Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
Behav Brain Res. 2011 Dec 1;225(2):396-404. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.07.059. Epub 2011 Aug 9.
The feedback-related negativity (FRN), an event-related potentials (ERPs) component reflecting activity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), has been shown to be modulated by feedback expectancy following active choices in feedback-based learning tasks. A general reduction of FRN amplitude has been described in observational feedback learning, raising the question whether FRN amplitude is modulated in a similar way in this type of learning. The present study investigated whether the FRN and the P300 - a second ERP component related to feedback processing - are modulated by feedback probability in observational learning. Thirty-two subjects participated in the experiment. They observed a virtual person choosing between two symbols and receiving positive or negative feedback. Learning about stimulus-specific feedback probabilities was assessed in active test trials without feedback. In addition, the bias to learn from positive or negative feedback and - in a subsample of 17 subjects - empathy scores were obtained. General FRN and P300 modulations by feedback probability were found across all subjects. Only for the FRN in learners, an interaction between probability and valence was observed. Larger FRN amplitudes for negative relative to positive feedback only emerged for the lowest outcome probability. The results show that feedback expectancy modulates FRN amplitude also in observational learning, suggesting a similar ACC function as in active learning. On the other hand, the modulation is only seen for very low feedback expectancy, which suggests that brain regions other than those of the reward system contribute to feedback processing in an observation setting.
反馈相关负波（FRN）是一种反映前扣带皮层（ACC）活动的事件相关电位（ERP）成分，已被证明在基于反馈的学习任务中积极选择后，会受到反馈预期的调节。在观察性反馈学习中，已经描述了 FRN 幅度的普遍降低，这引发了一个问题，即在这种类型的学习中，FRN 幅度是否以类似的方式受到调节。本研究调查了 FRN 和 P300（与反馈处理相关的第二个 ERP 成分）是否在观察性学习中受到反馈概率的调节。32 名受试者参与了实验。他们观察了一个虚拟人在两个符号之间进行选择，并收到正反馈或负反馈。在没有反馈的主动测试试验中评估了对刺激特异性反馈概率的学习。此外，还获得了从正反馈或负反馈中学习的偏向以及（在 17 名受试者的子样本中）同理心分数。在所有受试者中都发现了 FRN 和 P300 对反馈概率的普遍调节。只有在学习者的 FRN 中，观察到了概率和效价之间的交互作用。只有在最低的结果概率下，负反馈相对于正反馈的 FRN 振幅才会更大。结果表明，即使在观察性学习中，反馈预期也会调节 FRN 幅度，这表明在主动学习中存在类似的 ACC 功能。另一方面，这种调节仅在非常低的反馈预期下可见，这表明除了奖励系统的脑区之外，其他脑区也有助于在观察环境中进行反馈处理。
