title: Evidence for a role for the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in disengaging from an incorrect action.
abstract: Adjusting for an error requires both disengaging from the wrong course of action and initiating a corrective response. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) has been implicated in both these processes in the decision-making and action monitoring literatures. Here, we aimed to distinguish between these putative functions with a variant of the Eriksen flanker task that manipulated response requirements (i.e. one or two finger responses). We found that two event-related potentials originating from the dACC (error-related negativity (ERN) and anterior N2) only reflected the representation of the incorrect response: these waveforms were larger when the incorrect response involved two fingers rather than one finger. The increase in ERN magnitude was also accompanied by a reduction in spontaneous error corrections. These results argue that activity in the dACC reflects a process involved in disengaging from an ongoing incorrect action, clearing the way for the correct response.
authors: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Eldad Yitzhak
authors: EY
authors: Hochman
authors: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Avinash Rao
authors: AR
authors: Vaidya
authors: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors: Lesley K
authors: LK
authors: Fellows
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003657:Decision Making; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult