Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and Stroop performance: Tackling the lateralization

Neuroscience research has identified the involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in cognitive control. Questions remain, however, about its lateralization correlates during Stroop task performance, an experimental cornerstone on which a large amount of cognitive control research is based. After reviewing the literature, we find that three Stroop variants have been used in an attempt to uncover different aspects of cognitive control related to DLPFC involvement. In sum, rapid and sequential up-regulation of the attentional set seems to be related to the left DLPFC. These attentional adjustments are based on participants’ expectancies regarding the conflicting nature of the upcoming trial, and not on the conflict itself. In contrast, the right DLPFC is associated with an overall up-regulation of the attentional set when attentional conflict is experienced.