Processing of Internal and External Signals for Performance Monitoring in the Context of Emotional Faces

Performance monitoring can be based on internal or external signals. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether relating performance to external signals affects internal performance monitoring. Thirty participants performed a task in which responses were followed by faces whose expressions were partially contingent upon performance. Instructions given to half of the participants mentioned a link between task performance and the upcoming face expression. Instructed participants showed smaller error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) to erroneous responses and larger N170 to faces as compared to participants in the not-instructed group. In addition, we observed a correlation between ΔNe/ERN and P1-latency benefit for angry faces after errors. Taken together, processing of internally generated signals for performance monitoring is reduced by instructions referring to an emotional face. Furthermore, we relate the correlation between the magnitude of internal monitoring and facilitation in processing angry faces to priming induced by the negative affective meaning of errors.