PRELUDE TO AND RESOLUTION OF AN ERROR: EEG PHASE SYNCHRONY REVEALS COGNITIVE CONTROL DYNAMICS DURING ACTION MONITORING

By James F. Cavanagh, Michael X. Cohen, John J. B. Allen. Journal of Neuroscience, 2009

664 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Error-related activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is thought to work in conjunction with lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) as a part of an action-monitoring network, where errors signal the need for increased cognitive control. The neural mechanism by which this mPFC–lPFC interaction occurs remains unknown. We hypothesized that transient synchronous oscillations in the theta range reflect a mechanism by which these structures interact. To test this hypothesis, we extracted oscillatory phase and power from current–source–density-transformed electroencephalographic data recorded during a Flanker task. Theta power in the mPFC was diminished on the trial preceding an error and increased immediately after an error, consistent with predictions of an action-monitoring system. These power dynamics appeared to take place over a response-related background of oscillatory theta phase coherence. Theta phase synchronization between FCz (mPFC) and F5/6 (lPFC) sites was robustly increased during error trials. The degree of mPFC–lPFC oscillatory synchronization predicted the degree of mPFC power on error trials, and both of these dynamics predicted the degree of posterror reaction time slowing. Oscillatory dynamics in the theta band may in part underlie a mechanism of communication between networks involved in action monitoring and cognitive control.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f3a0aca1cc0054e1c80aa1f4f0161cb0228bc958

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Citations in the corpus

The Theta-Gamma Neural Code (2013, neutral): “Although volume conduction confounds are often difficult to assess in human EEG and MEG studies, there are several encouraging findings indicating theta synchronization between frontal and posterior regions in working memory and error-monitoring tasks (Brzezicka et al., 2011; Cavanagh et al., 2009; ”
Neurophysiology of performance monitoring and adaptive behavior. (2014, methodology): “Subjects with stronger mediofrontal-occipital interactions were more likely to show improved performance in posterror trials (PIA) (79, 98).”
“Roles for the pre-supplementary motor area and the right inferior frontal gyrus in stopping action: electrophysiological responses and functional and structural connectivity” (2011, background): “5 are differences in other frequency bands implicated in cognitive control, such as theta (Cavanagh et al., 2009; Luu et al., 2004; Marco-Pallares et al., 2008; Trujillo and Allen, 2007).”
Subthalamic nucleus stimulation reverses mediofrontal influence over decision threshold (2011, background): “Specifically, theta-band power over the mPFC increases following punishment, error or conflict, and the degree of theta power increase predicts subsequent response time slowing, suggesting a direct role in adaptive contro”
The expected value of control: An integrative theory of anterior cingulate cortex function (2013, neutral): “There is a growing consensus about this distribution of functions between dACC and lPFC (Banich, 2009; Cavanagh et al., 2009; Holroyd and Yeung, 2012; Johnston et al., 2007; Kerns et al., 2004; Kouneiher et al., 2009; MacDonald et al., 2000; O’Reilly, 2010; Ridderinkhof et al., 2007; Rothé et al., 2”
Frontal Theta Links Prediction Errors to Behavioral Adaptation in Reinforcement Learning (2009, neutral): “Both the ERN and the FRN have been shown to reflect a degree of theta phase consistency and power enhancement over the medial frontal cortex (Bernat et al., 2008; Cavanagh et al., 2009; Cohen et al., 2007;Marco-Pallares et al., 2008; Trujillo and Allen, 2007), supporting the major postulate of Holro”
Altered oscillatory activity pattern during reconfiguration processes of perception–action representations in adolescents with AD(H)D (2025, unknown): “…detection since it is enhanced and associated with better performance on a variety of cognitive control tasks, including conflict monitoring (Cavanagh et al., 2009; Eschmann et al., 2018; Trujillo & Allen, 2007) and working memory updating (Itthipuripat et al., 2013; Jacobs et al., 2006;…”
Theta activity and cognitive functioning: Integrating evidence from resting-state and task-related developmental electroencephalography (EEG) research (2024, background): “…to their own behaviors, including response conflicts (Cohen and Cavanagh, 2011; Cohen and Donner, 2013; Nigbur et al., 2011), error monitoring (Cavanagh et al., 2009; Luu et al., 2004; Trujillo and Allen, 2007), task switching (Cunillera et al., 2012), and feedback processing (Cavanagh et…”
Monitoring pilot trainees’ cognitive control under a simulator-based training process with EEG microstate analysis (2024, unknown): “In the literature, increased theta power over frontal sites is considered a reliable indicator of working memory and cognitive control 27,68 , which could be associated with enhanced cognitive control during the encoding and retrieval of information from working memory 69,70 .”
Linking the multiple-demand cognitive control system to human electrophysiological activity (2025, unknown): “…cortices or lateral and medial frontal areas, increases with cognitive demand and supports top-down cognitive control (Adamczyk and Wyczesany, 2023; Cavanagh et al., 2009; Cooper et al., 2015; Mizuhara and Yamaguchi, 2007; Oehrn et al., 2014; Polania et al., 2012; Sauseng et al., 2010; Sauseng et…”