An event-related potential study on the “check operation” in the Eriksen task.

We examined two issues for the Eriksen task with two types of stimuli, the central target letter of which was flanked with noise (e.g., HHHHH for compatible stimuli and SSHSS for incompatible stimuli). First, we examined whether or not a response-stop function is carried out until the check operation to detect and correct erroneous response readiness has finished ( Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974 ). Second, reaction times for incompatible stimuli are not prolonged if only identical noise stimuli are used throughout the block. This phenomenon is called the blocking effect. We then explored whether or not the blocking effect can be caused by the selective inhibition of erroneous response readiness ( Eriksen & Schultz, 1979 ). Sixteen participants (18–29 years old) selectively pressed one of two buttons for the target letter. The results showed that the negative potential related to the response-stop function was enlarged for incompatible stimuli. Moreover, the blocking effect was observed, while erroneous response readiness was still observable for incompatible stimuli. These results suggest that the blocking effect is caused by something other than reciprocal inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]