Dan Foti

Deconstructing reappraisal: Descriptions preceding arousing pictures modulate the subsequent neural response

The late positive potential (LPP) is a sustained positive deflection in the event-related potential that is larger following the presentation of emotional compared to neutral visual stimuli. Recent studies have indicated that the magnitude of the LPP is sensitive to emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal, which involves generating an alternate interpretation of emotional stimuli so that they are less negative. It is unclear, however, whether reappraisal-related reductions in the LPP reflect reduced emotional processing or increased cognitive demands following reappraisal instructions. In the present study, we sought to examine whether a more or less negative description preceding the presentation of unpleasant images would similarly modulate the LPP. The LPP was recorded from 26 subjects as they viewed unpleasant and neutral International Affective Picture System images. All participants heard a brief description of the upcoming picture; prior to unpleasant images, this description was either more neutral or more negative. Following the more neutral description, the magnitude of the LPP, unpleasant ratings, and arousal ratings were all reliably reduced. These results indicate that changes in narrative are sufficient to modulate the electrocortical response to the initial viewing of emotional pictures, and are discussed in terms of recent studies on reappraisal and emotion regulation.

Event‐related potential activity in the basal ganglia differentiates rewards from nonrewards: Temporospatial principal components analysis and source localization of the feedback negativity

Event‐related potential studies of reward processing have consistently identified the feedback negativity (FN), an early neural response that differentiates feedback indicating unfavorable versus favorable outcomes. Several important questions remain, however, about the nature of this response. In this study, the FN was recorded in response to monetary gains and losses during a laboratory gambling task, and temporospatial principal components analysis was used to separate the FN from overlapping responses. The FN was identified as a positive deflection at frontocentral recording sites that was enhanced for rewards compared with nonrewards. Furthermore, source localization techniques identified the striatum as a likely neural generator. These data indicate that this apparent FN reflects increased striatal activation in response to favorable outcomes that is reduced or absent for unfavorable outcomes, thereby providing unique information about the timing and nature of basal ganglia activity related to reward processing. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011.

Motivated and controlled attention to emotion: Time-course of the late positive potential

OBJECTIVE The present study examined the time-course of automatic and controlled modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) during emotional picture viewing. METHODS Participants (N=32) viewed neutral and unpleasant stimuli for 6000 ms; at 3000 ms, one of two tones signaled participants to attend either to a more or less arousing portion of the picture. The time-course of the LPP was examined both during the passive viewing and directed attention portions of the trial using the method proposed by Guthrie and Buchwald [Guthrie D, Buchwald JS. Significance testing of difference potentials. Psychophysiology 1991;28(2):240-4]. RESULTS During passive viewing, the LPP became reliably larger following the presentation of unpleasant pictures from 160 ms onward; the magnitude of the LPP became reliably smaller beginning 620 ms after participants were instructed to attend to the less arousing aspects of unpleasant pictures - and this difference was maintained throughout the duration of the trial. CONCLUSIONS The LPP reflects relatively automatic attention to emotional visual stimuli, but is also sensitive to manipulations of directed attention toward arousing versus neutral aspects of such stimuli. SIGNIFICANCE These results shed further light on the time-course of emotional and cognitive modulation of the LPP, and suggest that the LPP reflects the relatively rapid and dynamic allocation of increased attention to emotional stimuli.

Errors Are Aversive Defensive Motivation and the Error-Related Negativity

The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential that is maximal approximately 50 ms after the commission of an error. The ERN is generated in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region of the medial prefrontal cortex implicated in both cognitive and emotional processing. Affective and motivational variables influence the magnitude of the ERN, which suggests that the ERN may relate to emotional or motivational aspects of error detection. In the present study, we evaluated the possibility that errors prime defensive motivational responses, and that the ERN may predict the magnitude of defensive reactivity after errors. We found that (a) the defensive startle response was larger following errors than following correct responses, and (b) the magnitude of the ERN predicted the degree of startle potentiation following errors. Thus, response errors prime defensive motivation—and the ERN predicts individual differences in the aversive response to errors.

Ventral striatal and medial prefrontal BOLD activation is correlated with reward-related electrocortical activity: A combined ERP and fMRI study

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research suggests that the ventral striatum (VS)/nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and broader mesocorticolimbic dopamine system mediate aspects of reward processing from expectation of reward to pleasantness experienced upon reward attainment. In parallel, research utilizing event-related potentials (ERP) indicates that the feedback negativity (FN) is sensitive to reward vs. non-reward feedback and outcome expectation. The FN has been source localized to the mPFC and dorsal striatum, and converging evidence suggests that the FN reflects reward processing in the mesocorticolimbic system. However, the extent to which ERP and fMRI measures of reward processing are correlated has yet to be explored within the same individuals. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the convergence between fMRI (i.e., VS and mPFC) and ERP (i.e., FN) measures of reward processing in forty-two participants who completed counterbalanced fMRI and ERP sessions while performing the same monetary gambling task. For the Win>Loss comparison, fMRI activation in the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit including the VS and mPFC was positively correlated with the FN. Here, we demonstrate that monetary gains activate the VS, mPFC, caudate, amygdala, and orbital frontal cortex, enhance the FN ERP component within 300 ms post feedback, and that these measures are related. Thus, fMRI and ERP measures provide complementary information about mesocorticolimbic activity during reward processing, which may be useful in assessing pathological reward sensitivity.

