Anticipatory Errors Research Articles

A role for the macular carotenoids in visual motor response

ObjectivesLutein (L), zeaxanthin (Z), and meso-zeaxanthin are the dominant carotenoids within the central retina (there, termed macular pigment, MP). L is also the dominant carotenoid in the brain. The presence of L and Z in both motor and visual areas of the central nervous system is consistent with a role of these carotenoids in visual–motor behavior. The purpose of this study was to provide a first test of this hypothesis.MethodsBalance ability (measured via the Standing Leg Test) and simple reaction time (measured via a stimulus appearing in one of four quadrants of a computer monitor) were measured in 49 subjects (mean age = 54.8 years). Fixed and variable reaction time, and coincidence anticipation ability (estimating the arrival of the stimulus at a target location moving at four velocities) were assessed in 106 younger subjects (mean age = 23 years) using a customized device. MP optical density was measured in all subjects via customized heterochromatic flicker photometry.ResultsMP optical density was significantly (P < 0.05) related to reaction time and to balance ability for the older subjects. Even for the younger group, MP optical density was significantly (P < 0.05) related to fixed and variable position reaction time, as well as coincidence anticipation errors, at high speed.DiscussionL and Z status has been linked to benefits in cognitive function in past research. The present results, and the selective presence of L and Z in visual and motor areas in the brain, are consistent with these carotenoids having a role in visual and motor integration.

Midsession reversals with pigeons: visual versus spatial discriminations and the intertrial interval

Discrimination reversal learning has been used as a measure of species flexibility in dealing with changes in reinforcement contingency. In the simultaneous-discrimination, midsession-reversal task, one stimulus (S1) is correct for the first half of the session, and the other stimulus (S2) is correct for the second half. After training, pigeons show a curious pattern of choices: They begin to respond to S2 well before the reversal point (i.e., they make anticipatory errors), and they continue to respond to S1 well after the reversal (i.e., they make perseverative errors). That is, pigeons appear to be using the passage of time or the number of trials into the session as a cue to reverse, and are less sensitive to the feedback at the point of reversal. To determine whether the nature of the discrimination or a failure of memory for the stimulus chosen on the preceding trial contributed to the pigeons' less-than-optimal performance, we manipulated the nature of the discrimination (spatial or visual) and the duration of the intertrial interval (5.0 or 1.5 s), in order to determine the conditions under which pigeons would show efficient reversal learning. The major finding was that only when the discrimination was spatial and the intertrial interval was short did the pigeons perform optimally.

Reversal learning in rats (Rattus norvegicus) and pigeons (Columba livia): Qualitative differences in behavioral flexibility.

Research has shown that pigeons given a simultaneous visually based discrimination reversal, in which a single reversal occurs at the midpoint of each session, consistently show anticipation prior to the reversal as well as perseveration after the reversal, suggesting that they use a less effective cue (time or trial number into the session) than what would be optimal to maximize reinforcement (local feedback from the most recent trials). In the present research, pigeons (Columba livia) and rats (Rattus norvegicus) were tested with a simultaneous spatial discrimination midsession reversal. Pigeons showed remarkably similar errors in anticipation and perseveration as with visual stimuli, thereby continuing to show the suboptimal use of time as a cue, whereas rats showed no anticipatory errors and very few perseverative errors, suggesting that they used local feedback as a cue, thus more nearly optimizing reinforcement. To further test the rats' flexibility, they were then tested with a variable point of reversal and then with multiple points of reversal within a session. Results showed that the rats effectively maximized reinforcement by developing an approximation to a win-stay/lose-shift rule. The greater efficiency shown by rats with this task suggests that they are better able to use the feedback from their preceding choice as the basis of their future choice. The difference in cue preference further suggests a qualitative difference in acquisition of the midsession reversal task between pigeons and rats.

Sequential dependencies in recall of sequences: Filling in the blanks

Sequential dependencies can provide valuable information about the processes supporting memory, particularly memory for serial order. Earlier analyses have suggested that anticipation errors-reporting items ahead of their correct position in the sequence-tend to be followed by recall of the displaced item, consistent with primacy gradient models of serial recall. However, a more recent analysis instead suggests that anticipation errors are followed by further anticipation errors, consistent with chaining models. We report analyses of 21 conditions from published serial recall data sets, in which we observed a systematic pattern whereby anticipations tended to be followed by the "filling in" of displaced items. We note that cases where a different pattern held tended to apply to recall of longer lists under serial learning conditions or to conditions where participants were free to skip over items. Although the different patterns that can be observed might imply a dissociation (e.g., between short- and long-term memory), we show that these different patterns are naturally predicted by Farrell's (Psychological Review 119:223-271, 2012) model of short-term and episodic memory and relate to whether or not spontaneously formed groups of items can be skipped over during recall.

Pigeons show near-optimal win-stay/lose-shift performance on a simultaneous-discrimination, midsession reversal task with short intertrial intervals

Discrimination reversal tasks have been used as a measure of species flexibility in dealing with changes in reinforcement contingency. The simultaneous-discrimination, midsession reversal task is one in which one stimulus (S1) is correct for the first 40 trials of an 80-trial session and the other stimulus (S2) is correct for the remaining trials. After many sessions of training with this task, pigeons show a curious pattern of choices. They begin to respond to S2 well before the reversal point (they make anticipatory errors) and they continue to respond to S1 well after the reversal (they make perseverative errors). That is, they appear to be using the passage of time or number of trials into the session as a cue to reverse. We tested the hypothesis that these errors resulted in part from a memory deficit (the inability to remember over the intertrial interval, ITI, both the choice on the preceding trial and the outcome of that choice) by manipulating the duration of the ITI (1.5, 5, and 10s). We found support for the hypothesis as pigeons with a short 1.5-s ITI showed close to optimal win-stay/lose-shift accuracy.

No regrets? Mood and the anticipation of emotions in problem gambling

To minimize the possibility of experiencing regret over the outcome of a decision, people take into account their anticipated regret when evaluating their options before making the decision. The present study examined the accuracy of regret anticipation in the context of gambling behaviour. Using a sample of 82 community gamblers, the study tested whether the gap between anticipated and actual regret is different for social gamblers and problem gamblers. The effects of mood and selected personality factors on the anticipation of regret were also investigated. The results revealed that problem gamblers committed a larger error in predicting regret than social gamblers. Frustrated mood was found to affect the anticipation error of social but not of problem gamblers.

A memory for goals model of sequence errors

A model of routine sequence actions is developed based on the Memory for Goals framework. The model assumes that sequential action is guided by episodic control codes generated for each step, and that these codes decay with time and can be primed by contextual retrieval cues. These control codes serve a place-keeping function that allows the system to infer the correct next action after performance is interrupted. According to the model, perseveration (repeat) errors occur because an older episodic trace intrudes due to noise in the system. Anticipation (skip) errors occur because of failures in reality monitoring, in which the model believes that it has completed a step it has not. The model predicts that perseveration errors should occur more frequently than anticipation errors, and that perseveration errors should occur in a graded fashion away from the current step. Across two different experiments, these predictions were supported at both a qualitative and a quantitative level.

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors

Pigeons were trained on a two-choice simultaneous discrimination (red vs. green) that reversed midway through each session. After considerable training, they consistently made both anticipatory errors prior to the reversal and perseverative errors after the reversal, suggesting that time (or number of trials) into the session served as a cue for reversal. In Experiment 2, to discourage the use of time as a cue, we varied the location of the reversal point within the session such that it occurred semirandomly after Trial 10, 25, 40, 55, or 70. Pigeons still tended both to anticipate and to perseverate. In Experiment 3, we required 20 pecks to a stimulus on each trial to facilitate memory for the preceding response and sensitivity to local reinforcement contingencies, but the results were similar to those of Experiment 2. We then tested humans on a similar task with a constant (Experiment 4) or variable (Experiment 5) reversal location. When the reversal occurred consistently at the midpoint of the session, humans, like pigeons, showed a tendency to anticipate the reversal; however, they did not show perseverative errors. When the reversal location varied between sessions, unlike pigeons, humans adopted a win-stay/lose-shift strategy, making only a single error on the first trial of the reversal.

Summer treatment program for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Japanese experience in 5 years

In 2005 we established the first American-style summer treatment program (STP) for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) located outside North America. This program was based on methods established by professor Pelham and has been used in a number of studies and at a number of sites in the USA. A total of 137 children diagnosed with ADHD, ranging in age from 6 to 12 years, participated in at least one of five annual summer treatment programs in Kurume city, Japan, during 2005–2009. The duration of the STP was 2 weeks in 2005, 2008, and 2009; 3 weeks in 2006 and 2007. A set of evidence-based behavioral modification techniques comprising the STP behavioral program (e.g., point system, daily report card, positive reinforcement, time out) was used. We also assessed the cognitive function of individual children before and after STP using the CogState R batteries. Every year, regardless of the duration of the STP, most children showed positive behavioral changes in multiple domains of functioning, demonstrated by significant improvement in points earned daily, which reflect behavior frequencies. Cognitive functions, particularly the rate of anticipatory errors in executive function, significantly improved after the STP, suggesting that STP has positive effects not only on behavioral aspects but also on some cognitive functions. Further studies are necessary to confirm this finding by studying sequential cognitive function of age-matched children who do not attend STP.

