Abstract
We found that medial frontal cortex activity associated with action monitoring (detecting errors and behavioral conflict) depended on activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex. We recorded the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related brain potential proposed to reflect anterior cingulate action monitoring, from individuals with lateral prefrontal damage or age-matched or young control participants. In controls, error trials generated greater ERN activity than correct trials. In individuals with lateral prefrontal damage, however, correct-trial ERN activity was equal to error-trial ERN activity. Lateral prefrontal damage also affected corrective behavior. Thus the lateral prefrontal cortex seemed to interact with the anterior cingulate cortex in monitoring behavior and in guiding compensatory systems.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Individual National Research Service Award to W.G. (1 F32 NS09577-01) and NINDS grant NS21135 to R.K. We thank the participants for their contribution to this study. We thank Clay Clayworth, John Lackey, Greg Shenaut, Stefan Rosahl, Donatella Scabini and Babak Taheri for technical assistance and Rich Ivry for discussions.
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Gehring, W., Knight, R. Prefrontal–cingulate interactions in action monitoring. Nat Neurosci 3, 516–520 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/74899
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/74899
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