Performance monitoring during associative learning and its relation to obsessive-compulsive characteristics

• We examined performance errors and external feedback in an associative learning task.
• ERN and PE were found after errors, and the largest FRN after equivocal feedback.
• Theta and beta power bursts were seen after responses, a theta burst after feedback.
• Learning-related changes were observed in ERPs but not in oscillatory activity.
• There was no association between OC symptoms and either ERPs or oscillations.

Neural responses to performance errors and external feedback have been suggested to be altered in obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the current study, an associative learning task was used in healthy participants assessed for obsessive-compulsive symptoms by the OCI-R questionnaire. The task included a condition with equivocal feedback that did not inform about the participants’ performance. Following incorrect responses, an error-related negativity and an error positivity were observed. In the feedback phase, the largest feedback-related negativity was observed following equivocal feedback. Theta and beta oscillatory components were found following incorrect and correct responses, respectively, and an increase in theta power was associated with negative and equivocal feedback. Changes over time were also explored as an indicator for possible learning effects. Finally, event-related potentials and oscillatory components were found to be uncorrelated with OCI-R scores in the current non-clinical sample.