Effect of Functional Overreaching on Executive Functions

The aim of this study was to investigate whether cognitive performance was a valid marker of overreaching. 10 well-trained male endurance athletes increased their training load by 100% for 2 weeks. They performed a maximal graded test, a constant speed test, a reaction time task and a computerized version of the Stroop color word-test before and after this overload period. Regarding performance results, five participants were considered as overreached and the five remaining were considered as well-trained. We found no significant differences between groups in performing the Stroop test. Noteworthy, we found a small increase in response time in the more complex condition in overreached athletes (1 188+/-261 to 1 297+/-231 ms, effect size=0.44), while it decreased moderately in the well-trained athletes (1 066+/-175 to 963+/-171 ms, effect size=-0.59). Furthermore, we found an interaction between time and group on initiation time of the reaction time task, since it increased in overreached athletes after the overload period (246+/-24 to 264+/-26 ms, p<0.05), while it remained unchanged in well-trained participants. Participants made very few anticipation errors, whatever the group or the period (error rate <2%).We concluded that an unaccustomed increase in training volume which is accompanied by a decrement in physical performance induces a deterioration of some executive functions.

Bar pressing for food: differential consequences of lesions to the anterior versus posterior pedunculopontine

The pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) is in a key position to participate in operant reinforcement via its connections with the corticostriatal architecture and the medial reticular formation. Indeed, previous work has demonstrated that rats bearing lesions of the whole PPTg are impaired when learning to make two bar presses for amphetamine reinforcement. Anterior and posterior portions of the PPTg make different anatomical connections, including preferential projections by the anterior PPTg to substantia nigra pars compacta dopamine neurons and by the posterior PPTg to ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons. We wanted to assess the effects of anterior and posterior PPTg ibotenate lesions on rats learning simple and more complex schedules of natural reinforcement. We trained rats with lesions to the anterior PPTg (n = 11) and the posterior PPTg (n = 5) [and appropriate controls (n = 15)] to bar press for food on a variety of fixed-ratio and variable-ratio reinforcement schedules and then during extinction. We found that posterior PPTg-lesioned rats bar pressed at lower rates, were slower to learn to bar press, and often had deficits characteristic of impaired learning and/or motivation. In contrast, anterior PPTg-lesioned rats learned to bar press for reinforcement at normal rates. However, they made errors of perseveration and anticipation throughout many schedules, and pressed at a higher rate than controls during extinction, deficits best characterized as reflecting disorganized response control. Together, these data suggest that the anterior PPTg and posterior PPTg (and their related circuits) contribute differently to reinforcement learning, incentive motivation, and response control, processes that are considered to malfunction in drug addiction.

Saccade eye movements as a quantitative measure of frontostriatal network in children with ADHD

Background: Evidence of poor inhibition in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comes primarily from neuropsychological tasks and neuroimaging studies, many of which have revealed structural/functional abnormalities of the frontostriatal network with opposing functions of disinhibition and inhibition. Studies of saccades have therefore contributed to the understanding of the pathophysiological basis of ADHD. Object: To investigate the development of reflexive/voluntary control of saccades in normal children, compare saccade parameters between ADHD and control groups, and clarify dysfunctional nervous systems in ADHD. Methods: Subjects comprised 50 normal subjects (6–35 years), 19 ADHD patients (6–11 years) and four patients with frontal lesions (13–15 years). Saccade latency and accuracy were computed in all saccade tasks, while percentage of anticipatory errors (PAE) was determined in memory-guided saccade task, and percentage of direction errors (PDE) was determined in antisaccade task. Results: In normal controls, significant correlations were observed between saccade latency, saccade accuracy, error rates and age. Significant differences existed between ADHD and 6- to 8-year-old controls in saccade latency and accuracy. The ADHD group showed significantly higher PAE and PDE rates than controls. Patients with frontal lesions showed significantly higher PAE and PDE. Conclusions: These results suggest that saccade eye movements do not fully mature until adolescence, and that ADHD patients show dysfunction in “response inhibition”, which is modulated by the frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex and basal ganglia.

Inter- versus intramodal integration in sensorimotor synchronization: a combined behavioral and magnetoencephalographic study

Although the temporal occurrence of the pacing signal is predictable in sensorimotor synchronization tasks, normal subjects perform on-the-beat-tapping to an isochronous auditory metronome with an anticipatory error. This error originates from an intermodal task, that is, subjects have to bring information from the auditory and tactile modality to coincide. The aim of the present study was to illuminate whether the synchronization error is a finding specific to an intermodal timing task and whether the underlying cortical mechanisms are modality-specific or supramodal. We collected behavioral data and cortical evoked responses by magneto-encephalography (MEG) during performance of cross- and unimodal tapping-tasks. As expected, subjects showed negative asynchrony in performing an auditorily paced tapping task. However, no asynchrony emerged during tactile pacing, neither during pacing at the opposite finger nor at the toe. Analysis of cortical signals resulted in a three dipole model best explaining tap-contingent activity in all three conditions. The temporal behavior of the sources was similar between the conditions and, thus, modality independent. The localization of the two earlier activated sources was modality-independent as well whereas location of the third source varied with modality. In the auditory pacing condition it was localized in contralateral primary somatosensory cortex, during tactile pacing it was localized in contralateral posterior parietal cortex. In previous studies with auditory pacing the functional role of this third source was contradictory: A special temporal coupling pattern argued for involvement of the source in evaluating the temporal distance between tap and click whereas subsequent data gave no evidence for such an interpretation. Present data shed new light on this question by demonstrating differences between modalities in the localization of the third source with similar temporal behavior.

Inhibition errors in borderline personality disorder with psychotic-like symptoms

Background The aim of this study was to examine whether patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have deficits in cognitive inhibition as measured with an anti-saccade eye task similar to patients with schizophrenia (Sz). Furthermore, we investigated whether these inhibition errors were more prominent among BPD patients with psychotic-like symptoms than among BPD patients without these symptoms. Methods An anti-saccade task was administered in 32 BPD patients (among them, 20 had with psychotic-like symptoms), 21 patients with recent onset schizophrenia (Sz), and 25 healthy controls (HC). The percentage inhibition errors in the anti-saccade task were the primary outcome variable, in addition, the percentage of anticipatory errors was measured. Results Sz patients showed more inhibition errors than HC and BPD ( p < .001 and p < .05 resp.), whereas BPD patients scored in between Sz and HC. The difference with HC was significant as well ( p < .05). BPD patients with psychotic-like symptoms showed more inhibition errors than BPD patients without these symptoms ( p < .05). BPD patients showed more anticipatory errors than HC ( p < .001), whereas Sz patients did not ( p < .26). Conclusion The data demonstrate that inhibition deficits, as measured with anti-saccadic eye movement task, may be characteristic among BPD patients and in a larger extent in patients with psychotic-like symptoms. This inhibition deficit was distinct from a general predisposition to response impulsively as measured by anticipatory errors, which was found in the whole group of BPD patients. Psychotic-like symptoms may be an important target dimension for future BPD research and treatment.

Tapping to a Very Slow Beat: A Comparison of Musicians and Nonmusicians

WHEN NONMUSICIANS TAP with isochronous auditory tone sequences, the taps typically precede the tone onsets. However, when the tone inter-onset interval (IOI) is increased beyond 2 s, an increasing proportion of taps follows the tone onsets by 150 ms or more. Such responses indicate reactions rather than anticipations, and they have been interpreted as reflecting a rate limit of synchronization related to a temporal limit of auditory working memory. In the present study, musicians and nonmusicians were asked to synchronize their taps with sequences whose IOIs ranged from 1000 to 3500 ms. Nonmusicians showed much larger anticipation errors and higher variability but actually fewer reactive responses than musicians. No clear landmarks of a rate limit for synchronization were observed.

Development of a behavioral task measuring reward “wanting” and “liking” in rats

It has been suggested that reward “wanting” and “liking” are mediated by separable brain systems. To facilitate neuropharmacological and neurophysiological research on this issue we developed a behavioral task with putative measures of reward “wanting” and “liking” available on a trial-by-trial basis. We were able to test whether our measures were sensitive to changes in thirsty rats' “wanting” and “liking” of liquid reward by manipulating its delay, taste and volume. We found that three of our putative “wanting” measures (anticipatory errors, reaction time and reward collection latency) were affected by upcoming reward delay and/or taste and our putative “liking” measure (post-reward licking) was sensitive to variations in reward taste and volume. To cross-validate our measures with previous pharmacological work we tested rats following acute, systemic administration of drug compounds that globally enhance serotonin and noradrenaline (imipramine), dopamine (GBR 12909) and opioid (morphine) function. Imipramine augmented the effects of delay and taste on reward “wanting”, GBR 12909 attenuated the effects of delay on reward “wanting” and the effects of taste on reward “liking”, and morphine reduced the effect of delay on a measure of reward “wanting”. Since morphine failed to affect reward “liking” but has been previously found to enhance reward “liking” in taste reactivity tests, our measure requires further pharmacological validation. However, this task shows potential to assess the specific neural mechanisms that contribute to the impact of reward parameters on “wanting” and “liking”.

