The Error-Related Negativity, Self-Monitoring, and Consciousness

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative waveform that arises over the front of the scalp immediately after a participant makes a detectable error. The goal of this short article is to describe my serendipitous encounter with this brain signal in 1993–1994 and to briefly review the operation of the underlying error-monitoring system. Recent work suggests that the ERN reflects an internal comparison, by the anterior cingulate cortex, of two signals: an unconscious representation of the ongoing action and a conscious representation of the intended one.

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