JN-00896-2006.R2 Performance Monitoring Local Field Potentials in the Medial Frontal Cortex of Primates: Anterior Cingulate Cortex

We describe intracranial, local field potentials (LFP) recorded in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of macaque monkeys performing a saccade countermanding task. The most prominent feature at ~70% of sites was greater negative polarity after errors than after rewarded, correct trials. This negative polarity was also evoked in unrewarded, correct trials. The LFP evoked by the visual target was much less polarized, and the weak presaccadic modulation was insufficient to control the initiation of saccades. When saccades were cancelled, LFP modulation decreased slightly with the magnitude of response conflict which corresponds to the coactivation of gaze-shifting and gaze-holding neurons estimated from the probability of canceling. However, response time adjustments on subsequent trials were not correlated with LFP polarity on individual trials. The results provide clear evidence that error-related and feedback-related but not conflict-related, signals are carried by the LFP in the macaque ACC. Finding performance monitoring field potentials in the ACC of macaque monkeys establishes a bridge between event-related potential and functional brain imaging studies in humans and neurophysiology studies in nonhuman primates. Introduction Human errors in reaction time tasks are associated with the error-related negativity (referred to as ERN or Ne) and a later positive deflection (Pe) (e.g., Falkenstein et al. 1991; Gehring et al. 1993). The ERN has a frontocentral distribution over the scalp and peaks approximately 100 ms after the incorrect response in choicereaction time tasks or the uninhibited response on no-go trials (Scheffers et al. 1996). A Page 2 of 63