Disentangling different types of errors: EEG dynamics of response conflict versus lapses in sustained attention
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1
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Studies investigating error-related electrophysiological dynamics in response conflict tasks have revealed that the medial frontal cortex (MFC) and lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) communicate through oscillatory synchronization in order to adaptively adjust behavior. In these studies, it has been tacitly assumed that errors, which signal the need for such flexible adjustment, result from a temporary decrease in cognitive control over the motor system. However, errors can occur for qualitatively different reasons, such as a lapse in sustained attention that may be less related to the conflict situation itself. In this study we measured EEG during three variants of the Simon task (a typical cognitive control task used to elicit response errors), in which errors were more likely to occur due to lapses in sustained attention, failures to exert motor control, or both. Behaviorally, errors were more evenly distributed over congruent and incongruent trials in the sustained attention condition, compared to the other conditions. Neurally, errors in the sustained attention condition were associated with a less robust increase in medial frontal (measured from electrode FCz) theta (4-8 Hz) power compared to errors in the regular Simon condition. Errors during the sustained attention condition were also associated with less increase in posterior (POz) alpha (8-12 Hz) power compared to the motor control condition. Together, these results show that errors during cognitive control tasks can be made for different neurocognitive reasons, and may result in different patterns of post-error adjustments. Averaging together all errors during typical cognitive control tasks may result in heterogeneous activity from multiple neurocognitive processes.
Keywords:
cognitive control,
EEG
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Performance Monitoring and Cognitive Control
Citation:
Van Driel
J and
Cohen
MX
(2011). Disentangling different types of errors: EEG dynamics of response conflict versus lapses in sustained attention.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00258
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Received:
21 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Joram Van Driel, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, joramvandriel@gmail.com