Phasic heart rate responses to performance feedback in a time production task: effects of information versus valence

This study examined the cardiac concomitants of feedback processing in a time production task derived from [Mittner et al., J. Cogn. Neurosci. 9 (1997) 788]. Participants performed the time production task (i.e. 1-s intervals) under two conditions. In the experimental condition, feedback informed them that the produced interval was within or outside the acceptable range (too long or too short). In the other, yoked-control, condition feedback was unrelated to the actual estimate. The performance findings indicated that in the experimental condition, participants tended to adjust the new interval in the direction indicated by the feedback. In the control condition, however, the adjustments were largely unrelated to the information provided by the feedback. Heart rate slowed to feedback stimuli indicating that the estimate was outside the acceptable range. Surprisingly, cardiac slowing did not discriminate between experimental and control conditions. This finding seems to suggest that heart rate is sensitive to the valence rather than the information provided by the feedback. This finding is discussed vis-à-vis current neuroimaging and psychophysiological studies of performance monitoring.