Waves of control: An ER(S)P study to explore the neural dynamics of proactive and reactive stability

Cognitive stability, the ability to maintain task focus in the presence of distraction, is a core component of cognitive control. According to the Dual Mechanisms of Control model, stability can be implemented proactively, through anticipatory goal maintenance, or reactively, through transient, conflict-triggered adjustments. However, the neural dynamics underlying these modes remain debated, due to the limited temporal resolution of fMRI and to EEG designs that fail to disentangle different forms of stability, especially within reactive control. Here, we recorded EEG while participants performed a spatial Stroop task to dissociate predictive proactive stability, induced by list-wide proportion congruency (LWPC) and predictive reactive stability, induced by item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC). Moreover, using response-locked analyses, we explored the corrective form of reactive stability engaged after conflict detection. Using a state-of-the-art multilevel modeling approach on trial-level Bayesian estimates of the manipulated variables, we isolated these predictive mechanisms from low-level confounds like contingency. The analyses of event-related potentials and time–frequency activity revealed neural signatures of proactive stability, including anticipatory pre-stimulus modulations and a systematic reduction of post-stimulus conflict-related activity. In contrast, no reliable neural evidence for predictive reactive stability was observed once contingency was controlled. Importantly, response-locked analyses revealed distinct late neural markers consistent with a corrective reactive stability mechanism engaged to resolve conflict when predictive mechanisms failed. Together, these findings provide neural evidence for a dissociation between predictive proactive stability and late corrective reactive stability, while questioning the validity of ISPC as a marker of a distinct predictive reactive control mechanism.