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. 2018 Aug 31:12:320.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00320. eCollection 2018.

The Effects of Arousal and Approach Motivated Positive Affect on Cognitive Control. An ERP Study

Andrzej Cudo  1 , Piotr Francuz  1 , Paweł Augustynowicz  1 , Paweł Stróżak  1
Affiliations

The Effects of Arousal and Approach Motivated Positive Affect on Cognitive Control. An ERP Study

Andrzej Cudo et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

A growing body of research has demonstrated that affect modulates cognitive control modes such as proactive and reactive control. Several studies have suggested that positive affect decreases proactive control compared to neutral affect. However, these studies only focused on the valence of affect and often omitted two of its components: arousal and approach motivation. Therefore, we designed the present study to test the hypothesis that cognitive control modes would differ as a function of arousal and approach motivated positive affect. In our study, we used an AX-continuous performance task (AX-CPT), commonly used to examine shifts in proactive and reactive control. We also measured P3b, contingent negative variation (CNV), N2 and P3a components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as indicators of the use of cognitive control modes. The findings of the present study demonstrated that approach motivated positive affect modified only the P3b and the CNV without effects on the N2 and P3a components. However, arousal induced by pictures modified P3b, CNV and N2 amplitudes. Specifically, the P3b amplitude was larger, and CNV amplitude was less negative in the high than in the low-approach motivated affect. In contrast, the P3b amplitude was larger and both the CNV and N2 amplitudes more negative in low- compared with high-arousal conditions. These ERP results suggest that approach motivated positive affect enhanced proactive control with no effect on reactive control. However, arousal influenced both proactive and reactive control. High arousal decreased proactive control and increased reactive control compared to low arousal. The present study provides novel insights into the relationship between affect, specifically, arousal and approach motivated positive affect and cognitive control modes. In addition, our results help to explain discrepancies found in previous research.

Keywords: CNV; N2; P3a; P3b; approach motivation; arousal; proactive control; reactive control.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) procedure with the four types of sequences occurring in the task.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Error rates (A) and reaction time (B) for each of the four sequences. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The P3b amplitude as a function of APPROACH MOTIVATION × CUES. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The P3b amplitude as a function of AROUSAL × APPROACH MOTIVATION × CUES. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Grand average event-related brain potentials (ERPs) (P3b) and topographical maps elicited by the A cue (solid lines) and the B cue (dashed lines) at Pz, separately for low (LA) and high (HA) arousal and low (LAM) and high (HAM) motivated positive affect.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Grand average (ERPs) contingent negative variation (CNV) and topographical maps elicited by the A cue (solid lines) and the B cue (dashed lines) at Cz, separately for low (LA) and high (HA) arousal and low (LAM) and high (HAM) motivated positive affect.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Grand average ERPs (N2) and topographical maps elicited by the AX, AY, BX and BY sequences at FCz, separately for low (LA) and high (HA) arousal.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Grand average ERPs (P3a) and topographical maps elicited by the AX, AY, BX and BY sequences at FCz.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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