Schedule of Events | Symposia

Error monitoring for correct but unfavorable outcomes

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Peter Löschner¹ (peter.loeschner@ku.de), Marco Steinhauser¹; ¹Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

The error positivity (Pe) is an event-related potential observed following incorrect responses in choice tasks. Recent evidence suggests that the Pe does not only distinguish between incorrect and correct responses but represents a higher-order error signal reflecting an inference-based outcome evaluation. In the present study, we investigated the role of the Pe for outcome evaluation in a multistage task, in which the overall outcome depended on the correctness of responses at two individual stages. Crucially, an incorrect response at the first stage led to an unfavorable overall outcome even if the response at the second stage was correct. Our results replicated the general finding that a Pe occurs immediately after errors within each stage. In addition, a higher-order Pe occurred after correct responses at the second stage if this response was associated with an unfavorable overall outcome. A pattern classifier trained on the higher-order Pe was also able to decode the Pe immediately after incorrect responses, demonstrating that both types of Pe rely on the same neural activity. Our results suggest that the Pe reflects an evaluation process that infers the outcome by integrating multiple error signals while taking context into account.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control