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Inhibitory control processes have intensively been studied in cognitive science for the past decades. Even though the neural dynamics underlying these processes are increasingly better understood, a critical open question is how the representational dynamics of the inhibitory control processes are modulated when engaging in response inhibition in a relatively automatic or a controlled mode. Against the background of an overarching theory of perception-action integration, we combine temporal and spatial EEG signal decomposition methods with multivariate pattern analysis and source localization to obtain fine-grained insights into the neural dynamics of the representational content of response inhibition. For this purpose, we used a sample of N = 40 healthy adult participants. The behavioural data suggest that response inhibition was better in a more controlled than a more automated response execution mode. Regarding neural dynamics, effects of response inhibition modes relied on a concomitant coding of stimulus-related information and rules of how stimulus information is related to the appropriate motor programme. Crucially, these fractions of information, which are encoded at the same time in the neurophysiological signal, are based on two independent spatial neurophysiological activity patterns, also showing differences in the temporal stability of the representational content. Source localizations revealed that the precuneus and inferior parietal cortex regions are more relevant than prefrontal areas for the representation of stimulus-response selection codes. We provide a blueprint how a concatenation of EEG signal analysis methods, capturing distinct aspects of neural dynamics, can be connected to cognitive science theory on the importance of representations in action control.

Cognitive control is adaptive in the sense that it inhibits automatic processes to optimize goal-directed behavior, but high levels of control may also have detrimental effects in case they suppress beneficial automatisms. Until now, the system neurophysiological mechanisms and functional neuroanatomy underlying these adverse effects of cognitive control have remained elusive. This question was examined by analyzing the automatic exploitation of a beneficial implicit predictive feature under conditions of high versus low cognitive control demands, combining event-related potentials (ERPs) and source localization. It was found that cognitive control prohibits the beneficial automatic exploitation of additional implicit information when task demands are high. Bottom-up perceptual and attentional selection processes (P1 and N1 ERPs) are not modulated by this, but the automatic exploitation of beneficial predictive information in case of low cognitive control demands was associated with larger response-locked P3 amplitudes and stronger activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG, BA47). This suggests that the rIFG plays a key role in the detection of relevant task cues, the exploitation of alternative task sets, and the automatic (bottom-up) implementation and reprogramming of action plans. Moreover, N450 amplitudes were larger under high cognitive control demands, which was associated with activity differences in the right medial frontal gyrus (BA9). This most likely reflects a stronger exploitation of explicit task sets which hinders the exploration of the implicit beneficial information in case of high cognitive control demands. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4511-4522, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Many everyday tasks require executive functions to achieve a certain goal. Quite often, this requires the integration of information derived from different sensory modalities. Children are less likely to integrate information from different modalities and, at the same time, also do not command fully developed executive functions, as compared to adults. Yet still, the role of developmental age-related effects on multisensory integration processes has not been examined within the context of multicomponent behavior until now (i.e., the concatenation of different executive subprocesses). This is problematic because differences in multisensory integration might actually explain a significant amount of the developmental effects that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning. In a system, neurophysiological approach combining electroencephaloram (EEG) recordings and source localization analyses, we therefore examined this question. The results show that differences in how children and adults accomplish multicomponent behavior do not solely depend on developmental differences in executive functioning. Instead, the observed developmental differences in response selection processes (reflected by the P3 ERP) were largely dependent on the complexity of integrating temporally separated stimuli from different modalities. This effect was related to activation differences in medial frontal and inferior parietal cortices. Primary perceptual gating or attentional selection processes (P1 and N1 ERPs) were not affected. The results show that differences in multisensory integration explain parts of transformations in cognitive processes between childhood and adulthood that have traditionally been attributed to changes in executive functioning, especially when these require the integration of multiple modalities during response selection. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4933-4945, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cognitive control is adaptive in the sense that it inhibits automatic processes to optimize goal‐directed behavior, but high levels of control may also have detrimental effects in case they suppress beneficial automatisms. Until now, the system neurophysiological mechanisms and functional neuroanatomy underlying these adverse effects of cognitive control have remained elusive. This question was examined by analyzing the automatic exploitation of a beneficial implicit predictive feature under conditions of high versus low cognitive control demands, combining event‐related potentials (ERPs) and source localization. It was found that cognitive control prohibits the beneficial automatic exploitation of additional implicit information when task demands are high. Bottom‐up perceptual and attentional selection processes (P1 and N1 ERPs) are not modulated by this, but the automatic exploitation of beneficial predictive information in case of low cognitive control demands was associated with larger response‐locked P3 amplitudes and stronger activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG, BA47). This suggests that the rIFG plays a key role in the detection of relevant task cues, the exploitation of alternative task sets, and the automatic (bottom‐up) implementation and reprogramming of action plans. Moreover, N450 amplitudes were larger under high cognitive control demands, which was associated with activity differences in the right medial frontal gyrus (BA9). This most likely reflects a stronger exploitation of explicit task sets which hinders the exploration of the implicit beneficial information in case of high cognitive control demands. Hum Brain Mapp 37:4511–4522, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.