Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Ardeystr. 76, Dortmund, Germany.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2010 Sep;31(9):1305-15. doi: 10.1002/hbm.20937.
After errors in reaction tasks, a sharp negative wave emerges in the event-related potential (ERP), the error (related) negativity (Ne or ERN). However, also after correct trials, an Ne-like wave is seen, called CRN or Nc, which is much smaller than the Ne. This study tested the hypothesis whether Ne and Nc reflect the same functional process, and whether this process is linked to online response control. For this purpose, independent component analysis (ICA) was utilized with the EEG data of two types of reaction tasks: a flanker task and a mental rotation task. To control for speed-accuracy effects, speed and accuracy instructions were balanced in a between subjects design. For both tasks ICA and dipole analysis revealed one component (Ne-IC) explaining most of the variance for the difference between correct and erroneous trials. The Ne-IC showed virtually the same features as the raw postresponse ERP, being larger for erroneous compared to correct trials and for the flanker than for the rotation task. In addition, it peaked earlier for corrected than for uncorrected errors. The results favor the hypothesis that Ne and Nc reflect the same process, which is modulated by response correctness and type of task. On the basis of the literature and the present results, we assume that this process induces online response control, which is much stronger in error than correct trials and with direct rather than indirect stimulus response mapping.
在反应任务出现错误后，事件相关电位（ERP）中会出现一个尖锐的负波，即错误（相关）负波（Ne 或 ERN）。然而，即使在正确的试验后，也会看到类似于 Ne 的波，称为 CRN 或 Nc，它比 Ne 小得多。本研究检验了以下假设：Ne 和 Nc 是否反映了相同的功能过程，以及该过程是否与在线反应控制有关。为此，我们利用两种反应任务（flanker 任务和心理旋转任务）的 EEG 数据进行了独立成分分析（ICA）。为了控制速度准确性效应，在被试间设计中平衡了速度和准确性指令。对于这两种任务，ICA 和偶极子分析都揭示了一个解释正确和错误试验之间差异的主要成分（Ne-IC）。Ne-IC 与原始的反应后 ERP 具有几乎相同的特征，与正确试验相比，错误试验的 Ne-IC 更大，与旋转任务相比，flanker 任务的 Ne-IC 更大。此外，它在纠正错误时比在未纠正错误时更早达到峰值。结果支持了以下假设：Ne 和 Nc 反映了相同的过程，该过程受到反应正确性和任务类型的调节。基于文献和本研究结果，我们假设该过程会诱导在线反应控制，与正确试验相比，错误试验中的反应控制更强，且具有直接而非间接的刺激-反应映射。
