Adapting to Conflict: It’s Not One-Size-Fits-All

What is it about?

This paper explores how people adjust their thinking and behavior when faced with conflicting information, a process known as adaptive control. Scientists have been debating whether this adjustment happens through a general system in the brain that works across all kinds of tasks (domain-general) or if it depends on the specific type of task (domain-specific). To test this further, we asked participants to do two completely different kinds of tasks that involve conflict: one where they used their hands (a manual task) and another where they had to speak (a vocal task). We ran this study in both Dutch and Mandarin-speaking participants to see if language made a difference. We found that people did not adjust their behavior across the two different tasks. This challenges the idea of a general system for adaptive control and also doesn’t support the U-shaped theory. Our findings suggest that how people adapt may depend more on the specific task they’re doing, rather than on a general skill or strategy.

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Photo by Alex King on Unsplash

Photo by Alex King on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Understanding how we adapt to conflicting information helps us learn more about how the brain manages attention and control. This research shows that our ability to adapt may depend more on the specific task we're doing, rather than a general skill. These insights can improve how we design training, education, and even therapies for people with attention or control difficulties.