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 re...

反应时间（RT）在错误发生后通常会变慢，这一现象已被广泛观察到。这种错误后减速（PES）被认为源于认知控制启动后，个体策略性地采用了更为谨慎的反应模式。近期，一种替代解释提出，PES是由错误诱发的定向反应所导致的干扰引起的。我们研究了当定向反应在后续试次开始前消退时，与错误相关的定向是否实际上是适应性错误后行为调整的前兆。我们在执行具有长刺激间隔时间的选择反应时任务期间，测量了瞳孔扩张（自主定向的典型指标），并发现错误诱发的瞳孔反应在试次间的幅度正向预测了PES幅度以及后续反应正确的可能性。这些综合发现表明，与错误相关的定向反应幅度可预测适应性的重……