No reward could be similar to penalty: Evidence from feedback negativity and P300

Previous studies have shown that two components of event-related potentials, the feedback negativity (FN) and P300, respond to feedback information of reward and penalty. The present study investigated the response of FN and P300 to neutral (neither reward nor penalty) outcome in an EEG level control task. Reward, penalty and neutral feedbacks were presented to participants randomly. The results showed that FN and P300 responded to the outcome information in a similar way. Both of them differed between reward condition and non-reward condition (penalty as well as neutral). It was noteworthy that neutral feedback elicited similar FN and P300 as penalty in amplitude, latency and scalp topography. This result may support an emotional-motivational mechanism that underlies a rapid but coarse early evaluation of the outcome information.