The P300, the LPP, context updating, and memory: What is the functional significance of the emotion-related late positive potential?

Does outcome feedback similarly impact the processing of surprised faces in competitive and cooperative contexts? Evidence from ERP

Competition and cooperation are pervasive across diverse domains of human society, and outcome feedback in these contexts has been shown to significantly influence human emotional responses and behavioral strategies. However, there is limited understanding of the mechanisms through which outcome feedback in obstructive and supportive settings affects the perception of facial expressions of interactors. To address this issue, thirty-seven participants in this event-related potential (ERP) study completed a modified version of the Tetris game with randomly assigned interactors (cooperative supporter, competitive hinderer). After receiving outcome feedback (correct, incorrect), participants were asked to rate the valence of surprised faces which were assumed to be displayed by interactors. Behaviorally, surprised faces in supportive correct feedback contexts were rated as more pleasant, while those in obstructive correct feedback contexts were rated as less pleasant. The ERP results showed a significant main effect of outcome feedback on the FRN and LPPfeedback, with enhanced amplitudes for incorrect relative to correct trials. More importantly, face-related P1, N170, and EPN components showed significant interactions between interaction type and outcome feedback. Surprised faces in obstructive correct contexts evoked larger P1 amplitudes compared to those faces in obstructive incorrect contexts. Conversely, amplified N170 and EPN responses were observed for faces in supportive correct contexts compared to those in supportive incorrect contexts. For the LPPface, an amplified response to faces was observed in correct feedback contexts compared to incorrect ones, irrespective of the influence of interaction type. Altogether, these findings offer the first empirical evidence that feedback cues in obstructive and supportive contexts can interactively influence the top-down processing of facial expressions, shifting attention away from the suppression of aversive stimuli towards a focus on self-related positive information, thus providing insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the impact of complex social information on higher-order cognitive processes.

Event-related potentials reveal incongruent behavior of autonomous vehicles in the moral machine dilemma

We investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) in the context of autonomous vehicles (AVs)-specifically in ambiguous, morally challenging traffic situations. In our study, participants (n = 34) observed a putative artificial intelligence (AI) making decisions in a dilemma situation involving an AV, expanding on the Moral Machine (MM) experiment. Additionally to the original MM experiment, we incorporated electroencephalography recordings. We were able to replicate most of the behavioral findings of the original MM: In case of an unavoidable traffic accident, participants consistently favored sparing pedestrians over passengers, more characters over fewer characters, and humans over pets. Beyond that, in the ERP we observed an increased P3 (322-422 ms), and late positive potential (LPP) (500-900 MS) amplitude in fronto-central regions when the putative AI's decision on a moral dilemma was incongruent to the participants' decision. As P3, and LPP are associated with the processing of stimulus significance, our findings suggest that these ERP components could potentially be used to identify critical, or unacceptable situations during human-AI interactions involving moral decision-making. This might be useful in brain computer interfaces research when, classifying single-trial ERP components, to dynamically adopt an AV's behavior.

Human Attachment and the Electrophysiological Dynamics of Emotion Regulation: An Event-Related Potential Study

Emotion regulation is pivotal in human interactions and well-being. Modulating one's emotional state is intricately linked with psychological, behavioral, and physiological responses. Extensive research has explored how individuals with varying attachment orientations manage emotions, predominantly through self-report measures and behavioral assessments. However, the influence of attachment orientations on temporal electrophysiological dynamics during emotion regulation tasks remains underexplored. Here, 90 adults' EEG brain activity was recorded while they engaged in tasks of attending to, reappraising, or suppressing emotions elicited by unpleasant images. Their attachment orientations were assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationships-12 (ECR-12) questionnaire to explore the association between Late Positive Potential (LPP) and attachment anxiety and avoidance amidst the deployment of emotion regulation strategies. Using Linear Mixed-Effects Model analysis, our results revealed a lower amplitude of the LPP during cognitive reappraisal, suggesting the efficacy of this strategy in diminishing emotional intensity. Moreover, higher attachment anxiety exhibited increased LPP amplitude during both Reappraisal and Suppression, as well as during the negative natural condition, indicating heightened emotional responses. This study provides novel insights into the relationship between attachment orientations and emotion regulation, as evidenced by EEG-based measurements of the LPP. The findings indicate that individuals with higher attachment anxiety display distinct electrophysiological responses, particularly in emotional scenarios.

