Error Commission and Aging: Using Single-Trial Movement Kinematics to Decode the Time-Course of Response Monitoring Processes during Complex Decisions in Older and Younger Adults

We are constantly making decisions in everyday life that involve interactions with our environment: from simple behaviors like deciding to reach for your cup of coffee to complex behaviors like deciding which route to take to work. It is well known that these decisions require constant monitoring, such that decision-making is not a discrete event and requires initiation, monitoring, and evaluation for success. This process can be seen during error-corrections, in which an initial plan was implemented, an error was recognized, and a new plan was implemented to correct the initial response. While we have learned a great deal about response monitoring processes over three decades of research in cognitive neuroscience, most of the literature has used button-presses, which does not permit evaluation of the processes involved in the monitoring, cancellation, or correction of erroneous behaviors. Understanding the neural correlates of the response monitoring process may contribute to an improved understanding of cognitive aging as the natural aging process has revealed to impact this decision-making process, as older adults commit more errors than younger adults on cognitive tasks, as well as experience slower correct responses compared to younger adults. However, the current literature regarding what neurological processes are impaired as a result of the natural aging process remains to be unknown. Purpose: The primary aims of this study were (1) to delineate the neural correlates of response-monitoring process during correct, incorrect, and corrected trials as indicated by kinematic markers of the decision-making processes, and (2) to determine the integrity of these neural responses in older adults. Results reveal that the ERN, Pe, and medial-frontal theta oscillations are highly correlated with response cancellation in only younger adults, and these correlations significantly differ between older and younger adults such that older adults had significantly reduced correlations. Source localization also further confirm that the ERN and Pe are related to caudal anterior cingulate cortex activation (ACC) in both older and younger adults

Analyzing Goal Setting and Attainment as Skills Associated with Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities

This dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the construct of self-determination and its essential characteristics (i.e., volitional action, agentic action, and action-control beliefs) and an introduction to the role of goal setting and attainment in promoting self-determination for students with disabilities. This chapter also introduces the research questions addressed in this dissertation. Chapter 2 provides a map of the literature on how the essential characteristics of self-determined action have been defined and operationalized in the literature. Findings show volitional and agentic action have been consistently defined and described across disciplines, but limited research has addressed action-control beliefs. Gaps in the knowledge base relate to how the essential characteristics collectively relate to and characterize self-determined action and exploration of these characteristics from a life course perspective and when considering disability, diversity, and support needs. Building upon the broader exploration of the essential characteristics of self-determination in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 focuses on goal setting, a skill associated with self-determination. This chapter presents an analysis of the types of goals set by transition-age students with intellectual disability supported by teachers to use an evidence-based practice to promote self-determination, the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI). Findings reflect students’ desire to plan for multiple aspects of their lives in the adult world and the criticality of examining teacher expectations and how they relate to instruction and supports for students engaging in the goal-setting process. Chapter 4 examines how the overall type of goals transition-age students with intellectual disability set using the SDLMI along with students’ personal factors (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and level of support needs) predict goal attainment. The findings suggest the positive impact on goal attainment of setting goals across multiple areas within a school year. Students with extensive support needs had significantly lower levels of goal attainment than their peers who had less intense support needs, suggesting the need for ongoing work to consider how to support students with extensive support needs with goal setting and goal attainment. Lastly, Chapter 5 provides a final discussion of overall findings and directions for future research and practice

Electrophysiological correlates of error initiation and response correction

Adaptive, goal-directed behavior requires the ability to monitor the perception-action cycle, detect errors, and make adjustments to restore volitional action. One limiting factor in gaining a clearer understanding of the functional significance of the neural correlates of error detection has been the predominant use of discrete responses (e.g., a button press) as measures of behavior that do not easily afford an assessment of online error correction. This limitation was addressed in the current study by examining the neural correlates of error initiation and correction with respect to dynamic cursor movements that permitted measurement of the initiation and correction of errant responses within individual trials. Results indicate that the ERN may reflect a general error alarm following the initiation of an error but that the Pe component may be more closely related to the initiation of corrective action. The data also reveal that the amplitude and latency of frontal midline Theta oscillations may be more closely related to corrective action, suggesting that error detection and corrective action are mediated by an overlapping neural network