Interactions of focal cortical lesions with error processing: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Electrophysiological and hemodynamic studies have suggested that structures in the vicinity of the anterior cingulate cortex are involved in performance monitoring, particularly in detection of errors. Bidirectional interactions between the frontomedian system involved in performance monitoring and the lateral prefrontal cortex as well as the orbitofrontal cortex have been proposed, but few studies have directly addressed this issue. The authors used a speeded flankers task to investigate error-related event-related potentials in 3 patient groups with different focal cortical lesions. Whereas bilateral frontopolar lesions involving the orbitofrontal cortex as well as temporal lesions did not alter the error-related negativity (ERN), lesions of the lateral frontal cortex resulted in an abolition of the ERN and in a reduction of the error positivity

Disentangling performance-monitoring signals encoded in feedback-related EEG dynamics

The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a well-established electrophysiological correlate of feedback-processing. However, there is still an ongoing debate whether the FRN is driven by negative or positive reward prediction errors (RPE), valence of feedback, or mere surprise. Our study disentangles independent contributions of valence, surprise, and RPE on the feedback-related neuronal signal including the FRN and P3 components using the statistical power of a sample of N = 992 healthy individuals. The participants performed a modified time-estimation task, while EEG from 64 scalp electrodes was recorded. Our results show that valence coding is present during the FRN with larger amplitudes for negative feedback. The FRN is further modulated by surprise in a valence-dependent way being more positive-going for surprising positive outcomes. The P3 was strongly driven by both global and local surprise, with larger amplitudes for unexpected feedback and local deviants. Behavioral adaptations after feedback and FRN just show small associations. Results support the theory of the FRN as a representation of a signed RPE. Additionally, our data indicates that surprising positive feedback enhances the EEG response in the time window of the P3. These results corroborate previous findings linking the P3 to the evaluation of PEs in decision making and learning tasks

Neural and behavioral traces of error awareness

Monitoring for errors and behavioral adjustments after errors are essential for daily life. A question that has not been addressed systematically yet, is whether consciously perceived errors lead to different behavioral adjustments compared to unperceived errors. Our goal was to develop a task that would enable us to study different commonly observed neural correlates of error processing and post-error adjustments in their relation to error awareness and accuracy confidence in a single experiment. We assessed performance in a new number judgement error awareness task in 70 participants. We used multiple, robust, single-trial EEG regressions to investigate the link between neural correlates of error processing (e.g., error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe)) and error awareness. We found that only aware errors had a slowing effect on reaction times in consecutive trials, but this slowing was not accompanied by post-error increases in accuracy. On a neural level, error awareness and confidence had a modulating effect on both the ERN and Pe, whereby the Pe was most predictive of participants’ error awareness. Additionally, we found partial support for a mediating role of error awareness on the coupling between the ERN and behavioral adjustments in the following trial. Our results corroborate previous findings that show both an ERN/Pe and a post-error behavioral adaptation modulation by error awareness. This suggests that conscious error perception can support meta-control processes balancing the recruitment of proactive and reactive control. Furthermore, this study strengthens the role of the Pe as a robust neural index of error awareness

Mistakes that affect others: An fMRI study on processing of own errors in a social context

In social contexts, errors have a special significance and often bear consequences for others. Thinking about others and drawing social inferences in interpersonal games engages the mentalizing system. We used neuroimaging to investigate the differences in brain activations between errors that affect only agents themselves and errors that additionally influence the payoffs of interaction partners. Activation in posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) and bilateral insula was increased for all errors, whereas errors that implied consequences for others specifically activated medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), an important part of the mentalizing system. The results demonstrate that performance monitoring in social contexts involves additional processes and brain structures compared with individual performance monitoring where errors only have consequences for the person committing them. Taking into account how one’s behavior may affect others is particularly crucial for adapting behavior in interpersonal interactions and joint action

Conscious perception of errors and its relation to the anterior insula

To detect erroneous action outcomes is necessary for flexible adjustments and therefore a prerequisite of adaptive, goal-directed behavior. While performance monitoring has been studied intensively over two decades and a vast amount of knowledge on its functional neuroanatomy has been gathered, much less is known about conscious error perception, often referred to as error awareness. Here, we review and discuss the conditions under which error awareness occurs, its neural correlates and underlying functional neuroanatomy. We focus specifically on the anterior insula, which has been shown to be (a) reliably activated during performance monitoring and (b) modulated by error awareness. Anterior insular activity appears to be closely related to autonomic responses associated with consciously perceived errors, although the causality and directions of these relationships still needs to be unraveled. We discuss the role of the anterior insula in generating versus perceiving autonomic responses and as a key player in balancing effortful task-related and resting-state activity. We suggest that errors elicit reactions highly reminiscent of an orienting response and may thus induce the autonomic arousal needed to recruit the required mental and physical resources. We discuss the role of norepinephrine activity in eliciting sufficiently strong central and autonomic nervous responses enabling the necessary adaptation as well as conscious error perception

Dopamine transporter (DAT1) and dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) genotypes differentially impact on electrophysiological correlates of error processing

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The impact of perfectionism and anxiety traits on action monitoring in major depressive disorder

Perfectionism and anxiety features are involved in the clinical presentation and neurobiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). In MDD, cognitive control mechanisms such as action monitoring can adequately be investigated applying electrophysiological registrations of the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe). It is also known that traits of perfectionism and anxiety influence ERN amplitudes in healthy subjects. The current study explores the impact of perfectionism and anxiety traits on action monitoring in MDD. A total of 39 MDD patients performed a flankers task during an event-related potential (ERP) session and completed the multidimensional perfectionism scale (MPS) with its concern over mistakes (CM) and doubt about actions (DA) subscales and the trait form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Multiple regression analyses with stepwise backward elimination revealed MPS-DA to be a significant predictor (R2:0.22) for the ERN outcomes, and overall MPS (R2:0.13) and MPS-CM scores (R2:0.18) to have significant predictive value for the Pe amplitudes. Anxiety traits did not have a predictive capacity for the ERPs. MPS-DA clearly affected the ERN, and overall MPS and MPS-CM influenced the Pe, whereas no predictive capacity was found for anxiety traits. The manifest impact of perfectionism on patients’ error-related ERPs may contribute to our understanding of the action-monitoring process and the functional significance of the Pe in MDD. The divergent findings for perfectionism and anxiety features also indicate that the wide range of various affective personality styles might exert a different effect on action monitoring in MDD, awaiting further investigation