Trends in Neurosciences
Research FocusAlcohol and error processing
Section snippets
Reinforcement-learning theory of the ERN
According to the reinforcement-learning theory of the ERN [5], a response-monitoring system located in the basal ganglia produces error signals that activate the mesencephalic dopamine system, and the ERN is elicited by the impact of this phasic dopamine activity on the anterior cingulate cortex. Specifically, the theory proposes that a motor control system involving the anterior cingulate cortex generates behavior appropriate to the current external context (Fig. 1a). Simultaneously, a
Conflict-monitoring theory of the ERN
According to a second theory, the ERN reflects the activation of a conflict-monitoring system following error commission [6] (N. Yeung, M. Botvinick and J.D. Cohen, unpublished). Specifically, this theory proposes that the anterior cingulate cortex monitors for response conflict (the simultaneous activation of incompatible response channels) and conveys this information to brain regions involved in cognitive control, such as lateral prefrontal cortex. A computational model of response selection
Future research
Thus, alcohol consumption could reduce ERN amplitude either directly, by affecting the monitoring system that produces the ERN, or indirectly, by affecting the stimulus processing system upon which the monitoring system depends. A future experiment could decide between these two possibilities. In particular, we envisage a replication of Ridderinkhof et al.'s experiment with a new control placebo condition, in which participants respond to degraded stimuli such that their behavioral measures are
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