Correct Response Negativity Research Articles

Is there any electrophysiological evidence for subliminal error processing?

The role of error awareness in executive control and modification of behavior is not fully understood. In line with many recent studies showing that conscious awareness is unnecessary for numerous high-level processes such as strategic adjustments and decision making, it was suggested that error detection can also take place unconsciously. The Error Negativity (Ne) component, long established as a robust error-related component that differentiates between correct responses and errors, was a fine candidate to test this notion: if an Ne is elicited also by errors which are not consciously detected, it would imply a subliminal process involved in error monitoring that does not necessarily lead to conscious awareness of the error. Indeed, for the past decade, the repeated finding of a similar Ne for errors which became aware and errors that did not achieve awareness, compared to the smaller negativity elicited by correct responses (Correct Response Negativity; CRN), has lent the Ne the prestigious status of an index of subliminal error processing. However, there were several notable exceptions to these findings. The study in the focus of this review (Shalgi and Deouell, 2012) sheds new light on both types of previous results. We found that error detection as reflected by the Ne is correlated with subjective awareness: when awareness (or more importantly lack thereof) is more strictly determined using the wagering paradigm, no Ne is elicited without awareness. This result effectively resolves the issue of why there are many conflicting findings regarding the Ne and error awareness. The average Ne amplitude appears to be influenced by individual criteria for error reporting and therefore, studies containing different mixtures of participants who are more confident of their own performance or less confident, or paradigms that either encourage or don't encourage reporting low confidence errors will show different results. Based on this evidence, it is no longer possible to unquestioningly uphold the notion that the amplitude of the Ne is unrelated to subjective awareness, and therefore, that errors are detected without conscious awareness.

INCREASED ERROR-RELATED BRAIN ACTIVITY IN YOUTH WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER AND UNAFFECTED SIBLINGS

The pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves increased activity in cortico-striatal circuits connecting the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with other brain regions. The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential following an erroneous response and is thought to reflect ACC activity. This study was done to assess the ERN as a biomarker for OCD by comparing ERN amplitudes in pediatric OCD patients, unaffected siblings of pediatric OCD patients, and healthy controls. The ERN and correct response negativity (CRN) were measured during an Eriksen flanker task to assess performance monitoring in 40 youth with a lifetime diagnosis of OCD, 19 unaffected siblings of OCD patients, and 40 unrelated healthy comparison subjects ranging in age from 10 to 17 years. ERN and CRN amplitudes were compared between groups using linear regression by the generalized estimating equation method to account for correlated data. Compared to healthy controls, ERN amplitude was significantly increased in both pediatric OCD patients and unaffected siblings. There were no significant group differences in CRN amplitude. ERN amplitude in patients was unrelated to OCD symptom severity, current diagnostic status, or treatment effects. Increased error-related brain potentials were observed not only in pediatric OCD patients but also in unaffected siblings. The results provide evidence that enhanced error-related brain activity may serve as a biomarker for OCD in youth that is independent of the presence of clinical symptoms. The ERN may be a useful quantitative phenotype in genetic studies of OCD.

Error-Related Negativity and Tic History in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential after an incorrect response, which is often increased in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, the relation of the ERN to comorbid tic disorders has not been examined in patients with OCD. This study compared ERN amplitudes in patients with tic-related OCD, patients with non-tic-related OCD, and healthy controls. The ERN, correct response negativity, and error number were measured during an Eriksen flanker task to assess performance monitoring in 44 youth with a lifetime diagnosis of OCD and 44 matched healthy controls ranging in age from 10 to 19 years. Nine youth with OCD had a lifetime history of tics. ERN amplitude was significantly increased in patients with OCD compared with healthy controls. ERN amplitude was significantly larger in patients with non-tic-related OCD than in patients with tic-related OCD or controls. ERN amplitude had a significant negative correlation with age in healthy controls but not in patients with OCD. Instead, in patients with non-tic-related OCD, ERN amplitude had a significant positive correlation with age at onset of OCD symptoms. ERN amplitude in patients was unrelated to OCD symptom severity, current diagnostic status, or treatment effects. The results provide further evidence of increased error-related brain activity in pediatric OCD. The difference in the ERN between patients with tic-related and those with non-tic-related OCD provides preliminary evidence of a neurobiological difference between these two OCD subtypes. The results indicate the ERN is a trait-like measurement that may serve as a biomarker for non-tic-related OCD.

