title: Error-related scalp potentials elicited by hand and foot movements: evidence for an output-independent error-processing system in humans.
abstract: The error-related negativity (ERN) is a fronto-centrally distributed component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) that occurs when human subjects make errors in a variety of experimental tasks. In the present study, we recorded ERPs from 128 scalp electrodes while subjects performed a choice reaction time task using either their hands or feet. We applied the brain electric source analysis technique to compare ERNs elicited by hand and foot errors. The scalp distributions of these error potentials suggest that they share the same neural generator and, therefore, that the ERN process is output-independent. Together with other findings, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that the ERN is generated within the anterior cingulate cortex and is elicited by the activation of a generic error-processing system.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign 61820, USA.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Holroyd
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dien
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Coles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005246:Feedback / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology