Event-related potentials elicited by errors during the stop-signal task. II: human effector-specific error responses

J Neurophysiol. 2012 May;107(10):2794-807. doi: 10.1152/jn.00803.2011. Epub 2012 Feb 22.

Abstract

Although previous research with human and nonhuman primates has examined the neural correlates of performance monitoring, discrepancies in methodology have limited our ability to make cross-species generalizations. One major obstacle arises from the use of different behavioral responses and tasks across different primate species. Specifically, it is unknown whether performance-monitoring mechanisms rely on different neural circuitry in tasks requiring oculomotor vs. skeletomotor responses. Here, we show that the human error-related negativity (ERN) elicited by a saccadic eye-movement response relative to a manual response differs in several critical ways. The human saccadic ERN exhibits a prolonged duration, a broader frontomedial voltage distribution, and different neural source estimates than the manual ERN in exactly the same stop-signal task. The human saccadic error positivity (Pe) exhibited a frontomedial voltage distribution with estimated electrical sources in supplementary motor area and rostral anterior cingulate cortex for saccadic responses, whereas the manual Pe showed a posterior scalp distribution and potential origins in the superior parietal lobule. These findings constrain models of the cognitive mechanisms indexed by the ERN/Pe complex. Moreover, by paralleling work with nonhuman primates performing the same saccadic stop-signal task (Godlove et al. 2011), we demonstrate a cross-species homology of error event-related potentials (ERPs) and lay the groundwork for definitively localizing the neural sources of performance-monitoring ERPs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Electroencephalography
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology*
  • Executive Function / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Saccades / physiology*