Effects of response force parameters on medial-frontal negativity

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054681. Epub 2013 Jan 22.

Abstract

The response-related medial-frontal activity (MFN) is often supposed to reflect action-monitoring and error-processing activity. The present force-production task was designed to investigate the effects of two response parameters (i.e., peak response force and time-to-peak, TTP) on the MFN separately. In a 2 × 2 design (high vs. low target force and short vs. long TTP), 22 participants had to produce isometric force pulses to match one of four conditions (e.g., a high target force with a long TTP). Significant main effects of both target force and target TTP were revealed. As previously shown, the MFN amplitude was higher in the high target-force condition than in the low target-force condition. Contrary to the initial expectations, a long TTP had the effect of reducing the MFN amplitude. There was no error-specific effect on the MFN. The force-unit monitoring model (FUMM) is suggested to account for the force- and TTP- specific variations of MFN amplitude, latency and slope.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Electroencephalography
  • Female
  • Gyrus Cinguli / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Isometric Contraction / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Reaction Time / physiology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation; STA 1035/2). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.