N2 Amplitude Research Articles

The effect of cardiac phase on distractor suppression and motor inhibition in a stop-signal task

Past work has shown that stimuli timed to the cardiac systole, the time at which heartbeat feedback is transmitted to the brain, can be more effectively selected from conflicting information. Here, we investigated how the temporal alignment of distracting information to different phases of the cardiac cycle impacts inhibitory performance on a stop-signal task. While participants received the go-cue and anticipated a potential stop-signal, we presented several moving dots on the screen. The dots’ change of movement direction was timed to occur 290 ms posterior to the R-peak (for cardiac systole) or right at the R-peak (for cardiac diastole) of in-time ECG recordings. In a third control condition, no distracting dots were shown. Behavioural results found participants were significantly better at inhibiting their motor response in systole relative to diastole distractor trials. Electrophysiological evidence found reduced P2 amplitudes for viewing the distractors and enhanced N2 amplitudes to the subsequent stop-signal in systole relative to diastole distractor trials. This indicated that systole bound distractors were suppressed more effectively than diastole bound ones which led to enhanced motor inhibition. Our results indicate that the brain shows greater visual selection efficiency for distracting information co-occurring with cardiac systole which has implications for enhanced motor processing at later stages of the trial sequence.

Language switching is modulated by emotion priming: evidence from behavioral and event-related potentials study

IntroductionBilinguals often switch between different languages to effectively communicate their ideas. The variation in the increase in reaction times and error rates is termed as the language switch cost. Generally, bilingual language-switching costs demonstrate asymmetry, with a greater cost associated with transitioning from the weaker L2 to the dominant L1 than in the reverse scenario. Recent studies have demonstrated that language switching can be modulated under certain conditions. However, the effect of emotion on language-switching performance is unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of emotions on bilingual language switching and how this impact manifests across different time windows.MethodsThis study explored the influence of emotion on language switching between Chinese (L1) and English (L2) using a dual task involving emotion priming and word-picture matching, with concurrent measurement of event-related potentials.ResultsThe behavioral results indicated that a happy mood improved the accuracy and efficiency of L1 switching, while a fearful mood enhanced the efficiency of L2 switching. Electrophysiological data revealed significant interactions among emotion, language, and task in the P1, N2, and N400 stages. Specifically, a happy mood was associated with an increased P1 amplitude during L1 switching, larger N2 amplitudes during L1 repetition, L1 switching, and L2 repetition, as well as greater N400 amplitudes during L1 repetition, L1 switching, and L2 repetition, along with a larger N600 during L2 repetition. Conversely, a fearful mood exhibited a significantly larger N400 during L2 switching and a larger N600 during L2 switching.DiscussionThe study findings suggest that positive emotions were beneficial for L1 switching in the early stages of visual attention allocation, conflict processing, and lexical-semantic processing. In contrast, negative emotions exhibited a more significant advantage for L2 switching in lexical-semantic processing and deeper levels of semantic processing. This study provides the first electrophysiological evidence for the impact of emotion priming on language-switching performance.

The effects of 15-day complete fasting on the attentional network: An ERP study

This study examined whether and how a 15-day complete fast affects attentional network function. During a 15-day complete fasting, 17 healthy participants completed an attentional network test, while behavioral and EEG data were obtained. EEG results were marginally significant for the interaction between fasting stages and cue hints on the N1 amplitude of the altering network (F (3, 48) = 2.57, p = 0.065, η2p = 0.14). The interaction between fasting stages and cue hints was marginally significant on the N1 amplitude of the orienting network (F (3, 48) = 2.71, p = 0.056, η2p = 0.15). The interaction between fasting stages and target types was significant on the N2 amplitude of the executive control network (F (3, 48) = 2.86, p = 0.047, η2p = 0.15). The main effect of target types was significant on the P3 amplitude (F (1, 16) = 4.71, p = 0.045, η2p = 0.23). This suggests that participants’ allocation of attentional resources to the three sub-networks of the attentional network was not significantly affected during the 15 days of complete fasting. These study results help further understand the relationship between complete fasting and attentional networks and provide theoretical support and reference for the survival and work of astronauts actively in complete fasting during future near-Earth planet landings or even deep space exploration

