Maurer Lisa Katharina, Joch Michael, Hegele Mathias, Maurer Heiko, Müller Hermann
Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior, Universities of Marburg and Giessen, Germany.
J Vis. 2019 Apr 1;19(4):18. doi: 10.1167/19.4.18.
Error processing is an important aspect of learning. The detection and online correction of an error as well as error-based adaptation of subsequent movements enables humans to improve behavior. For this improvement, it is necessary to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant errors. Behavioral adaptations are only reasonable when an error is attributed to one's own behavior and therefore regarded as relevant for subsequent adjustments, whereas irrelevant errors caused by unsystematic external influences should be disregarded. Here, we ask whether error predictions as indexed by the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) can be used to differentiate relevant and irrelevant errors in movements with a complex visuomotor mapping. Using event-related potentials, we compared the neural activation between relevant (self-induced/internal) errors and irrelevant (externally manipulated) errors in a virtual goal-oriented throwing task. Results show that the Ne/ERN responds more strongly to self-induced errors, while the feedback-related negativity (FRN) more strongly correlates with externally manipulated errors. Moreover, subsequent behavioral adjustments were larger in the relevant compared to the irrelevant error trials. We conclude that predictive processes, marked by the Ne/ERN, can subserve error attribution in naturalistic, complex visuomotor tasks like throwing.
错误处理是学习的一个重要方面。对错误的检测、在线纠正以及基于错误对后续动作进行调整，能够使人类改进行为。为实现这种改进，区分相关错误和不相关错误很有必要。只有当错误归因于自身行为并因此被视为与后续调整相关时，行为调整才是合理的，而由非系统性外部影响导致的不相关错误则应被忽略。在此，我们探讨以错误相关负波（Ne/ERN）为指标的错误预测是否可用于区分具有复杂视觉运动映射的动作中的相关错误和不相关错误。利用事件相关电位，我们在虚拟目标导向投掷任务中比较了相关（自我诱导/内部）错误和不相关（外部操控）错误之间的神经激活情况。结果表明，Ne/ERN对自我诱导错误的反应更强，而反馈相关负波（FRN）与外部操控错误的相关性更强。此外，与不相关错误试验相比，相关错误试验中后续的行为调整幅度更大。我们得出结论，以Ne/ERN为标志的预测过程能够在诸如投掷等自然、复杂的视觉运动任务中辅助错误归因。
