Effect Of Error Rate And Response-Stimulus Interval On Post-Error Slowing

People often become slower in their performance after committing an error, which is called post-error slowing. It is generally assumed that post-error slowing is a cognitive control effect reflecting more careful response strategies after errors. But many studies suggested that post-error slowing reflect a control failure due to automatic attentional capture by the error. Some other studies found that at least two mechanisms contribute to post-error slowing at different response-stimulus intervals: a capacity-limited error-monitoring process with the strongest influence at short response-stimulus intervals and a criterion adjustment mechanism at longer response-stimulus intervals.Here we aimed to explore the mechanism of post-error slowing at different response-stimulus intervals. Using a new experimental procedure, we found post-error slowing after infrequent errors and post-correct slowing after infrequent correct trials at short response-stimulus intervals. When at longer response-stimulus intervals, we found post-error slowing after errors at long response-stimulus intervals in different error rates. The results support the idea that at least two mechanisms contribute to post-error slowing at different response-stimulus intervals:orienting to infrequent events with the strongest influence at short response-stimulus intervals and cognitive control at longer response-stimulus intervals.