel hypothesis,
namely that rwere a unique instance
of response confl ict. Th e occurrence of confl ict
during correct incongruent trials on a task such
as the Stroop is quite intuitive. For example,
when the word red is presented in blue ink, the
incorrect response red becomes active because
of the automaticity of word reading, along