Error-Related Negativity and Tic History in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Objective: The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential after an incorrect response, which is often increased in patients with obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD). However, the relation of the ERN to comorbid tic disorders has not been examined in patients with OCD. This study compared ERN amplitudes in patients with tic-related OCD, patients with non‐tic-related OCD, and healthy controls. Method: The ERN, correct response negativity, and error number were measured during an Eriksen flanker task to assess performance monitoring in 44 youth with a lifetime diagnosis of OCD and 44 matched healthy controls ranging in age from 10 to 19 years. Nine youth with OCD had a lifetime history of tics. Results: ERN amplitude was significantly increased in patients with OCD compared with healthy controls. ERN amplitude was significantly larger in patients with non‐tic-related OCD than in patients with tic-related OCD or controls. ERN amplitude had a significant negative correlation with age in healthy controls but not in patients with OCD. Instead, in patients with non‐tic-related OCD, ERN amplitude had a significant positive correlation with age at onset of OCD symptoms. ERN amplitude in patients was unrelated to OCD symptom severity, current diagnostic status, or treatment effects. Conclusions: The results provide further evidence of increased error-related brain activity in pediatric OCD. The difference in the ERN between patients with tic-related and those with non‐tic-related OCD provides preliminary evidence of a neurobiological difference between these two OCD subtypes. The results indicate the ERN is a trait-like measurement that may serve as a biomarker for non‐tic-related OCD. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2012;51(9):902‐910. Key Words: anxiety disorder, tic disorder, brain potential, performance monitoring, biomarker

Error monitoring dysfunction across the illness course of schizophrenia.

Response monitoring abnormalities have been reported in chronic schizophrenia patients, but it is unknown whether they predate the onset of psychosis, are present in early stages of illness, or are late-developing abnormalities associated with illness progression. Response-synchronized event-related potentials (ERP) recorded during a picture-word matching task yielded error-related negativity (ERN), correct-response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (Pe) from 84 schizophrenia patients (SZ), 48 clinical high risk patients (CHR), and their age-matched healthy controls (HC; n = 110 and 88, respectively). A sub-sample of 35 early illness schizophrenia patients (ESZ) was compared to 93 age-matched HC and the CHR patients (after statistically removing the effects of normal aging). Relative to HC, 1) SZ, ESZ, and CHR had smaller ERNs, and 2) SZ and ESZ had larger CRNs and smaller Pes. Within the SZ, longer illness duration was associated with larger CRNs but was unrelated to ERN or Pe. CHR and ESZ did not differ on ERN or CRN, although Pe was smaller in ESZ than CHR. These results indicate that while ERN, CRN, and Pe abnormalities are present early in the illness, only the ERN abnormality is evident prior to psychosis onset, and only the CRN abnormality appears to worsen progressively over the illness course. Brain regions subserving response monitoring may be compromised early in the illness and possibly during its clinical prodrome.

Cerebellar lesions alter performance monitoring on the antisaccade task—An event-related potentials study

Error processing is associated with distinct event-related potential components (ERPs), i.e. the error-related negativity (ERN) which occurs within approximately 150 ms and is typically more pronounced than the correct-response negativity (CRN), and the error positivity (Pe) emerging from about 200 to 400 ms after an erroneous response. The short latency of the ERN suggests that the internal error monitoring system acts on rapidly available central information such as an efference copy signal rather than slower peripheral feedback. The cerebellum has been linked to an internal forward-model which enables online performance monitoring by predicting the sensory consequences of actions, most probably by making use of efference copies. In the present study it was hypothesized that the cerebellum is involved in the fast evaluation of saccadic response accuracy as reflected by the ERN. Error processing on an antisaccade task was investigated in eight patients with focal vascular lesions to the cerebellum and 22 control subjects using ERPs. While error rates were comparable between groups, saccadic reaction times (SRTs) were enhanced in the patients, and the error-correct difference waveforms showed reduced amplitudes for patients relative to controls in the ERN time window. Notably, this effect was mainly driven by an increased CRN in the patients. In the later Pe time window, the difference signal yielded higher amplitudes in patients compared to controls mainly because of smaller Pe amplitudes on correct trials in patients. The altered ERN/CRN pattern suggests that the cerebellum is critically involved in fast classification of saccadic accuracy. Largely intact performance accuracy together with increased SRTs and the altered Pe pattern may indicate a compensatory mechanism presumably related to slower, more conscious aspects of error processing in the patients.