Neural correlates of social observation and socioeconomic status in influencing environmental donations

With the increasing urgency of environmental degradation, it is crucial to investigate whether and why individuals from different socioeconomic statuses (SES) engage in environmental donations within social contexts to develop targeted strategies that promote environmental sustainability. However, the psychological mechanisms and neural activities underlying environmental donations across SES in social contexts remain unclear. The current study randomly assigned participants to high (low) SES groups and asked them to complete the environmental donation task in the (non) observable contexts while the electroencephalogram was recorded. Behaviorally, this study revealed that the presence of others promoted environmental donations in the low-cost condition and the average donations and acceptance rates were influenced by costliness. The ERP results indicated that high-SES individuals exhibited more negative N2 in the observable condition than in the non-observable condition. At the later stage, social observation modulated the neural activity evoked by donation decision making, with high-SES individuals showing larger P3 and late positive potentials (LPP) in the observable (vs. non-observable) condition. These findings suggest that public service institutions can implement targeted fundraising strategies that consider motivational differences among individuals with different SES, such as creating cost-effective environmental scenarios for low-SES individuals and designing reputation-enhancing situations for high-SES individuals.

Dissociating Affective Salience and Valence in (Very) Long-Latency ERPs

While affective salience effects have been observed consistently in the late positive potential (LPP), no event-related potential (ERP) component has consistently shown ordered valence effects. A recent study, showing images of facial attractiveness, however suggests the existence of valence-related effects at very long latencies (1000-3000 ms post stimulus). This could offer new insights into the time-course of affective neural processing. Yet, it remains unclear whether the long-latency effect was specific to facial attractiveness, or to valence in general. To corroborate the existence of a long-latency valence effect, we presented distinctly positive, neutral, and negative valenced IAPS images to a large sample of 224 participants while recording their electroencephalogram (EEG). Larger ERP amplitudes were elicited by both positively and negatively valenced compared to neutral stimuli (an affective salience effect) from roughly 500 until 1300 ms, followed by an ordered valence effect of larger amplitudes to negatively compared to positively valenced images from 1500 until 2500 ms. These findings corroborate the previously observed sequence of an affective salience effect followed by a long-latency valence effect. However, the polarity of this valence effect was reversed from that of the facial attractiveness study. Allostasis is discussed as potential reconciling factor. Effects in the N2 and P300 components were also found, but could not be clearly labeled as an affective salience or a valence effect. These results fit with two-stage emotion theories such as the theory of constructed emotions.

Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the influence of motivational intensity on emotion regulation choice

Motivation is considered a crucial factor in determining emotion regulation choice (ER choice). Our previous study revealed that increased motivation led to a preference for distraction over reappraisal due to the narrowed attention, yet neural underpinnings supporting this phenomenon remain unclear. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether motivation influences ER choice by early attention processing (P2) or late resource engagement (LPP). EEG activities were recorded for the pictorial contexts varying in motivational intensity and direction, while participants (N = 68) were required to decide which strategy from the two options they would use to regulate their emotions. Consistent with previous studies, the results indicated that individuals chose more distraction over reappraisal in high-withdrawal motivated contexts while a reversed pattern was observed in low-withdrawal motivated contexts. Moreover, high-intensity motivated emotional contexts result in enhanced P2 and LPP. Further analysis indicates that only frontal P2 and the early LPP mediate the effect of motivational intensity on ER choice. These findings suggest that heightened motivation leads to a preference for distraction over reappraisal during emotion regulation due to the greater occupation of attentional resources.

Age-Related Effects on Facial Emotion Recognition in Schoolchildren: An ERP Study

The ability to recognize emotions in others is crucial for social interaction and develops during childhood. We studied the effects of age on emotional facial recognition in schoolchildren using ERP components. Children aged 6, 8, and 10 completed identity, sex, and emotion recognition (happiness, anger, sadness) tasks. The oldest group had the highest accuracy and fastest reaction times. Only the LPP component showed age-related differences, with lower amplitudes in older children. LPP showed higher amplitude during emotion recognition, which may be associated with motivational evaluation. ERP accounted for the temporal dynamics of facial processing, which involve cognitive and emotional processes.

Distinct Mindfulness States Produce Dissociable Effects on Neural Markers of Emotion Processing: Evidence From the Late Positive Potential

Background

Mindfulness has long been theorized to benefit emotion regulation, but despite the ubiquity of the claim, there is little empirical evidence demonstrating how mindfulness modulates the neurophysiology of emotion processing. The current study aimed to fill this gap in knowledge by leveraging a novel research approach capable of discretizing mindfulness into distinct states of open monitoring (OM) and focused attention (FA) to distinguish their influence on multimodal subjective and objective measures of emotion processing.

Methods

Utilizing a fully within-participant picture viewing state induction protocol (N = 30), we compared the effects of OM and FA, rigorously contrasted against an active control, on the visually evoked late positive potential (LPP), a neural index of motivated attention. Bayesian mixed modeling was used to distinguish OM versus FA effects on the early and late sustained LPP while evaluating the influence of subjective arousal ratings as a within-participant moderator of the state inductions.

Results

When negative picture trials were retrospectively rated as more subjectively arousing, the OM induction reduced the late sustained LPP response, whereas the FA induction enhanced the LPP.

