Multimodal Neuroimaging of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in a U.S. Population-Based Sample of School-Age Children.

OBJECTIVE: Suicide deaths and suicidal thoughts and behaviors are considered a public health emergency, yet their underpinnings in the brain remain elusive. The authors examined the classification accuracy of individual, environmental, and clinical characteristics, as well as multimodal brain imaging correlates, of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in a U.S. population-based sample of school-age children. METHODS: Children ages 9-10 years (N=7,994) from a population-based sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study were assessed for lifetime suicidal thoughts and behaviors. After quality control procedures, structural MRI (N=6,238), resting-state functional MRI (N=4,134), and task-based functional MRI (range, N=4,075-4,608) were examined. Differences with Welch's t test and equivalence tests, with observed effect sizes (Cohen's d) and their 90% confidence intervals <|0.15|, were examined. Classification accuracy was examined with area under precision-recall curves (AUPRCs). RESULTS: Among the 7,994 unrelated children (females, N=3,757, 47.0%), those with lifetime suicidal thoughts and behaviors based on child (N=684, 8.6%), caregiver (N=654, 8.2%), and concordant (N=198, 2.5%) reports had higher levels of social adversity and psychopathology, among themselves and their caregivers, compared with never-suicidal children (N=6,854, 85.7%). Only one imaging test survived statistical correction: caregiver-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors were associated with a thinner left bank of the superior temporal sulcus. On the basis of the prespecified bounds of |0.15|, approximately 48% of the group mean differences for child-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors comparisons and approximately 22% for caregiver-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors comparisons were considered equivalent. All observed effect sizes were relatively small (d≤|0.30|), and both non-imaging and imaging correlates had low classification accuracy (AUPRC ≤0.10). CONCLUSIONS: Commonly applied neuroimaging measures did not reveal a discrete brain signature related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors in youths. Improved approaches to the neurobiology of suicide are critically needed.

Great Expectations: A Critical Review of and Suggestions for the Study of Reward Processing as a Cause and Predictor of Depression.

Both human and animal studies support the relationship between depression and reward processing abnormalities, giving rise to the expectation that neural signals of these processes may serve as biomarkers or mechanistic treatment targets. Given the great promise of this research line, we scrutinized those findings and the theoretical claims that underlie them. To achieve this, we applied the framework provided by classical work on causality as well as contemporary approaches to prediction. We identified a number of conceptual, practical, and analytical challenges to this line of research and used a preregistered meta-analysis to quantify the longitudinal associations between reward processing abnormalities and depression. We also investigated the impact of measurement error on reported data. We found that reward processing abnormalities do not reach levels that would be useful for clinical prediction, yet the available evidence does not preclude a possible causal role in depression.

Cultural influences on neural systems of intergroup emotion perception: An fMRI study.

Cultural factors, such as cultural group membership, have been shown to affect neural bases of face and emotion perception. However, little is known about how cultural factors influence neural processing of emotional faces expressed by in-group and out-group members. In this study, we examined cultural influences on neural activation during the intergroup perception of negative emotional faces. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare neural activation during intergroup emotion processing across cultures in three participants groups; two monocultural groups (i.e. Caucasian-Americans and native Japanese) and a bicultural group (i.e. Japanese-Americans). During scanning, the participants completed an emotional match-to-sample task consisting of negative facial expressions of Japanese and Caucasians. Our results show cultural modulation of neural response in the bilateral amygdala as a function of in-group biases and collectivistic values. Additionally, bicultural Japanese-Americans showed enhanced neural responses in the ventral medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, which had been related to self-related processing, during the perception of negative facial expression of Japanese. Neural activation in the ventral and posterior cingulate cortices reflected individuals' collectivistic tendencies only in the Japanese-American group, possibly due to greater sensitivity to ingroup biases in bicultural individuals. Our results demonstrate the influence of culture on neural responses during the perception of intergroup emotion from faces.

Shifts in attentional scope modulate event-related potentials evoked by reward.

Emotions broaden or narrow the scope of attention in order to facilitate adaptive responses in threatening and rewarding contexts. In the current study, rather than asking how emotions influence attentional scope, we considered the possibility that the relationship between attentional breadth and emotion is bidirectional by asking whether shifts in attentional scope alter emotional processes using an event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. Participants (N = 30) completed a modified version of a Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task, wherein their attention was either narrowed or broadened as they attempted to win rewards. Behaviorally, narrowing attention improved task performance in the form of reduced errors and increased monetary winnings. During cue processing, narrowing (compared to broadening) attention reduced the Cue-P3 (irrespective of cue type). During feedback processing, narrowing (compared to broadening) attention reduced the Feedback-P3 to monetary wins and increased the Feedback-P2 and the Feedback-P3 to monetary non-wins. Results highlight complexity and bidirectionality in the relationship between attentional scope and affective processes.

Association Between Childhood Anhedonia and Alterations in Large-scale Resting-State Networks and Task-Evoked Activation.

Importance: Anhedonia can present in children and predict detrimental clinical outcomes. Objective: To map anhedonia in children onto changes in intrinsic large-scale connectivity and task-evoked activation and to probe the specificity of these changes in anhedonia against other clinical phenotypes (low mood, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]). Design, Setting, and Participants: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were from the first annual release of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, collected between September 2016 and September 2017 and analyzed between April and September 2018. Cross-sectional data of children aged 9 to 10 years from unreferred, community samples during rest (n = 2878) and during reward anticipation (n = 2874) and working memory (n = 2745) were analyzed. Main Outcomes and Measures: Alterations in fMRI data during rest, reward anticipation, and working memory were examined, using both frequentist and Bayesian approaches. Functional MRI connectivity within large-scale networks, between networks, and between networks and subcortical regions were examined during rest. Functional MRI activation were examined during reward anticipation and working memory using the monetary incentive delayed and N-back tasks, respectively. Results: Among 2878 children with adequate-quality resting-state fMRI data (mean [SD] age, 10.03 [0.62] years; 1400 girls [48.6%]), children with anhedonia (261 [9.1%]), compared with those without anhedonia (2617 [90.9%]), showed hypoconnectivity among various large-scale networks and subcortical regions, including between the arousal-related cingulo-opercular network and reward-related ventral striatum area (mean [SD] with anhedonia, 0.08 [0.10] vs without anhedonia, 0.10 [0.10]; t2,876 = 3.33; P < .001; q[false discovery rate] = 0.03; ln[Bayes factor10] = 2.85). Such hypoconnectivity did not manifest among children with low mood (277 of 2878 [9.62%]), anxiety (109 of 2878 [3.79%]), or ADHD (459 of 2878 [15.95%]), suggesting specificity. Similarly, among 2874 children (mean [SD] age, 10.03 [0.62] years; 1414 girls [49.2%]) with high-quality task-evoked fMRI data, children with anhedonia (248 of 2874 [8.63%]) demonstrated hypoactivation during reward anticipation in various areas, including the dorsal striatum and areas of the cingulo-opercular network. This hypoactivity was not found among children with low mood (268 of 2874 [9.32%]), anxiety (90 of 2874 [3.13%]), or ADHD (473 of 2874 [16.46%]). Moreover, we also found context- and phenotype-specific double dissociations; while children with anhedonia showed altered activation during reward anticipation (but not working memory), those with ADHD showed altered activation during working memory (but not reward anticipation). Conclusions and Relevance: Using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study data set, phenotype-specific alterations were found in intrinsic large-scale connectivity and task-evoked activation in children with anhedonia. The hypoconnectivity at rest and hypoactivation during reward anticipation complementarily map anhedonia onto aberrations in neural-cognitive processes: lack of intrinsic reward-arousal integration during rest and diminishment of extrinsic reward-arousal activity during reward anticipation. These findings help delineate the pathophysiological underpinnings of anhedonia in children.

Social Discounting in the Elderly: Senior Citizens are Good Samaritans to Strangers.

Objectives: People tend to become more generous as they grow older, which may reflect an increase in their ego-transcending motives (i.e., concern more for the benefit of recipients than of the benefactors). The current study aimed to examine evidence for an enhanced ego-transcending motive among older adults. Methods: We adapted the social-discounting framework to quantify generosity toward people of different social distances, ranging from socially close others (e.g., family and close friends) to socially distant others (e.g., total strangers), in both young and older adults. We hypothesized that the normative decrease in generosity as a function of social distance (e.g., less generous towards strangers compared to close friends) will be mitigated in older adults. Results: Our results supported that older adults were more generous toward socially distant others (i.e., less social discounting) compared to younger adults. Discussion: Thus, consistent with the idea that the elderly are more oriented to ego-transcending goals, older adults are generous even when their generosity is unlikely to be reciprocated.

Hypomania and depression associated with distinct neural activity for immediate and future rewards.

Bipolar spectrum and unipolar depressive disorders have been associated with distinct and opposite profiles of reward-related neural activity. These opposite profiles may reflect a differential preexisting vulnerability for both types of disorders. In support, recent ERP studies find that, following reward feedback, a larger reward positivity (RewP) is associated with greater vulnerability for bipolar spectrum disorders, whereas a smaller RewP is associated with greater vulnerability for depression. However, prior studies have investigated only immediate rewards and have not examined dimensions of both bipolar disorder and unipolar depression within the same sample. The present study is the first to investigate feedback-related ERP correlates of proneness to hypomania and unipolar depressive tendencies within the same sample and to expand our scope to include future rewards. Participants completed a modified time estimation task where the same monetary reward was available immediately or at one of five different future dates. Results revealed proneness to hypomania and unipolar depressive tendencies were related to an elevated and blunted RewP, respectively, but only following immediate rewards (i.e., today). Following rewards in the distant future (e.g., 8 months), proneness to hypomania and depressive tendencies were associated with elevated and blunted amplitudes for the P3, respectively, a subsequent ERP component reflecting motivational salience during extended feedback processing. Furthermore, these opposing profiles were independent of, and significantly different from, one another. These results suggest that feedback-related ERPs following immediate and future rewards are candidate biomarkers that can physiologically separate vulnerability for bipolar spectrum from unipolar depressive disorders.

Reappraisal and suppression emotion-regulation tendencies differentially predict reward-responsivity and psychological well-being.

Individuals who suppress their emotions experience less positive emotions, worse relationships, and a reduced quality of life whereas those who tend to reappraise show an opposite pattern. Despite this divergent pattern, few have asked how the use of these emotion-regulation strategies relates to reward responsivity. We predicted that elevated suppression would be associated with blunted reward responsivity, whereas reappraisal would be associated with elevated reward responsivity. To test this hypothesis, participants completed a measure of individual differences in emotion-regulation strategies, measures of self-reported reward responsivity, and then a reward time-estimation task (Kotani et al., 2003) while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Results revealed that individual differences in cognitive reappraisal were unrelated to self-report measures of reward responsivity, whereas suppression was associated with blunted reward responsivity. At the neural level, reappraisal was associated with greater attention to the rewarding cues, as indexed by the P300 event-related potential (ERP) component, whereas suppression was related to blunted reward anticipation, as indexed by the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) ERP component. Suppression prospectively predicted worse psychological well-being 2.5 years later and blunted neural reward anticipation partially explained this association. Taken together with past research, these results suggest reappraisal tendencies may lead to better outcomes due, in part, to enhanced reward responsivity, whereas the negative consequences of suppression may be associated with blunted reward responsivity.

Single-trial EEG dissociates motivation and conflict processes during decision-making under risk.

