N1 and N2 ERPs reflect the regulation of automatic approach tendencies to positive stimuli

How psychological and descriptive narratives modulate the perception of facial emotional expressions: an event-related potentials (ERPs) study

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether stories with high and low narrative transport exert different effects on neural activation in response to facial emotional expressions. Thirty-one participants were randomly assigned to two groups based on the type of story they read: psychological narrative with high narrative transport (6 women and 10 men; age M = 34.38 ± 8.77); descriptive narrative with low narrative transport (9 women and 6 men; age M = 24.07 ± 7.38). The electroencephalographic activity of the participants in response to emotional facial expressions (joy, anger, fear, sadness) was recorded before (T0) and after (T1) the reading task. The findings indicated that the reading task modulated the early brain response (P1, N170) to emotional facial expressions, irrespective of the narrative type. However, only in the psychological narrative group was the amplitude of the P100 found to be positively associated with the extent to which an individual was transported into the narrative. In summary, the findings appear to indicate that an increased degree of transport into the narrative is associated with a greater internal simulation process of emotions and mental states. This, in turn, modulates the perception of the real social world after reading.

The Power of Food Advertisements: A Brief Mindfulness Instruction Does Not Prevent Psychophysiological Responses Triggered by Food Ads

Background: Exposure to visually appealing food items can enhance their subjective realism, leading to increased cravings, salivation, and automatic approach tendencies. Prior research suggests that brief mindfulness instructions promoting dereification-recognizing stimuli as transient mental events-can mitigate these automatic reactions. Objectives: This study assesses whether brief mindfulness instruction can mitigate automatic consumption tendencies induced by food advertisements, exploring the corresponding behavioral, physiological, and neurophysiological mechanisms. Methods: Sixty participants were randomly assigned to two groups: one receiving brief mindfulness instruction and the other a non-dereifying control instruction while exposed to advertised foods. This was followed by an approach-avoidance task (AAT), during which behavioral data, salivary volume, event-related potentials (ERPs) from electroencephalogram recordings, and self-reports were collected. Results: The results showed no significant differences in approach behaviors between the groups. Hunger, food craving, and salivation levels increased uniformly in response to food cues for both groups. The N1, N2, P3, and late positive potential (LPP) ERPs remained unaltered by the instructions and consistent with the established AAT literature. Advertising heightened the appeal of neutral foods, as evidenced by increased N2, P3, and LPP responses. Conclusions: The brief mindfulness instruction failed to shield participants from the automatic responses elicited by food advertising, contrasting with the effects seen with non-advertised food.

Examination of the consistency effect between physical activity levels and approach-avoidance behaviors

This study aimed to examine the relationship between physical activity levels and approach-avoidance behaviors, to promote physical activity and provide a theoretical basis for national fitness. The study examined both approach-avoidance behaviors and the influence of affective valence in the approach-avoidance task. Two experiments using approach-avoidance tasks programmed in E-prime were conducted. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (physical activity level: high, low) × 2 (image type: physical activity, sedentary) mixed design, and Experiment 2 used a 2 (physical activity level: high, low) × 2 (physical activity image types: positive, negative) mixed design. The analysis of approach tendencies revealed that: (1) individuals with high physical activity levels exhibited a stronger tendency to approach physical activity images (p < 0.05), with no significant difference observed for sedentary images (p = 0.72); (2) high physical activity individuals demonstrated a stronger tendency to approach positive images of physical activity (p < 0.05), while no significant difference was observed for negative images (p = 0.78). The analysis of approach-avoidance behaviors indicated that: (1) high physical activity individuals more quickly approached physical activity images (p < 0.001) and avoided sedentary images (p < 0.05); (2) high physical activity individuals more quickly approached positive images of physical activity (p < 0.05). The study demonstrated a clear relationship between physical activity levels and approach-avoidance behaviors, showing that individuals with high physical activity levels exhibited more positive approach tendencies and behavioral responses toward physical activity-related stimuli. These findings have important implications for designing and implementing effective physical activity promotion strategies to combat global physical inactivity.

The dual-feature approach-avoidance task: validity, training efficacy, and the role of contingency awareness in changing food preference

The approach-avoidance task (AAT) probes tendencies contributing to unwanted behaviours, like excessive snacking, by measuring RT differences between approach and avoidance responses to different stimuli. It retrains such tendencies using repeated avoidance of appetitive stimuli and approach of healthy alternatives. The most common paradigm, the irrelevant-feature AAT, conceals these stimulus-response contingencies by requiring approach or avoidance based on features irrelevant to the tendencies (e.g. frame colour). Unfortunately, it is an unreliable measure and not always successful as a training, likely because the stimuli can be ignored. In the novel dual-feature AAT, the combination of stimulus and irrelevant feature determines responses: participants approach foods and avoid objects surrounded by frame A, and vice versa given frame B. We trained 219 online participants to approach fruit and avoid chocolate using active (7:1 stimulus-to-frame contingency) and sham (1:1 stimulus-to-frame contingency) versions of these two trainings. Compared to sham, active irrelevant-feature training was associated with more selection and desire to eat fruit, and active dual-feature training increased approach bias for fruit. Participants' perceived rate of approaching fruit versus chocolate correlated with many outcome measures, suggesting contingency awareness plays a major role in AAT training effectiveness, challenging implicit accounts. While the dual-feature paradigm shows potential, its high error rates, RTs, and difficulty mandate improvement.

