The error-related negativity and error-related temporal binding: Different predictors of task performance?

When performing goal-directed tasks, mistakes can motivate changes in our choices and behaviours. This process of behavioural adaptation is assumed to be at least partly driven by error processing mechanisms in the brain marked by the error-related negativity (ERN). A recently observed perceptual consequence of errors is a temporal binding effect, which is the perceived compression of time between actions and outcomes and is commonly claimed to be an implicit marker for the sense of agency. Given that both phenomena are triggered by errors, we sought to investigate the relationship between ERN amplitude and error-related temporal binding and assess the extent to which each of these predicted several measures of task performance. Utilising a modified Eriksen Flanker task to increase error rates, we measured error-related changes in ERP amplitude (ERN difference wave) and action-outcome interval estimates (error-related temporal binding). Both measures were significantly affected by erroneous responses, and this was correlated between measures - participants with larger ERN amplitude also exhibited stronger error-related binding. When controlling for each other as predictors of task performance, ERN amplitude was shown to independently predict overall error rates, while error-related binding was shown to independently predict the rate of improvement. To our knowledge, this is the first study to observe error-related changes in temporal binding in a flanker task, and the first to measure the relationship between ERN amplitude and temporal binding. We discuss the distinction (and overlap) between the ERN and error-related binding, along with the potential links to the sense of agency.