In making decisions under risk (i.e., choosing whether to gamble when the outcome probabilities are known), two aspects of decision are of particular concern. The first, if gambling, is how large are potential gains compared to losses? The subjectively larger, the more rewarding to gamble. Thus, this aspect of decision-making, quantified through expected utility (EU), is motivation-related. The second concern is how easy is it to reach the decision? When subjective desirability between gambling and not-gambling is clearly different from each other (regardless of the direction), it is easier to decide. This aspect, quantified through utility distance (UD), is conflict-related. It is unclear how the brain simultaneously processes these two aspects of decision-making. Forty-five participants decided whether to gamble during electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. To compute trial-by-trial variability in EU and UD, we fit participants' choices to models inspired by Expected-Utility and Prospect theories using hierarchical-Bayesian modeling. To examine unique influences of EU and UD, we conducted model-based single-trial EEG analyses with EU and UD as simultaneous regressors. While both EU and UD were positively associated with P3-like activity and delta-band power, the contribution of EU was around 200 ms earlier. Thus, during decision-making under risk, people may allocate their attention to motivation-related aspects before conflict-related aspects. Next, following learning the options and before reporting their decision, higher EU was associated with stronger alpha and beta suppression, while higher UD was associated with a stronger contingent-negativity-variation-like activity. This suggests distinct roles of EU and UD on anticipation-related processes. Overall, we identified time and frequency characteristics of EEG signals that differentially traced motivation-related and conflict-related information during decision-making under risk.

Choosing for you: Diminished self-other discrepancies in financial decisions under risk in the elderly.

Many older adults hold powerful positions in governments and corporate boards throughout the world. Accordingly, older adults often have to make important financial decisions on behalf of others under risk. Although it is common to observe younger adults taking more risks when making financial decisions for others, it is unclear if older adults exhibit the same self-other discrepancies. Here, we conducted 2 studies (88 and 124 participants, respectively) to examine self-other discrepancies in financial decision making under risk in older adults. We focused on 3 aspects of financial decision making: loss aversion (a tendency to weight potential losses more strongly than potential gains), risk-aversion asymmetry (a tendency to be risk-averse for potential gains and risk-seeking for potential losses), and risk preferences separately in gain and loss domains. Using computational modeling and behavioral economics tasks, we found weaker self-other discrepancies in older adults (compared with younger adults) across all 3 aspects. We also replicated the age differences in self-other discrepancies in loss aversion across 2 largely nonoverlapping cohorts. Thus, it appears that when making financial decisions on behalf of others, older adults, relative to younger adults, have a stronger disposition to regard others' financial outcomes as important as their own. (PsycINFO Database Record

Common and distinct neural correlates of self-serving and prosocial dishonesty.

People often anticipate certain benefits when making dishonest decisions. In this article, we aim to dissociate the neural-cognitive processes of (1) dishonest decisions that focus on overall benefits of being dishonest (regardless of whether the benefits are self-serving or prosocial) from (2) those that distinguish between self-serving and prosocial benefits. Thirty-one participants had the opportunity to maximize their monetary benefits by voluntarily making dishonest decisions while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In each trial, the monetary benefit of being dishonest was either self-serving or prosocial. Behaviorally, we found dissociable patterns of dishonest decisions: some participants were dishonest for overall benefits, while others were primarily dishonest for self-serving (compared with prosocial) benefits. When provided an opportunity to be dishonest for either self-serving or prosocial benefits, participants with a stronger overall tendency to be dishonest had stronger vmPFC activity, as well as stronger functional connectivity between the vmPFC and dlPFC. Furthermore, vmPFC activity was associated with decisions to be dishonest both when the benefits of being dishonest were self-serving and prosocial. Conversely, high self-serving-biased participants had stronger striatum activity and stronger functional connectivity between the striatum and middle-mPFC when they had a chance to be dishonest for self-serving (compared with prosocial) benefits. Altogether, we showed that activity in (and functional connectivity between) regions in the valuation (e.g., vmPFC and Str) and executive control (e.g., dlPFC and mmPFC) systems play a key role in registering the social-related goal of dishonest decisions.

