Post-error Processing Research Articles

Task-general or specific: The alertness modulates post-error adjustment

Previous studies have shown that alertness is closely related to executive control function, but its impact on components of post-error adjustment is unknown. This study applied the Attentional Networks Test and the Four-choice Flanker task with three response stimulus intervals (RSIs) to explore the correlation between alertness and post-error adjustment. The linear mixed-effects model of alertness and RSI on the post-error processing indicators showed a significant negative correlation between the alertness and post-error slowing (PES) under 200 ms RSI , as well as between alertness and post-error improvement in accuracy (PIA) under both 700 ms RSI and 1200 ms RSI. Participants with lower alertness showed larger post-error slowing in the early stages, while those with higher alertness had smaller PIA in later stages. This study revealed the effects of alertness on different processing components of post-error adjustment. The control strategies utilized by individuals with high and low levels of alertness differed in preparation for performance monitoring. Alertness improved post-error response speed in a task-unspecific manner, but not post-error adaptation.

Stress-induced impairment reveals the stage and features of post-error adaptive adjustment.

An increased reaction time often occurs after error responses (post-error slowing, PES). However, the role of top-down regulation in post-error processing remains to be debated. Impairing cognitive control function through acute stress would help to investigate the role and stage of top-down adaptive regulation in post-error processing. Here, we recruited 50 healthy male participants who were randomly assigned to either a stress condition (Trier Social Stress Task, TSST) or a control condition (control version of the TSST). A color-word Stroop task with different response stimulus intervals (RSIs) was used to investigate the effects of acute stress on different stages of post-error processing. The results showed that cortisol, heart rate, perceived stress level, and negative affect were higher in the stress group (n = 24) than in the control group (n = 26), indicating successful stress induction. The accuracy of post-error response in the control group increased with the extension of RSI, and the reaction time decreased. However, the accuracy of 1,200 ms RSI was close to that of 700 ms RSI in the stress group but was significantly lower than that in the control group. The results suggested that acute stress caused the impairment of top-down adaptive regulation after error. Furthermore, our study manifested adaptive adjustment only in the late stages of post-error processing, indicating the phasic and adaptive features of post-error adjustment.

Prefrontal-cerebellar dynamics during post-success and post-error cognitive controls in major psychiatric disorders.

Difficulty in cognitive adjustment after a conflict or error is a hallmark for many psychiatric disorders, yet the underlying neural correlates are not fully understood. We have previously shown that post-success and post-error cognitive controls are associated with distinct mechanisms particularly related to the prefrontal-cerebellar circuit, raising the possibility that altered dynamic interactions in this circuit may underlie mental illness. This study included 136 patients with three diagnosed disorders [48 schizophrenia (SZ), 49 bipolar disorder (BD), 39 attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)] and 89 healthy controls who completed a stop-signal task during fMRI scans. Brain activations for concurrent, post-success, and post-error cognitive controls were analyzed and compared between groups. Dynamic causal modeling was applied to investigate prefrontal-cerebellar effective connectivity patterns during post-success and post-error processing. No significant group differences were observed for brain activations and overall effective connectivity structures during post-success and post-error conditions. However, significant group differences were shown for the modulational effect on top-down connectivity from the prefrontal cortex to the cerebellum during post-error trials (pFWE = 0.02), which was driven by reduced modulations in both SZ and ADHD. During post-success trials, there were significantly decreased modulational effect on bottom-up connectivity from the cerebellum to the prefrontal cortex in ADHD (pFWE = 0.04) and decreased driving input to the cerebellum in SZ (pFWE = 0.04). These findings suggest that patients with SZ and ADHD are associated with insufficient neural modulation on the prefrontal-cerebellar circuit during post-success and post-error cognitive processing, a phenomenon that may underlie cognitive deficits in these disorders.

Interference inhibition in offending and non-offending pedophiles: A preliminary event-related fMRI study

The ability to inhibit behavior is thought to be an import skill for avoiding criminal conduct, especially when combined with personal predispositions or criminogenic needs such as a pedophilic preference disorder. While previous research emphasized the relationship between impulsivity and child sexual offending, not pedophilia per se, studies on the underlying neurobiological mechanisms in subdomains of impulsivity remained scarce. Here, we focused on interference inhibition and examined event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of three groups of men performing a color-word Stroop task: (1) pedophiles with a history of CSO (P+CSO, n = 11), (2) pedophiles without a history of CSO (P–CSO, n = 8) and (3) non-pedophilic, non-offending healthy controls (HC, n = 10). On the behavioral level, P+CSO revealed increased Stroop interference as compared to P–CSO and HC. Moreover, increased Stroop interference in P+CSO was accompanied by enhanced conflict-related activity in left superior parietal cortex and precentral gyrus as compared to P–CSO. Albeit behavioral analyses of error and post-error processing revealed no significant between-group differences, P–CSO showed increased post-error-related activity in left posterior cingulate, precuneus and middle temporal gyrus as compared to P+CSO. Our preliminary data highlight inhibition deficits in offending as compared to non-offending pedophiles or healthy men and suggest that functional alterations in attention reallocation and impulse suppression/control may moderate the risk for committing CSO in men suffering from pedophilia.

Learning from mistakes: Incidental encoding reveals a time-dependent enhancement of posterror target processing.

It has been known for >50 years that making an error leads to subsequent changes in performance, yet the exact nature of posterror adjustments in cognition remains debated. We posit that this is in large part due to traditional performance indices, like mean posterror response time and accuracy, being insensitive measures of trial-by-trial stimulus processing. To overcome this limitation, we devised a novel object flanker task that employed trial-unique target and distracter stimuli and was followed by a surprise recognition memory test. This allowed us to determine how errors influence incidental target and distracter encoding in a trial-specific manner. We used this approach to test the "adaptive orienting theory" of posterror processing, according to which an error triggers an initial inhibition of task processing-facilitating orienting to the error source-followed by a controlled retuning of attention to the task. To characterize the time-course of the posterror processing cascade, we combined our task with a manipulation of the response-stimulus interval (RSI), across four experiments (RSIs: 300 ms, 650 ms, ~1,000 ms; N = 96-100 per experiment). We document, for the first time, that making an error leads to a substantial (~10%) enhancement of target (but not distracter) memory on the subsequent trial, which interacts with RSI: Posterror targets were remembered better than postcorrect targets at the long (650 ms, ~1,000 ms) but not the short (300 ms) RSIs. These findings provide clear support for the adaptive orienting theory by demonstrating a novel cognitive phenomenon: a time-dependent posterror enhancement of target encoding (PETE). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Post-error Slowing During Instrumental Learning is Shaped by Working Memory-based Choice Strategies

Post-error slowing (PES) – a relative increase in response time for a decision on trialtgiven an error on trialt − 1 – is a well-known effect in studies of human decision-making. Post-error processing is reflected in neural signatures such as reduced activity in sensorimotor regions and increased activity in medial prefrontal cortex. PES is thought to reflect the deployment of executive resources to get task performance back on track. This provides a general account of PES that cuts across perceptual decision-making, memory, and learning tasks. With respect to PES and learning, things are complicated by the fact that learning often reflectsmultiple qualitatively different processes with distinct neural correlates. It is unclear if multiple processes shape PES during learning, or if PES reflects a policy for reacting to errors generated by one particular process (e.g., cortico-striatal reinforcement learning). Here we provide behavioral and computational evidence that PES is influenced by the operation of multiple distinct processes. Human subjects learned a simple visuomotor skill (arbitrary visuomotor association learning) under low load conditionsmore amenable to simple working memory-based strategies, and high load conditions that were putatively more reliant on trial-by-trial reinforcement learning. PES decreased withload, even when the progress of learning (i.e., reinforcement history) was accounted for. This result suggested that PES during learning is influenced by the recruitment of working memory. Indeed, observed PES effects were approximated by a computational model with parallel working memory and reinforcement learning systems that are differentially recruited according to cognitive load.

On the interdependence of post-error control and memory.

Post-error cognitive control processes are evident in post-error slowing (PES) and post-error increased accuracy (PIA). A recent theory (Wessel, 2018) proposes that post-error control disrupts not only ongoing motor activity but also current task-set representations, suggesting an interdependence of post-error control and memory. In 2 experiments, we directly tested this interdependence using response repeat/switch targets. As participants' memory of the previously-given response determined their next response, we predicted that participants would not show post-error performance improvements, or may even exhibit decrements (memory obstruction hypothesis). In line with a weak version of the memory obstruction hypothesis, participants' performance did not improve post-error regardless of preparation time across several measures (intertrial interval 500 ms-3000 ms). This could not alternatively be explained by a lack in post-error processing or error awareness. Thus, our results suggest an interdependence of memory and cognitive control in post-error processing, and we offer a novel way of directly assessing this interdependence using response repeat/switch targets. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Timing-dependent differential effects of unexpected events on error processing reveal the interactive dynamics of surprise and error processing.

