The benefits of negative yet informative feedback

We investigated whether negative feedback with information could benefit both behavioral and neural responses. Fifteen participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while receiving various feedbacks in a novel perceptual task. Behavioral data showed that reaction times of task performance were faster after receiving negative informative feedback compared to negative confirmatory feedback. The fMRI analysis of the interaction contrast between feedback type (informative vs. confirmatory) and valence (negative vs. positive) showed greater activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and the ventral striatum in response to negative informative compared to confirmatory feedback. The psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analyses showed that the vlPFC activation was positively correlated with the amygdala and the rostral cingulate zone (RCZ). The ventral striatum activation was negatively correlated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). These results suggest that negative but informative feedback benefits subsequent performance and its primary function is to elicit positive prediction error (instructive signal) and to induce cognitive control to guide subsequent goal-directed behavior.