Beyond the FRN: Broadening the time-course of EEG and ERP components implicated in reward processing.

Most reward-related electroencephalogram (EEG) studies focus exclusively on the feedback-related negativity (FRN, also known as feedback negativity or FN, medial-frontal negativity or MFN, feedback error-related negativity or fERN, and reward positivity or RewP). This component is usually measured approximately 200-300 ms post-feedback at a single electrode in the frontal-central area (e.g., Fz or FCz). The present review argues that this singular focus on the FRN fails to leverage EEG's greatest strength, its temporal resolution, by underutilizing the rich variety of event-related potential (ERP) and EEG time-frequency components encompassing the wider temporal heterogeneity of reward processing. The primary objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive understanding of often overlooked ERP and EEG correlates beyond the FRN in the context of reward processing with the secondary goal of guiding future research toward multistage experimental designs and multicomponent analyses that leverage the temporal power of EEG. We comprehensively review reward-related ERPs (including the FRN, readiness potential or RP, stimulus-preceding negativity or SPN, contingent-negative variation or CNV, cue-related N2 and P3, Feedback-P3, and late-positive potential or LPP/slow-wave), and reward-related EEG time-frequency components (changes in power at alpha, beta, theta, and delta bands). These electrophysiological signatures display distinct time-courses, scalp topographies, and reflect independent psychological processes during anticipatory and/or outcome stages of reward processing. Special consideration is given to the time-course of each component and factors that significantly contribute to component variation. Concluding remarks identify current limitations along with recommendations for potential important future directions.

Laboratory-induced learned helplessness attenuates approach motivation as indexed by posterior versus frontal theta activity.

Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity (PFTA) may reflect a novel neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Elevated PFTA has been associated with approach-related tendencies both at rest and during laboratory tasks designed to enhance approach motivation. PFTA is sensitive to changes in dopamine signaling within the fronto-striatal neural circuit, which is centrally involved in approach motivation, reward processing, and goal-directed behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined PFTA during a laboratory task designed to reduce approach motivation or goal-directed behavior. Considerable animal and human research supports the hypothesis put forth by the learned helplessness theory that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli decreases approach motivation by inducing a state of perceived uncontrollability. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of perceived uncontrollability (i.e., learned helplessness) on PFTA. EEG data were collected from 74 participants (mean age = 19.21 years; 40 females) exposed to either Controllable (n = 26) or Uncontrollable (n = 25) aversive noise bursts, or a No-Noise Condition (n = 23). In line with prediction, individuals exposed to uncontrollable aversive noise bursts displayed a significant decrease in PFTA, reflecting reduced approach motivation, relative to both individuals exposed to controllable noise bursts or the No-Noise Condition. There was no relationship between perceived uncontrollability and frontal EEG alpha asymmetry, another commonly used neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Results have implications for understanding the neurophysiology of approach motivation and establishing PFTA as a neurophysiological index of approach-related tendencies.

Generous to whom? The influence of oxytocin on social discounting.

Oxytocin is thought to play an essential role in pro-social behaviors, such as generosity and altruism, in humans. Yet, most research in humans that demonstrated the pro-social effect of oxytocin had participants interact with partners who were total strangers to them. In real life, however, people often interact with others varying in social relatedness with them (a concept known as social distance), ranging from their parents to total strangers. Here we employed the social-discounting framework to investigate whether the effect of oxytocin on prosociality depends on the social distance between the participants and their interaction partners. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment (n=172 participants), we measured the amount of money participants were willing to forgo to another person as a function of social distance. We found that oxytocin administration selectively enhanced amount of money forgone toward total strangers, as opposed to someone closer to participants, suggesting that social distance constrained the pro-social effect of oxytocin.

Elevated outcome-anticipation and outcome-evaluation ERPs associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards.

