Neurocognitive Underpinning of Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control: Evidence from Eye-tracking and EEG in a Mixed-Design Flanker Study

Cognitive control enables the flexible regulation of goal-directed behaviors in the presence of distractions. This study investigates proactive (PDF) and reactive distraction filtering (RDF), two distinct cognitive control mechanisms proposed by the Dual Mechanism of Control theory. Using a Flanker task with varying proportions of congruent and incongruent trials, we assessed behavioral responses, eye-gaze data, and high temporal-resolution EEG signals. Behavioral results replicated prior findings, demonstrating that PDF reduces interference in high-conflict contexts but incurs filtering costs when distractors are absent. Eye-gaze analysis revealed that PDF narrows attentional focus on targets, potentially explaining these costs. ERP data showed distinct neural correlates: N2 amplitudes indexed conflict monitoring in RDF, while frontal slow waves reflected sustained attentional control in PDF. This study provides novel insights into the behavioral, visual, and neural dynamics of cognitive control, emphasizing the temporal interplay between proactive and reactive strategies in distraction filtering.