Does the processing of sensory and reward-prediction errors involve common neural resources? Evidence from a frontocentral negative potential modulated by movement execution errors.
In humans, electrophysiological correlates of error processing have been extensively investigated in relation to decision-making theories. In particular, error-related ERPs have been most often studied using response selection tasks. In these tasks, involving very simple motor responses (e.g., button press), errors concern inappropriate action-selection only. However, EEG activity in relation to inaccurate movement-execution in more complex motor tasks has been much less examined. In the present study, we recorded EEG while volunteers performed reaching movements in a force-field created by a robotic device. Hand-path deviations were induced by interspersing catch trials in which the force condition was unpredictably altered. Our goal was twofold. First, we wanted to determine whether a frontocentral ERP was elicited by sensory-prediction errors, whose amplitude reflected the size of kinematic errors. Then, we explored whether common neural processes could be involved in the generation of this ERP and the feedback-related negativity (FRN), often assumed to reflect reward-prediction errors. We identified a frontocentral negativity whose amplitude was modulated by the size of the hand-path deviations induced by the unpredictable mechanical perturbations. This kinematic error-related ERP presented great similarities in terms of time course, topography, and potential source-location with the FRN recorded in the same experiment. These findings suggest that the processing of sensory-prediction errors and the processing of reward-prediction errors could involve a shared neural network.
Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR7289, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, 13385 Marseille, France, and Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, U1028, INSERM, UMR5292, CNRS/Université Lyon 1, 69000, France.
Flavie
F
Torrecillos
Philippe
P
Albouy
Thomas
T
Brochier
Nicole
N
Malfait
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
EEG-ERP; arm-movements; error-processing; feedback-related negativity; force-field; kinematics