Frontal Feedback-Related Potentials in Nonhuman Primates: Modulation during Learning and under Haloperidol

Feedback monitoring and adaptation of performance involve a medial reward system including medial frontal cortical areas, the medial striatum, and the dopaminergic system. A considerable amount of data has been obtained on frontal surface feedback-related potentials (FRPs) in humans and on the correlate of outcome monitoring with single unit activity in monkeys. However, work is needed to bridge knowledge obtained in the two species. The present work describes FRPs in monkeys, using chronic recordings, during a trial and error task. We show that frontal FRPs are differentially sensitive to successes and failures and can be observed over long-term periods. In addition, using the dopamine antagonist haloperidol we observe a selective effect on FRP amplitude that is absent for pure sensory-related potentials. These results describe frontal dopaminergic-dependent FRPs in monkeys and corroborate a human-monkey homology for performance monitoring signals.