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Medial frontal negativity reflects learning from positive feedback
Author(s) -
Van Der Helden Jurjen,
Boksem Maarten A.S.
Publication year - 2012
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.1469-8986.2012.01388.x
Subject(s) - psychology , negativity effect , reinforcement , cognitive psychology , positive feedback , reinforcement learning , developmental psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , electrical engineering , engineering
The ability to learn from the consequences of our actions is crucial for adaptive goal‐directed behavior. We learn to avoid actions that lead to unfavorable outcomes and pursue actions that lead to desirable results. By recording event‐related potentials ( ERPs ), we show that neural reinforcement learning signals associated with positive outcomes are predictive of subsequent learning of a sequence of motor actions: Positive feedback to a response that was later correctly repeated was associated with a larger M edial F rontal N egativity ( MFN ) compared to when it was not correctly repeated on a subsequent encounter. This finding adds to recent evidence suggesting that the function of the A nterior C ingulate C ortex is to establish associations between actions and their outcomes, both positive and negative.