| Description |
Making mistakes is part of our human experience. When individuals commit errors, they can learn from their mistakes and minimize future errors in different scenarios. We can measure error monitoring in the brain with EEG. The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential observed when an individual makes an error. Previous research demonstrates a linear, positive relationship between manipulated motivation, such as offering monetary reward or external pressure to perform well, and the ERN amplitude. In other words, as an individual's motivation to perform well increases, the ERN amplitude increases. Based on previous research on how manipulated motivation affects the ERN amplitude, our study explored how self-reported, subjective motivation predicted the ERN amplitude. In this study, we measured the neural activity of thirty-seven undergraduates over the course of two lab sessions. Participants completed the Flanker task 6 times, wherein after each Flanker block, participants completed a self-report motivation scale, totaling 6 self-report scales. We hypothesized a linear relation between self-reported subjective motivation and the ERN amplitude, such that when motivation increases, the ERN amplitude increases and becomes more negative. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find a significant effect of self-reported subjective motivation on the ERN amplitude. While our findings did not support our hypothesis, our study of subjective motivation adds useful knowledge to the body of error-processing research heavily focused on manipulated motivation. Future studies might compare motivation constructs within the same study to further explore motivations prediction of the ERN amplitude. |
