Feedback-Related ERP Components Are Modulated by Social Distance during Non-Contingent Evaluation of Someone Else’s Performance

Performance monitoring depends on cortical structures that are also activated in vicarious monitoring. While many experiments have shown that vicarious and on-line monitoring have a similar basis, most such experiments have focused on simple tasks. In order to assess the effect of non-contingent feedback on vicarious monitoring, 23 young volunteer adults were evaluated: in one session, they performed a rule-based category formation task, receiving no feedback on their performance. In a second session, Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were obtained while participants passively reviewed performances attributed to themselves and peers they had previously rated as either socially close or distant. Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) and Feedback Related P300 (fP300) components were analyzed with respect to feedback valence and agent. Results show that both components can be elicited through non-contingent feedback related to prior performance. In addition, FRN waves are modulated by the valence of the feedback, and fP300 is modulated by the agent to whom performance feedback is attributed. This experiment constitutes a novel approach to the evaluation of ERP correlates of vicarious monitoring through non-contingent feedback and its relations to empathy processing.