Conflict Expectation Shapes Prefrontal Activity: Distinct Mechanisms of Anticipatory and Reactive Control

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Anas Khan¹ (anaskhan1107@gmail.com), Colin Hoy^2,3, Kris Anderson, Vitoria Piai^4,5,6, David King-Stephens^7,8, Kenneth Laxer⁸, Peter Weber⁸, Jack Lin⁹, Robert Knight³, Nicole Bentley¹; ¹University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine, ²University of California, San Francisco, ³University of California, Berkeley, ⁴Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, ⁵Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands, ⁶Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior, Nijmegen, Netherlands, ⁷California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, ⁸University of California, Irvine, ⁹University of California, Davis

Goal-directed behavior requires adjusting cognitive control to both react to and prepare for conflict. Previous work indicates theta oscillations and population activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) are critical for reactive control. However, the neural mechanisms supporting proactive control are less clear. Here, we investigated the neural basis of behavioral adaptations when control is prepared in anticipation of conflict using intracranial EEG (iEEG) in dmPFC and dlPFC during a Stroop task where conflict frequency was manipulated across blocks. We observed canonical conflict-driven increases in dmPFC and dlPFC local population activity, as indexed by high frequency activity (HFA), and in dmPFC theta power. Conflict also suppressed theta power in both regions after the response, and accentuated a pre-response beta desynchronization selectively in dlPFC along with a post-respond beta rebound in both regions. Importantly, we show dmPFC theta power increased before trial onset when conflict was expected, and theta, beta, and HFA conflict signals in both regions were enhanced when conflict was rare and diminished when conflict was common. These findings reveal shared population but dissociable oscillatory dynamics in dmPFC and dlPFC during reactive conflict processing, highlight dmPFC theta as a potential substrate for proactive control, and refine the roles of dmPFC and dlPFC in control adaptations.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control