Exploring how first- and third-person narrative modulates neural activation during a social cognition task. An event-related potentials (ERPs) study

Several studies showed a positive effect of stories on Theory of Mind (ToM) performance. The aim of the present exploratory study was to investigate whether and how a specific aspect of narrative, i.e., character perspective, modulates the brain activation in response to a ToM task and improve the accuracy. Fifty participants were divided in three groups based on the text assigned: first-person perspective group (1 G; n = 16), third-person perspective group (3 G; n = 18) and a scientific essay group (EG; n = 16). The electroencephalographic and behavioral responses to eyes expressions, taken from the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test, were recorded pre-(T0) and post-(T1) reading task. The main results showed a greater N100 on left fronto-central electrodes and a greater P220-400 on right temporo-parietal electrodes in response to eye expressions at T1 compared to T0 in 3 G. A lower N220-400 was found on right fronto-central in response to eye expressions at T1 compared to T0 in 1 G and 3 G. The results suggest that, although reading first- and third-person stories modulates self-processes in a similar way, third-person stories involve an early stage of processing and a more extended neural network including anterior-posterior brain sites.

Approach bias in individuals with Internet gaming disorder: Evidence from an event-related potential-based approach-avoid task

Individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) often exhibit an approach bias towards gaming cues compared to non-gaming cues. Although previous studies suggested a positive correlation between approach bias and the severity of game use, the neuropsychological mechanisms that underpin the automatic action tendencies remain largely unexplored. The present study measured event-related potentials (ERPs) in 22 IGD and 23 healthy control (HC) participants who met the inclusion criteria, both groups conducted the Stimulus-Response Compatibility task (SRC), with their ERPs recorded during the task. Results revealed that the IGD group showed a significantly larger approach bias towards gaming cues (avoidance versus approach reaction time) compared to the HC group. The amplitude of P300 significantly increased, whereas N100 significantly decreased for game-approach compared to game-avoid for IGD compared to HC participants. The findings suggested that the enhanced integrated motivational value under compatible conditions as well as increased stimulus-response conflicts under incompatible conditions may contribute to the approach bias in IGD individuals. Further investigation on the intervention is prompted through longitudinal studies.

Modulation of intracortical circuits in primary motor cortex during automatic action tendencies

Humans display automatic action tendencies toward emotional stimuli, showing faster automatic behavior (i.e., approaching a positive stimulus and avoiding a negative stimulus) than regulated behavior (i.e., avoiding a positive stimulus and approaching a negative stimulus). Previous studies have shown that the primary motor cortex is involved in the processing of automatic actions, with higher motor evoked potential amplitudes during automatic behavior elicited by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, it is unknown how intracortical circuits are involved with automatic action tendencies. Here, we measured short-interval intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation within the primary motor cortex by using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols during a manikin task, which has been widely used to explore approaching and avoiding behavior. Results showed that intracortical facilitation was stronger during automatic behavior than during regulated behavior. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between reaction times and intracortical facilitation effect during automatic behavior: individuals with short reaction times had stronger faciliatory activity, as shown by higher intracortical facilitation. By contrast, no significant difference was found for short-interval intracortical inhibition between automatic behavior and regulated behavior. The results indicated that the intracortical facilitation circuit, mediated by excitatory glutamatergic neurons, in the primary motor cortex, plays an important role in mediating automatic action tendencies. This finding further supports the link between emotional perception and the action system.

How pre-processing decisions affect the reliability and validity of the approach-avoidance task: Evidence from simulations and multiverse analyses with six datasets

Reaction time (RT) data are often pre-processed before analysis by rejecting outliers and errors and aggregating the data. In stimulus-response compatibility paradigms such as the approach-avoidance task (AAT), researchers often decide how to pre-process the data without an empirical basis, leading to the use of methods that may harm data quality. To provide this empirical basis, we investigated how different pre-processing methods affect the reliability and validity of the AAT. Our literature review revealed 108 unique pre-processing pipelines among 163 examined studies. Using empirical datasets, we found that validity and reliability were negatively affected by retaining error trials, by replacing error RTs with the mean RT plus a penalty, and by retaining outliers. In the relevant-feature AAT, bias scores were more reliable and valid if computed with D-scores; medians were less reliable and more unpredictable, while means were also less valid. Simulations revealed bias scores were likely to be less accurate if computed by contrasting a single aggregate of all compatible conditions with that of all incompatible conditions, rather than by contrasting separate averages per condition. We also found that multilevel model random effects were less reliable, valid, and stable, arguing against their use as bias scores. We call upon the field to drop these suboptimal practices to improve the psychometric properties of the AAT. We also call for similar investigations in related RT-based bias measures such as the implicit association task, as their commonly accepted pre-processing practices involve many of the aforementioned discouraged methods. HIGHLIGHTS: • Rejecting RTs deviating more than 2 or 3 SD from the mean gives more reliable and valid results than other outlier rejection methods in empirical data • Removing error trials gives more reliable and valid results than retaining them or replacing them with the block mean and an added penalty • Double-difference scores are more reliable than compatibility scores under most circumstances • More reliable and valid results are obtained both in simulated and real data by using double-difference D-scores, which are obtained by dividing a participant's double mean difference score by the SD of their RTs.