Impact of motivation on cognitive control in the context of vigilance lowering: An ERP study

We assessed the effects of time-on-task on cognitive control expressed by the CRN/Nc and the extent to which motivation modulates this relationship. We utilized two groups of participants, who were told that their performance would (evaluation condition) or would not (control condition) be evaluated online. Both groups performed a version of the Eriksen Flanker Task for 60 min. We observed classical vigilance lowering, manifested by a progressive performance decline with time-on-task, in the control, but not in the evaluation, condition. In the latter, performance remained stable throughout the task. ERP analysis indicated the same interaction in our main component of interest, the CRN/Nc, whose amplitude decreased from the first to the last period in the control condition but remained stable over time in the evaluation condition. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the impact of motivation on monitoring processes as indexed by the correct response negativity, in the context of a prolonged task. Vigilance lowering caused by a repetitive and prolonged flanker task, results in compromised response control and compromised control of correct responses. Our results suggest that alterations in ACC functioning may underlie vigilance decline and can be viewed as evidence that the action monitoring functions of the ACC can be positively affected by motivation.

Electrocortical and behavioral measures of response monitoring in young children during a Go/No‐Go task

The current study examined behavioral measures and response-locked event-related brain potentials (ERPs) derived from a Go/No-Go task in a large (N = 328) sample of 5- to 7-year-olds in order to better understand the early development of response monitoring and the impact of child age and sex. In particular, the error-related negativity (ERN, defined on both error trials alone and the difference between error and correct trials, or ΔERN), correct response negativity (CRN), and error positivity (P(e)) were examined. Overall, the ERN, CRN, and the P(e) were spatially and temporally similar to those measured in adults and older children. Even within our narrow age range, older children were faster and more accurate; a more negative ΔERN and a more positive P(e) were associated with: increasing age, increased accuracy, and faster reaction times on errors, suggesting these enhanced components reflected more efficient response monitoring of errors over development. Girls were slower and more accurate than boys, although both genders exhibited comparable ERPs. Younger children and girls were characterized by increased posterror slowing, although they did not demonstrate improved posterror accuracy. Posterror slowing was also related to a larger P(e) and reduced posterror accuracy. Collectively, these data suggest that posterror slowing may be unrelated to cognitive control and may, like the P(e), reflect an orienting response to errors.

Depression symptom severity and error-related brain activity

The present study examined the relationship between depression and neural correlates of response monitoring using event-related potentials (ERPs). The error-related negativity (ERN) and correct response negativity (CRN) are ERPs that present as a negative deflection approximately 50 ms following an erroneous and correct response, respectively; the error positivity (Pe) is a positive deflection approximately 200 ms following an erroneous response. Some studies have reported an increased ERN in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD), but others have failed to find such differences. Results on the Pe in MDD have also been mixed. In the current study, unmedicated individuals with MDD ( N = 22) and healthy controls ( N = 22) performed an arrow version of the flanker task. Although these groups did not differ on the ERN or CRN overall, depression severity related to the CRN and the differentiation between the ERN and CRN (ΔERN) in the MDD group: more severe depression was associated with an increased CRN and a reduced ΔERN. Additionally, the difference between the Pe on error and correct trials (ΔPe) was reduced among individuals with MDD compared to healthy controls. These data suggest that individuals with severe depression have a reduced differentiation between error and correct trials on ERPs that index error monitoring and awareness.

The way of our errors: Theme and variations

Negative feedback, either internal or external, is a fundamental guide to human learning and performance. The neural system that underlies the monitoring of performance and the adjustment of behavior has been subject to multiple neuroimaging investigations that uniformly implicate the anterior cingulate cortex and other prefrontal structures as crucial to these executive functions. The present article describes a series of experiments that employed event-related potentials to study a variety of processes associated with internal or external feedback. Three medial-frontal negativities (error-related negativity, correct-response negativity, feedback-related negativity) are highlighted, each of which plays an important role in the monitoring and dynamic adjustment of behavior. Extensions of basic research on these ERPs to questions relevant to clinical-science are also provided.

