Theta synchrony supports Weber-Fechner and Stevens' Laws for error processing, uniting high and low mental processes

Gabriel Tzur, Andrea Berger*, Roy Luria, Michael I. Posner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human brain theta rhythm has been related to the operation of a generic mechanism involved in error detection processes of different types (e.g., detecting incorrect motor responses or incorrect arithmetic equations). This theta activity seems to be sensitive to error salience or magnitude, that is, stronger theta activity is found with larger or more deviant errors (e.g., 1+2=8) than with smaller or less deviant ones (e.g., 1+2=4). A time-frequency decomposition analysis indicated that theta activity is modulated by the magnitude of erroneous information in a nonlinear fashion, which can be characterized using Weber-Fechner's law of logarithmic function and Stevens' law of power function. The present study suggests that the generic mechanisms for error detection and evaluation may share similar fundamental neural schemes with primary cognitive and sensory or perceptual processes, which are directly involved in processing the specific type of input.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)758-766
Number of pages9
JournalPsychophysiology
Volume47
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • ACC
  • EEG oscillations
  • Rule violation
  • Stevens' Law
  • Theta
  • Weber-Fechner Law

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