Effect of conscious conflict on the subliminal perception of table tennis players: from the electrophysiological evidence of ERP

Table tennis athletes possess a strong ability to identify subliminal stimuli and perform better (faster response time and lower error rate) than non-athletes in the subliminal priming experiment when the prime is congruent with the target stimulus. However, whether athletes perform equally well in the presence of interference stimuli around the target stimulus remains unknown. Effect of conflicts triggered by consciously perceived flanker stimuli on the subliminal perception were assessed using an experimental paradigm featuring flankers and a masked prime. Both the athlete and non-athlete groups exhibited a significant priming effect when target and flanker were congruent. The athlete group also showed a considerable priming effect under an incongruent condition, although the priming effect size was reduced. However, the priming effect of the non-athlete group disappeared with incongruent flankers. Event-related potentials revealed that the interaction between subliminal processing and suprathreshold conflict could be displayed in the early stage of perceptual and attention processing (P1 event-related potential component).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-022-09883-2.

Conflict in a word-based approach-avoidance task is stronger with positive words

BACKGROUND

Valence and motivational direction are linked. We approach good things and avoid bad things, and experience overriding these links as conflicting. Positive valence is more consistently linked with approach than negative valence is linked with avoidance. Therefore, avoiding positive stimuli should produce greater behavioral and neural signs of conflict than approaching negative stimuli.

METHODS

In the present event-related potential study, we tested this assumption by contrasting positive and negative conflict. We used the manikin task, in which we read positive and negative words that they needed to approach and avoid.

RESULTS

Consistent with our prediction, positive conflict prolonged reaction times more than negative conflict did. A late (500-1000 ms following word onset) event-related potential that we identified as the Conflict slow potential, was only sensitive to positive conflict.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study support the notion that avoiding positive stimuli is more conflicting than approaching negative stimuli. The fact that the conflict slow potential is typically sensitive to response conflict rather than stimulus conflict suggests that the manikin task primarily requires people to override prepotent responses rather than to identify conflicting stimuli. Thus, the present findings also shed light on the psychological processes subserving conflict resolution in the manikin task.

Bilateral motor cortex functional differences in left-handed approaching-avoiding behavior

Automatic action tendencies occur at behavioral and neurophysiological levels during task performance with the dominant right hand, with shorter reaction times (RTs) and higher excitability of the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1) during automatic vs. regulated behavior. However, effects associated with the non-dominant left-hand in approaching-avoiding behavior remain unclear. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation during the performance by 18 participants of an approaching-avoiding task using the non-dominant left hand. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over left or right M1 at 150 and 300 ms after the onset of an emotional stimulus. RTs and motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded. Significant automatic action tendencies were observed at the behavioral level. Higher MEP amplitudes were detected 150 ms after stimulus onset from the right hand (non-task hand, corresponding to left M1) during regulated behavior compared with during automatic behavior. However, no significant modulation was found for MEP amplitudes from the left hand (task hand, corresponding to right M1). These findings suggested that left M1 may play a principal role in the early phase of mediating left-handed movement toward an emotional stimulus.

Social approach and avoidance in language: N400-like ERP negativity indexes congruency and theta rhythms the conflict

Motivational congruency has been examined using tasks where participants perform approach or avoidance movements towards socially positive or negative faces. Language is tightly intertwined with interpersonal cognition. Thus, similar situations could be represented by means of language in interpersonal contexts: adjectives furnish valence to people (e.g. someone is cordial or arrogant), and attitudinal verbs define direction to relationship-actions: approach-avoidance (e.g. accept vs. reject). In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, 40 participants were presented with sentences where a character was valenced (e.g. "Arthur is cordial/arrogant") before being the target of a relationship-actions ("Grisela welcomed/ignored Arthur at the party"). We analyzed both Event-related potential (ERP) amplitude and time-frequency power in response to the attitudinal verb. For ERP amplitudes, we found a significant cluster between 280 and 370 ms, covering part of the development of a N400-like ERP component. This cluster reflects an interaction driven by congruency between motivational direction and target valence. Likewise, time-frequency power analysis revealed an enhancement of theta rhythms under incongruent conditions, most likely indexing conflict processing. Results support that relationship-actions are represented as approach and avoidance and thus involve conflict processing and resolution of incongruent situations. Implications for the interweaving of affective language and social cognition within Embodiment Simulation Theory are discussed.

The implicit preference evaluation for the ceramic tiles with different visual features: Evidence from an event-related potential study

Background

Ceramic tiles are popular because of their various forms, and they are often used to decorate the environment. However, few studies have applied objective methods to explore the implicit preference and visual attention of people toward ceramic tile features. Using event-related potential technology can provide neurophysiological evidence for the study and applications of tiles.

Materials and methods

This study explored the influence of pattern, lightness, and color system factors of ceramic tiles on the preferences of people using a combination of subjective questionnaires and event-related potential (ERP) technology. Twelve different conditions of tiles (2 × 3 × 2) were used as stimuli. EEG data were collected from 20 participants while they watched the stimuli. Subjective preference scores and average ERPs were analyzed using analysis of variance and correlation analysis.

Results

(1) Pattern, lightness, and color system factors significantly affected the subjective preference scores for tiles; the unpatterned tiles, light-toned tiles, and warm-colored tiles received higher preference scores. (2) The preferences of people for different features of tiles moderated ERP amplitudes. (3) The light-toned tiles with a high preference score caused a greater N100 amplitude than the medium-toned and dark-toned tiles; and the patterned tiles and warm-colored tiles with low preference scores induced greater P200 and N200 amplitudes.

