Observed and Performed Error Signals in Auditory Lexical Decisions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psycholinguistics
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• Error processing in decision-making tasks is often studied using electroencephalography (EEG), revealing Error Related Negativity (ERN) and Error Positivity (Pe) components.
• While ERN-Pe effects are known for visual tasks, less is understood about performance monitoring during auditory language processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate error processing signatures in EEG during an auditory lexical decision task for both performers and observers.
• To explore the presence of ERN-Pe components in observed language processing based on auditory input.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed an auditory lexical decision task, distinguishing real words from non-words and pseudowords.
• EEG data was recorded and analyzed for response-locked components, specifically focusing on error-related potentials.

Main Results:

• The hypothesized ERN component related to errors was not observed.
• A Pe-like effect and a significant P300 component were identified for errors.
• Analysis suggested a P300 for errors and differences in brain activity before and after word offset.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that the P300 component plays a role in attention during error processing in auditory word recognition.
• The study highlights differences in neural signatures between performance and observation of errors in an auditory context.