DYNAMIC CHANGES IN FEEDBACK PROCESSING AND COGNITIVE CONTROL NETWORKS DURING A GAMBLING TASK: A SOURCE ANALYSIS OF EEG AMPLITUDE AND PHASE MEASURES

A wealth of cognitive and clinical psychology research has been devoted to better understanding the mechanism underlying goal-directed behavior. Decades of research in this area have highlighted the importance of salience and cognitive control networks in processing task feedback for improving goal-directed performance on subsequent trials. However, discrepancies in findings and methodological limitations have led to competing conceptual models of task performance with untested theoretical hypotheses. The current study aimed to evaluate a leading integrative theory of task performance (the Expected Value of Control theory), by assessing activity and functional connectivity of ACC (indexing salience) and dlPFC (indexing control) regions on the timescale of milliseconds. Time-frequency event-related potential (TF-ERP) measures were assessed in the theta (3-7 Hz) frequency range based on cortical source localization analysis. Hypotheses centered on the theory that ACC activity precedes engagement of the dlPFC and cognitive control network. Analyses are based on an archival dataset of 154 undergraduates who completed a gambling task with the goal to win the most money possible. Supporting the hypotheses, TF and source localization analyses revealed that activity in the ACC did precede functional connectivity with the dlPFC. In fact, both the ACC and dlPFC became active before functional connectivity was observed between these regions, suggesting that initial feedback processing occurred separately in each area before broader inter-region communication. This novel finding supports the Expected Value of Control theory and adds to the field’s current understanding of feedback and cognitive control processing during task performance