scholarly journals Cardiac afferent activity modulates early neural signature of error detection during skilled performance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Bury ◽  
Marta García Huesca ◽  
Joydeep Bhattacharya ◽  
María Herrojo Ruiz

AbstractBehavioral adaptations during performance rely on predicting and evaluating the consequences of our actions through action monitoring. Previous studies revealed that proprioceptive and exteroceptive signals contribute to error-monitoring processes, which are implemented in the posterior medial frontal cortex. Interestingly, errors also trigger changes in autonomic nervous system activity such as pupil dilation or heartbeat deceleration. Yet, the contribution of implicit interoceptive signals of bodily states to error-monitoring during ongoing performance has been overlooked.This study investigated whether cardiovascular interoceptive signals influence the neural correlates of error processing during performance, with an emphasis on the early stages of error processing. We recorded musicians’ electroencephalography and electrocardiogram signals during the performance of highly-trained music pieces. Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies revealed that pitch errors during skilled musical performance are preceded by an error detection signal, the pre-error-negativity (preERN), and followed by a later error positivity (PE). In this study, by combining ERP, source localization and multivariate pattern classification analysis, we found that the error-minus-correct ERP waveform had an enhanced amplitude within 40-100 ms following errors in the systolic period of the cardiac cycle. This component could be decoded from singletrials, was dissociated from the preERN and PE, and stemmed from the inferior parietal cortex, which is a region implicated in cardiac autonomic regulation. In addition, the phase of the cardiac cycle influenced behavioral alterations resulting from errors, with a smaller post-error slowing and less perturbed velocity in keystrokes following pitch errors in the systole relative to the diastole phase of the cardiac cycle. Lastly, changes in the heart rate anticipated the upcoming occurrence of errors. This study provides the first evidence of preconscious visceral information modulating neural and behavioral responses related to early error monitoring during skilled performance.

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 167-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xenija Weißbecker-Klaus ◽  
Peter Ullsperger ◽  
Gabriele Freude ◽  
Sergei A. Schapkin

Abstract. Neuronal mechanisms of error processing under multitasking and their impact on the processing of a concurrent task were examined. Twenty-one younger and twenty older healthy adults performed a visual-motor flanker task or an auditory-vocal semantic task or both tasks simultaneously. During task performance the electroencephalogram (EEG) was continuously recorded. The event-related potential (ERP) was derived from the EEG, and ERP components associated with error processing (Ne and Pe) and semantic processing (N400) were analyzed. Older participants responded more slowly than younger ones in the flanker task regardless of the multitasking condition, while accuracy was equal in both groups. In the flanker task, multitasking led to an increase of error rates, a reduction of reaction times, and a disappearance of post-error slowing (PES). Error detection (Ne) was delayed and error awareness (Pe) attenuated in the single flanker task relative to the multitasking condition. In the semantic task, multitasking led to an increase of reaction times and a delay of the N400 in particular when an error in the flanker task occurred. First, these results indicate that multitasking impaired error processing, in particular conscious error perception (Pe) and abolished post-error adjustments of performance (PES) which may have resulted in a more risky response tendency in the flanker task. Second, multitasking impaired semantic processing, in particular after an error in the concurrent flanker task. Hence, multitasking compromised error processing and error prevention in one of the tasks, and semantic processing in the other task. Consequently, multitasking should be avoided at workplaces with error-prone job assignments or where poor understanding of communication may have serious consequences.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Steinhauser ◽  
Marco Steinhauser

