N200 in the flanker task as a neurobehavioral tool for investigating executive control

Event-related potentials were recorded in a flanker task using arrowheads pointing to the left or to the right as targets and as congruent or incongruent flanker stimuli using squares as neutral flanker stimuli. The onset of the flanker stimuli preceded that of the target stimuli by 100 ms. Lateralized readiness potentials showed response activation below execution threshold in correspondence to the information conveyed by the flanker stimuli. Exclusively, the incongruent flanker condition provoked a N2c, which evolved closely synchronized to the erroneous response. Graded response analyses separating incongruent trials with weak, medium, and strong incorrect response activation revealed that the N2c amplitude covaried with the magnitude of the erroneous response. The N2c in the incongruent compatibility condition of the flanker task thus corresponds to the avoidance of inappropriate responses, possibly reflecting the inhibition of automatically but erroneously primed responses. The results are compatible with studies of error correction, suggesting that efference monitoring is a constituent of executive control.