SS61 - The Impact of Expectation on Feedback Response: A Preliminary EEG Investigation
SCURS Disciplines
Psychology
Document Type
General Poster
Invited Presentation Choice
Not Applicable
Abstract
Event related potentials (ERPs) are waveforms derived from ongoing Electroencephalography (EEG) and are used to examine specific cognitive events. Feedback-related negativity (FRN) ERPs are associated with a negative deflection around 200-300 ms after the presentation of feedback contrasting what is expected and originates in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This can be followed by a P3 waveform occurring about 300-400 ms after feedback and has been established to be associated with reward and originating around the centro-parietal area. Previous research from our lab used a three-tiered valence paradigm that presented traditional academic feedback (A+, C+, F). Results demonstrated that FRN amplitude is sensitive to feedback while P3 amplitude was only sensitive to task success. This study builds on previous findings by manipulating task performance expectation while utilizing the same three-tiered valence academic feedback paradigm. Undergraduate participants from a university in the Southeastern US completed a set of time estimation tasks, that had them indicate when one second had passed to the best of their ability. Participants were randomly assigned to a task difficulty expectation (Easy/Hard). At the beginning of each trial participants were reminded of their task difficulty condition, followed by feedback on their performance based on a correct response window built around the one-second mark. The window was adjusted to vary difficulty and ensure a variety of feedback was provided. EEG data was recorded from fronto-central (FCz and Fz) and centro-parietal (Pz and Poz) scalp locations.
Keywords
EEG, FRN, ERP, feedback
Start Date
10-4-2026 9:30 AM
Location
University Readiness Center Greatroom
End Date
10-4-2026 11:30 AM
SS61 - The Impact of Expectation on Feedback Response: A Preliminary EEG Investigation
University Readiness Center Greatroom
Event related potentials (ERPs) are waveforms derived from ongoing Electroencephalography (EEG) and are used to examine specific cognitive events. Feedback-related negativity (FRN) ERPs are associated with a negative deflection around 200-300 ms after the presentation of feedback contrasting what is expected and originates in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This can be followed by a P3 waveform occurring about 300-400 ms after feedback and has been established to be associated with reward and originating around the centro-parietal area. Previous research from our lab used a three-tiered valence paradigm that presented traditional academic feedback (A+, C+, F). Results demonstrated that FRN amplitude is sensitive to feedback while P3 amplitude was only sensitive to task success. This study builds on previous findings by manipulating task performance expectation while utilizing the same three-tiered valence academic feedback paradigm. Undergraduate participants from a university in the Southeastern US completed a set of time estimation tasks, that had them indicate when one second had passed to the best of their ability. Participants were randomly assigned to a task difficulty expectation (Easy/Hard). At the beginning of each trial participants were reminded of their task difficulty condition, followed by feedback on their performance based on a correct response window built around the one-second mark. The window was adjusted to vary difficulty and ensure a variety of feedback was provided. EEG data was recorded from fronto-central (FCz and Fz) and centro-parietal (Pz and Poz) scalp locations.