title: The relationship between reaction time, error rate and anterior cingulate cortex activity.
abstract: Current concepts of cognitive control suggest that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in performance monitoring. This idea is supported by the finding that increased ACC activity is found in situations in which errors are likely to occur, even if none are actually made. In addition, recent results suggest that increased ACC activity is negatively correlated with reaction time. We have now compared the error rates and the ACC activity of healthy subjects with short (n=19) vs. long reaction times (n=17) in an auditory choice reaction paradigm and analysed the current density differences in the ACC in the time range of the N1 component with low resolution electromagnetic tomography. Subjects with short reaction times showed significantly more ACC activation (Brodmann Area 24) and an increased error rate. This finding suggests that increased ACC activity is associated with a gain in reaction speed at the expense of correctness and is discussed in the context of current concepts about the role of the ACC in cognitive functions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Clinical Psychophysiology, Department of Psychiatry, Free University, Berlin, Germany. cmulert@psy.med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mulert
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallinat
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dorn
authors.forename: Werner M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winterer
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology