title: Executive function and error detection: The effect of motivation on cingulate and ventral striatum activity.
abstract: Reacting appropriately to errors during task performance is fundamental to successful negotiation of our environment. This is especially true when errors will result in a significant penalty for the person performing a given task, be they financial or otherwise. Error responses and monitoring states were manipulated in a GO/NOGO task by introducing a financial punishment for errors. This study employed a mixed block design alternating between punishment and no punishment (neutral) conditions, enabling an assessment of tonic changes associated with cognitive control as well as trial-specific effects. Behavioural results revealed slower responses and fewer commission errors in the punishment condition. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) had equal trial-specific activity for errors in the neutral and punishment conditions but had greater tonic activity throughout the punishment condition. A region of interest analysis revealed different activation patterns between the dorsal and the rostral parts of the ACC with the rostral ACC having only trial-specific activity for errors in the punishment condition, an activity profile similar to one observed in the nucleus accumbens. This study suggests that there is a motivational influence on cognitive processes in the ACC and nucleus accumbens and hints at a dissociation between tonic proactive activity and phasic reactive error-related activity.
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Cristina.Simoes@tcd.ie
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simões-Franklin
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hester
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shpaner
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Foxe
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Garavan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult