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This study examined the neural signatures associated with conflict‐monitoring, recognition and feedback processing in a feedback Concealed Information Test (fCIT), and also examined whether all the ERPs can be used to detect concealed autobiographical information. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups (guilty or innocent) and then tested in the fCIT while undergoing electroencephalograms (EEGs). The results showed that the probe (participants' name) elicited a more negative N200, and a more positive recognition P300 than irrelevants among guilty participants. Additionally, feedback following the probe elicited a larger feedback P300 than feedback following irrelevants. Further, we found that three indicators, including the conflict‐monitoring N200, recognition P300, and feedback P300, could significantly discriminate between guilty and innocent participants, whereas the FRN could not. Combining them is highly effective in discriminating between guilty and innocent participants (AUC = 0.91). These findings not only shed light on the neural processing of the fCIT but also suggest the potential of using the fCIT to detect concealed autobiographical information. This study initially investigated neural signatures associated with conflict monitoring, recognition, and feedback processing in a fCIT using PCA. We identified three indicators, including the conflict‐monitoring N200, recognition‐P300, and feedback‐P300, that can effectively detect concealed autobiographical information, while the FRN could not. Combining them could lead to a high AUC of 0.91. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huanke Ma,1,2,* Boyi Zhang,1,2,* Mengjia Liu,1,2 Xin Wu1,2 1Department of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, 453003, People’s Republic of China; 2Center for Cognition, Emotion, and Body (CCEB), Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453003, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xin Wu, Department of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Henan, 453003, People’s Republic of China, Email uking05@126.comBackground: Although social status is closely related to income distribution, few studies have focused on social comparisons caused by income distribution based on social status.Purpose: The neural indices of status-related social comparisons were investigated by modifying the classical social comparison task with the incorporation of event-related potentials (ERPs).Methods: The study employed a total of 29 subjects (15 females), the status scores of whom were initially obtained through the utilization of classical measurements of objective (7 items) and subjective (2 items) socioeconomic status. Subsequently, the subjects were required to complete a dot-estimation task. To induce status-related and response-related (upward, equal, and downward) social comparisons, subjects were informed that rewards were distributed based on whether their status score or their response was superior to that of a selected competitor.Results: The behavioral results demonstrated that status-related social comparisons were perceived as more unfair than response-related social comparisons. The ERP results indicated that the cue-P3 amplitude was lower under status-related cues than response-related cues. Additionally, the amplitude of feedback-related negativity was larger under status-related equal comparisons than response-related equal comparisons. Furthermore, the P3 amplitude was larger under status-related upward comparisons relative to response-related upward comparisons.Conclusion: The findings indicated that status-related comparisons may contribute to the development of unfair consideration (enhanced FRN) and a reduction in task motivations (lowered cue-P3). Additionally, the status-related upward comparison may serve as a significant factor in the onset of relative deprivation (enhanced P3). It would therefore be beneficial to gain further insight into the neural basis of social comparisons.Keywords: social comparisons, social status, ERP, FRN, P3

Abstract The relationship between monetary loss and pain has been a recent research focus. Prior studies found similarities in the network representation patterns of monetary loss and pain, particularly social pain. However, the neural level evidence was lacking. To address this, we conducted an ERP experiment to investigate whether there is a repetitive suppression effect of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain, aiming to understand if they engage overlapping neuronal populations. The results revealed that FRN amplitudes showed repetitive suppression effects of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain. Our study suggests that monetary loss and social pain share common neural bases, indicating that they might involve shared neural modules related to cognitive conflict and affective appraisal.

With the discovery of event‐related potentials elicited by errors more than 30 years ago, a new avenue of research on performance monitoring, cognitive control, and decision making emerged. Since then, the field has developed and expanded fulminantly. After a brief overview on the EEG correlates of performance monitoring, this article reviews recent advancements based on single‐trial analyses using independent component analysis, multiple regression, and multivariate pattern classification. Given the close interconnection between performance monitoring and reinforcement learning, computational modeling and model‐based EEG analyses have made a particularly strong impact. The reviewed findings demonstrate that error‐ and feedback‐related EEG dynamics represent variables reflecting how performance‐monitoring signals are weighted and transformed into an adaptation signal that guides future decisions and actions. The model‐based single‐trial analysis approach goes far beyond conventional peak‐and‐trough analyses of event‐related potentials and enables testing mechanistic theories of performance monitoring, cognitive control, and decision making. Performance monitoring and subsequent adaptations are highly dynamic processes. Here, I review recent advances in single‐trial EEG dynamics analyses that enabled the rigorous testing of predictions based on current theories and mathematically formalized computational models of performance monitoring, cognitive control, and decision making. I show that performance monitoring signals reflecting the transformation of outcome variables to adaptation signals are multiplexed in the EEG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between monetary loss and pain has been a recent research focus. Prior studies found similarities in the network representation patterns of monetary loss and pain, particularly social pain. However, the neural level evidence was lacking. To address this, we conducted an ERP experiment to investigate whether there is a repetitive suppression effect of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain, aiming to understand if they engage overlapping neuronal populations. The results revealed that FRN amplitudes showed repetitive suppression effects of monetary loss on the neural activity of social pain. Our study suggests that monetary loss and social pain share common neural bases, indicating that they might involve shared neural modules related to cognitive conflict and affective appraisal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the potential link between stress-induced reward dysfunctions and the development of mental problems, limited human research has investigated the specific impacts of chronic stress on the dynamics of reward processing. Here we aimed to investigate the relationship between chronic academic stress and the dynamics of reward processing (i.e., reward anticipation and reward consumption) using event-related potential (ERP) technology. Ninety healthy undergraduates who were preparing for the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination (NPEE) participated in the study and completed a two-door reward task, their chronic stress levels were assessed via the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The results showed that a lower magnitude of reward elicited more negative amplitudes of cue-N2 during the anticipatory phase, and reward omission elicited more negative amplitudes of FRN compared to reward delivery especially in high reward conditions during the consummatory phase. More importantly, the PSS score exhibited a U-shaped relationship with cue-N2 amplitudes regardless of reward magnitude during the anticipatory phase; and FRN amplitudes toward reward omission in high reward condition during the consummatory phase. These findings suggest that individuals exposed to either low or high levels of chronic stress, as opposed to moderate stress levels, exhibited a heightened reward anticipation, and an augmented violation of expectations or affective response when faced with relatively more negative outcomes.