When unexpected events occur during goal-directed behavior, they automatically trigger an orienting-related cascade of psychological and neural processes through which they influence behavior and cognition. If the unexpected event was caused by an action error, additional error-specific, strategic-related processes have been proposed to follow the initial orienting period. Little is known about the neural interactions between action errors and unexpected perceptual events, two instantiations of unexpected events, in these two putative stages of post-error processing. Here, we aimed to address this by investigating the electrophysiological dynamics associated with action errors and unexpected perceptual events using scalp EEG with a focus on the frontal midline (FM) delta-to-theta oscillations (1-8Hz) indicative of the performance-monitoring system. Specifically, we examined how the timing of unexpected sounds would influence behavior and neural oscillations after action errors, depending on the length of the intertrial interval (ITI). Our data showed that unexpected sounds aggravated post-error decreases in accuracy when they occurred (1) immediately after errors (i.e., post-error orienting period), regardless of ITI and (2) immediately after the post-error stimulus (i.e., post-error strategic period), at short ITIs. Meanwhile, action errors and unexpected sounds independently produced increased FM delta-to-theta power during the post-error orienting period, regardless of ITIs. However, when unexpected sounds occurred during the post-error strategic period, action errors produced lower FM delta-to-theta power than correct responses, at short ITIs. These differential effects of unexpected events on behavior and FM delta-to-theta dynamics support the notion of the two post-error periods during which different processes are implemented.

Age-related post-error slowing and stimulus repetition effect in motor inhibition during a stop-signal task

This study aims to investigate how older adults react to a failed-inhibition error while performing a stop-signal task. That is, whether elderly people would exhibit enlarged post-error slowing and whether such slowing revealed an adaptive process, maladaptive process, or a mixture of maladaptive followed by adaptive processes. This study also addresses if the post-error process might further interact with a stimulus repetition effect based on the memory retrieval explanation. A group of 34 younger adults (age range 20-30years) and a group of 34 older adults (age range 60-80years) were included for the analyses. The results of the current study supported a mixture model by showing that older adults exhibited a larger post-error slowing than younger adults, and their post-error slowing was initially accompanied by deceased accuracy that then increased on the subsequent trial. Furthermore, such post-error slowing on older adults only occurred in the trial condition where the stimulus was repeated from the previous trial suggesting a memory-based process (a form of negative priming) involved in post-error processes. The implication of the current finding is that older adults might maintain the ability to detect and monitor the response error, yet their post-error adjustment might require a much longer time to start functioning well after the initial detrimental orienting response to the error and the entire process was memory-based.

Error and post-error processing in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An electrical neuroimaging study

ObjectiveInaccurate and inconsistent response styles in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been observed in a wide variety of cognitive tasks, in line with regulatory deficit models of ADHD. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of error processing have provided evidence for these models, but are limited in specificity. We aimed to improve the isolation, localization and identification of error (self-monitoring and adaptive control) and post-error (implementation of cognitive control) processing in ADHD. MethodsERPs were obtained for 46 ADHD and 51 typically developing (TD) children using the stop-signal task. Response-locked error (Ne and Pe) and stimulus-locked post-error (N2) components were compared between groups. Ne/Pe were corrected for preceding stimulus overlap and group differences were localized. ResultsNe was intact, while Pe amplitude was markedly reduced in children with ADHD (ηp2 = 0.14). Pe differences were localized in the dorsal posterior/midcingulate (BA31/24) cortex. While the TD group showed increased N2 amplitude in post-error trials (ηp2 = 0.24), localized in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and angular gyrus, the ADHD group did not. ConclusionsSelf-regulation deficits in ADHD are associated with later stages of error processing and subsequent implementation of cognitive control. SignificanceWe contribute to the literature by further specifying error processing deficits in ADHD.

Mid-frontal theta activity is diminished during cognitive control in Parkinson's disease

Mid-frontal theta activity underlies cognitive control. These 4–8 Hz rhythms are modulated by cortical dopamine and can be abnormal in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we investigated mid-frontal theta deficits in PD patients during a task explicitly involving cognitive control. We collected scalp EEG from high-performing PD patients and demographically matched controls during performance of a modified Simon reaction-time task. This task involves cognitive control to adjudicate response conflict and error-related adjustments. Task performance of PD patients was indistinguishable from controls, but PD patients had less mid-frontal theta modulations around cues and responses. Critically, PD patients had attenuated mid-frontal theta activity specifically associated with response conflict and post-error processing. These signals were unaffected by medication or motor scores. Post-error mid-frontal theta activity was correlated with disease duration. Classification of control vs. PD from these data resulted in a specificity of 69% and a sensitivity of 72%. These findings help define the scope of mid-frontal theta aberrations during cognitive control in PD, and may provide insight into the nature of PD-related cognitive dysfunction.

An adaptive orienting theory of error processing.

The ability to detect and correct action errors is paramount to safe and efficient goal-directed behaviors. Existing work on the neural underpinnings of error processing and post-error behavioral adaptations has led to the development of several mechanistic theories of error processing. These theories can be roughly grouped into adaptive and maladaptive theories. While adaptive theories propose that errors trigger a cascade of processes that will result in improved behavior after error commission, maladaptive theories hold that error commission momentarily impairs behavior. Neither group of theories can account for all available data, as different empirical studies find both impaired and improved post-error behavior. This article attempts a synthesis between the predictions made by prominent adaptive and maladaptive theories. Specifically, it is proposed that errors invoke a nonspecific cascade of processing that will rapidly interrupt and inhibit ongoing behavior and cognition, as well as orient attention toward the source of the error. It is proposed that this cascade follows all unexpected action outcomes, not just errors. In the case of errors, this cascade is followed by error-specific, controlled processing, which is specifically aimed at (re)tuning the existing task set. This theory combines existing predictions from maladaptive orienting and bottleneck theories with specific neural mechanisms from the wider field of cognitive control, including from error-specific theories of adaptive post-error processing. The article aims to describe the proposed framework and its implications for post-error slowing and post-error accuracy, propose mechanistic neural circuitry for post-error processing, and derive specific hypotheses for future empirical investigations.

P240 Neural and functional bases of error monitoring: A TMS study

Error monitoring is essential both to detect when an action deviates from a goal and to implement post-error adjustments. In speeded response tasks, individuals typically slow down following errors, probably to prevent future errors. This slowing is called post error slowing (PES) and it is one of the main behavioural measures of error monitoring. According to the cognitive control theory (Botvinick et al., 2001), PES reflects a measure of how well individuals can learn from own errors in order to adjust cognitive resource allocation. In the present study, we investigate the neural bases of error monitoring, studying in detail the role of the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in PES manifestation. In a first pilot study, seven young adults (mean age: 25.8 years) were assessed with a modified version of the error awareness task (EAT, Hester et al., 2005). A single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) was applied on both the right and left DLPFC, and on a control area (vertex), during task execution. Pulses were delivered at different times after an error commission (50 or 200 ms). Moreover, after some errors no TMS pulse were delivered (TMS-off condition). Results show that PES was present in both the TMS-off condition and when the TMS pulse was delivered after 200 ms. Interestingly, when TMS pulse was delivered on the left DLPFC after 50 ms from the error commission, PES disappeared. This time-based effect of TMS is in line with the electrophysiological literature, in which error monitoring is associated with the error related negativity (ERN), a fronto-central component that appears after 50–100 ms after an error, and that is considered a first physiological manifestation of error-related processing. In our study, the TMS pulse delivered at 50 ms on the prefrontal areas might have selectively impaired the post-error adjustment processes associated with the ERN. Finally, our results seem also in line with some clinical evidences in which patients with frontal brain lesions present reduced PES (Molenberghs et al., 2009).

Post-error adjustments and ADHD symptoms in adults: The effect of laterality and state regulation

Evidence is accumulating that individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) do not adjust their responses after committing errors. Post-error response adjustments are taken to reflect, among others, error monitoring that is essential for learning, flexible behavioural adaptation, and achieving future goals. Many behavioural studies have suggested that atypical lateral brain functions and difficulties in allocating effort to protect performance against stressors (i.e., state regulation) are key factors in ADHD. Whether these factors contribute to the absence of post-error response adjustments in ADHD is unknown. The aim of the present study is to investigate the contribution of the left and right hemispheres and the deficiency in effort allocation to deviant post-error processing in adults with high ADHD symptoms. From a pool of 87 university students, two groups were formed: a group with higher (n=30) and a group with lower (n=26) scores on the ADHD index subscale of the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales. The groups performed a lateralized lexical decision task with a fast and slower stimulus presentation rate. Post-error slowing and post-error response accuracy to stimuli presented in the left and right visual field were measured in each stimulus presentation rate. Results indicated that subjects with the lower ADHD scores slowed down and improved their response accuracy after errors, especially when stimuli were presented in the right visual field at the slower rate. In contrast, subjects with the higher ADHD scores showed no post-error adjustments. Results suggest that during lexical decision performance, impaired error processing in adults with ADHD is associated with affected ability of the left hemisphere to compensate for errors, especially when extra effort allocation is needed to meet task demands.

