Glossary
Error-related negativity
What is Error-Related Negativity?
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event-related potential that commonly peaks about 50–100 milliseconds after an incorrect response. It is associated with performance monitoring and medial frontal activity.
How it works
The ERN appears as a negative deflection recorded at frontocentral scalp electrodes. Error detection, conflict monitoring, and reinforcement learning are among its proposed explanations. Its relationship with conscious error awareness varies across studies and measurement methods.
Applied example
In a button-press task, researchers can compare the ERN after errors that participants report with errors they do not report. Comparing the two helps researchers ask whether the signal changes when a person notices the mistake.
Why it matters
A wrong button press produces a measurable brain response within a fraction of a second. The ERN gives researchers a way to study that rapid performance monitoring. What it tells us about conscious awareness is a separate question.
Wessel (2012) reviews the mixed evidence on ERN and conscious error awareness. The findings do not support a fixed gap between the signal and the moment someone realizes they made a mistake.