ERP measures of anterior cingulate cortex activation

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The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of the brain is central to the integration of attentional, affective, and visceral information and plays a central role in several key functions, including social self-regulation and self-monitoring of one's performance on tasks. The single strongest electrophysiological reflection of ACC activation is an EEG response called the error-related negativity (ERN). The ERN is a distinctive EEG signal that is associated with a person realizing that they are about to make an error (such as pressing the wrong button), and it has become a very popular measure because of its association with the ACC and because it is relatively easy to obtain. One of the interesting aspects of the ERN is that it has been related to specific personality traits associated with performance monitoring, such as obsessive-compulsiveness and high levels of socialization which have been related to larger ERNs, and such as risk-taking and sensation-seeking which have been associated with smaller ERNs. It is also attenuated by alcohol consumption and negative affect but increased when the value of accuracy increases by giving more points for successful performance. It has even been related to political orientation, perhaps through the trait of being sensitive to errors or to informational conflict. The proposed research is designed to examine why it is that people differ on the size of the ERN they produce, what the underlying reasons are for the ERN to be related to personality traits, and to understand the functions of the ACC better through understanding these relations. The research will make use of (1) some aspects of brainwave responses that reflect brain response inconsistency and the interconnectedness of networks across the cortex, (2) the degree to which the person's conscious awareness of making incorrect versus correct responses accounts for ERN size and its relation to personality traits, (3) the contribution of genetics to the neurochemical basis for ACC responses, and (4) the importance of the dopamine reward system in regulating the responses of the ACC, and whether this is what links the ERN to personality traits.