Cognition and Neural Sciences: Basic Research
Error Processing: Past work
Part of understanding how our brains stay on task is understanding what we do when we get off track–in other words, when we make a mistake! Therefore, I am interested in understanding error-processing in the brain. We can measure how the brain responds to errors in two main ways–through a brainwave called the Error-Related Negativity, which occurs every time you make an error, and by using eye-tracking to track pupil size when you make a mistake. We know that anxious individuals tend to have larger neural responses to errors than non-anxious individuals. However, researchers disagree as to why this is, with some suggesting that anxious individuals have more of an affective aversion to errors, and others suggesting instead that anxious individuals display larger error responses because their anxiety itself takes up cognitive resources, and therefore must devote compensatory effort towards error-processing in order to override the demands of their anxiety.
Simultaneous EEG and pupillometry: Past work
Co-registration of EEG and pupillometry can yield benefits that outweigh those generated by either individual outcome. For example, recently, we simultaneously used EEG and pupillometry to examine how our brain aids in responding during an Oddball task (task where participants have to either identify x’s or o’s on the screen as quickly as possible). Previous theory had suggested that one of the task-related brainwaves elicited during this task, the P3b component, was generated in the Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine (LCNE) system of the brain (an area of the brain that helps to regulate our attention and engagement with tasks, among other things). LC-NE activity happens to strongly co-vary with pupil size, make pupillometry an ideal variable to empirically test the association with the P3b response. Our study (LoTemplio et al., 2021) did not find strong evidence that the P3b is related to phasic LC-NE activity. Exploratory findings did however suggest a relationship between tonic LC-NE activity and the P3b.
Current research questions
- Does working memory load affect ERN amplitude?
- How do different language violations affect pupil diameter, and what can these effects tell us about their associated EEG responses?