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Is attention enhanced following performance errors? Testing the adaptive control hypothesis.

Rebecca J Compton1, Elizabeth C Heaton1, Averi Gaines1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA.

Psychophysiology
|October 13, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Following mistakes, people do not sharpen attentional focus as predicted. Instead, errors lead to poorer performance and generalized arousal, suggesting alternative explanations for post-error neural changes.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Control

Background:

  • Current theories of cognitive control predict adaptive sharpening of attentional focus after performance errors.
  • This adaptive control model suggests that errors trigger mechanisms to improve future performance by focusing attention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether individuals adaptively sharpen attentional focus after making performance errors.
  • To test the predictions of the adaptive control model against alternative explanations for post-error adjustments.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed a reverse Stroop task with spatial cues.
  • Behavioral performance and electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded.
  • The impact of prior errors on cue validity effects and neural responses to targets was analyzed.
Keywords:
EEGERPsattentioncognitive control

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Neither cue validity nor Stroop interference effects were altered by prior errors.
  • Prior errors did not enhance cue-evoked spatial asymmetries in EEG or target-evoked neural responses.
  • Errors were followed by decreased performance and generalized arousal, indicated by suppressed EEG alpha power.

Conclusions:

  • Results do not support the adaptive control model of sharpened attentional focus after errors.
  • Post-error changes in neural activity and performance are better explained by arousal, orienting, or cognitive bottlenecking.
  • This suggests that cognitive control mechanisms may not adaptively sharpen attention in response to mistakes.