Neural and Behavioral Changes in Repeated Series of Errors
Major
Psychology
Second Major
Neuroscience
Submission Type
Poster
Area of Study or Work
Neuroscience, Psychology
Faculty Advisor
Jason Themanson
Location
CNS Atrium
Start Date
4-12-2025 8:30 AM
End Date
4-12-2025 9:30 AM
Abstract
Consecutive failures in any task have been understudied in electrophysiology and neuroscience. Research identifies that single-errors tend to slow our response time to identify feedback and respond accordingly to ensure a correct response for the next task. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies have revealed two important components of neural activity that can assess this self-regulatory behavior with similar morphology and topography. The error positivity (Pe) is a slow positive wave that peaks due to the conscious recognition of an error and the P3b is a positive wave that peaks due to attentional resources focused on stimuli. In a computerized baseball pitching paradigm, this study compares the differences between collegiate baseball player’s and novice’s single-error and consecutive-error Pe and P3b amplitudes to each other. We have identified a significant decrease in P3b amplitude between consecutive-error and single-error in collegiate baseball players but not in novices, indicating collegiate baseball players had less focus on the next part of the task after multiple errors in a row rather than after a single-error. There was no significant interaction in Pe amplitude between consecutive-errors and single-errors in either collegiate baseball players nor novices. Consecutive errors were shown to reduce focus on the succeeding stimulus for collegiate baseball players, although this focus was not reflected on greater focus on the feedback of the prior error. These findings could suggest that in an area of expertise, consecutive errors may reduce focus on upcoming stimuli due to frustration or self-disappointment.
Neural and Behavioral Changes in Repeated Series of Errors
CNS Atrium
Consecutive failures in any task have been understudied in electrophysiology and neuroscience. Research identifies that single-errors tend to slow our response time to identify feedback and respond accordingly to ensure a correct response for the next task. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies have revealed two important components of neural activity that can assess this self-regulatory behavior with similar morphology and topography. The error positivity (Pe) is a slow positive wave that peaks due to the conscious recognition of an error and the P3b is a positive wave that peaks due to attentional resources focused on stimuli. In a computerized baseball pitching paradigm, this study compares the differences between collegiate baseball player’s and novice’s single-error and consecutive-error Pe and P3b amplitudes to each other. We have identified a significant decrease in P3b amplitude between consecutive-error and single-error in collegiate baseball players but not in novices, indicating collegiate baseball players had less focus on the next part of the task after multiple errors in a row rather than after a single-error. There was no significant interaction in Pe amplitude between consecutive-errors and single-errors in either collegiate baseball players nor novices. Consecutive errors were shown to reduce focus on the succeeding stimulus for collegiate baseball players, although this focus was not reflected on greater focus on the feedback of the prior error. These findings could suggest that in an area of expertise, consecutive errors may reduce focus on upcoming stimuli due to frustration or self-disappointment.