Depression and reduced sensitivity to non-rewards versus rewards : Evidence from event-related potentials

Depression has been characterized in recent years in terms of deficits in positive affect and an underactive approach-related motivational system. Consistent with this view, behavioral and electrocortical studies suggest that reduced sensitivity to rewards may be a fundamental feature of depression. Within the event-related potential literature, the feedback negativity (FN) has been identified as a component that is sensitive to feedback indicating non-rewards versus rewards, and has been linked to phasic changes in midbrain dopamine levels that indicate whether events are better or worse than expected; thus, the FN may be a useful marker for abnormalities in reward sensitivity associated with depression. In the current study, a simple gambling task was used to elicit an FN in participants, and the magnitude of the FN was related to levels of depressive symptoms, as well as levels of anxiety and stress. The enhancement of the FN to non-rewards relative to rewards was found to be inversely related to depression and stress reactivity; only the relationship between the FN and stress remained significant after controlling for the other psychological variables. The P3 to feedback, meanwhile, was inversely related to depression and anxiety scores regardless of feedback type. These results are discussed within the context of current models of depression and reward sensitivity.

Tell Me About It: Neural Activity Elicited by Emotional Pictures and Preceding Descriptions

Emotional pictures elicit enhanced parietal positivities beginning around 300 ms following stimulus presentation. The magnitude of these responses, however, depends on both intrinsic (stimulus-driven) and extrinsic (context-driven) factors. In the present study, event-related potentials were recorded while participants viewed unpleasant and neutral pictures that were described either more neutrally or more negatively prior to presentation; temporospatial principal components analysis identified early and late positivities: Both emotional images and descriptions had independent and additive effects on early (334 ms) and midlatency (1,066 ms) positivities, whereas the latest positivity (1,688 ms) was sensitive only to description type. Results are discussed with regard to the time course of automatic and controlled processing of emotional stimuli.

Blunted neural response to rewards prospectively predicts depression in adolescent girls.

The prevalence of depression increases substantially during adolescence. Several predictors of major depressive disorder have been established, but their predictive power is limited. In the current study, the feedback negativity (FN), an event-related potential component elicited by feedback indicating monetary gain versus loss, was recorded in 68 never-depressed adolescent girls. Over the following 2 years, 24% of participants developed a major depressive episode (MDE); illness onset was predicted by blunted FN at initial evaluation. Lower FN amplitude predicted more depressive symptoms during the follow-up period, even after controlling for neuroticism and depressive symptoms at baseline. This is the first prospective study to demonstrate a link between a neural measure of reward sensitivity and the first onset of an MDE. The current results suggest that low reward sensitivity may be an important factor in the development of depression.

Neural response to emotional pictures is unaffected by concurrent task difficulty: an event-related potential study.

The late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential that is enhanced when viewing arousing (pleasant and unpleasant) pictures compared to neutral pictures. The affective modulation of the LPP is believed to reflect the increased attention to, and perceptual processing of, emotional stimuli. The present study examined whether concurrent task difficulty (performing mathematics) would modulate the LPP while participants viewed emotionally arousing stimuli. Results indicated that the LPP was larger following pleasant and unpleasant stimuli than it was following neutral stimuli; moreover, the magnitude of this increase was not influenced by concurrent task difficulty. This finding suggests that the affective modulation of neural activity during picture viewing is relatively automatic and is insusceptible to competing task demands. Results are further discussed in terms of the LPPs role in motivated attention and implications for research on emotion regulation.

Neural response to reward and depressive symptoms in late childhood to early adolescence

Depression is a major public health concern, and the period from late childhood through early adolescence is a critical time in the development of depressive symptoms. In adults, depression and depressive symptoms are associated with a reduction in the feedback negativity (FN), an ERP component elicited by feedback indicating rewards versus losses. The current study sought to extend these findings to a sample of 64 children aged 8-13, and to examine developmental differences in the FN. Consistent with previous work in adults, higher depressive symptom scores were associated with a blunted FN across the sample. When responses to losses and gains were examined separately, only reduction in the response to monetary gain was associated with increased depressive symptoms. In the current study, the vast majority of children were pre-pubertal, and the FN was unrelated to both age and pubertal development. The FN may be an ideal biomarker for studying changes in reward sensitivity and depression that emerge as children transition through puberty.