Research on cognitive neural mechanism of consumers convinced by intelligent recommendation platform eavesdropping

The negative inference that consumers hold ‘eavesdropping’ views concerning the intelligent recommendation services of digital platforms is fostering their selective exposure to information that aligns with their preferred viewpoints. This, in turn, exacerbates their psychological defense against digital platforms, causing consumers to become more prone to verifying existing beliefs and fostering the polarization of information choices. This phenomenon directly impacts the effectiveness of smart recommendations and the accuracy of digital platforms’ predictions of consumer behavior, potentially even adversely affecting brand trust and the long-term stability of platform usage. From the perspectives of self-verification and cognitive closure, this study delves into the influence of ‘eavesdropping’ inference cues within intelligent recommendation systems on consumers’ selective exposure to information and the underlying psychological mechanisms. Experimental findings indicated: (1) Behavioral results showed that consumers who believed in eavesdropping by digital platforms, under conditions of high comprehensibility, were more inclined to selectively engage with consistent information as opposed to inconsistent information. Under conditions of low comprehensibility, however, information consistency had no significant effect on consumers’ selective exposure. (2) EEG results revealed that, based on the need for cognitive closure, individuals in the high comprehensibility group, during the self-verification process, exhibited more cognitive conflict and required greater cognitive effort when presented with inconsistent information compared to those in the consistent information group. This, in turn, elicited higher N2 and N450 amplitudes. This study uncovered the psychological mechanism underlying this phenomenon. When consumers developed a skeptical perspective on perceived eavesdropping by digital platforms within intelligent recommendation systems, they promptly engaged in self-verification, driven by the need for cognitive closure. The study’s findings offered practical guidance to digital platforms on how to alleviate consumer suspicions when designing intelligent recommendation services, thereby mitigating negative consumer reactions to the perception of ‘eavesdropping’. This insight held significant theoretical and practical value at the intersection of digital marketing and psychology.

Single High-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Intermittent Theta Pulse Stimulation Promote Working Memory Behavior in Participants: An Event-Related Potential Study

ObjectiveRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) has an improving effect in cognitive function, but it is still not clear in what specific cognitive domains. We here combined a single session of TMS (HF-rTMS/iTBS) with electroencephalography (EEG) to clarify the effects of magnetic stimulation techniques on executive function, working memory, and visuospatial attention in healthy participants, and to investigate the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. MethodsFifty-one healthy participants were randomly assigned to three stimulation groups (HF-rTMS, iTBS, and sham groups). Classical psychological paradigms (task-switching, 2-back with visual Oddball) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were performed to compare the behavioral indices of each paradigm before and after the two stimulations, as well as the changes in the ERP components. ResultsAnalysis of behavioral indicators showed that reaction times in the 2-back paradigm were faster after HF-rTMS and iTBS than after sham stimulation. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in the behavioral changes in the task-switching and visual Oddball paradigms. ERP analysis showed that N2 amplitude in the frontal and central regions of the participants increased during the 2-back paradigm following HF-rTMS and iTBS; however, no statistically significant differences were observed between the ERP components of the task-switching and visual Oddball paradigms. ConclusionSingle sessions of HF-rTMS and iTBS on the L-DLPFC specifically enhanced working memory performance, with no significant effects on executive function and visuospatial attention. Both true stimulations elicited more negative N2 in the frontal and central channels during the 2-back paradigm, suggesting increased recruitment of cognitive resources from these brain areas. Although iTBS and HF-rTMS improved working memory behavior, iTBS’s shorter stimulation time suggests it may have greater potential for clinical applications in terms of time-benefit costs.

Musical Expertise Influences the Processing of Short and Long Auditory Time Intervals: An Electroencephalography Study.

