Business as Unusual: Conflict and Error Processing in Children and Adults

Adjusting information processing flexibly to changing task demands and detecting self-generated errors are prerequisites for goal-directed behavior and critical abilities for living an autonomous life. This dissertation presents empirical work on the effects of cognitive conflicts and errors on subsequent task performance and episodic memory. Two studies investigated the temporal and developmental trajectories of performance slowing after detecting cognitive conflicts and errors. Conflicts and errors were experimentally induced by occasional incongruent trials requiring the inhibition of a prepotent response tendency leading to increased error rates and slower responses. The findings revealed reduced variability of response times from eight years to adulthood. More specifically, conflict and error related slowing decreased with age, suggesting more fine-tuned cognitive control adjustments with development. Two other studies showed that cognitive conflicts also affect long-term memory in adults. The underlying cognitive mechanisms are discussed in terms of interacting processes loading cognitive control needed for selective encoding. Avenues for future research examining memory consequences of conflicts in children are outlined. Investigating age-related qualitative changes in the functional connection between cognitive control and encoding processes could further our understanding of the driving forces for developmental progression