Electrophysiological correlates related to the conflict adaptation effect in an emotional conflict task

•ERPs related to conflict and conflict adaptation were investigated in an emotional conflict task.•Behavioral data show an interference and conflict adaptation effect in reaction times.•The frontal N450 is influenced by both interference and conflict adaptation.•The parietal conflict SP is influenced by interference, only.

Previous studies have provided some evidence of the neural basis of the emotional conflict adaptation effect. However, the neural time-course is largely unknown. Therefore, a face-word Stroop task was used in the present study to explore the neural dynamics of the emotional conflict control effect, using event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioral data showed a robust emotional conflict adaptation effect, and there was an interaction between previous trials and current trials for RT. There were two ERP components (N450 and conflict SP) that might be related to trial congruency. The N450 results showed both a main effect of current trial congruency and an interaction between previous trials and current trials, which might be related to successful conflict adaptation. The SP results only showed the main effect of current trial congruency, which might be associated with post-response monitoring.