Error-Related Processing Dysfunction in Children Aged 9 to 12 Years Presenting Putative Antecedents of Schizophrenia

Intervention aimed at preventing schizophrenia may be most effective if targeted at specific, but modifiable, functional impairments that present during childhood. We have developed a novel method of screening community samples aged 9 to 12 years to identify children who present a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz), defined as 1) speech and/or motor development lags/problems; 2) internalizing, externalizing, and/or peer-relationship problems in the clinical range; and 3) psychotic-like experiences. This study examined whether ASz children display brain function abnormalities during error processing that are similar to those exhibited by adults with schizophrenia. Twenty-two ASz children and 26 typically developing (TD) children with no antecedents of schizophrenia completed an error-inducing Go/NoGo task during event-related potential recording. Group differences were examined in the amplitude and latency of four event-related potential components: the initial error-related negativity (ERN) and later error-positivity (Pe) elicited on false-alarm responses to NoGo trials, and the corresponding initial correct response negativity (CRN) and later correct response positivity (Pc) elicited during processing of correct responses to Go trials. Relative to TD children, ASz children were characterized by reduced ERN amplitude but unaffected CRN, Pe, and Pc amplitudes. No group differences were observed in the latency of any component. Children presenting a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia show error-processing dysfunction mimicking that observed in adults with schizophrenia using the same Go/NoGo paradigm. The ASz children displayed specific early error-processing deficits rather than a generalized deficit in self-monitoring.

Reliability of error-related brain activity

Recent studies that have examined neural correlates of action monitoring with event-related potentials (ERPs) have focused on the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) on error trials, as well as the correct response negativity (CRN) on correct trials. Moreover, the ERN has been assessed in relation to a number of personality traits and psychiatric disorders. However, no study to date has assessed the reliability of the ERN, Pe, and CRN. We measured these ERPs in 45 undergraduates at baseline and 2 weeks later. For split-half and test–retest reliabilities, both the intersubject stability and score agreement were high for the ERN, CRN, and Pe. These data demonstrate excellent reliability of ERPs elicited during response monitoring, and further suggest that these ERPs are well-suited to assess trait characteristics and individual differences.

Face processing biases in social anxiety: An electrophysiological study

Studies of information processing biases in social anxiety suggest abnormal processing of negative and positive social stimuli. To further investigate these biases, behavioral performance and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured, while high- and low-socially anxious individuals performed a modified version of the Erikson flanker task comprised of negative and positive facial expressions. While no group differences emerged on behavioral measures, ERP results revealed the presence of a negative face bias in socially anxious subjects as indexed by the parietally maximal attention- and memory-related P3/late positive potential. Additionally, non-anxious subjects evidenced the presence of a positive face bias as reflected in the centrally maximal early attention- and emotion-modulated P2 and the frontally maximal response monitoring-related correct response negativity. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of different processing stages to different biases in high- versus low-socially anxious individuals that may prove important in advancing models of anxious pathology.

Age differences in task switching and response monitoring: Evidence from ERPs

This study investigates age differences in the flexible adaptation to changing demands on task switching and conflict processing. We applied a cued task-switching version of the Stroop task and manipulated the ratio of conflict trials. During task preparation, the P300 varied as a function of conflict ratio and a later positive component was larger for switch than non-switch trials. Stimulus-related conflict processing as indicated by a negativity for incompatible trials (Ni) was delayed for older adults. Moreover, the Ni varied as a function of conflict ratio and was larger for switch than for non-switch trials. Age differences were also obtained in the correct response negativity (CRN). CRN was larger on incompatible trials and this CRN-compatibility effect was enhanced when incompatible trials were infrequent in younger, but not in older adults. Our findings suggest impairments of older adults primarily in response-related conflict processing and in the flexible adaptation to changing task contexts.

Impact of frontal white matter lesions on performance monitoring: ERP evidence for cortical disconnection

We examined the impact of discrete white matter lesions in the frontal lobes on event-related potential (ERP) correlates of performance monitoring. We tested the hypothesis that abnormal performance monitoring may result from injury to white matter without evidence of injury to grey matter in the frontal lobes. It was predicted that such lesions may result in disconnection of the lateral and medial frontal cortices. The close interaction of these two areas has been implicated in performance monitoring. Two fast-choice response tasks were administered to patients with MRI-confirmed frontal white matter lesions due to sickle cell disease (SCD) vasculopathy (n = 11; age = 11-23 years; 6 unilateral left lesions and 5 bilateral lesions) and two control groups: SCD patients without brain lesions and non-sickle cell sibling controls (n = 11 each). Stimulus-locked ERP components N2 and P3 were not significantly affected by presence of lesions. The difference between response-locked components to correct trials (correct-response negativity--CRN) and erroneous trials (error-related negativity--ERN) was diminished in patients with unilateral and bilateral frontal white matter lesions. This finding was due to a significantly attenuated ERN amplitude in lesion patients compared with both sibling and non-lesion control groups. These ERP findings were not due to performance differences between groups and hence reflect a compromised neural substrate underlying performance monitoring. The latter may also contribute to the deficits in executive function tasks observed in these patients. As disruption to ERP markers of error processing was found in the absence of lesions to the lateral or medial frontal cortex, we conclude that a functional connection between these areas facilitates performance monitoring, possibly implemented via tracts traversing the deep frontal white matter.