Discussion

In the early stage of visual processing, light-toned tiles attracted more attention, possibly because of the positive emotional effects related to the preference. The greater P200 and N200 elicited by the patterned and neutral-colored tiles in the middle stage of visual processing indicates that patterned and neutral-colored tiles attracted more attention. This may be due to negativity bias, where more attention is allocated to negative stimuli that people strongly dislike. From the perspective of cognitive processes, the results indicate that the lightness of ceramic tiles is the factor that people first detect, and the visual processing of pattern and color system factors of ceramic tiles belong to a higher level of visual processing. This study provides a new perspective and relevant information for assessing the visual characteristics of tiles for environmental designers and marketers involved in the ceramic tiles industry.

Connectivity from ipsilateral and contralateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the active primary motor cortex during approaching-avoiding behavior

Automatic action tendency is reflected by a fast reaction to approach positive stimulus and to avoid negative stimulus (automatic behaviors), while a slow reaction to approach negative stimulus and avoid positive stimulus (controlled behaviors). The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in the modulation of the automatic action tendency; however, it remains unclear whether DLPFC modulates the behavior through motor inhibition or excitation, as well as the exact timing of the modulation. We used paired-pulse, dual-site TMS protocols to investigate the connectivity between left/right DLPFC and the left primary motor cortex (M1) during the manikin task performed with the right hand. For the behavioral data, the results from reaction time (RT) and premotor time (PMT), which represents the beginning of finger movements, of the approaching-avoiding behavior in both experiments showed a shorter duration for automatic behavior compared to the controlled behavior. There was stronger facilitation of the left DLPFC-left M1 connectivity at interstimulus-interval of 25 ms in controlled behavior compared to automatic behavior (positive-approaching vs. positive-avoiding: P = .002; negative-avoiding vs. negative-approaching: P = .017). The right DLPFC-left M1 connectivity did not change with the task. The present study confirmed the automatic action tendency from both reaction time and the premotor time. During the right-handed task, the DLPFC contralateral but not ipsilateral to the effector could facilitate the left M1 to speed up the execution of the controlled behavior through a polysynaptic pathway.

Duration of an acute moderate-intensity exercise session affects approach bias toward high-calorie food among individuals with obesity

Obesity is partly driven by unhealthy eating behaviors underpinned by an approach bias toward high-calorie food. Although exercise is a useful strategy for weight loss among individuals with obesity, whether exercise modulates this approach bias is unclear. This study assessed whether the duration of an acute moderate-intensity exercise altered the approach bias toward high-calorie food among individuals with obesity. In total, 24 individuals with obesity were included in this study with a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover design. Participants completed three sessions of 30, 45, or 60 min of moderate-intensity exercise (40%-59% of heart rate reserve) on an elliptical trainer or completed a control rest session for 55 min. Food approach bias was evaluated using a joystick-based approach-avoidance task immediately before and after each session. Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. We found that compared with that before exercise, the approach bias score toward high-calorie food was significantly decreased only in the 45-min exercise session (p = .015) and that this score was also significantly lower than that after both the 60-min exercise session (p = .002) and the control session (p = .024). These findings suggest a dose-response relationship between exercise duration and approach bias, with 45 min of moderate-intensity exercise being an effective strategy for decreasing the approach bias toward high-calorie food among individuals with obesity.

Neural Mechanisms of Subliminal Mentor-Student Relationship Stimuli Processing: An ERP Study

In educational contexts, mentorship roles often complicate the mentor-student relationship because mentors act not only as the closest academic ally of graduate students but also their program supervisors who can affect their timely graduation. This study examines how graduate students react to their mentors’ names when subliminally presented. A total of 63 graduate students (31 male; Mean Age = 23.450) were asked to perform an irrelevant color judgment task of valenced words (positive vs. negative relationship words) after a subliminal presentation of three different types of names (i.e., mentors, authorities, and friends). Results show that mentor and friend names elicit a greater P2 peak than authority names, whereas mentor names evoke a reduced N2 and P3 amplitude than friend and authority names. In addition, participants with a history of abusive supervision tend to have an overall decline in P2 amplitude. These event-related potential (ERP) findings suggest that mentors are perceived by students as familiar while attention-inducing figures.

Emotional processing of sadness and disgust evoked by disaster scenes

OBJECTIVE

Disaster scenes produce long-term negative feelings in those who experience them. Previous studies have focused on mitigating disaster impacts through directed forgetting or conscious suppression. However, the initial emotional processing of disaster scenes is not fully understood, hindering the comprehension of long-term disaster impacts. This study aims to investigate how pictures of disaster scenes evoking disgust and sadness are processed via cortical electrical activity.

METHODS

Pictures of grief and mutilation from disasters were used to evoke sadness and disgust, respectively. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to quantify the intensity and time-course of emotional processing.

RESULTS

The information processing of emotional pictures was stronger than neutral pictures, represented by greater declines of alpha ERD. In the posterior ERP components of N1 and EPN, amplitudes for emotional pictures were larger than those for neutral pictures, which reflected the effects of arousal on visual perception. In the anterior ERP components of P2, P3, and LPP, disgust pictures showed higher attention attraction and enhanced encoding memory processing.

CONCLUSIONS

Disgust disaster scenarios induced long-term prominent LPP, which may correspond with the long-term negative impacts of the disaster.

