Mistakes that matter: a social neuropsychiatric perspective on performance monitoring
Efficient flexible behavior requires continuous monitoring of performance for possible deviations from the intended goal of an action.
In our lab, we study the cognitive and neural mechanisms of performance-monitoring processes necessary to interact successfully with the environment and with other humans.
Our research can broadly be divided into four topics (see figure to the right). The question how humans are able to detect errors they make, learn from these errors, and adjust their behavior in such a way that similar mistakes are prevented in the future, is addressed in the research topic on performance monitoring and adaptive behavior in individual action. Indeed, the ability to detect errors in a fast manner, ensures safe and flexible performance in humans. However, this flexibility in behavior is often disturbed in different psychiatric disorders or after the administration of drugs or pharmacological compounds. The topic of cognitive neuropsychiatry focuses on these alterations in performance monitoring.
Efficient flexible behavior requires continuous monitoring of performance for possible deviations from the intended goal of an action.
In our lab, we study the cognitive and neural mechanisms of performance-monitoring processes necessary to interact successfully with the environment and with other humans.
Our research can broadly be divided into four topics (see figure to the right). The question how humans are able to detect errors they make, learn from these errors, and adjust their behavior in such a way that similar mistakes are prevented in the future, is addressed in the research topic on performance monitoring and adaptive behavior in individual action. Indeed, the ability to detect errors in a fast manner, ensures safe and flexible performance in humans. However, this flexibility in behavior is often disturbed in different psychiatric disorders or after the administration of drugs or pharmacological compounds. The topic of cognitive neuropsychiatry focuses on these alterations in performance monitoring.
Importantly, effective social interactions not only rely on continuous monitoring of own performance, but also require monitoring of the actions of the person one is interacting with. Moreover, one needs to adequately and flexibly adjust one's own actions in response to detected errors made by oneself and the other. The topic of social performance monitoring investigates all aspects of performance monitoring and adaptive behavior in social contexts.
Over the years, and with the help of grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; VENI and VIDI) and the Flemish Organization for Scientific Research (FWO) my research has extended into the interesting and emerging domain of social cognitive neuropsychiatry, in which we investigate disturbances in various aspects of social adaptive behavior in different psychiatric disorders, but also in healthy volunteers that score high on specific traits. To provide an integrated view of the different processes, we make use of various approaches and methods, such as behavioral experiments, EEG, and fMRI techniques, as well as psychopharmacological manipulations (e.g., administration of the hormone oxytocin).
Besides the investigation of performance-monitoring processes, we also study other relevant processes that enable social action control, e.g., approach-avoidance behavior, self-other integration, social conformity, and social decision-making. Finally, we examine possible disturbances of these processes in different psychiatric disorders with evident social dysfunctions, such as psychopathy, social anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.
More recently, I have obtained an ERC Consolidator Grant, which enabled the start of a new and exciting research line into sex-hormone induced alterations of these processes across the female lifespan. See the FLIRT tab for more info.
Some highlights of our research over the past years (chronological order; newest first):
More recently, I have obtained an ERC Consolidator Grant, which enabled the start of a new and exciting research line into sex-hormone induced alterations of these processes across the female lifespan. See the FLIRT tab for more info.
Some highlights of our research over the past years (chronological order; newest first):
Adapting to uncertainty. Heightened fear of negative evaluation was linked to elevated learning rates and increased behavioral reactivity to feedback in a social vs. non-social context. This suggests increased sensitivity when learning in uncertain social contexts for individuals that score high on fear of negative evaluation, potentially affecting social functioning. |
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Pharmacological manipulation of dopamine via L-DOPA modulated performance-monitoring activity in the ventral striatum, a brain region associated with reward prediction and processing, in a domain-general manner. In contrast, oxytocin modulated the BOLD response in a recipient-specific manner, such that it specifically enhanced activity for errors that affected the other in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), a region previously implicated in the processing of social rewards and prediction errors. |
L-DOPA and oxytocin blunted prediction error (PE) signaling in the ventral striatum and led to negative signaling of PEs in, amongst others, the anterior mid-cingulate cortex. Oxytocin administration was additionally associated with opposing tracking of self-benefitting versus prosocial PEs in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and superior temporal gyrus. Both l-DOPA and oxytocin seem to induce a context-independent shift from positive towards negative tracking of PEs during learning. Moreover, oxytocin may have opposing effects on PE signaling when learning to benefit oneself versus another. |
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Healthy volunteers show enhanced error-related electrophysiological responses for harmful mistakes, i.e., errors that are followed by an aversive noise delivered to another participant. De Bruijn et al., Neuroimage, 2020. Healthy volunteers who score high on obsessive-compulsive symptoms show, compared to low-scoring individuals, increased error-related responses following harmful mistakes. Jansen et al., CABN, 2020 |
Oxytocin-induced enhancements of social mistakes: Healthy male volunteers show increased electrophysiological responses to own errors that also have negative consequences for a co-actor after administration of the nonapeptide oxytocin. de Bruijn et al., Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2017 |
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Acting on anger: After administration of oxytocin, healthy male volunteers showed increased approach tendencies to angry faces. This oxytocin-induced increase in approach behavior was specifically present for low socially-anxious individuals. |
My mistake or your mistake? Convicted offenders who score high on psychopathy showed similar electrophysiological responses when monitoring their own performance, but reduced activity when monitoring the performance of another person. |
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When errors are rewarding: Posterior medial frontal cortex (including anterior cingulate and pre-supplementary motor area) and bilateral insula are similarly activated for errors in a shoot-'em-up game independent of the outcome or agency. In other words, the cingulate-insula network doesn't care about who makes the error or the reward associated with the error and is thus even activated when observing errors made by your opponent. De Bruijn et al., J Neurosci, 2009 |
For an overview of previous and current projects, see the Projects and People section. For output, go to the Publications section.
Our research has been supported by grants from the following agencies:
