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Can prediction error explain predictability effects on the N1 during picture-word verification?
(2024)
Do early effects of predictability in visual word recognition reflect prediction error? Electrophysiological research investigating word processing has demonstrated predictability effects in the N1, or first negative component of the event-related potential (ERP). However, findings regarding the magnitude of effects and potential interactions of predictability with lexical variables have been inconsistent. Moreover, past studies have typically used categorical designs with relatively small samples and relied on by-participant analyses. Nevertheless, reports have generally shown that predicted words elicit less negative-going (i.e., lower amplitude) N1s, a pattern consistent with a simple predictive coding account. In our preregistered study, we tested this account via the interaction between prediction magnitude and certainty. A picture-word verification paradigm was implemented in which pictures were followed by tightly matched picture-congruent or picture-incongruent written nouns. The predictability of target (picture-congruent) nouns was manipulated continuously based on norms of association between a picture and its name. ERPs from 68 participants revealed a pattern of effects opposite to that expected under a simple predictive coding framework.
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately or with a short delay following their response. Children’s learning was found to be sensitive to feedback timing modulations in their reaction time and inverse temperature parameter, which quantifies value-guided decision-making. They showed longitudinal improvements towards more optimal value-based learning, and their hippocampal volume showed protracted maturation. Better delayed model-derived learning covaried with larger hippocampal volume longitudinally, in line with the adult literature. In contrast, a larger striatal volume in children was associated with both better immediate and delayed model-derived learning longitudinally. These findings show, for the first time, an early hippocampal contribution to the dynamic development of reinforcement learning in middle childhood, with neurally less differentiated and more cooperative memory systems than in adults.