Errors Disrupt Subsequent Early Attentional Processes.

It has been demonstrated that target detection is impaired following an error in an unrelated flanker task. These findings support the idea that the occurrence or processing of unexpected error-like events interfere with subsequent information processing. In the present study, we investigated the effect of errors on early visual ERP components. We therefore combined a flanker task and a visual discrimination task. Additionally, the intertrial interval between both tasks was manipulated in order to investigate the duration of these negative after-effects. The results of the visual discrimination task indicated that the amplitude of the N1 component, which is related to endogenous attention, was significantly decreased following an error, irrespective of the intertrial interval. Additionally, P3 amplitude was attenuated after an erroneous trial, but only in the long-interval condition. These results indicate that low-level attentional processes are impaired after errors.

Distinguishing the influence of task difficulty on error-related ERPs using surface Laplacian transformation.

Electrophysiologically, errors are characterized by a negative deflection, the error related negativity (ERN), which is followed by the error positivity (Pe). However, it has been suggested that this latter component consists of two subcomponents, with an early frontocentral Pe reflecting a continuation of the ERN, and a centro-parietal Pe reflecting error awareness. Using Laplacian transformed averages, a correct-related negativity (CRN; similar to the ERN), can be found on correct trials. As this technique allows for the decomposition of the recorded scalp potentials resulting in a better dissociation of the underlying brain activities, Laplacian transformation was used in the present study to differentiate between both the ERN/CRN and both Pe components. Additionally, task difficulty was manipulated. Our results show a clearly distinguishable early and late Pe. Both the ERN/CRN and the early Pe varied with task difficulty, showing decreased ERN/early Pe in the difficult condition. However, the late Pe was not influenced by our difficulty manipulation. This suggests that the early and the late Pe reflect qualitatively different processes.

Keep calm and be patient: The influence of anxiety and time on post-error adaptations.

Individual differences in anxiety and punishment sensitivity have an impact on electrophysiological markers of error processing and the orienting of attention to threatening information. However, it remains unclear how these individual differences influence behavioral adaptations to errors. Therefore, we set out to investigate the influence of anxiety and punishment sensitivity on post-error adaptations, and whether this influence depends on the time people get to adapt. We tested 99 participants using a Simon task with randomized inter-trial intervals. Significant post-error slowing (PES) was found at all time intervals. However, in line with previous research, PES reduced over time. While PES did not interact with anxiety, or punishment sensitivity, the pattern of post-error accuracy depended on anxiety. There is clear post-error accuracy decrease at the shortest interval, but individuals with a low score on trait anxiety showed a reversed effect (i.e., post-error accuracy increase) at a longer interval. These results suggest that people have trouble to disengage attention from an error, which can be overcome with time and low anxiety.

Improved memory for error feedback.

Surprising feedback in a general knowledge test leads to an improvement in memory for both the surface features and the content of the feedback (Psychon Bull Rev 16:88-92, 2009). Based on the idea that in cognitive tasks, error is surprising (the orienting account, Cognition 111:275-279, 2009), we tested whether error feedback would be better remembered than correct feedback. Colored words were presented as feedback signals in a flanker task, where the color indicated the accuracy. Subsequently, these words were again presented during a recognition task (Experiment 1) or a lexical decision task (Experiments 2 and 3). In all experiments, memory was improved for words seen as error feedback. These results are compared to the attentional boost effect (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 39:1223-12231, 2013) and related to the orienting account for post-error slowing (Cognition 111:275-279, 2009).

Electrophysiological evidence for the involvement of proactive and reactive control in a rewarded stop-signal task.

Reward availability is known to facilitate various cognitive operations, which is usually studied in cue-based paradigms that allow for enhanced preparation in reward-related trials. However, recent research using tasks that signal reward availability via task-relevant stimuli suggests that reward can also rapidly promote performance independent of global strategic preparation. Notably, this effect was also observed in a reward-related stop-signal task, in which behavioral measures of inhibition speed were found to be shorter in trials signaling reward. Corresponding fMRI results implied that this effect relies on boosted reactive control as indicated by increased activity in the 'inhibition-related network' in the reward-related condition. Here, we used EEG to better characterize transient modulations of attentional processes likely preceding this ultimate implementation of response inhibition. Importantly, such modulations would probably reflect enhanced proactive control in the form of more top-down attention to reward-related features. Counter to the notion that behavioral benefits would rely purely on reactive control, we found increased stop-evoked attentional processing (larger N1 component) on reward-related trials. This effect was accompanied by enhanced frontal P3 amplitudes reflecting successful stopping, and earlier and larger ERP differences between successful and failed stop trials in the reward-related condition. Finally, more global proactive control processes in the form of a reward context modulation of reward-unrelated trials did not have an effect on stopping performance but did influence attentional processing of go stimuli. Together, these results suggest that proactive and reactive processes can interact to bring about stimulus-specific reward benefits when the task precludes differential global preparation.

Strategy Changes After Errors Improve Performance.

The observation that performance does not improve following errors contradicts the traditional view on error monitoring (Fiehler et al., 2005; Núñez Castellar et al., 2010; Notebaert and Verguts, 2011). However, recent findings suggest that typical laboratory tasks provided us with a narrow window on error monitoring (Jentzsch and Dudschig, 2009; Desmet et al., 2012). In this study we investigated strategy-use after errors in a mental arithmetic task. In line with our hypothesis, this more complex task did show increased performance after errors. More specifically, switching to a different strategy after an error resulted in improved performance, while repeating the same strategy resulted in worse performance. These results show that in more ecological valid tasks, post-error behavioral improvement can be observed.

Disentangling posterror and postconflict reduction of interference.

Conflict monitoring theory (CMT; Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen Psychological Review, 108, 624-652, 2001) states that response conflict, the simultaneous activation of two competing responses, increases task focus and reduces interference from irrelevant information. CMT also defines errors as conflict, and reduced interference effects have consistently been reported following errors (Ridderinkhof Psychological Research, 66, 312-323, 2002). However, previous computations of this posterror reduction of interference (PERI) have overlooked the congruency of the previous trial. This is problematic, because most errors are made on incongruent trials, creating a confound between (previous) accuracy and (previous) congruency. Therefore, it is likely that reduced interference following errors is in fact the congruency sequence effect (i.e., reduced interference following incongruent, relative to congruent, trials). Our results corroborate this idea by demonstrating that participants indeed showed significant PERI following a congruent trial, but inverse PERI following an incongruent trial. These findings are discussed in light of the adaptation-by-binding account (Verguts & Notebaert Psychological Review, 115, 518-525, 2008, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 252-257, 2009).