title: Midfrontal theta tracks action monitoring over multiple interactive time scales.
abstract: Quickly detecting and correcting mistakes is a crucial brain function. EEG studies have identified an idiosyncratic electrophysiological signature of online error correction, termed midfrontal theta. Midfrontal theta has so far been investigated over the fast time-scale of a few hundred milliseconds. But several aspects of behavior and brain activity unfold over multiple time scales, displaying "scale-free" dynamics that have been linked to criticality and optimal flexibility when responding to changing environmental demands. Here we used a novel line-tracking task to demonstrate that midfrontal theta is a transient yet non-phase-locked response that is modulated by task performance over at least three time scales: a few hundred milliseconds at the onset of a mistake, task performance over a fixed window of the previous 5s, and scale-free-like fluctuations over many tens of seconds. These findings provide novel evidence for a role of midfrontal theta in online behavioral adaptation, and suggest new approaches for linking EEG signatures of human executive functioning to its neurobiological underpinnings.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University and Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands. Electronic address: mikexcohen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michael X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013826:Theta Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Action monitoring; Cognitive control; Criticality; Long-range temporal autocorrelations; Oscillations; Scale-free; Theta