Error-related processing in adult males with elevated psychopathic traits.

Psychopathy is a serious personality disorder characterized by dysfunctional affective and behavioral symptoms. In incarcerated populations, elevated psychopathic traits have been linked to increased rates of violent recidivism. Cognitive processes related to error processing have been shown to differentiate individuals with high and low psychopathic traits and may contribute to poor decision making that increases the risk of recidivism. Error processing abnormalities related to psychopathy may be attributable to error-monitoring (error detection) or posterror processing (error evaluation). A recent 'bottleneck' theory predicts deficiencies in posterror processing in individuals with high psychopathic traits. In the current study, incarcerated males (n = 93) performed a Go/NoGo response inhibition task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Classic time-domain windowed component and principal component analyses were used to measure error-monitoring (as measured with the error-related negativity [ERN/Ne]) and posterror processing (as measured with the error positivity [Pe]). Psychopathic traits were assessed using Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). PCL-R Total score, Factor 1 (interpersonal-affective traits), and Facet 3 (lifestyle traits) scores were positively related to posterror processes (i.e., increased Pe amplitude) but unrelated to error-monitoring processes (i.e., ERN/Ne). These results support the attentional bottleneck theory and further describe deficiencies related to elevated psychopathic traits that could be beneficial for new treatment strategies for psychopathy.

P46. Neuronal mechanisms of error monitoring in motivational context in healthy children and adolescents

Introduction Flexible goal-directed behaviour requires an adaptive cognitive control system for context-specific organization and optimization of information processing. Because the continuous monitoring of the outcome of ongoing actions as well as the subject's motivation are essential for adaptive control over one's own performance, neuronal mechanisms of post-error processing were investigated in the motivational context of trials with different incentive load. These mechanisms were characterized in terms of changes of post-error oscillatory processes in a Go-NoGo task performed in MEG scanner. Developmental influences on neuronal mechanisms of error monitoring in the context of motivation were studied in different age groups of healthy children and adolescents. Methods Fifteen healthy right-handed children aged 10–16years participated as subjects. The Go-NoGo task was applied in two conditions: (A) standard Non-incentive Go-NoGo , and (B) rewarded Incentive Go-No-Go with two reward valences: reward for successful inhibition and response cost for error (for detailed description see Liddle et al., 2011; Mazaheri et al., 2009). The visual stimuli were single digits between 1 and 9 presented in the lower left visual field. Non-incentive Go-NoGo : each stimulus was displayed for 0.2 s and the inter-trial interval was 1.5s. Participants were asked to respond to all digits except of by pressing a button with the right index finger. Digits 1–4 and 6–9 are thus the Go stimuli and digit the NoGo stimulus. Incentive Go-NoGo : the procedure was as in the non-incentive condition with a one difference: for each successful NoGo the subjects obtained a point, and for each false alarm they lost 5 points. The MEG data were acquired using a 275-channel whole-head MEG system (Omega 2005, CTF-MEG, VSM MedTech Inc., Coquitlam, Canada). Results In the non-incentive Go-NoGo condition, there was a significant increase of power in the theta frequency band in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex bilaterally immediately after an error and reduction of alpha power in the parietal cortex 200–800ms after an error ( p p =0.028). In these regions, there was a reduction of alpha activity in the condition without motivation and an increase in the motivational context. The described changes were more pronounced in adolescents than in children. Conclusion The error monitoring and adaptive post-error optimization in children and adolescents is based on the neuronal signature related to the increase in activity in the prefrontal cortex and decrease in the regions of the default mode network. The increased motivation causes significant changes in pre-activation in the central motor region. The study illustrates neuronal mechanisms responsible to the improvement of performance in the motivation context.

Dysfunctional error-related processing in female psychopathy.

