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Adaptive recovery under motivation: Characterizing multimodal signatures of post-error effort adjustment in an incentivized cognitive control task

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Evrim Baykal¹ (), Kimberly S. Chiew¹; ¹University of Denver

Adjusting cognitive performance after an error might be a key facet of adaptive cognitive control. While post-error response slowing has been reliably characterized during cognitive task performance, post-error changes in accuracy have been more variable, with both increases and decreases observed. Motivational context might be a key element in whether post-error, cognitive effort and task accuracy increase, or whether both are reduced. To address this question, we propose a study where healthy young adults will complete a modified Flanker task with adaptive noise calibration (to ensure comparable error rates across individuals) under incentive and non-incentive conditions. Concurrent with task performance, we will collect eye-tracking data to examine pupil dilation (indexing cognitive effort) and gaze allocation (indexing attention) on a trial-level basis. Predictive modeling will allow us to test the extent to which, at the trial-by-trial level, pre-error behavior and physiological measures predict post-error performance recovery across motivational contexts. We will test the hypothesis that, on a trial-by-trial basis, stronger multimodal “ramp-up” signatures (increased post-error slowing, enhanced pupil dilation, and increased on-target gaze) will predict higher rates of adaptive recovery (post-error correct response) versus disengagement (post-error incorrect response). We further anticipate that incentives will amplify multimodal ramp-up, thereby increasing post-error adaptive recovery. We will also examine the extent to which individual differences in reward sensitivity, motivation, and emotion moderate these relationships. This approach will advance understanding of post-error adjustment and help clarify the contexts under which more or less adaptive adjustment of performance occurs, with important implications in applied domains.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Monitoring & inhibitory control