Abstract: Trait self-control (TSC) reflects the differences between people in overcoming impulse, motivation barriers and habitual response patterns. It is positively correlated with many positive outcomes. Also, it’s an effective way to research successful self-control. Researchers considered that conflict resolution is the internal mechanism of success self-control, but there are still in controversies. Some believe the high TSC resolve the conflict faster than the low one. Others believe high TSC often take the initiative to avoid the conflicts, they may have poor ability to solve conflicts. Paradigms commonly used to research conflicts are Stroop, Simon, etc. Their originals are mainly single conflict. However, in real life, many kinds of conflicts may occur at the same time. Therefore, the multi conflict paradigm is more suitable. Among them, Bush and his colleagues developed the multi-source task interference (MSIT) paradigm. It’s more effective and widely used. In this study, the MSIT paradigm combined with ERPs technology to explored the different between high TSC and low TSC on the cognitive neural mechanism. After standardizing the results of the questionnaire，we selected 52 students (26 students with high and low self-control, 33 girls) to participate in the ERPs experiment. During the experiment, E-prime program recorded behavioral data when collecting EEG data. We improved the MSIT task to include font size conflicts and response button conflicts. Font size conflict types are divided into two types: non-conflict (target stimulus and interference stimulus are the same size) and conflict (target stimulus and interference stimulus are different size). The conflict of response key and font size appeared at the same time. Specifically, the number corresponding to the target stimulus did not correspond to the position of response keys. The main results are as follows :(1) In the MSIT task, the accuracy of non-conflict condition is higher than the conflict condition; the response time of conflict conditions is longer than the no conflict conditions.(2) The response time of high TSC was longer than low TSC in MSIT, but there was no difference in accuracy.(3) The N2 amplitude of high TSC in MSIT conflict condition is larger than the no conflict condition, while there is no difference in low TSC.(4) The LPC1 amplitude of high TSC in MSIT conflict condition is larger than that the no conflict condition, while there is no difference in low TSC.(5) The LPC2 amplitude of high and low TSC in MSIT conflict condition is larger than the no conflict condition. This indicates that in MSIT conflict conditions, the high TSC experiences more conflict than the low TSC, which requires more attention to resources for conflict resolution. The results showed that the N2 and LPC1 amplitude in the MSIT conflict condition is larger than the non-conflict condition. This may relate to high TSC sensitivity to conflicts and the attention resources needed to resolve conflicts. Compared with low TSC, the LPC2 amplitude induced by high TSC is larger in MSIT conflict condition. This may indicate that high TSC individuals are more deliberate in conflict resolution. This study focused on the differences in the cognitive control mechanisms of personality, and further proves that individuals with different TSC have different cognitive neural mechanisms.

Key words: trait self-control, the multi-source interference task, conflict interference, cognitive neural mechanism

摘要： 本研究采用事件相关电位技术(ERPs)结合多源干扰任务(MSIT)范式来探讨特质自我控制个体的认知神经机制。考察了高、低自我控制者各26名在MSIT任务上的差异。结果：高自我控制者的反应时显著长于低自我控制者。在MSIT冲突条件下，高自我控制者的N2和P3(LPC)波幅比无冲突条件更大。结论：高自我控制者较低自我控制者处理冲突干扰更慢，需要的注意资源较多，激活前额叶中部脑区。

关键词: 特质自我控制, 多源干扰任务, 冲突干扰, 认知神经机制