Vidal et al. (2000) tested subjects using a Stroop-like task written in French. The colored word stimuli were “rouge” (red), “bleu” (blue), and “vert” (green). The stimulus words could be written in red, blue, or green, thus creating trials with congruent (for example, “rouge” written in red) and incongruent (for example, “rouge” written in blue) stimuli. Responses were determined by the color of these imperative stimuli (that is, a stimulus eliciting a natural or learned response). Subjects responded with their left hand to one of the colors, right hand to another color, and withheld a response to the third color. Error trials produced an ERN and correct trials generated a CRN. Despite the different behavioral outcomes, the ERN and CRN had the same latency, polarity, and topography, and both appeared to originate from the medial–frontal cortex, most likely from the anterior cingulate cortex (Vidal et al. 2000). These observations led to a reinterpretation of the function of these waveforms, whereby the ERN and the CRN reflect the detection of conflict following responses rather than overt errors (Carter et al. 1998;
