Goals matter: Amplification of the motivational significance of the feedback when goal impact is increased.

Performance monitoring (PM) entails the continuous evaluation of actions and their outcomes. At the electrophysiological level, PM has been consistently related to two event-related brain potentials (ERPs): the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and the P3. In a previous within-subject crossover design study, we showed that feedback’s goal impact (i.e., its importance to one’s goal) modulated these ERP components, yet in opposing directions. Although high goal impact was associated with a larger P3, the preceding FRN had a lower amplitude than in the low impact condition. We sought to extend these findings here by adopting a between-subjects design for a pure goal impact manipulation. Sixty-eight participants completed a Go/No Go Task while 64-channel electroencephalography was recorded concurrently. They were randomly assigned to either a high or low goal impact condition, manipulated through instructions on the supposed task’s diagnosticity, while reward probability was kept similar between conditions. Replicating our previous results, we found that high goal impact yielded a marginally lower FRN, but substantially larger P3 during PM than low goal impact, without arousal or performance differences. Moreover, a principal component analysis confirmed these opposing directions of goal impact modulation. Overall, these results dovetail with the assumption that goal impact influences PM processes.status: publishe