Musical expertise has been proven to be beneficial for time perception abilities, with musicians outperforming nonmusicians in several explicit timing tasks. However, it is unclear how musical expertise impacts implicit time perception. Twenty nonmusicians and 15 expert musicians participated in an EEG recording during a passive auditory oddball paradigm with 0.8- and 1.6-sec standard time intervals and deviant intervals that were either played earlier or delayed relative to the standard interval. We first confirmed that, as was the case for nonmusicians, musicians use different neurofunctional processes to support the perception of short (below 1.2 sec) and long (above 1.2 sec) time intervals: Whereas deviance detection for long intervals elicited a N1 component, P2 was associated with deviance detection for short time intervals. Interestingly, musicians did not elicit a contingent negative variation (CNV) for longer intervals but show additional components of deviance detection such as (i) an attention-related N1 component, even for deviants occurring during short intervals; (ii) a N2 component for above and below 1.2-sec deviance detection, and (iii) a P2 component for above 1.2-sec deviance detection. We propose that the N2 component is a marker of explicit deviance detection and acts as an inhibitory/conflict monitoring of the deviance. This hypothesis was supported by a positive correlation between CNV and N2 amplitudes: The CNV reflects the temporal accumulator and can predict explicit detection of the deviance. In expert musicians, a N2 component is observable without CNV, suggesting that deviance detection is optimized and does not require the temporal accumulator. Overall, this study suggests that musical expertise is associated with optimized implicit time perception.

Unveiling the neural mechanisms of acute aerobic exercise on inhibitory control among young adults with obesity: Insights from an ERP study

Obesity has become a prominent public health concern worldwide and is associated with adverse cognitive function. Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, is known to benefit for weight loss and cognitive function. However, whether acute aerobic exercise could yield benefits to obese individuals and the precise brain mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. The study aimed to investigate whether acute aerobic exercise could improve inhibitory control among obese individuals and what neuroelectric mechanisms are implicated. A 3 (session: control, low-intensity exercise, moderate-intensity exercise) × 2 (congruency: congruent, incongruent) within-subject design was conducted. 18 obese young male adults underwent three sessions of 30-min interventions in a counterbalanced order seperated by five days: moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (MIE), low-intensity aerobic exercise (LIE) and a control session (a sedentary period of seated rest). The Flanker task and EEG recordings (N2 and P3 amplitude) were investigated following exercise and the control treatment. Results showed that the N2 amplitude following MIE was larger than the control session, whereas a larger N2 and reduced congruent P3 amplitude was observed following MIE than LIE. However, no main effect of the session was found for reaction time and accuracy, but a significant main effect of congruency was observed. These findings suggest acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise may modulate brain activity through enhanced recruitment of attentional resources for cognitive control and conflict monitoring in adults with obesity.

Effect of food stimuli presentation on restrained eater's food choice: An ERP study

Restrained eaters are individuals who consciously follow a limited food intake diet to lose or maintain body weight. With the rising numbers of obesity cases, retrained eating has became more prevalent as more people adopt it to cope with obesity. The dual conflict theory states that restrained eaters often encounter conflicting choices of food pleasure and weight management. The present study investigated the difference in food choice regarding different presentations of the weight management goal. The study hypothesized difference in successful and unsuccessful restrained eaters’ food choice when presented with the conflicting food/weight maintenance stimuli. A total of 49 college students participated in the study and the N2, P3 and LPP event-related potentials (ERPs) were investigated during a food choice task. Results showed that the reaction time in unsuccessful restrained eaters (UREs) were greater than successful restrained eaters (SREs). The ERP results showed that SREs exhibited smaller N2 and greater P3 amplitudes than UREs, however, we did not find a difference in LPP amplitudes between the two groups. The findings suggest that the UREs demonstrated greater sensitivity and smaller inhibition to food cues, while we do not have supports for a difference in motivational and emotional salience. This is the first study that investigated the food choice of SREs and UREs when faced with different presentations of conflicting goals, which enriches the theoretical model and provides neural correlates evidence for future studies.

Posttraumatic growth modulates the response to negative emotions related to COVID-19: An event-related potentials study.