Abstract Learning often involves trial-and-error, i.e. repeating behaviours that lead to desired outcomes, and adjusting behaviour when outcomes do not meet our expectations and thus lead to prediction errors (PEs). PEs have been shown to be reflected in the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) component between 200 and 350 ms after performance feedback which is linked to striatal processing and assessed via electroencephalography (EEG). Here we show that this is also true for delayed feedback processing, for which a critical role of the hippocampus has been suggested. We found a general reduction of the RewP for delayed feedback, but the PE was similarly reflected in the RewP and the later P300 for immediate and delayed positive feedback, while no effect was found for negative feedback. Our results suggest that, despite processing differences between immediate and delayed feedback, positive PEs drive feedback processing and learning irrespective of delay.

Learning often involves trial-and-error, i.e. repeating behaviours that lead to desired outcomes, and adjusting behaviour when outcomes do not meet our expectations and thus lead to prediction errors (PEs). PEs have been shown to be reflected in the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) component between 200 and 350 ms after performance feedback which is linked to striatal processing and assessed via electroencephalography (EEG). Here we show that this is also true for delayed feedback processing, for which a critical role of the hippocampus has been suggested. We found a general reduction of the RewP for delayed feedback, but the PE was similarly reflected in the RewP and the later P300 for immediate and delayed positive feedback, while no effect was found for negative feedback. Our results suggest that, despite processing differences between immediate and delayed feedback, positive PEs drive feedback processing and learning irrespective of delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Previous research has found that incidental emotions of different valences (positive/negative/neutral) influence risky decision‐making. However, the mechanism of their influence on psychological expectations of decision outcomes remains unclear. Methods: We explored the effects of different incidental emotions on the behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological responses of individuals in risky decision‐making through a money gambling task using a one‐way (emotion type: positive, negative, neutral emotions) between‐subjects experimental design. Results: Individuals with positive emotions had significantly greater risk‐seeking rates than those with negative emotions during the decision selection phase (p <.01). In the feedback stage of decision outcomes, individuals showed stronger perceptions of uncertainty in the decision environment under gain and loss feedback compared with neutral feedback, as evidenced by a more positive P2 component (i.e., the second positive component of an event‐related potential). Positive emotions produced greater than expected outcome bias than neutral emotions, as evidenced by a more negative FRN component (i.e., the feedback‐related negativity component). Conclusion: Our results suggest that positive emotions increase individuals' psychological expectations of decision outcomes. This study provides new empirical insights to understand the influence of incidental emotions on risky decision outcome expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social influence plays a crucial role during the teen years, with adolescents supposedly exhibiting heightened sensitivity to their peers. In this study, we examine how social influence from different sources, particularly those with varying normative and informational significance, affect adolescents' opinion change. Furthermore, we investigated the underlying neural dynamics to determine whether these two behaviorally similar influences share their neural mechanisms. Twenty-three participants (14–17 years old) gave their opinions about facial stimuli and received feedback from either a peer group or an expert group, while brain responses were recorded using concurrent magnetoencephalography. In a second rating session, we found that participants' opinions changed in line with conflicting feedback, but only when the feedback was lower than their initial evaluation. On the neural level, conflict with peers evoked stronger neural responses than conflict with experts in the 230–400 ms time window and the right frontotemporal magnetometer channels. Nevertheless, there was no greater conformity toward peers. Moreover, conflict compared to no conflict decreased neural oscillations in the beta frequency range (20–26 Hz) at the right frontal and parietal channels. Taken together, our findings do not support the general assumption that adolescent behavior is excessively vulnerable to peer norms, although we found heightened neural sensitivity to peer feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our daily lives, we spontaneously or passively make various social comparisons. In terms of the abilities that are closely linked to our lives, how interpersonal distance affects outcome evaluation in an ability-based social comparison context is largely unknown. In the current study, we used a 2 interpersonal distance × 2 self-outcome × 2 other-outcome within-participant factorial design to investigate how interpersonal distance affects the processing of accuracy outcomes and monetary reward outcomes in social comparison from a temporal processing perspective (N = 25, Mage = 19.84, 52% female). