Abstract
Performance-monitoring as a key function of cognitive control covers a wide range of diverse processes to enable goal directed behavior and to avoid maladjustments. Several event-related brain potentials (ERP) are associated with performance-monitoring, but their conceptual background differs. For example, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) is associated with unexpected performance feedback and might serve as a teaching signal for adaptational processes, whereas the error-related negativity (ERN) is associated with error commission and subsequent behavioral adaptation. The N2 is visible in the EEG when the participant successfully inhibits a response following a cue and thereby adapts to a given stop-signal. Here, we present an innovative paradigm to concurrently study these different performance-monitoring-related ERPs. In 24 participants a tactile time-estimation task interspersed with infrequent stop-signal trials reliably elicited all three ERPs. Sensory input and motor output were completely lateralized, in order to estimate any hemispheric processing preferences for the different aspects of performance monitoring associated with these ERPs. In accordance with the literature our data suggest augmented inhibitory capabilities in the right hemisphere given that stop-trial performance was significantly better with left- as compared to right-hand stop-signals. In line with this, the N2 scalp distribution was generally shifted to the right in addition to an ipsilateral shift in relation to the response hand. Other than that, task lateralization affected neither behavior related to error and feedback processing nor ERN or FRN. Comparing the ERP topographies using the Global Map Dissimilarity index, a large topographic overlap was found between all considered components.With an evenly distributed set of trials and a split-half reliability for all ERP components ≥.85 the task is well suited to efficiently study N2, ERN, and FRN concurrently which might prove useful for group comparisons, especially in clinical populations.
Highlights
The monitoring and appropriate adjustment of ongoing behavior is essential for adaptive organisms
The anterior midcingulate cortex [1] on the posterior fronto-medial wall, anatomically almost identical to the rostral cingulate zone [2] and sometimes labeled dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [3], is an important constituent of an executive control network implicated in goal-directed behavior and the possible avoidance of maladjustments
Some of these processes can be mapped to event-related potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram, e.g. the feedback-related negativity (FRN), the error-related negativity (ERN), and the N2 seen in the context of stop-signal tasks
Summary
The monitoring and appropriate adjustment of ongoing behavior is essential for adaptive organisms. The anterior midcingulate cortex [1] (aMCC) on the posterior fronto-medial wall, anatomically almost identical to the rostral cingulate zone [2] and sometimes labeled dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [3], is an important constituent of an executive control network implicated in goal-directed behavior and the possible avoidance of maladjustments. These functions depend on the monitoring of ongoing actions, the processing of performance feedback and the ability to respond or to suppress an initiated response [2]. It has been interpreted as an indicator of reward prediction and expectancy violations [8,9,10,11]
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