Open AccessNeural Bases of Unconscious Error Detection in a Chinese Anagram Solution Task: Evidence from ERP Study
Author(s) -
Huazhan Yin,
Dan Li,
Junyi Yang,
Li Wei,
Jiang Qiu,
Ying-yu Chen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0154379
Subject(s) - electroencephalography , anterior cingulate cortex , error related negativity , unconscious mind , anagram , psychology , neural correlates of consciousness , event related potential , cognition , cognitive psychology , brain activity and meditation , computer science , task (project management) , audiology , neuroscience , medicine , psychoanalysis , management , economics
In everyday life, error monitoring and processing are important for improving ongoing performance in response to a changing environment. However, detecting an error is not always a conscious process. The temporal activation patterns of brain areas related to cognitive control in the absence of conscious awareness of an error remain unknown. In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs) in the brain were used to explore the neural bases of unconscious error detection when subjects solved a Chinese anagram task. Our ERP data showed that the unconscious error detection (UED) response elicited a more negative ERP component (N2) than did no error (NE) and detect error (DE) responses in the 300–400-ms time window, and the DE elicited a greater late positive component (LPC) than did the UED and NE in the 900–1200-ms time window after the onset of the anagram stimuli. Taken together with the results of dipole source analysis, the N2 (anterior cingulate cortex) might reflect unconscious/automatic conflict monitoring, and the LPC (superior/medial frontal gyrus) might reflect conscious error recognition.