Influence of acute stress on attentional bias toward threat: How a previous trauma exposure disrupts threat apprehension

While previous trauma exposure is known to be a risk factor for the development and maintenance of many psychological disorders, it remains unclear how it increases individual risk for prospective psychopathology in the aftermath of a new trauma exposure. The aim of this study was to investigate how a prior exposure to trauma affects attentional processing of threat before and after an acute stress task. Specifically, we assessed attentional biases to threat before and after a cold pressor task in 17 individuals who have been exposed to trauma (TE) compared to 18 individuals without trauma exposure (NTE). Behavioral results showed difficulties to disengage from threat in TE but not in the control group prior to stress induction, as well as a switch to an attentional bias toward threat after the cold pressor task in the TE group. For the ERPs, we highlighted (1) decreased N1 negativity in response to threatening stimuli after an acute stress in both groups, and (2) a parallel increase in P1 for such stimuli only in the TE group. Those results suggest a vulnerability presented by previously traumatized individuals when dealing with threats as well as an acute responsitity toward stress. Those results are interpreted in regards with the theorical models of stress and anxiety.

Functional role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the modulation of cognitive bias

Human cognition is often biased. It is a fundamental question in psychology how cognitive bias is modulated in the human brain. Automatic action tendency is a typical cognitive bias. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a crucial area for processing various behavioral tasks. We investigated the functional role of DLPFC in the modulation of cognitive bias by testing the automatic action tendency during automatic and regulated behavioral tasks. Unilateral intermittent or continuous theta burst stimulation (excitatory iTBS or inhibitory cTBS) was used to manipulate the left or right DLPFC excitability and assess the changes in automatic action tendency during a manikin task. An approaching behavior with positive stimulus and avoiding behavior with negative stimulus were performed in an automatic task. An approaching behavior with negative stimulus and avoiding behavior with positive stimulus were performed in a regulated task. Reaction time was measured. We confirmed the automatic action tendency that reaction time for performing an automatic task was shorter than that for performing a regulated task. The automatic action tendency was enhanced after left DLPFC excitatory iTBS and was abolished after left DLPFC inhibitory cTBS stimulation. On the other hand, right DLPFC excitatory iTBS accelerated the avoiding behaviors and right DLPFC inhibitory cTBS accelerated approaching behaviors. The results suggest that left DLPFC modulates the automatic action tendency while the right DLPFC modulates the direction of behavioral tasks. We conclude that left DLPFC and right DLPFC are key nodes in modulating the cognitive bias while their functional roles are different.

Effects of Skin Friction on Tactile P300 Brain-Computer Interface Performance

Tactile perception, the primary sensing channel of the tactile brain-computer interface (BCI), is a complicated process. Skin friction plays a vital role in tactile perception. This study aimed to examine the effects of skin friction on tactile P300 BCI performance. Two kinds of oddball paradigms were designed, silk-stim paradigm (SSP) and linen-stim paradigm (LSP), in which silk and linen were wrapped on target vibration motors, respectively. In both paradigms, the disturbance vibrators were wrapped in cotton. The experimental results showed that LSP could induce stronger event-related potentials (ERPs) and achieved a higher classification accuracy and information transfer rate (ITR) compared with SSP. The findings indicate that high skin friction can achieve high performance in tactile BCI. This work provides a novel research direction and constitutes a viable basis for the future tactile P300 BCI, which may benefit patients with visual impairments.

Higher affective congruency in the approach-avoidance task is associated with insular deactivation to dynamic facial expressions

Individuals exhibit a natural bias to approach positive social cues (e.g., smiling face) and to avoid negative ones, which may be altered in psychiatric conditions. Computerized approach/avoidance training to promote affectively congruent behavior has proven useful in modulating such biases. Here, we investigate how exposure to a higher rate of congruency impacts neural processing of social-affective cues. While undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), twenty-four individuals completed two versions of the approach-avoidance task (AAT), in which they had to approach or avoid dynamic facial expressions of either happiness or disgust. In the high congruency condition, congruent responses (i.e. approaching happy faces, avoiding disgusted faces) were more frequent. The balanced condition had equal amounts of congruent and incongruent responses. Processing of congruent approach-avoidance actions towards social cues was associated with lower recruitment of the right anterior insula in the congruency-intensive relative to the balanced condition. Differential activation between the high congruency and balanced condition in the right hippocampus was negatively related to individuals' trait avoidance tendency. These findings are consistent with reduced affective neural processing of social cues when being exposed to congruent AAT contexts. These neural foci could be important targets when assessing the effectiveness of affective congruency training protocols.

The effects of an internet-based mindfulness meditation intervention on electrophysiological markers of attention

Evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation training has the potential to train aspects of attention. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning the attentional benefits from mindfulness remain unclear. This randomized controlled trial examined changes in electrophysiological markers of attention before and after completion of a 6-week internet-based mindfulness intervention. EEG and ERP data were collected from 64 generally healthy, mildly stressed older adults. Participants were randomized to an internet-based mindfulness-based stress reduction course (IMMI), an internet-based health and wellness education course, or a waitlist control condition. Attentional N2 and P3 evoked potentials were derived from active and passive auditory oddball paradigms. Participants in the IMMI group showed significantly greater differences in P3 peak-trough amplitude between the active and passive oddball paradigms at endpoint relative to controls. There were no significant relationships between the intervention and N2 potentials. Our data demonstrate a measurable increase in attentional control when discriminating or directing attention away from auditory stimuli for older adult participants who received mindfulness training. These findings lend support to the use of the P3 as a neurophysiological measure of meditation engagement and intervention efficacy.