Electrophysiological analysis of error monitoring in schizophrenia.

In this study, the authors sought to determine whether abnormalities exhibited by schizophrenia patients in event-related potentials associated with self-monitoring--the error-related negativity (ERN) and the correct response negativity (CRN)--persist under conditions that maximize ERN amplitude and to examine relationships between the ERN and behavior in schizophrenia. Participants performed a flanker task under 2 contingencies: one encouraging accuracy and another emphasizing speed. Compared with healthy participants, in schizophrenia patients the ERN was reduced in the accuracy condition, and the CRN was enhanced in the speed condition. The amplitude of a later ERP component, the error positivity, did not differ between groups in either task condition. Reduced self-correction and increased accuracy following errors were associated with larger ERNs in both groups. Thus, ERN generation appears to be abnormal in schizophrenia patients even under conditions demonstrated to maximize ERN amplitude; however, functional characteristics of the ERN appear to be intact.

Maturation of action monitoring from adolescence to adulthood: an ERP study

This study investigated the development of the frontal lobe action-monitoring system from late childhood and adolescence to early adulthood using ERP markers of error processing. Error negativity (ERN) and correct response negativity (CRN) potentials were recorded while adolescents and adults (aged 12-22 years, n = 23) performed two forced-choice visual reaction time tasks of differing complexity. Significant age differences were seen for behavioural and ERP responses to complex (infrequent, incompatible) trials: adolescents elicited an error negativity of reduced magnitude compared with adults. Furthermore, in contrast to adults, adolescents showed a non-significant differentiation between response-locked ERP components elicited by correct (CRN) and error responses (ERN). Behaviourally, adolescents corrected fewer errors in incompatible trials, and with increasing age there was greater post-error slowing. In conclusion, the neural systems underlying action-monitoring continue to mature throughout the second decade of life, and are associated with increased efficiency for fast error detection and correction during complex tasks.

On the ERN and the significance of errors

The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related brain potential observed when subjects commit errors. To examine whether the ERN is sensitive to the value of errors, the motivational significance of errors was manipulated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, low and high monetary value errors were compared to evaluate the effect of trial value on the ERN. In Experiment 2, subjects performed a flanker task both while their performance was being evaluated and during a control condition. Consistent with the notion that the error-detection system is sensitive to the significance of errors, the ERN was significantly larger on high-value trials in Experiment 1 and during evaluation in Experiment 2. There were no corresponding effects on the correct response negativity, and no behavioral differences between conditions were evident in either experiment. These results are discussed in terms of the functional role of the ERN in response monitoring.

Strategic control and medial frontal negativity: Beyond errors and response conflict

Errors in timed choice tasks typically produce an error-related negativity (ERN) in the event-related potential (ERP). The error specificity of the ERN has been challenged by studies showing a correct response negativity (CRN). Forty-five participants engaged in a flanker task in which both compatibility between flankers and target and the probability of compatible flankers were manipulated. Correct responses elicited a CRN, the amplitude of which increased with the degree of mismatch between the presence of conflict and conflict probability, even on low-conflict (compatible) trials. The fronto-central N2 component was larger on high-conflict (incompatible) correct response trials. However, in contrast to some recent accounts, this N2 was largest for highly probable stimuli. These findings suggest revision to models of the effects of conflict on response-related negativity to account for strategic adjustments made in preparation for the response.

The effects of uncertainty in error monitoring on associated ERPs

A series of experiments were conducted to address the effect of uncertainty regarding performance for predicting the likelihood of a correct-response negativity (CRN) in addition to error-related negativity (ERN). In Study 1, 18 healthy young adults completed letter discrimination tasks during single and dual attention conditions designed to manipulate response certainty. In the second study, the same participants completed easy and difficult tone discrimination tasks designed to influence stimulus certainty. In the third study, task difficulty was manipulated to produce different error rates without altering certainty. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that error and correct responses are processed more similarly when uncertainty is present (i.e., ERN ≈ CRN). Furthermore, uncertainty was associated with attenuation of the ERN and enhancement of the CRN, consistent with an error detection hypothesis. Study 3 indicated that task difficulty alone does not influence the ERN or likelihood of a CRN. These results offer support for the error detection account of the ERN and establish the role of uncertainty in predicting the CRN, as postulated by Scheffers and Coles (2000).