A Narrative Review of the Role of Social Observation on Error Monitoring

Error monitoring is the process by which the brain self-evaluates whether responses are correct and in line with achieving task goals. The error-related negativity (ERN), a neural marker of error monitoring, is influenced by the motivational significance of errors. For example, making a mistake while being observed can be more salient than when alone. The current narrative review assesses whether error monitoring is consistently upregulated within the presence of others. Additionally, we explore the possible influence of paradigm-related factors, such as deception and feedback, and individual factors, such as age and anxiety, on relations between social observation and the ERN. We find that use of deception or feedback may increase ERN amplitudes under social observation. In contrast, presence of an authority figure and whether an observer is physically (or virtually) present do not appear to impact effects of social observation. Specific subconstructs of anxiety, such as fear of negative evaluation, may more strongly influence the ERN under social observation. We also find that the ERN increases under social observation for both youth and adults, although potentially more consistently among youth. We conclude by providing methodological recommendations and propose future directions for this burgeoning area of research.