PLoS One
2011
Martijn E Wokke, Simon van Gaal, H Steven Scholte et al.
The cognitive signature of unconscious processes is hotly debated recently. Generally, consciousness is thought to mediate flexible, adaptive and goal-directed behavior, but in the last decade unconscious processing has rapidly gained ground on traditional conscious territory. In this study we demonstrate that the scope and impact of unconscious information on behavior and brain activity can be...
Brain structure & function
May 29, 2010
Markus Ullsperger, Helga A Harsay, Jan R Wessel et al.
To detect erroneous action outcomes is necessary for flexible adjustments and therefore a prerequisite of adaptive, goal-directed behavior. While performance monitoring has been studied intensively over two decades and a vast amount of knowledge on its functional neuroanatomy has been gathered, much less is known about conscious error perception, often referred to as error awareness. Here, we...
Journal of Neuroscience
March 17, 2010
Simon van Gaal, K Richard Ridderinkhof, H Steven Scholte et al.
Cognitive control processes involving prefrontal cortex allow humans to overrule and inhibit habitual responses to optimize performance in new and challenging situations, and traditional views hold that cognitive control is tightly linked with consciousness. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate to what extent unconscious "no-go" stimuli are capable of reaching cortical...
Psychopharmacology
September 2004
Niels Alting Von Geusau, Pieter Stalenhoef, Mariette Huizinga et al.
Long-term users of ecstasy have shown impaired performance on a multitude of cognitive abilities (most notably memory, attention, executive function). Research into the pattern of MDMA effects on executive functions remains fragmented, however. To determine more systematically what aspects of executive function are affected by a history of MDMA use, by using a model that divides executive...