Reinforcement Sensitivity and Conflict Processing

Abstract

The revised reinforcement sensitivity theory relates individual differences in conflict processing to aversive reinforcement. Conflict monitoring was modulated by means of three reinforcement-related conflict levels in a Go/Nogo task. The small conflict level entailed aversive verbal-nonmonetary feedback, the medium conflict level provided verbal and monetary loss feedback, and the high conflict level included verbal and monetary gain and loss feedback. In a sample of N = 91 students, treatment-induced changes of ERP data were reflected by an early N2 factor that occurred in a spatiotemporal principal component analysis including all conflict levels. The results indicate that the Nogo N2 was more negative following verbal-monetary reinforcement compared to verbal-nonmonetary reinforcement, whereas a ceiling effect probably occurred for the gain and loss condition. Low trait-BIS individuals showed more negative N2 scores on this factor in the medium and high compared to the small conflict level, whereas the N2 of high trait-BIS individuals did not change. This indicates that reinforcement as well as individual differences modulate conflict-monitoring intensity.