Excitotoxic lesions of the medial striatum delay extinction of a reinforcement color discrimination operant task in domestic chicks; a functional role of reward anticipation

To reveal the functional roles of the striatum, we examined the effects of excitotoxic lesions to the bilateral medial striatum (mSt) and nucleus accumbens (Ac) in a food reinforcement color discrimination operant task. With a food reward as reinforcement, 1-week-old domestic chicks were trained to peck selectively at red and yellow beads (S+) and not to peck at a blue bead (S−). Those chicks then received either lesions or sham operations and were tested in extinction training sessions, during which yellow turned out to be nonrewarding (S−), whereas red and blue remained unchanged. To further examine the effects on postoperant noninstrumental aspects of behavior, we also measured the “waiting time”, during which chicks stayed at the empty feeder after pecking at yellow. Although the lesioned chicks showed significantly higher error rates in the nonrewarding yellow trials, their postoperant waiting time gradually decreased similarly to the sham controls. Furthermore, the lesioned chicks waited significantly longer than the controls, even from the first extinction block. In the blue trials, both lesioned and sham chicks consistently refrained from pecking, indicating that the delayed extinction was not due to a general disinhibition of pecking. Similarly, no effects were found in the novel training sessions, suggesting that the lesions had selective effects on the extinction of a learned operant. These results suggest that a neural representation of memory-based reward anticipation in the mSt/Ac could contribute to the anticipation error required for extinction.

The two‐thirds power law in motion perception

If a visual motion abruptly vanishes, the vanishing point is mislocalized in the anticipated direction of the motion (cf. Freyd & Finke, 1984; Hubbard & Bharucha, 1988; Verfaillie & d'Ydewalle, 1991). Here, we replicate this effect for curvilinear motions, showing that the compatibility with human movements, as expressed by the two‐thirds power law (cf. Lacquaniti, Terzuolo, & Viviani, 1983; Viviani, 2002), specifically contribute to this anticipation error. Thus, the compatibility effect does not manifest itself solely in an overshooting of the judged vanishing position in comparison to the objective vanishing position, but also in a more accurate anticipation of the curvilinearity of the forthcoming motion. The latter effect only occurred for spatially unpredictable target motions. Spatially more predictable target motions allowed for a different kind of anticipation, which overrode the compatibility effect. The results are discussed with regard to the notion of an action‐related influence on motion perception.

Cortical Cholinergic Function and Deficits in Visual Attentional Performance in Rats Following 192 IgG-Saporin-induced Lesions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Lesions of the basal forebrain (BF) cortical cholinergic system impair performance on a rodent five-choice visual attentional task. This study examines the effects on the same task of selective depletion of acetylcholine from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) using 192 IgG-saporin, the cholinergic immunotoxin. Rats were trained to detect brief visual stimuli, either presented unpredictably both temporally and spatially to increase attentional load, or under less demanding conditions where stimuli were temporally and spatially predictable. Following training, 192 IgG-saporin (50 ng or 100 ng/infusion) or its vehicle was infused bilaterally into the ventromedial PFC. The 100 ng lesion group exhibited post-operatively a transient increase in perseveration, specifically when the visual stimuli were temporally unpredictable. A vigilance decrement, as well as a reinstatement of perseverative responding occurred in both lesion groups under conditions of enhanced attentional load, specifically with high target frequency sustained over many trials. Lesioned subjects were also more impulsive with increased anticipatory errors. Systemic administration of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine further dissociated the groups with attentional accuracy in the 100 ng group decreasing relative to shams. These findings are consistent with an important modulatory influence of PFC function by BF cholinergic neurons, particularly during increased attentional demand.

What exactly is wrong and why? Tutorial Dialogue for Intelligent CALL Systems

We introduce a dialogue-based explanation facility for Intelligent CALL (ICALL) Systems. Our prototype system, DiBEx, uses meta reasoning to build up an explanation (error) tree, given a faulty user input. It relies on correct grammatical subtheories, instead of explicit error taxonomies. DiBEx, thus, realizes anticipation free error diagnosis. The system enters in a tutorial dialogue with the student, where each explanation (dialogue) step is based on the principles of a single tutorial strategy and a dynamic user model.