Post-error slowing: an orienting account.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Performance

Background:

• Post-error slowing is traditionally attributed to cognitive control and heightened response caution.
• Existing explanations are challenged by clinical data, necessitating alternative hypotheses.
• The orienting account proposes that infrequent events, including errors, capture attention, disrupting task focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alternative explanations for post-error slowing beyond cognitive control.
• To test the orienting account, which posits that infrequent events capture attention.
• To differentiate between error-specific slowing and slowing due to event infrequency.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using a novel experimental procedure.
• Experiment 1 examined slowing after both infrequent errors and infrequent correct trials.
• Experiment 2 used infrequent irrelevant tones as a manipulation instead of feedback signals.

Main Results:

• Experiment 1 showed slowing occurred after infrequent errors and also after infrequent correct trials.
• Slowing was observed in Experiment 2 following infrequent irrelevant tones, supporting the orienting hypothesis.
• Findings indicate that the frequency of events, rather than errors per se, influences performance adjustments.

Conclusions:

• Post-error slowing may be an orienting effect, where infrequent events capture attention, leading to task disengagement.
• This challenges the dominant cognitive control explanation for post-error slowing.
• The findings highlight the role of event frequency in modulating attention and cognitive performance.