An electrophysiological analysis of coaching in Blackjack

Recent research has demonstrated that a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) that is usually elicited by errors, negative performance feedback, and monetary losses, and which has been associated with response monitoring and reinforcement learning, is also present when we observe others. In the present study we aimed to extend these findings to the domain of coaching behavior. In many contexts of human social life, advice is given by experts to novices, e.g., teachers or parents to scholars or children. However, their advice is sometimes rejected. Here we show that a rejection of one's advice elicits the same negative potential as when one receives negative feedback about one's own behavior.