Learning new words via feedback – association between feedback-locked ERPs and recall performance - an exploratory study

Feedback learning is thought to involve the dopamine system and its projection sites in the basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions associated with procedural learning. Under certain conditions such as when feedback is delayed, activation shifts to the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which is associated with declarative learning. Feedback elicits the feedback-related negativity (FRN), an event-related potential component which originates in the ACC and is pronounced for immediate feedback. As a potential correlate of MTL activity, the N170 has been shown to be related to delayed feedback processing. In the current study, we investigated whether N170 amplitude predicts memory performance in a test for declarative memory (free recall), especially if feedback is delayed. To test this, we adapted a paradigm by Arbel et al. (2017) in which participants learned associations between non-objects and non-words with either immediate or delayed feedback, and added a subsequent free recall test. We indeed found that N170, but not FRN amplitude depended on later free recall performance, with smaller amplitudes for remembered words. This effect was further modulated by feedback valence, feedback delay and laterality, with particularly low left-hemispheric amplitudes for delayed correct feedback. This finding shows that the N170 reflects an important process especially during delayed feedback processing that is related to expectations and their violation, but is distinct from the process reflected by the FRN.