ERPs provide a noninvasive, temporally precise way of measuring the implementation of different components of cognitive control during task performance. The commission of errors in choice RT tasks elicits a pronounced negative deflection, the error-related negativity (ERN), prominent at fronto-central midline scalp locations, which coincides with error commission and which is thought to reflect ACC responses to errors (Coles, Scheffers, & Holroyd, 2001; Holroyd & Coles, 2002) and/or conflict (Botvinick, Cohen, & Carter, 2004; Yeung et al., 2004). A role for the processes reflected in the ERN in cognitive control has been suggested by studies showing that the magnitude of the ERN is associated with behavioral control overall (e.g., Amodio, Harmon-Jones, Devine, Hartley, & Covert, 2004; Bartholow et al., 2012), and specifically on trials following errors (Kerns et al., 2004). Alcohol has been shown to reduce ERN amplitude and attenuate these associations, however (Bartholow et al., 2012; Ridderinkhof et al., 2002). In the current study, the ERN was used to signify the effectiveness of conflict monitoring during control failures.