Proactive engagement of cognitive control modulates implicit approach-avoidance bias

Implicit social-affective biases-reflected in a propensity to approach positive and avoid negative stimuli-have been documented in humans with paradigms, such as the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). However, the degree to which preemptively engaging cognitive control can help to down-regulate those behavioral tendencies remains poorly understood. While undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 24 healthy participants completed a cued version of the AAT, in which they responded to pictures of happy or angry faces by pulling a joystick toward themselves (approach) or pushing the joystick away (avoidance) based on the color of the stimulus frame. On some trials, they were cued to reverse the frame color/joystick action instructions. Before stimulus onset, a reverse cue was associated with deactivation of a visuo-spatial and motor planning network and subsequent slowing down in response to stimuli. During the stimulus phase, a reverse cue was associated with a) activation of cognitive control areas, including the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL); and b) reduced right precentral gyrus activation when having to push (avoid) a happy face. Overall, these results suggest that proactively engaging cognitive control can help fine-tune behavioral and neural adjustment to emotionally incongruent behavioral conditions.

The Influences of Brand Awareness on Consumers' Cognitive Process: An Event-Related Potentials Study

Brand awareness plays an important role in most aspects of marketing. However, consumers' cognitive process of brand awareness, which plays an important role in purchase decision or product usage experiences, is still unclear in the brain. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), the influences of two different brand awareness on consumers' cognitive process was investigated. Phone pictures with high or low brand awareness and girl pictures were used to carry out this experiment research. An amended oddball task was designed in which girl photos were taken as target stimuli, and phone pictures were taken as non-target stimuli. Subjects were asked to identify the girl pictures. Smaller ERPs components N2 and P3 along with high brand awareness phone pictures were found compared to the low brand awareness ones. The amplitude variation in N2 and P3 indicated that the cognitive process of identification and attention distribution were changed along with the magnitude of brand awareness, which meant consumers could allocate different attention resources to distinguish high or low brand awareness product unconsciously. This may indicate the identification and attention distribution caused by brand awareness can be detected by N2 and P3, and event-related potentials methodology may be a sensitive measurement technique for brand awareness.

Event-related and readiness potentials when preparing to approach and avoid alcohol cues following cue avoidance training in heavy drinkers

RATIONALE

Cue avoidance training (CAT) reduces alcohol consumption in the laboratory. However, the neural mechanisms that underlie the effects of this intervention are poorly understood.

OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated the effects of a single session of CAT on event-related and readiness potentials during preparation of approach and avoidance movements to alcohol cues.

METHODS

Heavy drinking young adults (N = 60) were randomly assigned to complete either CAT or control training. After training, we recorded participants' event-related and motor readiness potentials as they were preparing to respond.

RESULTS

In the CAT group, N200 amplitude was higher when preparing to approach rather than avoid alcohol pictures. In the control group, N200 amplitudes did not differ for approach and avoidance to alcohol pictures. Regarding the late positive potential (LPP), in the CAT group, the negativity of this was blunted when preparing to avoid alcohol pictures relative to when preparing to avoid control pictures. In the control group, the negativity of the LPP was blunted when preparing to approach alcohol pictures relative to when preparing to approach control pictures. There were no effects on motor readiness potentials. Behavioural effects indicated short-lived effects of training on reaction times during the training block that did not persist when participants were given time to prepare their motor response before executing it during the EEG testing block.

CONCLUSIONS

After a single session of CAT, the enhanced N200 when approaching alcohol cues may indicate the engagement of executive control to overcome the associations learned during training. These findings clarify the neural mechanisms that may underlie the effects of CAT on drinking behaviour.

Inhibitory Control in Excessive Social Networking Users: Evidence From an Event-Related Potential-Based Go-Nogo Task

Inhibitory control is a core executive function module that monitors and suppresses inappropriate behavior. Inhibitory deficits have been observed in different addiction types (e.g., smoking, alcohol, drug and gambling). The excessive use of social networking sites (SNSs) has attracted increasing attention; however, it is unknown whether inhibitory control is impaired in excessive SNS users. This study used event-related potentials in an SNS-related Go-Nogo task to investigate inhibitory control in excessive SNS users. Although the behavioral data did not show any significant differences between groups, the N1 amplitude was larger following SNS images than control images in excessive SNS users. Furthermore, excessive users showed larger N2 amplitude and smaller Nogo-P3 amplitude than non-excessive users irrespective of stimuli. These findings suggested that excessive SNS users are inefficient in allocating monitoring resources in the Go-Nogo task (reflected by enhance N2) and show difficulty in late inhibitory control procedure (reflected by reduced Nogo-P3) compared to non-excessive users. Also, excessive SNS users pay more attention to SNS-related images compared to non-SNS-related images (reflected by the N1). Interventions for this specific population should focus on limiting exposure to SNS cues and enhancing inhibitory control.

