Cardiac concomitants of feedback processing

This study examined the heart rate changes associated with positive and negative performance feedback in a probabilistic learning task derived from Holroyd and Coles (Psychological Review, 109 (2002) 679). In this task, subjects were presented with six stimuli and asked to respond by pressing a left versus right key. Responses were followed by positive or negative feedback. Subjects had to infer the S-R mapping rule on the basis of feedback provided to them. Two stimuli were consistently mapped onto the left versus right key (100% mapping). Two other stimuli were randomly mapped onto the keys (50% mapping) and responses to the two remaining stimuli received always positive or negative feedback (always condition). Negative feedback was associated with heart rate slowing in the 100% condition. Heart rate slowed following both positive and negative feedback in the 50% condition, but only when the previous encounter with the stimulus was followed by alternate feedback. Heart rate did not differentiate between positive and negative feedback in the always condition. The results were interpreted in support of the hypothesis assuming that heart rate slowing is elicited when performance-based expectations are violated.