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while the participants performed a dot estimation task with a friend and with a stranger. Regarding behavioral level, the participants were more satisfied when they received positive outcomes and preferred positive outcomes for the friend over the stranger. Regarding ERP level, the effect of interpersonal distance on the processing of judgment accuracy outcomes in social comparison was reflected in the FRN and P300. Specifically, whether the participants were paired with a friend or a stranger, the FRN was larger for other-incorrect than for other-correct in the self-incorrect condition. Only when a participant was paired with a stranger was the FRN larger for stranger-incorrect than for stranger-correct in the self-correct condition. Additionally, the P300 was larger when the participants received the same outcomes as the strangers. Overall, our findings suggest that interpersonal distance moderates the evaluation of social comparison outcomes. Even in a noncompetitive context, individuals tend to compare themselves to strangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feedback learning is thought to involve the dopamine system and its projection sites in the basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions associated with procedural learning. Under certain conditions, such as when feedback is delayed, feedback‐locked activation is pronounced in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which is associated with declarative learning. In event‐related potential research, the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) has been linked to immediate feedback processing, while the N170, possibly reflecting MTL activity, has been related to delayed feedback processing. In the current study, we performed an exploratory investigation on the relation between N170 and FRN amplitude and memory performance in a test for declarative memory (free recall), also exploring the role of feedback delay. To this end, we adapted a paradigm in which participants learned associations between non‐objects and non‐words with either immediate or delayed feedback, and added a subsequent free recall test. We indeed found that N170, but not FRN amplitudes, depended on later free recall performance, with smaller amplitudes for later remembered non‐words. In an additional analysis with memory performance as dependent variable, the N170, but not the FRN amplitude predicted free recall, modulated by feedback timing and valence. This finding shows that the N170 reflects an important process during feedback processing, possibly related to expectations and their violation, but is distinct from the process reflected by the FRN. Our research investigates the shift in brain activity when switching from procedural to declarative memory systems during delayed feedback. We linked N170, but not FRN amplitudes, after immediate or delayed feedback to later performance on a declarative memory test. This supports the interpretation that the N170 amplitude is an indicator of declarative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Anticipatory anhedonia is linked to abnormal reward processing. • The reward consummatory phare of depressed patients with high anticipatory anhedonia was impaired. • Anticipatory anhedonia symptom influenced the association between anticipatory and consummatory phase of reward process. Previous studies have shown that anticipatory anhedonia is linked to abnormal reward processing. The present study aimed to explore the underlying neural mechanism of the influence of anticipatory anhedonia symptoms on reward processing. Electrophysiological activities in the anticipatory and consummatory phase were recorded during the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task in 24 depressed high anticipatory anhedonia (HAA) patients, 25 depressed low anticipatory anhedonia (LAA) patients, and 29 healthy controls (HC). We suggested a significant condition × group interaction effect on feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitudes during the consummatory phase, a smaller FRN in reward cue trails compared with neutral cue trail was revealed in the HC and LAA group, but such reward-related effect was not found in the HAA group. In addition, we found significant correlations between FRN, fb-P3 and cue-N1, cue-N2 in the HC group, besides, significant correlations between FRN, fb-P3 and cue-P2 was also revealed in the HC and LAA group. However, no significant correlation was found in HAA patients. Our results suggest that the link between the anticipatory and consummatory phase was interrupted in depressed HAA patients, which may be driven by the aberrant consummatory reward processing. The current study is the first one to demonstrate the influence of anticipatory anhedonia symptom on the association between anticipatory and consummatory phase of reward process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event‐related potentials that follow feedback in reinforcement learning tasks have been proposed to reflect neural encoding of prediction errors. Prior research has shown that in the interval of 240–340 ms multiple different prediction error encodings appear to co‐occur, including a value signal carrying signed quantitative prediction error and a valence signal merely carrying sign. The effects used to identify these two encoders, respectively a sign main effect and a sign × size interaction, do not reliably discriminate them. A full discrimination is made possible by comparing tasks in which the reinforcer available on a given trial is set to be either appetitive or aversive against tasks where a trial allows the possibility of either. This study presents a meta‐analysis of reinforcement learning experiments, the majority of which presented the possibility of winning or losing money. Value and valence encodings were identified by conventional difference wave methodology but additionally by an analysis of their predicted behavior using a Bayesian analysis that incorporated nulls into the evidence for each encoder. The results suggest that a valence encoding, sensitive only to the available outcomes on the trial at hand precedes a later value encoding sensitive to the outcomes available in the wider experimental context. The implications of this for modeling computational processes of reinforcement learning in humans are discussed. The reward positivity is generally described as encoding a reward prediction error but if it is to inform theories of human reinforcement learning its precise computational form must be described. Using mutually exclusive operationalizations, the present study suggests that a dichotomous good versus bad encoding precedes a quantitative signed prediction error in the interval of the reward positivity. The implications for reinforcement learning in humans are discussed in the light of separate mechanisms for negative and positive reward prediction errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals often measure their performance through social comparison. With the increase in the deviation degree between the self and others, the outcome evaluation of individuals' abilities in the social comparison context is still unknown. In the current study, we used a two self-outcomes × three others' outcomes within-participant design to investigate the effect of the deviation degree of the self versus others in the social comparison context. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while participants performed a three-person dot estimation task with two other people. When participants received positive results, the amplitudes of feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300 showed a significant gradient change in the degree of deviation between the self and others (even win vs. better win vs. best win conditions). However, we did not find a similar progressive effect when participants received negative results (even loss vs. worse loss vs. worst loss conditions). These findings suggest that the deviation degree affects the primary and later processing stages of social comparison outcomes only when individuals received positive outcomes, which may reflect how people develop an empathic response to others. In contrast, people tended to avoid deeper social comparison that threatened their self-esteem when they received negative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Severely affected youth with comorbid social phobia (SP) and major depressive disorder (MDD) show reduced reward anticipation and processing compared to typically developing controls. • In the clinical group higher reward anticipation correlates with high SP symptoms and lower anticipation with high MDD symptoms. • Results are in line with the theory of heightened vigilance in anxiety and blunted reward processing due to anhedonia in MDD. Impaired reward processing has been found in individuals with anxiety, but also major depressive disorder (MDD). Here, we studied neural correlates of reward anticipation and processing in a sample of youth with severe social phobia and comorbid depression (SP/MDD) and investigated the specific contribution of SP and MDD symptoms. 15 affected, unmedicated and 25 typically developing (TD) youth completed a monetary gambling task, which included a positive, negative and ambiguous reward condition. Event-related potentials representing cue processing (cue P300), reward anticipation (stimulus preceding negativity, SPN), reward sensitivity (feedback related negativity, FRN) and reward processing (reward P300) were analysed. Reduced amplitudes of the right hemispheric (r)SPN and reward P300 were observed in SP/MDD compared to TD. Within the SP/MDD group SP symptoms correlated with larger rSPN, and FRN amplitudes. MDD symptoms correlated with smaller rSPN and smaller FRN positive–negative difference wave. Reward anticipation and feedback processing are reduced in SP/MDD. Higher SP symptoms are associated with stronger neural activation during reward anticipation and reward sensitivity. Depressive symptoms are associated with decreased reward anticipation and sensitivity. Findings are in line with the theory of heightened vigilance in anxiety and blunted reward processing due to anhedonia in MDD. The study results can inform behavioural interventions for SP and MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on boredom suggest it function as animportant self-regulatory signal, indicating that the currentstate of the environment carries opportunity-costs andtherefore driving the need to explore alternative activities. Traitboredom proneness is associated with negative consequencesincluding increased risk-taking and impulsivity. Thesefindings often rely on self-reports and not much is known aboutthe role of state and trait boredom in controlled laboratorytasks, or their neural correlates. Sixty-two participantscompleted the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and a go/no-gotask while electrical brain activity was recorded using EEG.Results showed that state boredom leads to impulsivity andpoor performance monitoring, as evident by behavioral,subjective and ERP metrics. Trait boredom was associatedwith increased risk-taking, and modulated the correlationbetween errors and state boredom: high boredom pronenessincreased the sensitivity of trait boredom to errors. Overall,these findings emphasize the involvement of executivefunctions in the interaction between state and trait boredom.

In the process of decision-making based on conferring with advisors, people are sensitive to advisors' emotional expressions. An advisor's expression is considered a type of feedback. The quick detection of motivational or valence significance of feedback has been associated with feedback-related negativity (FRN). In this study, we investigated how decision makers evaluated advice that was distant from the original estimate provided by advisors with different emotional expressions based on behavioural, FRN, and P300 data. The results showed that participants were more likely to modify their initial estimates based on advice from advisors with happy expressions than from advisors with angry expressions, regardless of whether it was near-distance advice or far-distance advice. When facing far-distance advice, FRN amplitudes in angry-expression conditions were significantly larger than in happy-expression conditions. When facing near-distance advice, there was no significant difference in the FRN amplitude between happy- and angry-expression conditions. P300 amplitudes were larger in near-distance conditions than in far-distance conditions. These findings suggest that, as a type of feedback with social information, the advisor's face will affect the decision maker's evaluation of the advice, with a happy face of the advisor serving as correct feedback and an angry face serving as incorrect feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fallout radionuclide (FRN) analysis needs a reference site (RS) inventory to determine erosion and sedimentation in the study area. The investigated area is in the upstream Citarum watershed, West Java, Indonesia. Twenty-seven corings and 22 scrap samples have been prepared well and measured using HPGe gamma spectroscopy. The data below the minimum detectable activity (MDA) was found for 137Cs in RS6 cor 4 and 7 (<0.16 ± 0.08 Bq kg–1). MDA quantification implies that the inventory below MDA eroded greater than its maximum value (76.02 tons ha–1 a–1). The comparison 137Cs inventory in this study is lower than the three estimation models; however, the inventory of Mt. Papandayan is closer to the model. This study found the depth percentage of 20–30 cm using the proportion of 0–20 cm/0–30 cm ratio and predicted the portion of the existence of 137Cs and 210Pbex in the 20–30 cm in the bulk sample. The highest H0 (142.04 kg m–2), the relaxation length λ, and proportion of 20% of 137Cs in 20–30 cm depth imply that 137Cs inventory activity is possibly deeper than 30 cm. This study recommends that Mt. Papandayan could be the alternative RS for the upstream Citarum watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sewer system is a critical component of urban infrastructure, responsible for transporting wastewater and stormwater away from populated areas. Proper design and management of sewer systems are essential to prevent flooding, reduce environmental pollution, and ensure public health and safety. One crucial parameter in sewer system design and management is the particle Froude number (F r n). The goal of this study is to develop a predictive algorithm that takes into account the relevant input parameters, such as volumetric sediment concentration (C v), dimensionless grain size of particles (D g r), the ratio of sediment median size to the hydraulic radius (d / R), pipe friction factor (λ) to accurately predict the F r n using an ablation study for the condition of non-deposition with clean bed data. The proposed approach is based on hyper-parameter optimization techniques, i.e., Babysitting method (BSM), GridSearchCV (GS), random search (RS), Bayesian optimization with Gaussian process (BO-GP), Bayesian optimization with tree-structures Parzen estimator (BO-TPE), and particle swarm optimization (PSO), which are applied to the four machine learning algorithms such as random forest (RF), gradient boosting (GB), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and support vector regression (SVR). The proposed algorithms are compared with the existing algorithms in terms of coefficient of determination (R 2), root mean square error-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR), and normalized mean absolute error (NMAE) to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithms yield superior outcomes across all performance metrics. Among the proposed algorithms, GB+PSO predicted F r n with significant accuracy and has the highest prediction accuracy (R 2 = 0.996, RSR = 0.068, and NMAE = 0.009, respectively), followed by RF+BO-GP, SVR+RS, and KNN+PSO. We have provided a comparison with the existing state-of-the-art methods and beat them. We evaluate these proposed algorithms against several widely recognized empirical equations found in the existing literature. • The study introduces a novel approach for predicting particle F r n and compares four ML algorithms (RF, GB, KNN, SVR). • The study implements HPOTs (BSM, GS, RS, BO-GP, BO-TPE, PSO) to enhance ML algorithms' performance. • The study examines feature selection's effect on algorithm performance using an ablation study. • The findings offer insights into selecting ML algorithms and settings for accurate F r n prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online retailers often sell products using a socially competitive second‐price sealed‐bid auction known as a Vickrey auction (VA), an incentivized demand‐revealing mechanism used to elicit players' subjective values. The VA presents a situation of risky decision‐making, which typically implements value processing and a loss aversion mechanism. Neural outcome processing of VA bids are not known; this study explores this for the first time using EEG. Twenty‐eight healthy participants bid on household items against an anonymous, computerized opponent. Bid outcome event‐related potentials were predicted to differentiate between three conditions: outbid (no‐win), large margin win (bargain), and small margin win (snatch). Individual loss aversion values were evaluated in a separate behavioral experiment offering gains or losses of variable amounts but equal chances against an assured gain. Processing outcomes of VA bids were associated with a feedback‐related negativity (FRN) potential with a spatial maximum at the vertex (251–271 ms), where bargain win trials resulted in greater FRN amplitudes than snatch win trials. Additionally, a P300 potential was sensitive to win versus no‐win outcomes and to retail price. Individual loss aversion level did not correlate with the strength of FRN or P300. Results show that outcome processing in a VA is associated with FRN that differentiates between relatively advantageous and less advantageous gains, and a P300 that distinguishes between the more and less expensive auction items. Our findings pave the way to an objective exploration of economic decision‐making and purchasing behavior involving a widely popular auction. This study is the first to utilize a prominent online purchasing paradigm to provide insight into the neural mechanisms of economic decision‐making under risk. Feedback‐related potentials showed sensitivity to instantaneous evaluations of the relative value of gain outcomes, and encoded the magnitude of the auctions outcome rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background For the encoding part of U-Net3+,the ability of brain tumor feature extraction is insufficient, as a result, the features can not be fused well during up-sampling, and the accuracy of segmentation will reduce. Methods In this study, we put forward an improved U-Net3+ segmentation network based on stage residual. In the encoder part, the encoder based on the stage residual structure is used to solve the vanishing gradient problem caused by the increasing in network depth, and enhances the feature extraction ability of the encoder which is instrumental in full feature fusion when up-sampling in the network. What’s more, we replaced batch normalization (BN) layer with filter response normalization (FRN) layer to eliminate batch size impact on the network. Based on the improved U-Net3+ two-dimensional (2D) model with stage residual, IResUnet3+ three-dimensional (3D) model is constructed. We propose appropriate methods to deal with 3D data, which achieve accurate segmentation of the 3D network. Results The experimental results showed that: the sensitivity of WT, TC, and ET increased by 1.34%, 4.6%, and 8.44%, respectively. And the Dice coefficients of ET and WT were further increased by 3.43% and 1.03%, respectively. To facilitate further research, source code can be found at: https://github.com/YuOnlyLookOne/IResUnet3Plus . Conclusion The improved network has a significant improvement in the segmentation task of the brain tumor BraTS2018 dataset, compared with the classical networks u-net, v-net, resunet and u-net3+, the proposed network has smaller parameters and significantly improved accuracy.

