by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) at the time of the response (also see Yeung et al., 2004). This conflict-related ACC response is believed to signal other areas of prefrontal cortex that an increase in control is needed so as to avoid further mistakes, what some have called regulative control (Botvinick et al., 2001; Kerns et al., 2004). Alcohol has been shown to reduce this error-induced ACC activity (Bartholow et al., 2012; Ridderinkhof et al., 2002), as well as neural responses emanating from lateral prefrontal cortical areas thought to underlie regulative control (e.g., frontal slow wave; Bartholow et al., 2006; Curtin & Fairchild, 2003). However, no research has investigated whether neural manifestations of conflict monitoring and adjustment are reduced by alcohol specifically on post-error trials, or whether such effects might underlie alcohol’s impairment of post-error behavioral performance.