There is increasing interest in identifying how posttraumatic growth (PTG) impacts emotional processing following traumatic events (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Previous research suggests that high PTG levels may lead to enduring changes in positive emotional processing. Despite this fact, little is known regarding brain activation and responses to stressful emotional stimuli. The present study utilised event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether individual differences in emotional responses toward neutral and negative emotional stimuli related to COVID-19 are related to self-reported PTG levels. A total of 77 participants were analysed: 21 in the high PTG group and 56 in the control group. The amplitude of the N2 was smaller in the high PTG group compared to the control group under both negative and neutral conditions. When viewing the negative emotion pictures (vs. neutral pictures), the N2 amplitude significantly decreased for the high PTG group in the right occipital and frontal-parietal areas, whereas no significant change was observed among the control group. In the time window Late Positive Potential (LPP) 600-1000ms, emotional stimuli and the group interaction were significant. Viewing negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) decreased the LPP 600-1000ms amplitudes for the control group, mainly originating from the brain's frontal regions. However, there were no such significant differences for the PTG group. Due to the limited sample size and cultural differences, the applicability of these results to other regions or countries needs to be verified. The presented findings suggest that the impact of PTG during emotional response is reflected in both bottom-up (evidenced by the early ERP components) and top-down (evidenced by the later ERP components) processes. Individuals with high PTG may use a meditation-related emotional regulation strategy of acceptance at the basic stage and non-judgement at a later stage.

The inhibitory control deficit of internet gaming disorder: An Event-Related Potentials(ERPs) study

IntroductionThe primary difficulty and challenge encountered by individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is inhibitory control deficit. Given that different types of inhibitory control have different effects on IGD patients, it is critical to investigate the neurological cognitive processes underlying various inhibitory control problems. MethodsThe IGD-20 questionnaire was used to identify Internet game disorder and healthy control group, and finally Internet game disorder in (n=25) and healthy control group (n=28) in Flanker task, Internet game disorder (n=29) and health control group (n=24) in GO/NOGO task. The Flanker task was employed to investigate distractor interference inhibition control in those with IGD, while the Go/NoGo task was used to measure their prepotent response inhibitory control. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to evaluate the brain mechanisms difference of both IGD and healthy participants during these different inhibitory control tasks. ResultsFindings indicate that compared to healthy control subjects, individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) have deficits in inhibitory control tasks during both distraction inhibition and prepotent response inhibition tasks, and distraction inhibition occurs earlier than prepotent response inhibition. In distraction inhibition tasks, the IGD group's N2 amplitude is significantly lower than the healthy control groups. In prepotent response inhibition, the N2 amplitude provoked in the IGD group is not only significantly lower than in the healthy control group, but the P3 amplitude is also significantly larger in the IGD group. The main brain activity areas of interference inhibitory control are the frontal lobe and prefrontal lobe, while the main brain activity areas of prepotent response inhibitory control are the frontal lobe and occipital lobe. ConclusionThe present study concentrates on the differential neurophysiological characteristics observed in individuals with Internet gaming problems, notably the ability to avoid distractions and prepotent reactions. The current research provides foundations for the assessment and development of tailored therapy and treatment methods to address the wide variety of cognitive problems reported in individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).

Neural dynamics of pain modulation by emotional valence.

Definitions of human pain acknowledge at least two dimensions of pain, affective and sensory, described as separable and thus potentially differentially modifiable. Using electroencephalography, we investigated perceptual and neural changes of emotional pain modulation in healthy individuals. Painful electrical stimuli were applied after presentation of priming emotional pictures (negative, neutral, positive) and followed by pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings. We found that perceptual and neural event-related potential responses to painful stimulation were significantly modulated by emotional valence. Specifically, pain unpleasantness but not pain intensity ratings were increased when pain was preceded by negative compared to neutral or positive pictures. Amplitudes of N2 were higher when pain was preceded by neutral compared to negative and positive pictures, and P2 amplitudes were higher for negative compared to neutral and positive pictures. In addition, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that P2 alone and not N2, predicted pain perception. Finally, source analysis showed the anterior cingulate cortex and the thalamus as main spatial clusters accounting for the neural changes in pain processing. These findings provide evidence for a separation of the sensory and affective dimensions of pain and open new perspectives for mechanisms of pain modulation.

