Both the mismatch theory and the RL-ERN theory provide significant insight into the function of the ERN; however, in the context of these theories, it is unclear why an error occurs in the first place, especially if the correct representation is present at the time of the error (cf. Yeung et al., 2004). Another computational model, the conflict monitoring theory, addresses this concern by focusing on conflict detection rather than error detection, per se. The conflict monitoring theory is based on the idea that the role of the ACC is to monitor conflict during response selection and that errors are simply a specific example of response conflict that occurs between an erroneous and error-correcting response (Yeung et al., 2004). Specifically, both error and correct response representations are dynamically activated as a result of continued stimulus processing; on error trials, an error is therefore followed by an error-correcting response, which elicits conflict between the error and the error-correcting correct response (Gratton, Coles, Sirevaag, Eriksen, & Donchin, 1988; Rabbitt, 1981; Yeung et al., 2004). From this point of view, errors are simply