Neurocognitive studies of psychopathy have predominantly focused on male samples. Studies have shown that female psychopaths exhibit similar affective deficits as their male counterparts, but results are less consistent across cognitive domains including response modulation. As such, there may be potential gender differences in error-related processing in psychopathic personality. Here we investigate response-locked event-related potential (ERP) components [the error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) related to early error-detection processes and the error-related positivity (Pe) involved in later post-error processing] in a sample of incarcerated adult female offenders (n = 121) who performed a response inhibition Go/NoGo task. Psychopathy was assessed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). The ERN/Ne and Pe were analyzed with classic windowed ERP components and principal component analysis (PCA). Consistent with previous research performed in psychopathic males, female psychopaths exhibited specific deficiencies in the neural correlates of post-error processing (as indexed by reduced Pe amplitude) but not in error monitoring (as indexed by intact ERN/Ne amplitude). Specifically, psychopathic traits reflecting interpersonal and affective dysfunction remained significant predictors of both time-domain and PCA measures reflecting reduced Pe mean amplitude. This is the first evidence to suggest that incarcerated female psychopaths exhibit similar dysfunctional post-error processing as male psychopaths.

Post-error action control is neurobehaviorally modulated under conditions of constant speeded response.

Post-error slowing (PES) is an error recovery strategy that contributes to action control, and occurs after errors in order to prevent future behavioral flaws. Error recovery often malfunctions in clinical populations, but the relationship between behavioral traits and recovery from error is unclear in healthy populations. The present study investigated the relationship between impulsivity and error recovery by simulating a speeded response situation using a Go/No-go paradigm that forced the participants to constantly make accelerated responses prior to stimuli disappearance (stimulus duration: 250 ms). Neural correlates of post-error processing were examined using event-related potentials (ERPs). Impulsivity traits were measured with self-report questionnaires (BIS-11, BIS/BAS). Behavioral results demonstrated that the commission error for No-go trials was 15%, but PES did not take place immediately. Delayed PES was negatively correlated with error rates and impulsivity traits, showing that response slowing was associated with reduced error rates and changed with impulsivity. Response-locked error ERPs were clearly observed for the error trials. Contrary to previous studies, error ERPs were not significantly related to PES. Stimulus-locked N2 was negatively correlated with PES and positively correlated with impulsivity traits at the second post-error Go trial: larger N2 activity was associated with greater PES and less impulsivity. In summary, under constant speeded conditions, error monitoring was dissociated from post-error action control, and PES did not occur quickly. Furthermore, PES and its neural correlate (N2) were modulated by impulsivity traits. These findings suggest that there may be clinical and practical efficacy of maintaining cognitive control of actions during error recovery under common daily environments that frequently evoke impulsive behaviors.

Inefficiency of post-error adjustment in impulsive violent offenders.

Criminal offenders who show repeated impulsive violent behavior are often described as having impairments in both inhibitory control and error processing. A sample of such offenders was compared with controls using event-related potentials recorded during the performance of a combined flanker and stop-signal task with the aim of investigating the underlying mechanisms that may contribute toward such violent behavior by indexing conflict monitoring, error detection, and post-error processing. The results obtained indicated lower amplitude of the stop-signal N2 component for successfully inhibited trials, reflecting different degrees of inhibition in impulsive violent offenders, as well as a reduced Pe component over the parietal area, an indication of reduced awareness of errors. This is consistent with the behavioral data indicating a lack of post-error slowing compared with the control group. This suggests that these offenders have problems with error awareness, subjective error assessment processes, and the adjustment of future behavior.

Reduced Neural Error Signaling in Left Inferior Prefrontal Cortex in Young Adults With ADHD

Objective: The neural network involved in inhibition of inappropriate response tendencies shares commonalities with the error-processing network, signaling failure of inhibition. Most studies on error processing in ADHD have been conducted in children using electrophysiological methods. Method: Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, the authors studied 14 adults with ADHD and 12 group-matched healthy control participants while performing a modified version of a combined Eriksen Flanker-Go/NoGo-task. Results: Patients with ADHD demonstrated significantly reduced error signaling in the left inferior frontal gyrus bordering the anterior insular cortex (BA 47), computed from the contrast of unsuccessful minus successful inhibition trials. Conclusion: Hypoactivation of the left inferior frontal cortex during error signaling might represent a neurofunctional marker of a crucial prerequisite for error processing in adults with ADHD. This possibly indicates a dysfunction of the neural system that operates task-set related representations and monitoring of erroneous performances in service of ensuing posterror processing.