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Electromyographic activity over the corrugator supercilii (cEMG), the primary facial muscle involved in negative emotions, is increased during the commission of errors on speeded reaction-time tasks. In the present paper, data from two previously published studies were reanalyzed to investigate the reliability and stability of error-related, correct-related, and difference cEMG across increasing numbers of trials. For a modified go/no-go and a flanker task, we found that error-related cEMG was highly stable and reliable in 14 trials, and correct-related cEMG between 56 and 82 trials, respectively. Given the typical number of trials used in studies of cognitive control, these findings suggest that many investigations of error monitoring are already sufficient to obtain acceptable error- and correct-related cEMG signals. Error-related cEMG activity is relatively easy to measure and, as such, it shows great promise for future research investigating the cognitive and affective mechanisms of error monitoring., (© 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Emerging research in social and affective neuroscience has implicated a role for affect and motivation in performance monitoring and cognitive control. No study, however, has investigated whether facial electromyography (EMG) over the corrugator supercilii-a measure associated with negative affect and the exertion of effort-is related to neural performance monitoring. Here, we explored these potential relationships by simultaneously measuring the error-related negativity, error positivity (Pe), and facial EMG over the corrugator supercilii muscle during a punished, inhibitory control task. We found evidence for increased facial EMG activity over the corrugator immediately following error responses, and this activity was related to the Pe for both between- and within-subject analyses. These results are consistent with the idea that early, avoidance-motivated processes are associated with performance monitoring, and that such processes may also be related to orienting toward errors, the emergence of error awareness, or both., (© 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Cognitive control is accompanied by observable negative affect. But how is this negative affect experienced subjectively, and are these feelings related to variation in cognitive control? To address these questions, 42 participants performed a punished inhibitory control task while periodically reporting their subjective experience. We found that within-subject variation in subjective experience predicted control implementation, but not neural monitoring (i.e., the error-related negativity, ERN). Specifically, anxiety and frustration predicted increased and decreased response caution, respectively, while hopelessness accompanied reduced inhibitory control, and subjective effort coincided with the increased ability to inhibit prepotent responses. Clarifying the nature of these phenomenological results, the effects of frustration, effort, and hopelessness-but not anxiety-were statistically independent from the punishment manipulation. Conversely, while the ERN was increased by punishment, the lack of association between this component and phenomenology suggests that early monitoring signals might precede the development of control-related subjective experience. Our results indicate that the types of feelings experienced during cognitively demanding tasks are related to different aspects of controlled performance, critically suggesting that the relationship between emotion and cognitive control extends beyond the dimension of valence., (© 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Nostalgia is often triggered by feelings-such as sadness, loneliness, or meaninglessness-that are typically associated with withdrawal motivation. Here, we examined whether a trait tendency to experience withdrawal motivation is associated with nostalgia proneness. Past work indicates that baseline right-frontal cortical asymmetry is a neural correlate of withdrawal-related motivation. We therefore hypothesized that higher baseline levels of right-frontal asymmetry would predict increased proneness to nostalgia. We assessed participants' baseline levels of frontal cortical activity using EEG. Results supported the hypothesis and demonstrated that the association between relative right-frontal asymmetry and increased nostalgia remained significant when controlling for the Big Five personality traits. Overall, these findings indicate that individuals with a stronger dispositional tendency to experience withdrawal-related motivation are more prone to nostalgia., (© 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Depression, diminished positive affect, and exaggerated negative affect have all been linked to right frontal cortical asymmetry as measured by electroencephalography (EEG). Emerging evidence, however, suggests that right frontal EEG asymmetry might be linked to empathic responding. EEG was used to assess baseline asymmetries in frontal brain activity. Participants viewed images associated with a charity and then rated their sadness, personal distress, perspective-taking, and empathic concern towards the images. We found that baseline measures of right frontal asymmetry were a significant predictor of empathic concern, a relationship that was mediated by feelings of sadness. These results provide a more complex view of right frontal asymmetry and suggest that this pattern of brain activity might facilitate sensitivity towards the suffering of others., (Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Approach motivation has been reliably associated with relative left prefrontal brain activity as measured with electroencephalography (EEG). Motivation researchers have increasingly used the line bisection task, a behavioral measure of relative cerebral asymmetry, as a neural index of approach motivation-related processes. Despite its wide adoption, however, the line bisection task has not been confirmed as a valid measure of the precise pattern of activity linked to approach motivation. In two studies, we demonstrate that line bisection bias is specifically related to baseline, approach-related, prefrontal EEG alpha asymmetry (Study 1) and is heightened by the same situational factors that heighten the same approach-related prefrontal EEG alpha asymmetry (Study 2). Results support the line bisection task as an efficient and unobtrusive behavioral neuroscience measure of approach motivation.

Activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been linked to the processes of error detection and conflict monitoring, along with the subsequent engagement of cognitive-control mechanisms. The error-related negativity (ERN) is an electrophysiological signal associated with this ACC monitoring process, occurring approximately 100 ms after an error is made. The current study examined the possibility that individual differences in ERN magnitude would predict performance outcomes related to cognitive control. Undergraduate students completed a color-naming Stroop task while their neural activity was recorded via electroencephalogram. Results indicated that a larger ERN following errors was significantly correlated with better academic performance as measured by official student transcripts. A greater ability to monitor performance and engage cognitive-control mechanisms when needed thus appears associated with improved real-world performance.