Investigating neural mechanisms of error-related negativity using dynamic causal modeling in the Flanker task

One of the biomarkers for brain’s error monitoring is the error-related negativity (ERN), which is a negative deflection occurring approximately 50 milliseconds after an erroneous response. However, few studies have applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to ERN signals with a group-level Parametric Empirical Bayes (PEB) approach. In this study, we applied DCM for event-related potential (ERP) and PEB to investigate the role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), a key region in error monitoring, and its interactions with supplementary motor area (SMA) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG).

Utilizing the COG-BCI database, Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) identified Model 11 as the winning model (protected exceedance probability = 0.55). PEB analyses revealed that an increase in reaction time was selectively related to the modulation of extrinsic (both forward and backward) connectivity, rather than intrinsic connectivity. An increase in right SMA to dACC connection strength was observed in subjects with longer reaction time.

This study provides guidelines for future studies applying DCM to ERP data to investigate ERN signals in the Flanker task. The authors would like to thank Napatsawan Ngamdi and Amorchai Khawkhom for any advice and support. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.

Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Biodesign Innovation Center, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand Pannapat Aschariyapakorn & Dollaporn Anopas The author(s) declare no competing interests. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material.

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To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Aschariyapakorn, P., Anopas, D. Investigating neural mechanisms of error-related negativity using dynamic causal modeling in the Flanker task.