Neurological effects of product price and evaluation on online purchases based on event-related potentials

In order to better understand how price and evaluation impact consumers' decision making, this research examined the neural bases underlying consumers' cognition of the two important clues when shopping online. An ERP experiment was conducted involving 19 Chinese students and the behavior data revealed that product price and evaluation significantly influenced their willingness to purchase mobile phones online, and the speed with which they made purchase decisions supported cue-diagnosis theory. Further, ERP results indicated three neural stages of decision-making: early automatic cognition with emotional valence and negativity bias effects elicited by product evaluation ratings, an evaluation stage exhibiting an attention, and a final stage featuring an evaluation-categorization pattern associated with pleasurable sensations. Specifically, those three neural stages of online decision-making were coded with corresponding event-related potentials in brain, that is, N1 and P2 in automatic cognition stage, P300 in evaluation phase, LPP in concluding phase. Hence, the research results reveal neurological effects of product price and evaluation on online purchases and deepen our comprehension of consumers' cognitive process.

Are eyes special? Electrophysiological and behavioural evidence for a dissociation between eye-gaze and arrows attentional mechanisms

It has been proposed that attention triggered by eye-gaze may represent a unique attentional process, different from that triggered by non-social stimuli such as arrows. To investigate this issue, in the present study we compared the temporal dynamics of the conflict processing triggered by eye-gaze and arrow stimuli. We investigated the electrophysiological activity during a task in which participants were required to identify the direction of laterally presented eye-gaze or arrow targets. Opposite behavioural effects were observed: while arrows produced the typical effect, with faster responses when they were congruent with their position, eye-gaze targets produced a reversed effect with faster responses when they were incongruent. Event-related potentials showed common and dissociable congruency modulation: whereas eye-gaze and arrows showed similar effects on earlier ERP components (P1 and N1), they led to opposite effects in later components such as N2 and P3. This represents the first electrophysiological demonstration of both early shared and later dissociable congruency effects for eye-gaze and arrow stimuli.

The Intensity of Early Attentional Processing, but Not Conflict Monitoring, Determines the Size of Subliminal Response Conflicts

Response conflicts hamper goal-directed behavior and may be evoked by both consciously and subliminally (unconsciously) processed information. Yet, not much is known about the mechanisms and brain regions driving the size of subliminally induced conflicts. We hence combined a response conflict paradigm featuring subliminal primes and conscious flankers with in-depth neurophysiological (EEG) analyses, including source localization in a sample of N = 243 healthy subjects. Intra-individual differences in the size of subliminal conflicts were reflected both during early attentional stimulus processing (prime-associated N1 and target-associated P1 and N1 amplitudes) and conflict monitoring (N2 amplitudes). On the neuroanatomical level, this was reflected by activity modulations in the TPJ (BA39, BA40) and V2 (BA18), which are known to be involved in attentional stimulus processing and task set maintenance. In addition to a "standard" analysis of event-related potentials, we also conducted a purely data-driven machine learning approach using support vector machines (SVM) in order to identify neurophysiological features which do not only reflect the size of subliminal conflict, but actually allow to classify/predict it. This showed that only extremely early information processing (about 65 ms after the onset of the prime) was predictive of subliminal conflict size. Importantly, this predictive feature occurred before target information could even be processed and was reflected by activity in the left middle frontal gyrus (BA6) and insula (BA13). We conclude that differences in task set maintenance and potentially also in subliminal attentional processing of task-relevant features, but not conflict monitoring, determine the size of subliminally induced response conflicts.

Avoiding sedentary behaviors requires more cortical resources than avoiding physical activity: An EEG study

Why do individuals fail to exercise regularly despite knowledge of the risks associated with physical inactivity? Automatic processes regulating exercise behaviors may partly explain this paradox. Yet, these processes have only been investigated with behavioral outcomes (i.e., based on reaction times). Here, using electroencephalography, we investigated the cortical activity underlying automatic approach and avoidance tendencies toward stimuli depicting physical activity and sedentary behaviors in 29 young adults who were physically active or physically inactive but with the intention of becoming physically active. Behavioral results showed faster reactions when approaching physical activity compared to sedentary behaviors and when avoiding sedentary behaviors compared to physical activity. These faster reactions were more pronounced in physically active individuals and were associated with changes during sensory integration (earlier onset latency and larger positive deflection of the stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potentials) but not during motor preparation (no effect on the response-locked lateralized readiness potentials). Faster reactions when avoiding sedentary behaviors compared to physical activity were also associated with higher conflict monitoring (larger early and late N1 event-related potentials) and higher inhibition (larger N2 event-related potentials), irrespective of the usual level of physical activity. These results suggest that additional cortical resources were required to counteract an attraction to sedentary behaviors. Data and Materials [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1169140]. Preprint [https://doi.org/10.1101/277988].

Using event related potentials to identify a user's behavioural intention aroused by product form design

The capacity of product form to arouse user's behavioural intention plays a decisive role in further user experience, even in purchase decision, while traditional methods rarely give a fully understanding of user experience evoked by product form, especially the feeling of anticipated use of product. Behavioural intention aroused by product form designs has not yet been investigated electrophysiologically. Hence event related potentials (ERPs) were applied to explore the process of behavioural intention when users browsed different smart phone form designs with brand and price not taken into account for mainly studying the brain activity evoked by variety of product forms. Smart phone pictures with different anticipated user experience were displayed with equiprobability randomly. Participants were asked to click the left mouse button when certain picture gave them a feeling of behavioural intention to interact with. The brain signal of each participant was recorded by Curry 7.0. The results show that pictures with an ability to arouse participants' behavioural intention for further experience can evoke enhanced N300 and LPPs (late positive potentials) in central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions. The scalp topography shows that central-parietal, parietal and occipital regions are more activated. The results indicate that the discrepancy of ERPs can reflect the neural activities of behavioural intention formed or not. Moreover, amplitude of ERPs occurred in corresponding brain areas can be used to measure user experience. The exploring of neural correlated with behavioural intention provide an accurate measurement method of user's perception and help marketers to know which product can arouse users' behavioural intention, maybe taken as an evaluating indicator of product design.

