Jason S. Moser

The feedback-related negativity reflects the binary evaluation of good versus bad outcomes

Electrophysiological studies have utilized event-related brain potentials to study neural processes related to the evaluation of environmental feedback. In particular, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) has been shown to reflect the evaluation of monetary losses and negative performance feedback. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether or not the FRN is sensitive to the magnitude of negative feedback. In both experiments, participants performed simple gambling tasks in which they could receive a range of potential outcomes on each trial. Relative to feedback indicating monetary gain, feedback indicating non-rewards was associated with a FRN in both experiments; however, the magnitude of the FRN did not demonstrate sensitivity to the magnitude of non-reward in either experiment. These data suggest that the FRN reflects the early appraisal of feedback based on a binary classification of good versus bad outcomes. These data are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of the FRN, as well as appraisal processes implicated in emotional processing.

Attending to affect: appraisal strategies modulate the electrocortical response to arousing pictures.

Arousing (unpleasant and pleasant) pictures elicit increased neurophysiological measures of perceptual processing. In particular, the electrocortical late positive potential (LPP) is enhanced for arousing, compared with neutral, pictures. To determine whether the magnitude of the LPP is sensitive to the way stimuli are appraised, 16 participants viewed both pleasant and unpleasant pictures and categorized them along an affective or nonaffective dimension. Results indicate that the LPP was reduced for both pleasant and unpleasant pictures when participants made nonaffective, compared with affective, judgments. These results are consistent with previous studies that have used functional neuroimaging to investigate the role of appraisal on emotional processing. The results are further discussed in terms of the utility of using the LPP to study emotion regulation.

Context in the clinic: how well do cognitive-behavioral therapies and medications work in combination?

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy demonstrate efficacy across the anxiety disorders, but recognition of their limitations has sparked interest in combining modalities to maximize benefit. This article reviews the empirical literature to examine whether combining treatments influences efficacy of either monotherapy. We conducted a comprehensive literature search of published randomized trials that compared combined treatment with pharmacologic or CBT monotherapies. Ten studies that met our inclusion criteria were reviewed in detail, and within-subjects effect sizes were calculated to compare treatment conditions within and across studies. At posttreatment and follow-up, effect size and percentage responder data failed to clearly demonstrate an advantage or disadvantage of combined treatment over CBT alone for obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. Some advantage of combined treatment over pharmacotherapy alone emerged from the few studies that allowed for such a direct comparison. In contrast, combined treatment for panic disorder seems to provide an advantage over CBT alone at posttreatment, but is associated with greater relapse after treatment discontinuation. The advantage of combined treatment may vary across the anxiety disorders. The potential differences in usefulness of combined treatment are discussed, directions for future research are suggested, and implications for clinical practice are considered.

On the relationship between anxiety and error monitoring: a meta-analysis and conceptual framework

Research involving event-related brain potentials has revealed that anxiety is associated with enhanced error monitoring, as reflected in increased amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN). The nature of the relationship between anxiety and error monitoring is unclear, however. Through meta-analysis and a critical review of the literature, we argue that anxious apprehension/worry is the dimension of anxiety most closely associated with error monitoring. Although, overall, anxiety demonstrated a robust, “small-to-medium” relationship with enhanced ERN (r = −0.25), studies employing measures of anxious apprehension show a threefold greater effect size estimate (r = −0.35) than those utilizing other measures of anxiety (r = −0.09). Our conceptual framework helps explain this more specific relationship between anxiety and enhanced ERN and delineates the unique roles of worry, conflict processing, and modes of cognitive control. Collectively, our analysis suggests that enhanced ERN in anxiety results from the interplay of a decrease in processes supporting active goal maintenance and a compensatory increase in processes dedicated to transient reactivation of task goals on an as-needed basis when salient events (i.e., errors) occur.

Modulations of the Electrophysiological Response to Pleasant Stimuli by Cognitive Reappraisal

Research indicates that individuals successfully regulate their emotions to negatively valenced stimuli using cognitive, antecedent-focused techniques (cf. Gross, 1998). Event-related potential studies have elucidated candidate neural correlates, particularly modulations of the late positive potential (LPP) to index emotion regulation processes. The present study attempted to extend prior demonstrations of emotion regulation effects on the LPP to the domain of positively valenced stimuli. Twenty participants completed a blocked emotion regulation task: The first block consisted of passively viewing pleasant and neutral pictures, whereas the last two blocks consisted of either decreasing or increasing emotions to pleasant pictures. Results replicated our previous findings with negatively valenced stimuli, demonstrating an attenuated LPP during decrease instructions and no effect of increase instructions. Modulation of the ERP as a function of instruction was most prominent during the positive-going slow-wave time window of the LPP, indicating that attentional resources allocated to the perceptual processing of pleasant stimuli may be manipulated using emotion regulation strategies.

