High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Error-related negativity (ERN), (sometimes referred to as the Ne), is a component of an event-related potential (ERP). ERPs are electrical activity in the brain as measured through electroencephalography (EEG) and time-locked to an external event (e.g., presentation of a visual stimulus or an error of commission). A robust ERN component is observed after errors are committed during various choice tasks, even when the participant is not explicitly aware of making the error; however, in the case of unconscious errors the ERN is reduced.