While influences of Pavlovian associations on instrumental behaviour are well established, we still do not know how motor actions affect the formation of Pavlovian associations. To address this question, we designed a task in which participants were presented with neutral stimuli, half of which were paired with an active response, half with a passive waiting period. Stimuli had an 80% chance of predicting either a monetary gain or loss. We compared the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) in response to predictive stimuli and outcomes, as well as directed phase synchronization before and after outcome presentation between trials with versus without a motor response. We found a larger FRN amplitude in response to outcomes presented after a motor response (active trials). This effect was driven by a positive deflection in active reward trials, which was absent in passive reward trials. Connectivity analysis revealed that the motor action reversed the direction of the phase synchronization at the time of the feedback presentation: Top‐down information flow during the outcome anticipation phase in active trials, but bottom‐up information flow in passive trials. This main effect of action was mirrored in behavioural data showing that participants preferred stimuli associated with an active response. Our findings suggest an influence of neural systems that initiate motor actions on neural systems involved in reward processing. We suggest that motor actions might modulate the brain responses to feedback by affecting the dynamics of brain activity towards optimizing the processing of the resulting action outcome. In this study, we investigated the influence on performing a motor action on the neural processing of monetary wins and loCsses. We found a larger FRN amplitude in response to outcomes presented after a motor response. Connectivity analysis revealed that the motor action reversed the direction of the phase synchronization at the time of the feedback presentation. Our findings suggest an influence of neural systems that initiate motor actions on neural systems involved in reward processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research consistently indicated that social power influences one's fairness consideration. However, it is unclear how social power and context jointly affect inequity aversion and whether these processes would be manifested in brain activities. In this study, participants were randomly assigned into either high or low power condition and then took part in a modified ultimatum game (UG) as responders in both gain and loss contexts, with their event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded. Behavioral results showed that powerful participants were more likely to reject unfair offers in both contexts compared with powerless ones. In addition, powerful participants showed a more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN) loss-win difference wave (d-FRN) upon presentation of proposed offers compared with powerless participants only in the gain context. Interestingly, in a later time window, differences of P300 responses to proposed offers were modulated by social power in both gain and loss contexts. These results suggested that powerful people were more sensitive to fairness levels and FRN may manifest fairness consideration in a gain context, but not in a loss context. Meanwhile, P300 is sensitive to fairness considerations in both gain and loss contexts. • Powerful people were more sensitive to fairness levels in social interactions. • FRN may manifest fairness consideration in a gain context, but not a loss context. • P300 is sensitive to fairness consideration in both gain and loss contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research suggests that the language in which bilinguals make decisions affects the rationality of such decisions. Furthermore, bilinguals constantly confront cross‐language interference that requires complex language control processes to resolve this competition. However, the relationship between language control and decision‐making is unclear. In the current study, we analyze electrophysiological and behavior data elicited from two groups of Chinese‐English bilinguals. One group was trained in intensive language switching and then completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the other group completed the two tasks in the reverse order. We found that bilinguals who first received language switching training significantly scored higher on the IGT, with the score positively correlating with L1 and L2 switch costs. More importantly, training with language switching first led to an N2 component for L1 switching costs that negatively correlated with both loss feedback‐related negativity and the P3 component. These effects did not emerge among the group of bilinguals who performed the IGT first. Taken together, the findings suggest that bilinguals are assisted in making rational decisions by language control on feedback evaluation. We uncovered the benefits of language control on rational choices using event‐related potentials (ERP). First, bilinguals who benefit from language control tend to get higher net scores on decision‐making than those who do not. Second, stronger language control induces a deeper feedback evaluation, showing more rational choices. Lastly, language control influences decision‐making via inhibition on feedback evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain and reward have crucial roles in determining human behaviors. It is still unclear how pain influences different stages of reward processing. This study aimed to assess the physical pain's impact on reward processing with event-related potential (ERP) method. In the present study, a flash sale game (reward-seeking task) was carried out, in which the participants were instructed to press a button as soon as possible to obtain the earphone (a reward) after experiencing either electric shock or not and finally evaluated the outcome of their response. High-temporal-resolution electroencephalogram data were simultaneously recorded to reveal the neural mechanism underlying the pain effect. The ERP analyses revealed that pain affected the feedback processing reflected by feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P300. Specifically, participants in the nopain situation exhibited greater FRN discrepancy between success and failure feedbacks relative to that in the pain situation. Moreover, the P300 amplitude was enhanced in the nopain condition compared to the pain condition regardless of the feedback valence. These results demonstrate that the pain reduced the sensitivity to the reward valence at the early stage and weakened the motivational salience at the late stage. Altogether, this study extends the understanding of the effect of pain on reward processing from the temporal perspective under a purchasing situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionAdvice-giving is a double-edged sword in social interaction, which could bring benefits or considerable losses for the advisee. However, whether the social relationship affects the time course of advisor’s brain response to outcome evaluation after the advice-giving remains unclear.MethodsIn the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the modulation of social relationships on advisor’s outcome feedback processing after the advice-giving and related neural activities.ResultsThe results showed larger feedback-related negativity (FRN) to a loss than to a gain both when the friends accepted and rejected the advice, whereas this effect only existed when the strangers rejected the advice, but not when they accepted it. In contrast, the P3 results demonstrated the enhanced neural sensitivity when the strangers accepted the advice than rejected it despite leading to a loss, while a larger P3 amplitude was found when the friends accepted the advice than rejected it and brought a gain. The theta oscillation results in the friend group revealed stronger theta power to loss when the advisee accepted the advice than rejected it. However, this effect was absent in the stranger group.DiscussionThese results suggested that outcome evaluation in advice-giving was not only influenced by feedback valence and social reward, but also modulated by social relationships. Our findings contributed to the understanding of the neural mechanisms of advice-giving outcome evaluation in a social context.

