Neurophysiological evidence for evaluative feedback processing depending on goal relevance

Feedback signaling the success or failure of actions is readily exploited to implement goal-directed behavior. Two event-related brain potentials (ERPs) have been identified as reliable markers of evaluative feedback processing: the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and the P3. Recent ERP studies have shown a substantial reduction of these components when the feedback's goal relevance (in terms of goal informativeness) was decreased. However, it remains unclear whether this lowering of evaluative feedback processing at the FRN and P3 levels (i) reflects a common regulation process operating across them or (ii) indirectly and mostly depends on valence processing. To address these questions, 44 participants performed a time estimation task wherein the perceived goal relevance of the feedback following each decision was manipulated via instructions in different blocks. We recorded 64-channel EEG and collected subjective ratings of feedback valence and relevance, separately for goal-relevant and irrelevant conditions. ERP results showed a substantial reduction of the FRN and P3 components for irrelevant than relevant feedback, despite the balanced task relevance between them. Moreover, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that these two successive ERP effects had dissociable spatiotemporal properties. Crucially, a multivariate multiple regression analysis revealed that goal relevance per se, but not valence, was the unique significant predictor of the amplitude reduction of the FRN and P3 when the feedback was goal irrelevant. Our results suggest that although these ERP components exhibit non-overlapping spatiotemporal properties and performance monitoring effects, they can both be modulated by a common, valence-unspecific process related to goal relevance.