An aware error is a salient event: the anterior insula assigns salience to aware errors through interoceptive mechanisms

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event An aware error is a salient event: the anterior insula assigns salience to aware errors through interoceptive mechanisms Elke Godefroid1*, Gilles Pourtois1 and Jan Wiersema1 1 Ghent University, Experimental, Clinical and Health Psychology, Belgium Background: To adequately respond to environmental demands, it is crucial to consciously detect the occurrence of errors (Ullsperger et al., 2010). The error positivity (Pe) has been linked to error awareness. Because errors usually signal the need for a change in behavior, they are deemed salient events. Accordingly, the salience network and more specifically the anterior insula (AI) is thought to underlie error awareness (Klein et al., 2013). The AI is also involved in interoceptive awareness (Critchley et al., 2004), suggesting that processing of autonomic bodily signals during error commission might significantly contribute to error awareness. Here, we investigated whether error awareness is associated with AI activity. We predicted the Pe to appear only after aware errors and to be related to AI activity. Additionally, we tested whether interoceptive awareness supports the emergence of error awareness and the Pe, as hypothesized before (Ullsperger et al., 2010). We expected the Pe amplitude to be dependent upon the extent of interoceptive awareness. Methods: High-density EEG was recorded while 21 adult participants completed a speeded Go/No-Go task, in which they were instructed to press an error-signaling button when they became aware of error commission. This enabled us to contrast aware and unaware errors. A heartbeat perception task was administered to assess interoceptive awareness (Pollatos et al., 2007). sLORETA was used to source localize the Pe. Results: Replicating earlier findings (Dhar et al., 2011), the Pe was generated after aware errors exclusively, with generators located in the AI. Moreover, participants who were more proficient at the heartbeat perception task showed larger Pe amplitudes to aware errors. Conclusions: These findings bolster the idea that interoceptive awareness contributes to error awareness, via modulations of the AI during the Pe. This mechanism could explain why aware errors are processed and perceived as salient events. Keywords: EEG, salience, error awareness, Pe, Interoceptive Awareness Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Cognition and Executive Processes Citation: Godefroid E, Pourtois G and Wiersema J (2015). An aware error is a salient event: the anterior insula assigns salience to aware errors through interoceptive mechanisms. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00197 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Mrs. Elke Godefroid, Ghent University, Experimental, Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent, Belgium, Elke.Godefroid@UGent.be Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Elke Godefroid Gilles Pourtois Jan Wiersema Google Elke Godefroid Gilles Pourtois Jan Wiersema Google Scholar Elke Godefroid Gilles Pourtois Jan Wiersema PubMed Elke Godefroid Gilles Pourtois Jan Wiersema Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.