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Manipulation of feedback expectancy and valence induces negative and positive reward prediction error signals manifest in event‐related brain potentials
Author(s) -
Pfabigan Daniela M.,
Alexopoulos Johanna,
Bauer Herbert,
Sailer Uta
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01136.x
Subject(s) - psychology , expectancy theory , valence (chemistry) , negativity effect , negative feedback , event related potential , positive feedback , probabilistic logic , mean squared prediction error , cognitive psychology , electroencephalography , audiology , developmental psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , statistics , artificial intelligence , computer science , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , voltage , electrical engineering , engineering , medicine
The feedback‐related negativity (FRN) has been hypothesized to be most sensitive to unexpected negative feedback. The present study investigated feedback expectancy and valence using a probabilistic gambling paradigm where subjects encountered expected or unexpected positive and negative feedback outcomes. In line with previous studies, FRN amplitude reflected a negative reward prediction error, but to a minor extent also a positive reward prediction error. Moreover, the P300 amplitude was largest after unexpected feedback, irrespective of valence. We propose to interpret the FRN in terms of a reinforcement learning signal which is detecting mismatch between internal and external representations indexed by the ACC to extract motivationally salient outcomes.