Methylene Blue Reduces Electroretinogram Distortion and Ganglion Cell Death in a Rat Model of Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide and is, in most cases, a consequence of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), ultimately resulting in the death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Current treatments are mostly focused on normalizing IOP, but we propose the additional use of neuroprotective agents, including methylene blue (MB), to block the loss of RGCs. Wistar rats were subjected to episcleral vein cauterization (EVC) in the left eye while the right eye was sham-operated. One week later, they were divided into two groups, which were injected with either 2.0 mg/kg MB or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), twice a day, for 7 days. Fifteen days after surgery, rats were tested with scotopic electroretinography (ERG) or pattern electroretinography (PERG). After sacrifice, the number of RGCs and the thickness of the inner retina (IR) were evaluated both in the peripheral and central areas of the retina. Scotopic ERG showed a marked reduction (p < 0.0001) on the a- and b-wave amplitude and oscillatory potential (OP) complexity of the eyes subjected to EVC. These parameters were significantly (p < 0.01) restored by the application of MB. PERG indicated that EVC was responsible for a very significant decrease in N2 amplitude (p < 0.0001) and prolongation of N2 implicit time (p < 0.0001). Treatment with MB significantly restored N2 amplitude (p < 0.0001). In parallel with the ERG results, morphological analysis showed a significant loss of RGCs (p < 0.0001) and IR thickness (p < 0.0001) in both the peripheral and central retinas subjected to EVC, which was significantly prevented (p < 0.0001) by MB treatment. We have shown that MB treatment can be effective in preventing physiological and morphological hallmarks of optic neuropathy in a model of ocular hypertension, which faithfully recapitulates human open-angle glaucoma. Due to its high safety profile, this drug could therefore represent a new pharmacologic strategy to prevent vision loss in glaucoma patients.

Effects of hazard type on the hazard perceptions of violation-involved and violation-free drivers: An ERP study

ObjectiveHazard perception, which is closely related to crash risk, is the ability to anticipate potential dangers on the road. This study aimed to investigate the effects of drivers’ previous traffic violation history on their neural processing of hazard perception under different hazard types. MethodsA mixed experimental design was employed, involving two groups of drivers (driver group: violation-involved, violation-free) and three types of images (no-hazard image, covert hazard image, overt hazard image). Twenty covert hazard images, 20 overt hazard images and 40 no-hazard images were randomly presented to 19 drivers with previous violation histories and 28 drivers without violations. The participants were asked to detect whether there was a hazardous situation in the images and press the keyboard quickly after detecting one. Response time, response accuracy and changes in the N1 (100–140 ms), N2 (250–300 ms) and P300 (300–400 ms) components of event-related potentials (ERP) were obtained and analysed. ResultsThe response time to the covert hazard images was significantly greater than that to the no-hazard and overt hazard images, and the lower accuracy also revealed that the covert hazard images were harder to detect than the no-hazard and overt hazard images. Under both overt and covert hazard images, the response time of violation-involved drivers was longer, and their accuracy was worse than that of violation-free drivers. The N1 latency of violation-involved drivers was significantly longer than that of violation-free drivers. The amplitude of N2 was significantly larger in the no-hazard image than in the covert and overt hazard images. The P300 amplitude was significantly greater in the overt hazard images than in the covert and no-hazard images. ConclusionViolation-involved drivers have poorer hazard perception abilities than violation-free drivers regardless of hazard type. N1 latency can differ from that of drivers with and without previous violations. These findings provide support for the development of hazard perception training systems for drivers who are prone to traffic violations.

Connection of social anxiety to impaired pattern of cognitive control and underlying motivational deficiencies: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Numerous studies have established a correlation between social anxiety and poor cognitive control. However, little is known about the cognitive control pattern of individuals with high social anxiety (HSAs) and the underlying mechanisms. Based on the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework and the Expected Value of Control theory, this study explored whether HSAs have an impaired cognitive control pattern (Experiment 1) and whether motivational deficiencies underlie the impaired control pattern (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 21 individuals with low social anxiety (LSAs) and 21 HSAs completed an AX-Continuous Performance Task. Results showed that HSAs had a smaller P3b amplitude than LSAs, indicating their weakened proactive control in the cue processing stage, but a larger contingent negative variation (CNV) on cue B as compensation for the negative effects of anxiety in the response preparation stage. No group difference was found in N2 and P3a amplitude on probes, suggesting that reactive control in HSAs was not affected compared to LSAs. In Experiment 2, 21 LSAs and 21 HSAs completed a cued-flanker task, where the likelihood of proactive control engagement was manipulated. The results revealed that HSAs exhibited motivation deficiencies in engaging in proactive control, as evidenced by P3b, CNV amplitude, and response times. These findings shed light on the impaired cognitive control pattern of HSAs and suggest that motivational deficiencies may be the crucial underlying factor.

