Conscious and unconscious performance monitoring: Evidence from patients with schizophrenia.
Neuroimage January 1, 2017 Lucie Charles, Raphaël Gaillard, Isabelle Amado et al.
Error detection relies on two distinct brain systems: one tied to conscious awareness and another that operates without it. In people with schizophrenia, the conscious error-detection system is impaired, as shown by a reduced Error-Related Negativity (ERN) in EEG and MEG recordings during a speeded number comparison task. However, on trials where stimuli were presented unconsciously, both schizophrenia patients and healthy controls could still evaluate their own errors above chance levels. This dissociation indicates that non-conscious performance monitoring remains intact in schizophrenia, while conscious metacognition is specifically altered.