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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 27, 2026

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Testing theories of post-error slowing.

Gilles Dutilh¹, Joachim Vandekerckhove, Birte U Forstmann

¹University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. gilles.dutilh@gmail.com

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

|November 23, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Post-error slowing, the tendency to slow down after making a mistake, is primarily due to increased response caution and some change in response bias. This study found no evidence for perceptual distraction or wasted time as causes.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Decision Making

Background:

Post-error slowing is a well-documented phenomenon where individuals slow their response time after making an error.
Previous hypotheses for post-error slowing include perceptual distraction, time wastage, response bias changes, and increased response caution.
The response caution interpretation has been dominant but lacked formal process model testing.

Purpose of the Study:

To utilize the drift diffusion model to formally investigate the psychological processes underlying post-error slowing.
To differentiate between competing explanations for post-error slowing, specifically response caution versus perceptual distraction or time wastage.

Main Methods:

Analysis of a large lexical decision task dataset.
Application of the drift diffusion model to quantify underlying psychological processes.
Examination of changes in response caution, response bias, and other factors following errors.

Main Results:

Post-error slowing was significantly associated with an increase in response caution.
A smaller effect of a change in response bias was also observed after errors.
No evidence was found supporting perceptual distraction or time wastage as causes of post-error slowing in this dataset.

Conclusions:

The findings strongly support a response-monitoring account of post-error slowing.
Increased response caution is identified as the primary driver of slowed performance after errors.
Alternative explanations like perceptual distraction are less likely based on this formal modeling approach.