Abstract

Studies using Event-Related Potentials have shown the existence of a component called Feedback Error-Related Negativity (fERN). This component has been characterized as a negative deflection which responds differentially to profits and losses in terms of expected and unexpected outcomes. Thus, while some studies have defined the idea of "expected outcome" as the probability to win vs. to lose, others have defined it as the expected size of rewards. How these alternative interpretations of "expected outcome" affect the fERN's research, and the effects of their interaction under a specific model of "expected value" has not been properly assessed. This work contextualizes the general study of neural mechanisms involved in decisionmaking processes, putting the fERN studies in context; besides, it reviews the two main approaches to its research; and finally, it explores the possibilities to further expand the fERN studies, in the context of the transdisciplinary rising field of neuroeconomics.