LAUSR

HighlightsThe present study applied event‐related potentials (ERPs) and investigated neural oscillations during performance of three different nested cognitive control tasks.Results demonstrated a parametric modulation of the P300 component as well as beta‐band (13–25 Hz) oscillations as a function of different levels of cognitive control.Moreover, conditions requiring flexible updating of information exhibited similar alpha‐band (8–13 Hz) oscillations, which differed from the condition without flexible updating (low‐level).These results suggest dissociable mechanisms of flexible information updating and complexity of cognitive control processes indexed by different oscillatory effects. ABSTRACT Recent models of human behavior suggest a hierarchical organization of cognitive control processes. These models assume that different sub‐goals of cognitive control processes are nested in each other, such that higher‐level sub‐goals can only be accomplished when lower‐level sub‐goals have been realized. While the neuroanatomical localization of this organizational principle has already been successfully tested, the exact temporal nature remains to be explored. The present study applied event‐related potentials (ERPs) and investigated neural oscillations during performance of three different nested cognitive control tasks. Results demonstrated a parametric modulation of the P300 component as well as beta‐band (13–25 Hz) oscillations as a function of different levels of cognitive control. Moreover, conditions requiring flexible updating of information exhibited similar alpha‐band (8–13 Hz) oscillations, which differed from the condition without flexible updating (low‐level). These results suggest dissociable mechanisms of flexible information updating and complexity of cognitive control processes indexed by different oscillatory effects.