ERP responses to feedback stimuli with explicit or assigned valence information were investigated with blocked or randomized trial presentation modes.
Only P3b, but not feedback-related negativity amplitudes were affected by feedback type for both presentation modes.
Results suggest using blocked design when using different types of feedback stimuli.
Electrophysiological studies on feedback processing typically use a wide range of feedback stimuli which might not always be comparable. The current study investigated whether two indicators of feedback processing – feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3b – differ for feedback stimuli with explicit (facial expressions) or assigned valence information (symbols). In addition, we assessed whether presenting feedback in either a trial-by-trial or a block-wise fashion affected these ERPs.
EEG was recorded in three experiments while participants performed a time estimation task and received two different types of performance feedback.
Only P3b amplitudes varied consistently in response to feedback type for both presentation types. Moreover, the blocked feedback type presentation yielded more distinct FRN peaks, higher effect sizes, and a significant relation between FRN amplitudes and behavioral task performance measures.