Aiming at ecological validity—Midfrontal theta oscillations in a toy gun shooting task

Abstract

Laboratory electroencephalography (EEG) studies have already provided important insights into the neuronal mechanisms of performance monitoring. However, to our knowledge no study so far has examined neuronal correlates of performance monitoring using an ecologically valid task outside a typical laboratory setting. Therefore, we examined midfrontal theta and the feedback-related negativity (FRN) using mobile EEG in a physical shooting task within an ecologically valid environment with highly dynamical visual feedback. Participants shot a target using a toy gun while moving and looking around freely. Shots that missed the target evoked stronger midfrontal theta activity than hits and this response was rather phase-unlocked. There was no difference between misses and hits in the FRN. The results raise the question whether the absence of certain ERP components like the FRN could be due to methodological reasons or to the fact that partially different neuronal processes may be activated in the laboratory as compared to more ecologically valid tasks. Overall, our results indicate that crucial neurocognitive processes of performance monitoring can be assessed in highly dynamic and ecologically valid settings by mobile EEG.