Revisiting the link between error significance and the error-related negativity: A multi-lab direct replication

Error monitoring is a key cognitive control process that enables individuals to evaluate their actions and detect failures in goal-directed behavior. A well-established neural correlate of error monitoring is the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential that emerges within 100 ms of an incorrect response. A landmark study by Hajcak et al. (2005) found that ERN amplitude is modulated by the motivational significance of errors. In Experiment 1, errors in high-reward trials elicited larger ERNs than those in low-reward trials. In Experiment 2, ERNs were larger when participants were subject to social evaluation compared to a no-evaluation condition. The present study aims to conduct a high-powered (at least 126 participants after exclusions for both Experiment 1 and 2), multi-lab replication of this research as part of the #EEGManyLabs initiative (Pavlov et al., 2021). We will manipulate motivational context via points-based monetary incentives and social evaluation using a flanker task. We predict more pronounced ERN amplitudes in high- versus low-reward trials, and under social evaluation compared to the control condition. By testing the robustness of these effects, this study will critically assess whether motivational significance consistently modulates early error processing. If successful, the replication would strengthen the claim that the ERN functions as a motivationally tuned signal, integrating error detection with goal-relevant context. If not, it would raise important questions about how motivation interacts with error monitoring. In either case, the study will offer valuable insights into the motivational dynamics of cognitive control, with implications for both theory and experimental research.