AbstractThe concurrent execution of temporally overlapping tasks leads to considerable interference between the subtasks. This also impairs control processes associated with the detection of performance errors. In the present study, we investigated how the human brain adapts to this interference between task representations in such multitasking scenarios. In Experiment 1, participants worked on a dual-tasking paradigm with partially overlapping execution of two tasks (T1 and T2), while we recorded error-related scalp potentials. The error positivity (Pe), a correlate of higher-level error evaluation, was reduced after T1 errors but occurred after a correct T2-response instead. MVPA-based and regression-based single-trial analysis revealed that the immediate Pe and deferred Pe are negatively correlated, suggesting a trial-wise trade-off between immediate and postponed error processing. Experiment 2 confirmed this finding and additionally showed that this result is not due to credit-assignment errors in which a T1 error is falsely attributed to T2. For the first time reporting a Pe that is temporally detached from its eliciting error event by a considerable amount of time, this study illustrates how reliable error detection in dual-tasking is maintained by a mechanism that adaptively schedules error processing, thus demonstrating a remarkable flexibility of the human brain when adapting to multitasking situations.Significance StatementMultitasking situations are associated with impaired performance, as the brain needs to allocate resources to more than one task at a time. This also makes it more difficult to detect one’s own performance errors in such complex scenarios. In two experiments, we recorded error-related electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and found that the commonly assumed fixed temporal succession of control processes in error monitoring can be strategically interrupted. Individual processes of error detection can be temporally rescheduled to after completion of competing tasks. This reduces interference between the neural task representations and supports a more efficient execution of concurrent tasks in multitasking.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1455-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Legault ◽  
Timour Al-Khindi ◽  
Michael Inzlicht

Self-affirmation produces large effects: Even a simple reminder of one’s core values reduces defensiveness against threatening information. But how, exactly, does self-affirmation work? We explored this question by examining the impact of self-affirmation on neurophysiological responses to threatening events. We hypothesized that because self-affirmation increases openness to threat and enhances approachability of unfavorable feedback, it should augment attention and emotional receptivity to performance errors. We further hypothesized that this augmentation could be assessed directly, at the level of the brain. We measured self-affirmed and nonaffirmed participants’ electrophysiological responses to making errors on a task. As we anticipated, self-affirmation elicited greater error responsiveness than did nonaffirmation, as indexed by the error-related negativity, a neural signal of error monitoring. Self-affirmed participants also performed better on the task than did nonaffirmed participants. We offer novel brain evidence that self-affirmation increases openness to threat and discuss the role of error detection in the link between self-affirmation and performance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley Gilbertson ◽  
Lin Fang ◽  
Jeremy A. Andrzejewski ◽  
Joshua M. Carlson

AbstractThe error-related negativity (ERN) is a response-locked event-related potential, occurring approximately 50 ms following an erroneous response at frontocentral electrode sites. Source localization and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research indicate that the ERN is likely generated by activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The dACC is thought to be a part of a broader network of brain regions that collectively comprise an error-monitoring network. However, little is known about how intrinsic connectivity within the dACC-based error-monitoring network contributes to variability in ERN amplitude. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between dACC functional connectivity and ERN amplitude. In a sample of 53 highly trait-anxious individuals, the ERN was elicited in a flanker task and functional connectivity was assessed in a 10-minute resting-state fMRI scan. Results suggest that the strength of dACC seeded functional connectivity with the supplementary motor area is correlated with the ΔERN (i.e., incorrect – correct responses) amplitude such that greater ΔERN amplitude was accompanied by greater functional coupling between these regions. In addition to the dACC, exploratory analyses found that functional connectivity in the caudate, cerebellum, and a number of regions in the error-monitoring network were linked to variability in ΔERN amplitude. In sum, ERN amplitude appears to be related to the strength of functional connectivity between error-monitoring and motor control regions of the brain.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan T. Bates ◽  
Tina P. Patel ◽  
Peter F. Liddle

Abstract: The discovery of mirror neurons in monkeys has reshaped thinking about how the brain processes observed actions. There is growing evidence that these neurons, which show similar firing patterns for action execution and observation, also exist in humans. Many parts of the motor system required to perform a specific action are activated during the observation of the same action. We hypothesized that behavior monitoring that occurs during action execution is mirrored during action observation. To test this, we measured error negativity/error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) while participants performed and observed a Go/NoGo task. The Ne/ERN is an event-related potential that is thought to reflect an error detection process in the brain. In addition to finding an Ne/ERN for performed errors, we found that an Ne/ERN was also generated for observed errors. The Ne/ERN for observed errors may reflect a system that plays a key role in imitation and observational learning.


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