Face processing biases in social anxiety: An electrophysiological study

Studies of information processing biases in social anxiety suggest abnormal processing of negative and positive social stimuli. To further investigate these biases, behavioral performance and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured, while high- and low-socially anxious individuals performed a modified version of the Erikson flanker task comprised of negative and positive facial expressions. While no group differences emerged on behavioral measures, ERP results revealed the presence of a negative face bias in socially anxious subjects as indexed by the parietally maximal attention- and memory-related P3/late positive potential. Additionally, non-anxious subjects evidenced the presence of a positive face bias as reflected in the centrally maximal early attention- and emotion-modulated P2 and the frontally maximal response monitoring-related correct response negativity. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of different processing stages to different biases in high- versus low-socially anxious individuals that may prove important in advancing models of anxious pathology.

Electrophysiological correlates of decreasing and increasing emotional responses to unpleasant pictures.

We examined event-related brain potential (ERP) modulations during the anticipation and processing of unpleasant pictures under instructions to cognitively decrease and increase negative emotion. Instructions to decrease and increase negative emotion modulated the ERP response to unpleasant pictures in the direction of emotional intensity beginning around 400 ms and lasting several seconds. Decrease, but not increase, instructions also elicited enhanced frontal negativity associated with orienting and preparation prior to unpleasant picture onset. Last, ERP modulation by unpleasant pictures began around 300 ms, just prior to regulation effects, suggesting that appraisal of emotion occurs before emotion regulation. Together, the current findings underscore the utility of ERPs in illuminating the time course of emotion modulation and regulation that may help to refine extant theoretical models.

Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters

Does the language people use to refer to the self during introspection influence how they think, feel, and behave under social stress? If so, do these effects extend to socially anxious people who are particularly vulnerable to such stress? Seven studies explored these questions (total N = 585). Studies 1a and 1b were proof-of-principle studies. They demonstrated that using non-first-person pronouns and ones own name (rather than first-person pronouns) during introspection enhances self-distancing. Studies 2 and 3 examined the implications of these different types of self-talk for regulating stress surrounding making good first impressions (Study 2) and public speaking (Study 3). Compared with the first-person group, the non-first-person group performed better according to objective raters in both studies. They also displayed less distress (Studies 2 and 3) and engaged in less maladaptive postevent processing (Study 3). Studies 4 and 5 examined how these different forms of self-talk influence the way people appraise social-anxiety-provoking events. They demonstrated that non-first-person language use (compared with first-person language use) leads people to appraise future stressors in more challenging and less threatening terms. Finally, a meta-analysis (Study 6) indicated that none of these findings were moderated by trait social anxiety, highlighting their translational potential. Together, these findings demonstrate that small shifts in the language people use to refer to the self during introspection consequentially influence their ability to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under social stress, even for vulnerable individuals.

The psychometric properties of the late positive potential during emotion processing and regulation.

The late positive potential (LPP) is a commonly used event-related potential (ERP) in the study of emotion and emotion regulation. The LPP has also been evaluated as a neural marker of affective psychopathology. The psychometric properties of this component have not been examined, however. The current study was conducted with the aim of addressing two questions: how internally consistent is the LPP, and how many trials are necessary to obtain a stable LPP? Fifty-eight participants completed an emotion regulation task. First, split-half reliabilities were computed for the LPP and for difference waves revealing emotion effects (negative minus neutral) and regulation effects (reappraise minus negative). Second, averages including progressively more trials were evaluated and compared to overall participant averages. These data indicated good-to-excellent reliability for neutral, negative and reappraise trials, as well as difference waves. Furthermore, the LPP varies little after 8 trials are added to the average and the difference waves vary little after 12 trials are included. Together, the findings of the current study suggest that the LPP demonstrates good internal consistency and can be adequately quantified with relatively few trials.

Parsing relationships between dimensions of anxiety and action monitoring brain potentials in female undergraduates

Anxiety is associated with enhanced action monitoring. Research to date, however, has employed extreme group designs that fail to address the full spectrum of anxiety, and in which overlapping and co-occurring symptoms obscure the exact nature of the relationships between anxiety and action monitoring. To address these limitations, relationships between distinct dimensions of anxiety and neural indicators of action monitoring were examined in a sample of female undergraduates. Results revealed that higher anxious apprehension (i.e., worry) was associated with enhanced early action monitoring activity, as indexed by the error-related negativity/correct-response negativity. Anxious arousal (i.e., somatic tension) on the other hand, was unrelated to measures of action monitoring. These findings suggest that the anxiety-action monitoring link holds along the continuum of severity and is specific to the worry component of anxiety.