A perspective on neural and cognitive mechanisms of error commission - stroke recovery

And if we had a genius stroke person out there she could apply this to stroke recovery  and make our errors useful for correcting the stroke problems.  I'm sure your doctor has no clue how to relate this to your problems in recovery.
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00050/full?utm_source=newsletter&

A perspective on neural and cognitive mechanisms of error commission

Sven Hoffmann^1* and Christian Beste^2*

• ¹Performance Psychology, Institute of Psychology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany
• ²Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany

Behavioral adaptation and cognitive control are crucial for goal-reaching behaviors. Every creature is ubiquitously faced with choices between behavioral alternatives. Common sense suggests that errors are an important source of information in the regulation of such processes. Several theories exist regarding cognitive control and the processing of undesired outcomes. However, most of these models focus on the consequences of an error, and less attention has been paid to the mechanisms that underlie the commissioning of an error. In this article, we present an integrative review of neuro-cognitive models that detail the determinants of the occurrence of response errors. The factors that may determine the likelihood of committing errors are likely related to the stability of task-representations in prefrontal networks, attentional selection mechanisms and mechanisms of action selection in basal ganglia circuits. An important conclusion is that the likelihood of committing an error is not stable over time but rather changes depending on the interplay of different functional neuro-anatomical and neuro-biological systems. We describe factors that might determine the time-course of cognitive control and the need to adapt behavior following response errors. Finally, we outline the mechanisms that may proof useful for predicting the outcomes of cognitive control and the emergence of response errors in future research.

Introduction

Errare humanum est, sed in errare perseverare diabolicum (Seneca). In other words: “who commits an error and does not correct it, commits a second one” (Confucius). Similar notions can be found in texts by Seneca, Horaz, Cicero and Aristotle. Already these philosophical notions stipulate the relevance and importance of the detection and compensation of errors. However, obviously there exist several types of errors. Basically, one can commit “mistakes” (e.g., not knowing the correct decision) or “slips” (the selected action is not what has been intended). The latter is what is this manuscript is about: a situation leading to an inappropriate action selection, likely making you think: “Upps.”