A study of brain activities that foreshadow error responses

本研究考察了在交替反应任务中，被试对箭头的指向做出反应时，事件相关电位(ERPs)是否预示着即将到来的实验的表现。箭头方向的交替呈现模式偶尔会被重复的刺激(即引诱试验)打破。对连续五次诱饵前试验的事件相关电位分析表明，正确前试验的肌电锁定正偏转比错误前试验的大。这些结果表明，反应后立即出现的较大正偏向似乎预示着在减少冲突任务中的正确表现。目前的发现可能有助于防止人为错误。

The present study investigated if event-related potentials(ERPs) foreshadow performance on the forthcoming trials in an alternating-response task, in which the participants responded to the pointing direction of an arrowhead. The alternated presentation pattern of arrowhead direction was occasionally broken by a repeated stimulus(i. e., lure trial). Analyses of ERPs on the five consecutive lure-preceding trials showed that the electromyogram-locked positive deflections were larger on the correct-preceding trials than on the error-preceding trials. These results suggest that the larger positive deflection immediately following responses seems to foreshadow correct performance in a reduced conflict task. The present findings might contribute to prevention of human errors.