Although waiting for a reward reduces or discounts its value, some people have a stronger tendency to wait for larger rewards and forgo smaller-but-immediate rewards. This ability to delay gratification is captured by individual differences in so-called intertemporal choices in which individuals are asked to choose between larger-but-delayed versus smaller-but-immediate rewards. The current study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine whether enhancement in two neurocognitive processes, outcome anticipation and outcome evaluation, modulate individual variability in intertemporal responses. After completing a behavioral intertemporal choice task, 34 participants performed an ERP gambling task. From this ERP task, we separately examined individual differences in outcome anticipation (stimulus-preceding negativity; SPN), early outcome valuation (feedback-related negativity; FRN), and late outcome evaluation (P3). We observed that both elevated outcome-anticipation (SPN) and late outcome-evaluation (P3) neural processes predicted a stronger preference toward larger-but-delayed rewards. No relationship was observed between intertemporal responses and early outcome evaluation (FRN), indicating that the relationship between outcome evaluation and intertemporal responses was specific to the late outcome-evaluation processing stream. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the SPN and P3 independently modulate individual differences in intertemporal responses, suggesting separate mechanisms underlie the relationship between these two neurocognitive processes and intertemporal responses. Accordingly, we identify two potential neurocognitive modulators of individual variability in intertemporal responses. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these modulators in terms of anticipation-related processing (SPN) and a saliency bias toward gain (compared to loss) outcomes (P3).

Willing to wait: Elevated reward-processing EEG activity associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards.

While almost everyone discounts the value of future rewards over immediate rewards, people differ in their so-called delay-discounting. One of the several factors that may explain individual differences in delay-discounting is reward-processing. To study individual-differences in reward-processing, however, one needs to consider the heterogeneity of neural-activity at each reward-processing stage. Here using EEG, we separated reward-related neural activity into distinct reward-anticipation and reward-outcome stages using time-frequency characteristics. Thirty-seven individuals first completed a behavioral delay-discounting task. Then reward-processing EEG activity was assessed using a separate reward-learning task, called a reward time-estimation task. During this EEG task, participants were instructed to estimate time duration and were provided performance feedback on a trial-by-trial basis. Participants received monetary-reward for accurate-performance on Reward trials, but not on No-Reward trials. Reward trials, relative to No-Reward trials, enhanced EEG activity during both reward-anticipation (including, cued-locked delta power during cue-evaluation and pre-feedback alpha suppression during feedback-anticipation) and reward-outcome (including, feedback-locked delta, theta and beta power) stages. Moreover, all of these EEG indices correlated with behavioral performance in the time-estimation task, suggesting their essential roles in learning and adjusting performance to maximize winnings in a reward-learning situation. Importantly, enhanced EEG power during Reward trials, as reflected by stronger 1) pre-feedback alpha suppression, 2) feedback-locked theta and 3) feedback-locked beta, was associated with a greater preference for larger-but-delayed rewards in a separate, behavioral delay-discounting task. Results highlight the association between a stronger preference toward larger-but-delayed rewards and enhanced reward-processing. Moreover, our reward-processing EEG indices detail the specific stages of reward-processing where these associations occur.

Cultural influences on neural basis of inhibitory control.

Research on neural basis of inhibitory control has been extensively conducted in various parts of the world. It is often implicitly assumed that neural basis of inhibitory control is universally similar across cultures. Here, we investigated the extent to which culture modulated inhibitory-control brain activity at both cultural-group and cultural-value levels of analysis. During fMRI scanning, participants from different cultural groups (including Caucasian-Americans and Japanese-Americans living in the United States and native Japanese living in Japan) performed a Go/No-Go task. They also completed behavioral surveys assessing cultural values of behavioral consistency, or the extent to which one's behaviors in daily life are consistent across situations. Across participants, the Go/No-Go task elicited stronger neural activity in several inhibitory-control areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Importantly, at the cultural-group level, we found variation in left IFG (L-IFG) activity that was explained by a cultural region where participants lived in (as opposed to race). Specifically, L-IFG activity was stronger for native Japanese compared to Caucasian- and Japanese-Americans, while there was no systematic difference in L-IFG activity between Japanese- and Caucasian-Americans. At the cultural-value level, we found that participants who valued being "themselves" across situations (i.e., having high endorsement of behavioral consistency) elicited stronger rostral ACC activity during the Go/No-Go task. Altogether, our findings provide novel insight into how culture modulates the neural basis of inhibitory control.

