Conflict/Conflicting Stimuli

Conflict stimuli interfere with the intended cognitive processing of information. Researchers use conflict stimuli to study the brain’s conflict processing: 

• Semantic conflict is in meaning between a word and a color. The word fire is associated with the color red, but it can be incongruent with the color blue. 
• Flanker task is a test used to assess selective attention and inhibitory function. A person is asked to identify the direction of a central arrow on a screen, while ignoring surrounding arrows that may point in the opposite direction.
• Word location is a task where words like left or right are played through speakers, sometimes in a location that is inconsistent with the word.