Listen to your heart: Trade-off between cardiac interoceptive processing and visual exteroceptive processing

Internal bodily signals, such as heartbeats, can influence conscious perception of external sensory information. Spontaneous shifts of attention between interoception and exteroception have been proposed as the underlying mechanism, but direct evidence is lacking. Here, we used steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) frequency tagging to independently measure the neural processing of visual stimuli that were concurrently presented but varied in heartbeat coupling in healthy participants. Although heartbeat coupling was irrelevant to participants’ task of detecting brief color changes, we found decreased SSVEPs for systole-coupled stimuli and increased SSVEPs for diastole-coupled stimuli, compared to non-coupled stimuli. These results suggest that attentional and representational resources allocated to visual stimuli vary according to fluctuations in cardiac-related signals across the cardiac cycle, reflecting spontaneous and immediate competition between cardiac-related signals and visual events. Furthermore, frequent coupling of visual stimuli with stronger cardiac-related signals not only led to a larger heartbeat evoked potential (HEP) but also resulted in a smaller color change evoked N2 component, with the increase in HEP amplitude associated with a decrease in N2 amplitude. These findings indicate an overall or longer-term increase in brain resources allocated to the internal domain at the expense of reduced resources available for the external domain. Our study highlights the dynamic reallocation of limited processing resources across the internal-external axis and supports the trade-off between interoception and exteroception.

Impairment of inhibitory control due to repetitive subconcussions from indirect brain impacts: Evidence from event-related potentials and resting-state EEG complexity in parachuters

The present study aims to investigate the unknown relationship between inhibitory control and repetitive subconcussion induced by the indirect brain impacts. We enrolled 28 parachuters exposed to repetitive subconcussion (SC) and 27 matched health controls (HC). Parachuters who have completed at least 70 actual parachuting (71–112 times) and at least 1500 simulated platform jumps (1500–4500 times) were included in the SC group. The SC group had a reduced accuracy rate in both the Stroop congruent and incongruent conditions. Larger N2 and N450 amplitudes were elicited in the frontal regions of the SC group, which indicate compensatory adaptations to the deficit in conflict monitoring. The reduced frontal resting-state EEG complexity in full-band (1–40 Hz) may demonstrate the frontal structural damage following the indirect brain impacts of repetitive subconcussion. Pearson correlation analysis showed that in the SC group, the frontal beta-band sample entropy values are positively correlated with the accuracy rate of the Stroop incongruent condition, suggesting the frontal beta-band sample entropy values may serve as potential electrophysiological markers of impaired inhibitory control after indirectly repetitive brain impacts. This study provides the robust evidence that repetitive subconcussion resulting from indirect brain impacts may lead to impairment of inhibitory control.

Overt and Covert Effects of Mental Fatigue on Attention Networks: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials during the Attention Network Test.

Mental fatigue is a variation in the psychophysiological state that subjects encounter during or after prolonged cognitive activity periods, affecting top-down attention and cognitive control. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of mental fatigue on attention in the context of the three attention networks according to the Posnerian model (alerting, orienting, and executive networks) by combining the Attentional Network Test (ANT) and event-related potentials technique. Thirty healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. A continuous arithmetic task lasting one hour induced mental fatigue, and EEG recordings were conducted before and after the task while subjects were performing the ANT. The efficiencies of three networks were comparable between groups, while RTs shortened only in the control group and the accuracy related to the alerting and conflict networks declined only after mental effort. Mental fatigue reduced N1 amplitude during alerting network engagement and p3 amplitude during orienting. It also reduced N2 and P3 amplitude during the conflict, particularly the incongruent target-locked response. These findings underscore the covert effects of mental fatigue on attention, suggesting that even in healthy young subjects, compensatory mechanisms may maintain adequate overt performances, but fatigue still has a detrimental effect on top-down attentional mechanisms.

