Maladaptive changes in event related brain activity preceding erroneous behavior

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Maladaptive changes in event related brain activity preceding erroneous behavior Tom Eichele1* 1 University of Bergen, Norway Recent EEG and fMRI evidence suggests that behavioral errors are foreshadowed by systematic changes in brain activity preceding the outcome by seconds. We have employed independent component analysis of fMRI and EEG data followed by deconvolution to investigate pre-error brain activity on a trial-by-trial basis. In fMRI data from a flanker and a Simon task we found that a coincident decrease of deactivation in default mode regions of the brain, together with a decline of task-related activation in posterior medial frontal and anterior insular regions. In addition to these changes that appear to be related to general maintenance of task effort we found in a further experiment that, prior to errors, activity in perceptual areas was systematically shifted away from the task-relevant features towards task-irrelevant stimulus features. In two additional large-sample EEG studies in which predictability of trial types in a flanker task was varied we observed gradual decrease of N2 amplitudes over multiple trials prior to errors that corroborate the fMRI findings. In sum, brain activity prior to errors reflects a number of parallel adaptive processes that may result in failure when overly active: (1) Increased subjective predictability of events reduces invested effort and performance monitoring activity. (2) Attention may adaptively shift towards irrelevant features of perceptual inputs that transiently predict the required response. (3) Reduced task-related effort allows for increased task-unrelated brain activity reflected in default mode network activity. In sum, this shift of net activity raises the likelihood of future errors. Keywords: EEG, fMRI, N2, neural activity Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Symposium: Oral Presentation Topic: Symposium 8: Preludes to failure: electrophysiological and hemodynamic antecedents of human error Citation: Eichele T (2011). Maladaptive changes in event related brain activity preceding erroneous behavior. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00518 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: 09 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Tom Eichele, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, tom.eichele@gmail.com 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 Tom Eichele Google Tom Eichele Google Scholar Tom Eichele PubMed Tom Eichele 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.