Conclusions

Acute manipulation of OM and FA states may reduce and enhance motivated attention to aversive stimuli during conditions of high subjective arousal, respectively. Functional distinctions between different mindfulness states on emotion processing may be most dissociable after accounting for within-participant variability in how stimuli are appraised. These results support the future potential of the state induction protocol for parsing the neural affective mechanisms that underlie mindfulness training programs and interventions.

Acute Treatment with the Nootropic CILTEP® Does Not Improve Cognitive Performance in Healthy Middle-Aged Participants

This study investigated the acute effects of the dietary nootropic stack CILTEP®. It contains a combination of ingredients that have been individually reported to improve cognitive performance. Especially, the ingredients luteolin, which is considered a phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, and forskolin, an adenylate cyclase stimulator, were of interest since they can increase the second messenger cAMP and thus also intracellular signaling. Numerous studies have shown that inhibition of PDE4 can improve memory in animals and humans. We examined whether acute dosing of 3 capsules of CILTEP® would improve cognitive function in healthy participants aged 30 to 40 (n = 33). We used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-way cross-over design. Our test battery was aimed at measuring memory performance, attention, and sensorimotor speed. The primary outcome measures were the performance on the verbal learning task and the spatial pattern separation task. Secondary outcomes included other cognitive tests, event-related potentials (ERPs), and assessment of the activity of the enzyme beta-glucuronidase and its effect on the bioavailability of luteolin, heart rate, and blood pressure. No relevant effects of acute CILTEP® treatment were found on any measure of the test battery or ERPs. Blood plasma concentrations of luteolin increased, yet about 2000 times too low to likely exert any PDE4 inhibition. CILTEP® treatment did neither affect heart rate nor blood pressure. In summary, there is no evidence that a single standardized dose of 3 capsules of CILTEP® can improve cognitive function in healthy middle-aged participants.

Choice overload interferes with early processing and necessitates late compensation: Evidence from electroencephalogram

Having a multitude of choices can be advantageous, yet an abundance of options can be detrimental to the decision-making process. Based on existing research, the present study combined electroencephalogram and self-reported methodologies to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of choice overload. Behavioural data suggested that an increase in the number of options led to negative evaluations and avoidance of choice tendencies, even in the absence of time pressure. Event-related potential results indicated that the large choice set interfered with the early visual process, as evidenced by the small P1 amplitude, and failed to attract more attentional resources in the early stage, as evidenced by the small amplitude of P2 and N2. However, the LPC amplitude was increased in the late stage, suggesting greater investment of attentional resources and higher emotional arousal. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed that the difference between small and large choice set began at around 120 ms, and the early and late stages were characterised by opposite activation patterns. This suggested that too many options interfered with early processing and necessitate continued processing at a later stage. In summary, both behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) results confirm the choice overload effect, and it was observed that individuals tend to subjectively exaggerate the choice overload effect.

Autistic traits and event-related potentials in the general population: A scoping review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Differences in short and long-latency Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) can help us infer abnormalities in brain processing, considering early and later stages of stimuli processing across tasks and conditions. In autism research, the adult population remains largely understudied compared to samples at early stages of development. In this context, this scoping review briefly summarises what has been described in community and subclinical adult samples of autism.

METHOD

The current scoping review and meta-analysis includes 50 records (N = 1652) and comprehensively explores short and long-latency ERP amplitudes and their relationship with autistic traits in adult community samples.

RESULTS

This meta-analysis identified, with small to medium effect sizes, distinctive patterns in late ERP amplitudes, indicating enhanced responses to visual stimuli and the opposite patterns to auditory tasks in the included sample. Additionally, a pattern of higher amplitudes was also found for the component P3b in autistic traits.

DISCUSSION

Differential effects in visual and auditory domains are explored in light of the predictive processing framework for Autism. It remains possible that different brain mechanisms operate to explain symptoms related with different sensory modalities. P3b is discussed as a possible component of interest in future studies as it revealed a more robust effect for differentiating severity in the expression of autistic traits in adulthood.

The Use of Event-Related Potentials in the Study of Schizophrenia: An Overview

Event-related potentials (ERPs) are small voltage changes in the brain that reliably occur in response to auditory or visual stimuli. ERPs have been extensively studied in both humans and animals to identify biomarkers, test pharmacological agents, and generate testable hypotheses about the physiological and genetic basis of schizophrenia. In this chapter, we discuss how ERPs are generated and recorded as well as review canonical ERP components in the context of schizophrenia research in humans. We then discuss what is known about rodent homologs of these components and how they are altered in common pharmacologic and genetic manipulations used in preclinical schizophrenia research. This chapter will also explore the relationship of ERPs to leading hypotheses about the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We conclude with an evaluation of both the utility and limitations of ERPs in schizophrenia research and offer recommendations of future directions that may be beneficial to the field.