The feedback concealed information test (fCIT) is a new variant of the CIT that added feedback about participants' concealing performances in the classical CIT. The advantage of the fCIT is that the resulting feedback related event-related potentials (ERPs) can be used to detect concealed information. However, the detection efficiency of feedback-based ERPs varies across studies. The present experiment examined whether the extent participants believed the feedback influenced their detection efficiency. Specifically, participants did a mock crime and were then tested in a fCIT. Following the fCIT, participants were asked to report how much they believed the feedback was accurate. Results showed that there were no significant correlations between the amplitude of the feedback related negativity (FRN), feedback P300, and participants' self-report at the group level. However, individual analyses showed that the detection efficiency of both the FRN and feedback P300 were influenced by participants' belief about the presented feedback. The detection efficiency of the FRN and the feedback P300 was higher among participants who believed the feedback. These findings suggest that the fCIT is dependent to some extent on the participants' level of belief in the feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the consequences of one's own decisions is crucial for organizing future behavior. However, when reward contingencies vary frequently, flexible adaptation of decisions is likely to depend on the situation. We examined the effects of an instructed threat context on choice behavior (i.e., reversal learning) and its electrocortical correlates. In a probabilistic decisionmaking task, 30 participants had to choose between two options that were either contingent on monetary gains or losses. Reward contingencies were reversed after reaching a probabilistic threshold. Decision-making and reversal learning were examined with two contextual background colors, which were instructed as signals for threat-of-shock or safety. Self-report data confirmed the threat context as more unpleasant, arousing, and threatening relative to safety condition. However, against our expectations, behavioral performance was comparable during the threat and safety conditions (i.e., errors-to-criterion, number of reversal, error rates, and choice times). Regarding electrocortical activity, feedback processing changed throughout the visual processing stream. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) reflected expectancy-driven processing (unexpected vs. congruent losses and gains), and the threat-selective P3 component revealed non-specific discrimination of gains vs. losses. Finally, the late positive potentials (LPP) showed strongly valence-specific processing (unexpected and congruent losses vs. gains). Thus, regardless of contextual threat, early and late cortical activity reflects an attentional shift from expectation-to outcome-based feedback processing. Findings are discussed in terms of reward, threat, and reversal-learning mechanisms with implications for emotion regulation and anxiety disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with narcissism are, by definition, self-centered, focus on selfbenefit, and demonstrate less prosocial behaviors. Trusting strangers is risky, as it can result in exploitation and non-reciprocation. Thus, the trust may be antagonistic to narcissism. However, how narcissists make the choice to trust remains to be elucidated. The current study examined 44 participants (22 rated high in narcissism) playing as trustors in one-shot trust games, and their electroencephalograms were recorded. Individuals high in narcissism exhibited less trust toward strangers, especially following gaining feedback for their trust. In addition, narcissists exhibited a larger N2 following distrust and a stronger negatively-valanced difference in feedback-related negativity (dFRN) after trustee feedback. Our findings provide insights into how individuals with narcissism trust strangers. The results also shed light on the temporal course of brain activity involved in trust decision-making and outcome evaluation in individuals with narcissism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in a follow-up study among children who lost one or both parents to HIV in central China in the early 2000s, we conducted an event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment to explore the effect of social exclusion on trust and the corresponding neurophysiological mechanism among youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS ("AIDS orphans"). A sample of 31 AIDS orphans (26.16 ± 3.34 years old; 15 female) and 32 age and development status matched controls (25.02 ± 3.45 years old; 14 female) participated in the study. They were all assigned to play Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game that reliably induced social exclusion (15 orphans, 16 controls) and inclusion (16 orphans, 16 controls). Then, they played the Trust Game by taking the role of trustor with their electroencephalograms (EEGs) being recorded during the game. In the Trust Game, each participant was required to decide whether to trust their partners in over 150 trials (decision-making stage). The partner's reciprocation strategies were pre-programmed by the experimenter (with an overall reciprocating rate of 50%). All participants were provided with post-decision feedback about the outcome of their decisions (gain or loss of game points) in each trial (outcome evaluation stage). We analyzed their behavioral responses at the decision-making stage and ERP components at the outcome evaluation stage. Behavioral results showed that the proportion of orphans choosing trust was significantly higher than the controls, and the trust ratio of the orphan exclusion (OE) group was significantly higher than that of the orphan inclusion (OI) group, control exclusion (CE) group, and control inclusion (CI) group. Furthermore, the response time of the OE group was significantly shorter than that of other groups. ERP results indicated that the amplitude of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) in the OI group was significantly more negative than that in the CI group with loss feedback, while there was no significant difference between the OE and OI groups. Similarly, the P300 amplitudes following outcome feedback were larger in the CI group than that in the OI group with gain feedback and had no significant difference between OE and OI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lepidopteron stemborer (Chilo partellus) and parasitic Striga weed (Striga hermonthica) caused major yield losses in subsistence sorghum production in the Eastern Amhara Region, Ethiopia. This study evaluated different number of Brachiaria (Mulato II) rows planted around sorghum plots. Desmodium intortum intercropped with sorghum in each Brachiaria row. The study was conducted on 61 farmers' fields in 2017 and 2018. The treatments were arranged as one row Brachiaria + Desmodium, two rows Brachiaria + Desmodium, three