Exposure to stress negatively affects error processing, but the impact of stress on error awareness remains to be determined. In the present study, we examined the temporal dynamics of error awareness and post-error adjustment following acute stress. Forty-nine healthy men were randomly assigned to the control (n = 26) or stress group (n = 23). After stress induction, participants completed the error awareness task, and their brain activity was assessed by electroencephalography. Compared to the control group, the stress group demonstrated lower error awareness accuracy and smaller Pe (error positivity) and ΔPe amplitudes following aware error responses, which indicated impairment of error awareness following stress. Furthermore, the stress group had lower accuracy in post-aware error responses than in post-unaware error responses and the control group, which indicated poor post-error adjustment following stress. Our results showed a stress effect on sequential stages of error processing. Stress induces impaired error identification, which further generates maladaptive post-error performance.

压力会对错误处理产生负面影响，但压力对错误意识的影响仍有待确定。在本研究中，我们研究了急性压力后错误意识和错误后调整的时间动态。49 名健康男性被随机分配到对照组 ( n = 26) 或压力组 ( n = 23)。压力诱导后，参与者完成错误意识任务，并通过脑电图评估他们的大脑活动。与对照组相比，压力组在意识到错误反应后表现出较低的错误意识准确性和较小的Pe（错误正性）和ΔPe幅度，这表明压力后错误意识受到损害。此外，压力组在意识到错误后反应的准确性低于无意识错误反应后和对照组，这表明压力后的错误后调整较差。我们的结果表明压力对错误处理的连续阶段有影响。压力会导致错误识别能力受损，从而进一步产生错误后的适应不良表现。