The Error-Related Negativity (ERN) and the Reward Positivity (RewP) Event-Related Potentials: Comparison Between a...

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have practical utility in clinical psychology as neural markers of individual differences that can predict changes in symptoms over time and as a function of treatment. Implementation in clinical settings, however, would benefit from eliminating conductive gel. Dry electrode EEG systems exist; however, there is little research comparing ERPs recorded from dry and gel-based electrode EEG systems. In the current study, participants completed the flanker task and the doors task in counter-balanced order to elicit the error-related negativity (ERN) and reward positivity (∆RewP), respectively. Across both tasks, the gel-based EEG system produced larger magnitude ERPs with higher signal-to-noise ratio; however, ERPs recorded from both EEG systems had good internal consistency. In addition, the ERPs from both systems showed good convergent and divergent validity, indicating that both systems are capturing similar variance in error- and reward-related brain activity. Overall, the dry electrode EEG system recorded ERPs with good data quality that may be used in individual differences research implemented in clinical settings and related environments.