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The electrophysiological signature of deliberate rule violations
Author(s) -
Pfister Roland,
Wirth Robert,
Schwarz Katharina A.,
Foerster Anna,
Steinhauser Marco,
Kunde Wilfried
Publication year - 2016
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/psyp.12771
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , stimulus–response compatibility , cognition , cognitive psychology , electrophysiology , event related potential , neuroscience
Humans follow rules by default, and violating even simple rules induces cognitive conflict for the rule breaker. Previous studies revealed this conflict in various behavioral measures, including response times and movement trajectories. Based on these experiments, we investigated the electrophysiological signature of deliberately violating a simple stimulus‐response mapping rule. Such rule violations were characterized by a delayed and attenuated P300 component when evaluating a rule‐relevant stimulus, most likely reflecting increased response complexity. This parietal attenuation was followed by a frontal positivity for rule violations relative to correct response trials. Together, these results reinforce previous findings on the need to inhibit automatic S‐R translation when committing a rule violation, and they point toward additional factors involved in rule violation. Candidate processes such as negative emotional responses and increased monitoring should be targeted by future investigations.