Effects of Uncertainty on ERPs to Emotional Pictures Depend on Emotional Valence

Uncertainty about the emotional content of an upcoming event has found to modulate neural activity to the event before its occurrence. However, it is still under debate whether the uncertainty effects occur after the occurrence of the event. To address this issue, participants were asked to view emotional pictures that were shortly after a cue, which either indicated a certain emotion of the picture or not. Both certain and uncertain cues were used by neutral symbols. The anticipatory phase (i.e., inter-trial interval, ITI) between the cue and the picture was short to enhance the effects of uncertainty. In addition, we used positive and negative pictures that differed only in valence but not in arousal to investigate whether the uncertainty effect was dependent on emotional valence. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during the presentation of the pictures. Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that negative pictures evoked smaller P2 and late LPP but larger N2 in the uncertain as compared to the certain condition; whereas we did not find the uncertainty effect in early LPP. For positive pictures, the early LPP was larger in the uncertain as compared to the certain condition; however, there were no uncertainty effects in some other ERP components (e.g., P2, N2, and late LPP). The findings suggest that uncertainty modulates neural activity to emotional pictures and this modulation is altered by the valence of the pictures, indicating that individuals alter the allocation of attentional resources toward uncertain emotional pictures dependently on the valence of the pictures.

Beauty matters: social preferences in a three-person ultimatum game

Preference for beauty is human nature, as previous behavior studies have supported the notion of “beauty premium” in which attractive people were more easily to get promoted and receive higher salaries. In the present study, 29 males were recruited to participate in a three-person ultimatum game (UG) including a proposer, a responder and a powerless third player. Each subject, playing as the responder, had to decide whether to accept an offer from the allocator both for himself and a female third person. We aimed to elucidate how the facial attractiveness of the female subject affected the male subjects’ fairness and decision-making in social exchanges. Frontal feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to four offers in an attractive-face condition revealed no significant differences between offers; however, when the companion was an unattractive female, an “unfair/fair” offer, which assigned a lower share to the responder and a fair share to the third player, elicited the largest FRN. Furthermore, when the third player was offered the smallest amount (“fair/unfair” offer), a larger FRN was generated in an attractive-face condition than unattractive-face condition. In the “unfair/fair” offer condition in which subjects received a smaller allocation than the third person, the beauty of their female counterparts attenuated subjects’ aversion to inequality, resulting in a less negative FRN in the frontal region and an increased acceptance ratio. However, the influence of the third player’s facial attractiveness only affected the early evaluation stage: late P300 was found to be immune to the “beauty premium”. Under the two face conditions, P300 was smallest following an “unfair/fair” offer, whereas the amplitudes in the other three offer conditions exhibited no significant differences. In addition, the differentiated neural features of processing facial attractiveness were also determined and indexed by four event-related potentials (ERP) components: N170, frontal N1, N2 and late positive potentials (LPPs).

Factors Predicting Youth Anxiety Severity: Preliminary Support for a Standardized Behavioral Assessment of Parental and Youth Avoidance Behaviors

Anxiety severity in youth is associated with a host of negative outcomes including poor response to treatment. Thus, a better understanding of factors that contribute to anxiety severity is needed. Such factors may include parental anxiety as well as anxiety-related approach and avoidance behaviors in both children and parents. In this study, we examined automatic behavioral tendencies as a method of quantifying anxiety-related approach and avoidance behaviors in children and their parents. Clinically anxious youth (N = 19) with mixed anxiety diagnoses and their parents completed an approach-avoidance task (AAT) comprising different emotional expressions. Our results suggest that in addition to parent report of youth anxiety, both youth and parent automatic avoidance biases predict clinician-rated youth anxiety severity accounting for 62% of the variance in clinician-rated youth anxiety. These results suggest that the AAT may be a useful measure of automatic behavioral tendencies in clinically anxious youth and their parents and that these factors may be relevant to youth anxiety severity.

Alcohol abuse and ERP components in Go/No-go tasks using alcohol-related stimuli: impact of alcohol avoidance

Alcohol addictive behaviors are associated with a combination of deficits in executive functions, such as a weak response inhibition, and potent automatic appetitive responses to alcohol-related cues. The aim of the present study was to investigate behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with specific response inhibition for alcohol-related cues. Thirty participants (15 heavy drinkers and 15 light drinkers) took part in the study. Response inhibition was assessed by a classical letter Go/No-go task and by a modified alcohol Go/No-go task. Participants were also classified as high and low alcohol avoiders. Results showed that heavy drinkers made more false alarms in the letter Go/No-go task. In the alcohol Go/No-go task, an absence of N200 amplitude anteriorization was found in heavy drinkers as compared to light drinkers. Participants with a high level of alcohol avoidance exhibited more false alarms, and higher N200 amplitude for the No-go trials as compared to the Go trials for alcohol-related cues. Higher P300 amplitude was observed in low alcohol avoiders for No-go as compared to Go trials. Therefore, a context involving alcohol-related cues disturbed inhibition capacities of high alcohol avoiders. These results suggest that the level of alcohol avoidance must be taken into account in studies investigating alcohol-related cognitive biases.