ERP components on reaction errors and their functional significance: a tutorial

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Abstract

Some years ago we described a negative (Ne) and a later positive (Pe) deflection in the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of incorrect choice reactions [Falkenstein, M., Hohnsbein, J., Hoormann, J., Blanke, L., 1990. In: Brunia, C.H.M., Gaillard, A.W.K., Kok, A. (Eds.), Psychophysiological Brain Research. Tilburg Univesity Press, Tilburg, pp. 192–195. Falkenstein, M., Hohnsbein, J., Hoormann, J., 1991. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 78, 447–455]. Originally we assumed the Ne to represent a correlate of error detection in the sense of a mismatch signal when representations of the actual response and the required response are compared. This hypothesis was supported by the results of a variety of experiments from our own laboratory and that of Coles [Gehring, W.J., Goss, B., Coles, M.G.H., Meyer, D.E., Donchin, E., 1993. Psychological Science 4, 385–390. Bernstein, P.S., Scheffers, M.K., Coles, M.G.H., 1995. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 21, 1312–1322. Scheffers, M.K., Coles, M.G.H., Bernstein, P., Gehring, W.J., Donchin, E., 1996. Psychophysiology 33, 42–54]. However, new data from our laboratory and that of Vidal et al. [Vidal, F., Hasbroucq, T., Bonnet, M., 1999. Biological Psychology, 2000] revealed a small negativity similar to the Ne also after correct responses. Since the above mentioned comparison process is also required after correct responses it is conceivable that the Ne reflects this comparison process itself rather than its outcome. As to the Pe, our results suggest that this is a further error-specific component, which is independent of the Ne, and hence associated with a later aspect of error processing or post-error processing. Our new results with different age groups argue against the hypotheses that the Pe reflects conscious error processing or the post-error adjustment of response strategies. Further research is necessary to specify the functional significance of the Pe.

Section snippets

Introduction and overview

In cognitive psychology, performance errors are often neglected. However, the investigation of the reasons for, as well as the consequences of, errors are of crucial importance not only for fundamental, but also for applied research, such as cognitive ergonomics. One reason for this neglect might be the lack of theories concerning mechanisms of errors. A methodological reason is the generally low error rate, and the usually large variation of error rate across subjects, which makes the

Methods

The following data were collected within six experiments. In all experiments, young healthy subjects were tested; in experiments 5 and 6, 12 elderly subjects were tested in addition to the young.

In all these experiments we had highly trained subjects perform speeded choice or Go/Nogo reactions to visual or auditory stimuli which were presented with an interstimulus interval (ISI) of about 2 s. Specifically, the subjects performed two-way choice reactions (Experiments 1–4), 4-way choice

Conclusions

In our original paper we proposed that the Ne is a correlate of error detection in the sense of a mismatch signal when representations of the actual response and of the required response are compared. This hypothesis was tested in six experiments with two- and four-alternative choice and Go/Nogo reaction tasks.

A general observation is, the easier errors can be detected, the larger the Ne and/or the earlier it occurs relative to the incorrect key press. Moreover, in conditions where the response

Acknowledgements

This research was partly supported by grant Ho 965/5-1 from the DFG. Thanks to Ludger Blanke and Christiane Westedt for their great help in all experiments.

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