The Pupillary Orienting Response Predicts Adaptive Behavioral Adjustment after Errors

Peter R Murphy, Marianne L van Moort and Sander Nieuwenhuis

PLOS ONE, 2016, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Reaction time (RT) is commonly observed to slow down after an error. This post-error slowing (PES) has been thought to arise from the strategic adoption of a more cautious response mode following deployment of cognitive control. Recently, an alternative account has suggested that PES results from interference due to an error-evoked orienting response. We investigated whether error-related orienting may in fact be a pre-cursor to adaptive post-error behavioral adjustment when the orienting response resolves before subsequent trial onset. We measured pupil dilation, a prototypical measure of autonomic orienting, during performance of a choice RT task with long inter-stimulus intervals, and found that the trial-by-trial magnitude of the error-evoked pupil response positively predicted both PES magnitude and the likelihood that the following response would be correct. These combined findings suggest that the magnitude of the error-related orienting response predicts an adaptive change of response strategy following errors, and thereby promote a reconciliation of the orienting and adaptive control accounts of PES.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0151763

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151763

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