Abstract
The response-related medial-frontal activity (MFN) is often supposed to reflect action-monitoring and error-processing activity. The present force-production task was designed to investigate the effects of two response parameters (i.e., peak response force and time-to-peak, TTP) on the MFN separately. In a 2 × 2 design (high vs. low target force and short vs. long TTP), 22 participants had to produce isometric force pulses to match one of four conditions (e.g., a high target force with a long TTP). Significant main effects of both target force and target TTP were revealed. As previously shown, the MFN amplitude was higher in the high target-force condition than in the low target-force condition. Contrary to the initial expectations, a long TTP had the effect of reducing the MFN amplitude. There was no error-specific effect on the MFN. The force-unit monitoring model (FUMM) is suggested to account for the force- and TTP- specific variations of MFN amplitude, latency and slope.
Highlights
Action monitoring is an important cognitive function
We aimed to investigate the relationship between the medial-frontal activity (MFN) and force-production mechanisms by systematically varying the maximum of the response force and the time of reaching the PF (TTP)
A two-way analyses involved analyses of variance (ANOVAs) performed on the percentage of correct responses (PCR) revealed a significant main effect of Target Force, F(1, 21) = 28.0, p
Summary
Action monitoring is an important cognitive function. It controls the coordination and the adjustment of behavioral processes to prevent negative outcomes like response errors. Many studies have investigated how the cognitive system monitors the selection and execution of (erroneous) distinct actions like left-hand and righthand responses (e.g., [1]), but only a few studies have focused on the effects of (erroneous) continuous movement parameters like the magnitude of response force on the monitoring activity [2,3,4,5]. The production of the appropriate degree of force is an important and sometimes challenging task. Error detection seems to be much more demanding in continuous tasks compared to distinct motor tasks. There is some evidence in the literature that the medial-frontal cortex is involved in force monitoring [2,3,4,5]
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