Monetary reward enhances response inhibition processes manifested in No-go P3

This study investigated the impact of motivational valence on No-go P3 and N2 by incorporating monetary rewards based on response outcomes. We also investigated how personality differences in terms of the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) influenced No-go N2 and No-go P3. Twenty-eight participants performed Go/No-go tasks (80 % Go and 20 % No-go) under two conditions. In the reward condition, each correct-rejection trial for the No-go stimulus was rewarded with 10 yen (∼6 cents), whereas in the neutral condition, neither monetary rewards nor punishments were contingent on response outcomes. Individual responsiveness to punishment and rewards was evaluated using the BIS and BAS scales. The error rate was significantly lower in the reward condition than in the neutral condition. P3 amplitude for correct-rejection trials (i.e., preceding erroneous muscular activity on the wrong hand) was larger in the reward condition than in the neutral condition; however, N2 amplitudes did not differ between the two conditions. These results suggest that monetary rewards may enhance motor inhibition control. Individuals with a higher BIS score exhibited a larger No-go N2 for correct-rejection in the neutral condition. We conclude that No-go N2 amplitude is modulated by avoidance motivation.

The association of dispositional anxiety with the NoGo N2 under relaxation instruction vs. speed/accuracy instruction

Prior research suggests that cognitive control, indicated by NoGo N2 amplitudes in Go/NoGo tasks, is associated with dispositional anxiety. This negative association tends to be reduced in anxiety-enhancing experimental conditions. However, anxiety-reducing conditions have not yet been investigated systematically. Thus, the present study compares the effect of a relaxation instruction with the conventional speed/accuracy instruction in a Go/NoGo task on the correlation of the NoGo N2 with two subconstructs of dispositional anxiety, namely anxious apprehension and anxious arousal. As the test of differences between correlations needs considerable statistical power, the present study was included into the multi-lab CoScience Project. The hypotheses, manipulation checks, and the main path of pre-processing and statistical analysis were preregistered. Complete data sets of 777 participants were available for data analysis. Preregistered general linear models revealed that the different instructions of the task (speed/accuracy vs. relaxation) had no effect on the association between dispositional anxiety and the NoGo N2 amplitude in general. This result was supported by Cooperative-Forking-Path analysis. In contrast, a preregistered latent growth model with categorical variables revealed that anxious arousal was a negative predictor of the NoGo N2 intercept and a positive predictor of the NoGo N2 slope. Non-preregistered growth models, allowing for correlations of anxious apprehension with anxious arousal, revealed that higher anxious apprehension scores were associated with more negative NoGo N2 amplitudes with increased relaxation. Results are discussed in the context of the compensatory error monitoring hypothesis and the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory.

Attenuated conflict self-referential information facilitating conflict resolution

Self-referential information can reduce the congruency effect by acting as a signal to enhance cognitive control. However, it cannot be denied that self-referential information can attract and hold attention. To investigate this issue, the study used a revised Stroop task and recorded behavioral and electrophysiological data from thirty-three participants. We combined event-related potential (ERP) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to examine the neural correlates of self-referential processing and conflict processing. In the behavioral results, self-referential information reduced the congruency effect. Specifically, self-reference stimuli elicited smaller N2 amplitude than non-self-reference stimuli, indicating that self-referential information was promptly identified and reduced top-down cognitive resource consumption. Self-referential information could be reliably decoded from ERP signals in the early-to-mid stage. Moreover, self-reference conditions exhibited earlier congruency decoding than non-self-reference conditions, facilitating conflict monitoring. In the late stage, under the incongruent condition, self-reference stimuli elicited smaller sustained potential amplitude than non-self-reference stimuli, indicating that cognitive control in the self-reference condition required fewer cognitive resources for conflict resolution. Together, these findings revealed that self-referential information was identified and facilitated conflict monitoring, leading to more effective conflict resolution.