Human oscillatory activity in near-miss events

Near-miss events are situations in which an action yields a negative result but is very close to being successful. They are known to influence behavior, especially in gambling scenarios. Previous neuroimaging studies have described an 'anomalous' activity of brain reward areas following these events. The goal of the present research was to study electrophysiological correlates of near-misses in the expectation and outcome phases. Electroencephalography was recorded while participants were playing a simplified version of a slot machine. Four possible outcomes (gain, near-miss, loss and no-information) were presented in a pseudorandom order to ensure fixed proportions. Results from the time-frequency analysis for the theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (9-13 Hz), low beta (15-22 Hz) and beta-gamma (25-35 Hz) frequency-bands presented larger power increases for wins and near-misses compared with losses. In the anticipation phase, power changes were lower than in the resolution phase. The current results are in agreement with previous studies showing that near-miss events recruit brain areas of the reward network. Likewise, the oscillatory activity in near-misses is very similar to the one elicited in the gain condition. In addition, present findings suggest that oscillatory activity in the expectation phase does not play a crucial role in near-miss events.