Neuropsychologia
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The detection of errors is known to be associated with two successive neurophysiological components in EEG, with an early time-course following motor execution: the error-related negativity (ERN/Ne) and late positivity (Pe). The exact cognitive and physiological processes contributing to these two EEG components, as well as their functional independence, are still partly unclear. Furthermore, these components are typically obtained in conditions where errors are rare events relative to correct trials, and thus presumably implicate other cognitive and motivational processes besides error monitoring. ⋯ By contrast, no significant relation was found between error monitoring ERPs and individual measures of impulsivity. Taken together, these data suggest that these two successive EEG components associated with errors reflect different monitoring processes, with distinct neural substrates in cingulate cortex. While ERN/Ne processes in anterior cingulate might primarily mediate error detection, Pe processes in posterior cingulate might be more directly related to behavioral adjustment based on the outcome of current actions.