Performance monitoring mechanisms activated before and after a response: A comparison of aware and unaware errors

Abstract

The main goal of the current study was to investigate whether correct withholds, aware errors and unaware errors could be distinguished in terms of performance monitoring mechanisms activated before and after the response. To this end, an error awareness task (explicit acknowledgment of a performance error, expressed by pressing a specific button) was combined with the event-related potential (ERP) technique. Results regarding the performance monitoring mechanisms triggered before a response revealed faster responses before an aware error than before an unaware error. Likewise, analysis of the error-preceding positivity (EPP) revealed specific modulation in frontal scalp regions according to error type. This result shows that transient disengagement and/or inefficiency of the performance monitoring system relates specifically to one type of error.