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  <doc>
    <id>510</id>
    <completedYear>2019</completedYear>
    <publishedYear/>
    <thesisYearAccepted/>
    <language>eng</language>
    <pageFirst/>
    <pageLast/>
    <pageNumber/>
    <edition/>
    <issue/>
    <volume/>
    <type>doctoralthesis</type>
    <publisherName/>
    <publisherPlace/>
    <creatingCorporation/>
    <contributingCorporation/>
    <belongsToBibliography>0</belongsToBibliography>
    <completedDate>2019-07-02</completedDate>
    <publishedDate>2019-07-02</publishedDate>
    <thesisDateAccepted>2019-05-03</thesisDateAccepted>
    <title language="eng">Error-related brain activity reflects independent systems in human error monitoring [cumulative dissertation]</title>
    <abstract language="eng">Performance monitoring is a key function of human cognition and critical for&#13;
achieving goal-directed behavior. In recent years, research has particularly focused&#13;
on how the brain detects and evaluates behavioral errors. Most studies investigated&#13;
two neural correlates of performance monitoring in the human scalp EEG. In&#13;
particular, the error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) is a negative fronto-central deflection&#13;
observed immediately after an erroneous response, representing an early and&#13;
unconscious stage of error processing. The Ne/ERN is followed by the later error&#13;
positivity (Pe), a broader positivity viewed as a correlate of conscious error&#13;
processing. Whereas a large amount of research has been conducted on these&#13;
neural correlates, fundamental questions on their relationship remain. Crucially, it is&#13;
still unclear whether both components represent functionally independent processes&#13;
of error monitoring or whether the two components are part of a single mechanism.&#13;
The first possibility implies that the earlier Ne/ERN provides the basis for the later&#13;
emergence of the Pe and error awareness in a cascade-like architecture of error&#13;
monitoring. The other possibility is that the Pe and error awareness can emerge&#13;
independently of the Ne/ERN, which implies that different error monitoring&#13;
mechanisms exist and may proceed independently. The thesis addresses the&#13;
important question whether Ne/ERN provides necessary information for error&#13;
awareness and Pe. To this aim, behavioral and psychophysiological studies were&#13;
conducted:&#13;
(1) In a first part, we investigated whether Ne/ERN and Pe are causally related&#13;
(study 1). We developed a novel experimental paradigm based on the classical letters flanker task. In this paradigm, participants have to classify targets but ignore&#13;
irrelevant distractors (flankers) that are always associated with an incorrect&#13;
response. Targets but not flankers are masked with varying target-masking intervals.&#13;
On some trials, no target at all is presented, thus preventing the representation of a&#13;
correct response. Importantly, the lack of a representation of the correct response&#13;
also prevents the emergence of Ne/ERN. However, because flankers are easily&#13;
visible and responses to these flankers are always incorrect, conscious detection of&#13;
these flanker errors is still possible. The presence of a Pe in the absence of Ne/ERN&#13;
for flanker errors provides evidence for independent error monitoring processes.&#13;
(2) In a second part, we investigated whether the Ne/ERN and Pe are&#13;
differentially sensitive to temporal aspects of conscious error detection. Whereas the&#13;
Pe is assumed to be the earliest correlate of the emergence of conscious error&#13;
perception, participants often report the feeling of having detected an error even&#13;
before the erroneous response was actually executed (“early error sensations”). The&#13;
first goal of this part was to investigate whether such anecdotal evidence can be&#13;
measured empirically. In study 2, a series of behavioral experiments using different&#13;
methodological procedures were conducted. Participants during choice tasks have to&#13;
report whether errors were accompanied or not by early error sensations (i.e. early&#13;
and late detected errors) or give confidence judgments about early error sensations.&#13;
Participants frequently reported early errors with high level of confidence.&#13;
Subsequently, we studied how error-related brain activity reflects the emergence of&#13;
early error sensations. In study 3, we measured EEG activity and compared early&#13;
and late detected errors. Results showed that while the Pe reliably reflects the early&#13;
error sensations (larger amplitude for early errors), the Ne/ERN does not (no&#13;
differences between early and late errors). Crucially, the Ne/ERN and the Pe&#13;
responded differently to temporal aspects of error awareness, meaning that Ne/ERN&#13;
and Pe could rely on different types of information for error detection. This again&#13;
speaks for the idea of independent systems of error monitoring.</abstract>
    <identifier type="urn">urn:nbn:de:bvb:824-opus4-5108</identifier>
    <enrichment key="opus.doi.autoCreate">false</enrichment>
    <enrichment key="opus.urn.autoCreate">true</enrichment>
    <enrichment key="review.accepted_by">2</enrichment>
    <licence>Keine Lizenz - es gilt das deutsche Urheberrecht</licence>
    <author>Francesco Di Gregorio</author>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error monitoring</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error awareness</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error positivity</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error-related negativity</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error-related brain activity</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Multivariate pattern analysis</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Error detection</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Metacognition</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Early error sensations</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Oscillatory brain activity</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>deu</language>
      <type>swd</type>
      <value>Kognition</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>deu</language>
      <type>swd</type>
      <value>Denkfehler</value>
    </subject>
    <collection role="ddc" number="150">Psychologie</collection>
    <collection role="institutes" number="">Psychologie</collection>
    <thesisPublisher>Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt</thesisPublisher>
    <thesisGrantor>Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt</thesisGrantor>
    <file>https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-ku-eichstaett/files/510/Dissertation.pdf</file>
  </doc>
</export-example>
