Erika A. Henry

Alcohol effects on performance monitoring and adjustment: affect modulation and impairment of evaluative cognitive control.

Alcohol is known to impair self-regulatory control of behavior, though mechanisms for this effect remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that alcohols reduction of negative affect (NA) is a key mechanism for such impairment. This hypothesis was tested by measuring the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN), a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) posited to reflect the extent to which behavioral control failures are experienced as distressing, while participants completed a laboratory task requiring self-regulatory control. Alcohol reduced both the ERN and error positivity (Pe) components of the ERP following errors and impaired typical posterror behavioral adjustment. Structural equation modeling indicated that effects of alcohol on both the ERN and posterror adjustment were significantly mediated by reductions in NA. Effects of alcohol on Pe amplitude were unrelated to posterror adjustment, however. These findings indicate a role for affect modulation in understanding alcohols effects on self-regulatory impairment and more generally support theories linking the ERN with a distress-related response to control failures.

Effects of Alcohol Sensitivity on P3 Event-Related Potential Reactivity to Alcohol Cues

Although alcoholics and individuals at risk for alcoholism often show smaller amplitude of the P3 event-related brain potential (ERP), recent data (K. Namkoong, E. Lee, C. H. Lee, B. O. Lee, & S. K. An, 2004) indicate that alcohol-related cues elicit larger P3 amplitude in alcoholics than in controls. Little is known concerning the ERP profiles or alcohol cue reactivity of social drinkers at risk for alcoholism due to low sensitivity to alcohols effects. Participants differing in alcohol sensitivity viewed images of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages while ERPs were recorded and provided information about their alcohol use patterns at baseline and 4 months later. Compared to high-sensitivity participants, those low in sensitivity showed larger P3s to alcohol cues, even when recent alcohol use was statistically controlled for. Moreover, the P3 elicited by alcohol cues predicted alcohol use at follow-up, a finding supporting the idea that P3 amplitude reflects the motivational significance of substance-related cues. These findings point to risk status, not consumption history, as an important predictor of cue reactivity effects.

Cannabis Cue Reactivity and Craving Among Never, Infrequent and Heavy Cannabis Users

Substance cue reactivity is theorized as having a significant role in addiction processes, promoting compulsive patterns of drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. However, research extending this phenomenon to cannabis has been limited. To that end, the goal of the current work was to examine the relationship between cannabis cue reactivity and craving in a sample of 353 participants varying in self-reported cannabis use. Participants completed a visual oddball task whereby neutral, exercise, and cannabis cue images were presented, and a neutral auditory oddball task while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Consistent with past research, greater cannabis use was associated with greater reactivity to cannabis images, as reflected in the P300 component of the ERP, but not to neutral auditory oddball cues. The latter indicates the specificity of cue reactivity differences as a function of substance-related cues and not generalized cue reactivity. Additionally, cannabis cue reactivity was significantly related to self-reported cannabis craving as well as problems associated with cannabis use. Implications for cannabis use and addiction more generally are discussed.

Death on the brain: effects of mortality salience on the neural correlates of ingroup and outgroup categorization

Research has shown that thoughts of ones; own death (i.e. mortality salience; MS) increase aspects of intergroup bias. However, the extent to which MS influences neural activity underlying basic person perception processes has not been examined. In the current study, event-related brain potentials were used as measures of online attentional and evaluative processes as White participants categorized ingroup (White) and outgroup (Black) faces according to expression (happy vs angry) following either MS or a control induction. Results showed that MS affected the amplitude of the P2 and N2 components elicited by ingroup faces but had no effect on the processing of outgroup faces. Processing of angry ingroup relative to angry outgroup faces was pronounced in the MS condition, reflected both in N2 amplitude and in longer latency of the P3 component, suggesting heightened sensitivity to threats to positive ingroup. Overall, findings suggest that MS intensifies perception of social category features, primarily by enhancing processing of ingroup cues.

Electrophysiological evidence of alcohol-related attentional bias in social drinkers low in alcohol sensitivity.