Motivated to win: Relationship between anticipatory and outcome reward-related neural activity.

Reward-processing involves two temporal stages characterized by two distinct neural processes: reward-anticipation and reward-outcome. Intriguingly, very little research has examined the relationship between neural processes involved in reward-anticipation and reward-outcome. To investigate this, one needs to consider the heterogeneity of reward-processing within each stage. To identify different stages of reward processing, we adapted a reward time-estimation task. While EEG data were recorded, participants were instructed to button-press 3.5s after the onset of an Anticipation-Cue and received monetary reward for good time-estimation on the Reward trials, but not on No-Reward trials. We first separated reward-anticipation into event related potentials (ERPs) occurring at three sub-stages: reward/no-reward cue-evaluation, motor-preparation and feedback-anticipation. During reward/no-reward cue-evaluation, the Reward-Anticipation Cue led to a smaller N2 and larger P3. During motor-preparation, we report, for the first time, that the Reward-Anticipation Cue enhanced the Readiness Potential (RP), starting approximately 1s before movement. At the subsequent feedback-anticipation stage, the Reward-Anticipation Cue elevated the Stimulus-Preceding Negativity (SPN). We also separated reward-outcome ERPs into different components occurring at different time-windows: the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN), Feedback-P3 (FB-P3) and Late-Positive Potentials (LPP). Lastly, we examined the relationship between reward-anticipation and reward-outcome ERPs. We report that individual-differences in specific reward-anticipation ERPs uniquely predicted specific reward-outcome ERPs. In particular, the reward-anticipation Early-RP (1-.8s before movement) predicted early reward-outcome ERPs (FRN and FB-P3), whereas, the reward-anticipation SPN most strongly predicted a later reward-outcome ERP (LPP). Results have important implications for understanding the nature of the relationship between reward-anticipation and reward-outcome neural-processes.

Threat/reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality modulate cognitive-control and attentional neural processes to emotional stimuli.

Temperamental-traits (e.g. threat/reward-sensitivity) are found to modulate cognitive-control and attentional-processes. Yet, it is unclear exactly how these traits interact with emotional-stimuli in the modulation of cognitive-control, as reflected by the N2 event-related potential (ERP), and attentional-processes, as reflected by the P2 and P3 ERPs. Here in an ERP emotional-Go/NoGo task, 36 participants were instructed to inhibit their response to Fearful- and Happy-faces. Individual-differences in threat-sensitivity, reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality were assessed through self-report. Hypomanic-personality was assessed, given its relationship with reward-sensitivity and relevance to mood-disorder symptoms. Concerning cognitive-control, individuals with elevated threat-sensitivity displayed more-negative N2s to Happy-NoGo (relative to Fearful-NoGo) faces, whereas both individuals with elevated reward-sensitivity and hypomanic-personality displayed more-negative N2s to Fearful-NoGo (relative to Happy-NoGo) faces. Accordingly, when cognitive-control is required (during Go/NoGo), a mismatch between one's temperament and the valence of the NoGo-stimulus elevates detection of the need for cognitive-control. Conversely, the modulation of attentional-processing was specific to threat-sensitivity, as there was no relationship between either reward-sensitivity or hypomanic-personality and attentional-processing. Elevated threat-sensitivity was associated with enhanced early (P2s) and later (P3s) attentional-processing to Fearful-NoGo (relative to Happy-NoGo) faces. These latter findings support the negative attentional-bias model relating elevated threat-sensitivity with attentional-biases toward negative-stimuli and away from positive-stimuli.