Data from: The pupillary orienting response predicts adaptive behavioral adjustment after errors

Reaction time (RT) is commonly observed to slow down after an error. This post-error slowing (PES) has been thought to arise from the strategic adoption of a more cautious response mode following deployment of cognitive control. Recently, an alternative account has suggested that PES results from interference due to an error-evoked orienting response. We investigated whether error-related orienting may in fact be a pre-cursor to adaptive post-error behavioral adjustment when the orienting response resolves before subsequent trial onset. We measured pupil dilation, a prototypical measure of autonomic orienting, during performance of a choice RT task with long inter-stimulus intervals, and found that the trial-by-trial magnitude of the error-evoked pupil response positively predicted both PES magnitude and the likelihood that the following response would be correct. These combined findings suggest that the magnitude of the error-related orienting response predicts an adaptive change of response strategy following errors, and thereby promote a reconciliation of the orienting and adaptive control accounts of PES.

反应时（Reaction Time, RT）通常会在错误发生后出现减慢现象，即错误后减慢（post-error slowing, PES）。该现象曾被认为源于认知控制（cognitive control）启动后，个体策略性地采取更为谨慎的反应模式。近期有替代性研究指出，PES源于错误诱发的定向反应所引发的干扰。本研究探讨了当定向反应在后续试次开始前得以解决时，错误相关的定向反应是否实则为适应性错误后行为调整的前驱因素。我们在刺激间间隔（inter-stimulus intervals）较长的选择反应时（choice Reaction Time）任务中，测量了作为自主神经系统定向（autonomic orienting）典型指标的瞳孔扩张（pupil dilation）情况，并发现逐试次的错误诱发瞳孔反应幅度能够正向预测PES幅度以及后续试次反应正确的概率。上述综合研究结果表明，错误相关定向反应的幅度能够预测错误发生后反应策略的适应性改变，从而为调和PES的定向解释与适应性控制解释提供了理论支撑。