Low sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol is a known risk factor for alcoholism. However, little is known concerning potential information-processing routes by which this risk factor might contribute to increased drinking. We tested the hypothesis that low-sensitivity (LS) participants would show biased attention to alcohol cues, compared with their high-sensitivity (HS) counterparts. Participants performed a task in which alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage cues were presented bilaterally followed by a target that required categorization by color. Response times were faster for targets appearing in alcohol-cued than non-alcohol-cued locations for LS but not for HS participants. Event-related potential markers of early attention orienting (P1 amplitude) and subsequent attention reorienting (ipsilateral invalid negativity amplitude) indicated preferential selective attention to alcohol-cued locations among LS individuals. Controlling for recent drinking and family history of alcoholism did not affect these patterns, except that among HS participants, relatively heavy recent drinking was associated with difficulty reorienting attention away from alcohol-cued locations. These findings suggest a potential information-processing bias through which low sensitivity could lead to heavy alcohol involvement.

Transcending self-interest: psychological explorations of the quiet ego, edited by Heidi A. Wayment and Jack J. Bauer

Whether or not Americans can lay claim to an historical ‘exceptionalism,’ it is no secret that we are at least egocentric. Our obsession with ‘me’ and ‘mine’ has influenced more than our individual pursuits though; or rather our individual pursuits have broader implications than the self. Although living in one of the most wealthy and powerful countries in the world affords us the ability to overlook others with seemingly little cost to the self, might we profit off of setting our egos aside? Such is the argument of Transcending SelfInterest: psychological explorations of the quiet ego, edited by Drs. Heidi Wayment and Jack Bauer. This book brings into question the implications that arise from living in a hyper individualistic American society that promotes and values egotism or what Wayment and Bauer refer to as a ‘noisy ego.’ In contrast to the excessive self-interest that is the hallmark of the noisy ego, Wayment and Bauer introduce the concept of the quiet ego. They view the quiet ego as, ‘a self-identity that is not excessively self-focused but also not excessively other focused—an identity that incorporates others without losing the self’ (p. 8). Incorporating approaches and expertise from psychologists of various disciplines, this book provides a thoughtful review of empirical evidence demonstrating the utility and profitability that arises from cultivating a quiet ego. While many psychology books today focus on giving definitive answers to the ‘should’s’ of life, this book offers instead a refreshing embrace of the complexities of human existence. It hesitates to give blanket answers to difficult questions. Rather, it provides tools for understanding the problems associated with the noisy ego and methods for knowing how and when it is best to assume a quiet ego. This book is an important contribution because the issues it raises about the ego from within the field of psychology resonate with broader academic concerns about America’s noisy cultural and political ego. While the book has a Western focus, the ego is not just something that affects Western life, nor is the American ego something that only affects Americans; thus, while the book is most applicable to understanding the American fixation with the self, it is useful to psychologists and academics from all over. The book is made up of 21 chapters, divided into the following four parts: (I) Putting the Ego into Perspective; (II) The Importance of Awareness in Quieting the Ego; (III) The Importance of Others in Quieting the Ego; and (IV) Developmental Perspectives on Quieting the Ego. While each section has a very different focus, collectively they offer a broadly informed perspective on how one might go about quieting their ego should they so choose. Indeed, the book takes an open approach to its subject, allowing readers to determine on their own what noise level best suits their particular circumstances. It is not a book of noisy ‘should’s’ or ‘ought to’s,’ but of quiet suggestions, options, and possibilities. Clearly, then, the authors have sought to transcend their own scholarly egos in writing this book. Chapter 1, entitled ‘The Psychology of the Quiet Ego,’ by Bauer and Wayment, begins setting up the groundwork for the thesis of the book by declaring, ‘Egotism is in’ (p. 7). In other words, we are living in a society where being concerned with only one’s self is, at present, considered chic. In this chapter, Bauer and Wayment argue that while ‘looking out for Number One’ (p. 7) may be considered an acceptable, fashionable, or even advantageous mindset for the average American, the sentiment is a dangerous fiction. Bauer and Wayment argue that an obsession with selfinterest, while possibly satisfying short-term pleasures will likely result in more detrimental long-term costs. For example, they identify problems associated with self-centeredness as including social disharmony and reduced personal well-being, risks to health and productivity, and compromised self-esteem. Thus, Chapter 1 highlights what is to be the thesis of the book: ‘excessive self-interest is not entirely in the interest of the self’ (p. 7).