Post-Error Behavioral Adjustments Are Facilitated by Activation and Suppression of Task-Relevant and Task-Irrelevant Information Processing

Error monitoring by the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) has been linked to post-error behavioral adaptation effects and cognitive control dynamics in lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). It remains unknown, however, whether control adjustments following errors produce post-error behavioral adjustments (PEBAs) by inhibiting inappropriate responses or facilitating goal-directed ones. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the hemodynamic correlates of PEBAs in a stimulus–response compatibility task. Our task was designed to test whether PEBAs are implemented by suppressing motor responses primed by irrelevant stimulus features (face location), redirecting attention to relevant features (face gender), or both or neither of these possibilities. Independent of PEBAs, error-related pMFC activation was followed by post-error recruitment of prefrontal and parietal control regions and, crucially, both (1) suppressed response-related activity in sensorimotor cortex and (2) enhanced target processing in face-sensitive sensory cortex (“fusiform face area”). More importantly, by investigating the covariation between post-error hemodynamic activity and individual differences in PEBAs, we showed that modulation of task-related motor and sensory processing was dependent on whether participants produced generally slower responses (“post-error slowing”; PES) or selectively reduced interference effects (“post-error reduction of interference”; PERI), respectively. Each of these behaviorally dependent effects was mediated by distinct LPFC control mechanisms (PES: inferior frontal junction; PERI: superior frontal sulcus). While establishing relationships between PEBAs and cognitive control, our findings suggest that the neural architecture underlying sequential behavioral adaptation may be determined primarily by how control is executed by the individual when adjustments are needed.