Testing the bottleneck account for post-error slowing beyond the post-error response

Error modulates categorization of subsecond durations in multitasking contexts

Monitoring errors consumes limited cognitive resources and can disrupt subsequent task performance in multitasking scenarios. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence concerning this interference with prospective estimation of time. In this study, we sought to investigate this issue through a serial multitasking experiment, employing a temporal bisection task as the primary task. We introduced two task contexts by implementing two different concurrent tasks. In one context, participants were tasked with discriminating the size difference between two visual items, while in the other context, they were required to judge the temporal order of similar visual items. The primary task remained the same for the entire experiment. Psychophysical metrics, including subjective bias (determined by the bisection point) and temporal sensitivity (measured by the Weber ratio), in addition to reaction time, remained unaltered in the primary task regardless of the perceptual context exerted by the concurrent tasks. However, commission of error in the concurrent tasks (i.e., non-specific errors) led to a right-ward shift in the bisection point, indicating underestimation of time after errors. Applying a drift-diffusion framework for temporal decision making, we observed alterations in the starting point and drift rate parameters, supporting the error-induced underestimation of time. The error-induced effects were all diminished with increasing a delay between the primary and concurrent task, indicating an adaptive response to errors at a trial level. Furthermore, the error-induced shift in the bisection point was diminished in the second half of the experiment, probably because of a decline in error significance and subsequent monitoring response. These findings indicate that non-specific errors impact the prospective estimation of time in multitasking scenarios, yet their effects can be alleviated through both local and global reallocation of cognitive resources from error processing to time processing.

Acute stress influences the emotional foundations of executive control: Distinct effects on control-related affective and cognitive processes

Acute stress is known to influence performance on various task outcomes indicative of executive functioning (i.e., the top-down, goal-directed control of cognition and behavior). The most common interpretation of these effects is that stress influences control processes themselves. Another possibility, though, is that stress does not impair control per se, but instead alters the affective dynamics underlying the recruitment of control (e.g., reducing the extent to which making an error is aversive), resulting in less recruitment of control and thus poor performance. To date, however, no work has examined whether stress effects on executive function outcomes are driven by affective dynamics related to the recruitment of control. In the current study, we found that acute stress influenced-and cortisol responses related to-both executive control-related performance outcomes (e.g., post-error slowing) and control-related affective dynamics (e.g., negative affect following recruitment of control) in a modified Stroop task, but that these effects appeared to be independent of each other: The effects of stress on, and associations of cortisol with, control-related cognitive outcomes were not statistically mediated by task- or control-related affective dynamics. These results thus suggest that although stress influences affective dynamics underlying executive function, the effects of stress on executive function outcomes appear to be at least partially dependent on nonaffective processes, such as control processes themselves.

Post-error slowing: Large scale study in an online learning environment for practising mathematics and language

The ability to monitor and adjust our performance is crucial for adaptive behaviour, a key component of human cognitive control. One widely studied metric of this behaviour is post-error slowing (PES), the finding that humans tend to slow down their performance after making an error. This study is a first attempt at generalizing the effect of PES to an online adaptive learning environment where children practise mathematics and language skills. This population was of particular interest since the major development of error processing occurs during childhood. Eight million response patterns were collected from 150,000 users aged 5 to 13 years old for 6 months, across 23 different learning activities. PES could be observed in most learning activities and greater PES was associated with greater post-error accuracy. PES also varied as a function of several variables. At the task level, PES was greater when there was less time pressure, when errors were slower, and in learning activities focusing on mathematical rather than language skills. At the individual level, students who chose the most difficult level to practise and had higher skill ability also showed greater PES. Finally, non-linear developmental differences in error processing were found, where the PES magnitude increased from 6 to 9-years-old and decreased from 9 to 13. This study shows that PES underlies adaptive behaviour in an educational context for primary school students.

Examining the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains, losses and errors on arithmetic

Gains and losses have previously been found to differentially modulate Executive Functions and cognitive performance depending on performance contingency. Following recent findings suggesting that random gains and losses modulate arithmetic performance, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains and losses on arithmetic performance. In the current study, an arithmetic equation judgment task was administered, with perceived performance-contingent gain, loss, and error feedback presented upon each trial. The results from two experiments suggest that when perceiving gain and loss as performance-contingent, the modulation of arithmetic performance, seen previously under random contingency conditions was entirely eliminated. In addition, another type of feedback was examined in the context of an arithmetic task: post-error adjustments. When performance after error feedback was compared to performance after other aversive performance feedback such as loss signals, only errors, but not other aversive feedback, modulated performance in the subsequent trial. These findings further extend the knowledge regarding the influence of gain and loss situations, as well as errors, on arithmetic performance.

Flanker Task Performance in Isolated Dystonia (Blepharospasm): A Focus on Sequential Effects

Isolated dystonia manifests with involuntary muscle hyperactivity, but the extent of cognitive impairment remains controversial. We examined the executive functions in blepharospasm while accounting for motor symptom-related distractions as a factor often limiting the interpretability of neuropsychological studies in dystonia. Our control group comprised of patients with hemifacial spasm, which is a condition producing similar motor symptoms without any central nervous system pathology. Nineteen patients with blepharospasm and 22 patients with hemifacial spasm completed a flanker task. Stimulus congruency on the current trial, on the preceding trial, and a response sequence served as independent variables. We analyzed the response time and accuracy. Gross overall group differences were not discernible. While congruency, congruency sequence, and response sequence exerted the expected effects, no group differences emerged with regard to these variables. A difference between patients with blepharospasm and those with hemifacial spasm consisted in longer reaction times when responses had to be repeated following stimulus incongruency on the preceding trial. We conclude that patients with blepharospasm seem to have difficulties in repeating their responses when incongruency on preceding trials interferes with habit formation or other forms of fast routes to action. Our specific finding may provide an opportunity to study altered basal ganglia plasticity in focal dystonia.