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On the positive side of error processing: error-awareness positivity revisited
Shani Shalgi1, Ido Barkan, Leon Y Deouell
1Department of Cognitive Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. shanish@mscc.huji.ac.il
The European Journal of Neuroscience
|June 13, 2009
Summary
The brain registers performance errors automatically, even without conscious awareness. A specific brain signal, the error positivity (Pe), appears only when errors are consciously detected, suggesting it reflects conscious error processing across different senses.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychophysiology
Background:
- Performance errors elicit distinct event-related potentials (ERPs) in the brain.
- The error-related negativity (ERN) reflects automatic error detection, irrespective of awareness.
- The error positivity (Pe) is a subsequent ERP component linked to conscious error detection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the error positivity (Pe) in an auditory task.
- To determine if the Pe is a reliable indicator of conscious error awareness.
- To examine modality-specific versus domain-general mechanisms of error processing.
Main Methods:
- An auditory Go/No-Go task was employed with a button press to indicate error awareness.
- Error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) were analyzed.
- Comparison between aware and unaware errors, and across auditory and visual modalities.
Main Results:
- The ERN was similar for aware and unaware errors in the auditory task.
- The Pe was significantly enhanced for aware errors, confirming its link to conscious detection.
- ERN and Pe patterns were consistent across auditory and visual tasks, suggesting domain-general processing.
- A control condition ruled out task demands as the cause of the awareness effect.
Conclusions:
- The error positivity (Pe) serves as a reliable electrophysiological correlate of conscious error processing.
- Conscious error processing is not specific to a single sensory modality.
- Further analysis suggests the Pe might be related to stimulus processing (P3b) rather than solely response monitoring.
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