Intolerance of uncertainty and neural measures of anticipation and reactivity for affective stimuli

Anxiety Sensitivity and Intolerance of Uncertainty Uniquely Explain the Association of the Late Positive Potential With Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

Studies suggest that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms are related to late positive potential (LPP) responses to negative images, suggesting greater attention. Anxiety sensitivity (AS) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are cognitive factors in GAD vulnerability that may be activated by negative stimuli, thereby explaining why the LPP and GAD symptoms are related. We examined whether AS and IU explain the association of the LPP with GAD symptoms. Eighty-seven (77% women) young adults viewed 60 negative and 60 neutral images. The LPP was examined using both frequentist and Bayesian approaches. This revealed unique indirect effects of the LPP on GAD symptoms through AS and IU. Neither indirect effect was stronger, and the indirect effects were present regardless of using frequentist or Bayesian analyses or quantifying the LPP using residual-based scores or difference scores. The indirect effects predicted not only GAD symptoms but social anxiety and depression as well, consistent with the role of AS and IU in transdiagnostic vulnerability. The findings support AS and IU as links that explain how attention to negative stimuli is related not only to GAD symptoms but to other internalizing symptoms as well.

Reduced generalization of reward among individuals with subthreshold depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence

Altered stimulus generalization has been well-documented in anxiety disorders; however, there is a paucity of research investigating this phenomenon in the context of depression. Depression is characterized by impaired reward processing and heightened attention to negative stimuli. It is hypothesized that individuals with depression exhibit reduced generalization of reward stimuli and enhanced generalization of loss stimuli. Nevertheless, no study has examined this process and its underlying neural mechanisms. In the present study, we recruited 25 participants with subthreshold depression (SD group) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (HC group). Participants completed an acquisition task, in which they learned to associate three distinct pure tones (conditioned stimuli, CSs) with a reward, a loss, or no outcome. Subsequently, a generalization session was conducted, during which similar tones (generalization stimuli, GSs) were presented, and participants were required to classify them as a reward tone, a loss tone, or neither. The results revealed that the SD group exhibited reduced generalization errors in the early phase of generalization, suggesting a diminished ability to generalize reward-related stimuli. The event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that the SD group exhibited decreased generalization of positive valence to reward-related GSs and heightened generalization of negative valence to loss-related GSs, as reflected by the N1 and P2 components. However, the late positive potential (LPP) was not modulated by depression in reward generalization or loss generalization. These findings suggested that individuals with subthreshold depression may have a blunted or reduced ability to generalize reward stimuli, shedding light on potential treatment strategies targeting this particular process.

Do incidental positive emotions induce more optimistic expectations of decision outcomes? An empirical study from the perspective of event-related potential

INTRODUCTION

Previous research has found that incidental emotions of different valences (positive/negative/neutral) influence risky decision-making. However, the mechanism of their influence on psychological expectations of decision outcomes remains unclear.

METHODS

We explored the effects of different incidental emotions on the behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological responses of individuals in risky decision-making through a money gambling task using a one-way (emotion type: positive, negative, neutral emotions) between-subjects experimental design.

RESULTS

Individuals with positive emotions had significantly greater risk-seeking rates than those with negative emotions during the decision selection phase (p < .01). In the feedback stage of decision outcomes, individuals showed stronger perceptions of uncertainty in the decision environment under gain and loss feedback compared with neutral feedback, as evidenced by a more positive P2 component (i.e., the second positive component of an event-related potential). Positive emotions produced greater than expected outcome bias than neutral emotions, as evidenced by a more negative FRN component (i.e., the feedback-related negativity component).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that positive emotions increase individuals' psychological expectations of decision outcomes. This study provides new empirical insights to understand the influence of incidental emotions on risky decision outcome expectations.