rows Brachiaria + Desmodium and mono-sorghum. The pooled two years and three locations data showed a significant difference (P < 0.001) between push-pull and mono-sorghum plots. Sorghum damage of 17.2%, 16.4%, 33.6% in three, two and one rows of Brachiaria, respectively. The mean number of Striga was significantly reduced in push-pull plots (3 Striga/m2) as compared to mono-sorghum plots (15 Striga/m2). In addition, significantly high sorghum grain yields were recorded in three rows (4.5 t /ha) and two rows (3.7 t/ha) of Brachiaria. Yield increments of 104.2% and 62.2% and 50.0% over mono-sorghum were recorded in three, two rows and one row of Brachiaria, respectively. In addition to sorghum yield increment, farmers were able to get a dry biomass yield of 1.7-24.6 t/ha in different rows of Brachiaria and 0.47-2.43 t/ha of Desmodium for their livestock feed. The three rows of Brachiaria were superior to the other rows, but farmers could also use the two rows as an alternative option with the combination intercropped Desmodium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danfeng Cai,1,2,* Lian Zhu,3,* Wuke Zhang,2,4 Hao Ding,2,4 Ailian Wang,5 Yao Lu,1 Jia Jin5 1College of Science & Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China; 2Academy of Neuroeconomics and Neuromanagement at Ningbo University, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China; 5Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jia Jin Email jinjia.163@163.comPurpose: Social crowding refers to the extent of social presence and proximity to others. A large number of studies have explored the effect of social crowding on consumers’ feelings and behaviours in real shopping scenes, whereas few studies have examined the potential marketing effect of social crowding on online mobile consumption behaviour despite mobile commerce’s increasing popularity in recent years. The current intends to explore the effect of social crowding on online mobile purchase and its underlying neural basis.Methods: The current study employed a questionnaire survey and an implicit panic buying experiment, in which the participants were asked to press the button as soon as possible to buy the showed product. A 2-level social crowding (low vs high) × 2-level feedback of panic buying (success vs fail) design was employed to test the negative impact of social crowding on consumers’ online mobile purchase intention by using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings.Results: Behaviorally, participants showed higher purchase intention in low social crowding environment compared with the high crowding condition. The event-related potentials (ERPs) results indicated that consumers had a higher affective/motivational evaluation (reflected in a smaller feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude) regarding the successful rather than the failing feedback in the low social crowding condition. However, this difference was not detected in the high social crowding condition. Meanwhile, more attentional resources (reflected in a greater P300 amplitude) were directed toward processing the feedback outcomes in the low rather than the high social crowding condition.Conclusion: The current study provided neurophysiological response that social crowding negatively influences consumers’ online purchase intention. Some implications for theory and practice were also discussed.Keywords: social crowding, online purchase intention, ERP, FRN, P300

Predicting the consequences of one’s own decisions is crucial for organizing future behavior. However, when reward contingencies vary frequently, flexible adaptation of decisions is likely to depend on the situation. We examined the effects of an instructed threat context on choice behavior (i.e., reversal learning) and its electrocortical correlates. In a probabilistic decision-making task, 30 participants had to choose between two options that were either contingent on monetary gains or losses. Reward contingencies were reversed after reaching a probabilistic threshold. Decision-making and reversal learning were examined with two contextual background colors, which were instructed as signals for threat-of-shock or safety. Self-report data confirmed the threat context as more unpleasant, arousing, and threatening relative to safety condition. However, against our expectations, behavioral performance was comparable during the threat and safety conditions (i.e., errors-to-criterion, number of reversal, error rates, and choice times). Regarding electrocortical activity, feedback processing changed throughout the visual processing stream. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) reflected expectancy-driven processing (unexpected vs. congruent losses and gains), and the threat-selective P3 component revealed non-specific discrimination of gains vs. losses. Finally, the late positive potentials (LPP) showed strongly valence-specific processing (unexpected and congruent losses vs. gains). Thus, regardless of contextual threat, early and late cortical activity reflects an attentional shift from expectation- to outcome-based feedback processing. Findings are discussed in terms of reward, threat, and reversal-learning mechanisms with implications for emotion regulation and anxiety disorders.

The feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a well-established electrophysiological correlate of feedback-processing. However, there is still an ongoing debate whether the FRN is driven by negative or positive reward prediction errors (RPE), valence of feedback, or mere surprise. Our study disentangles independent contributions of valence, surprise, and RPE on the feedback-related neuronal signal including the FRN and P3 components using the statistical power of a sample of N = 992 healthy individuals. The participants performed a modified time-estimation task, while EEG from 64 scalp electrodes was recorded. Our results show that valence coding is present during the FRN with larger amplitudes for negative feedback. The FRN is further modulated by surprise in a valence-dependent way being more positive-going for surprising positive outcomes. The P3 was strongly driven by both global and local surprise, with larger amplitudes for unexpected feedback and local deviants. Behavioral adaptations after feedback and FRN just show small associations. Results support the theory of the FRN as a representation of a signed RPE. Additionally, our data indicates that surprising positive feedback enhances the EEG response in the time window of the P3. These results corroborate previous findings linking the P3 to the evaluation of PEs in decision making and learning tasks.

Soils accumulate anthropogenic mercury (Hg) from atmospheric deposition to terrestrial ecosystems. However, possible reemission of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) back to the atmosphere as well as downward migration of Hg with soil leachate influence soil sequestration of Hg in ways not sufficiently understood in global biogeochemical models. Here, we apply fallout radionuclide (FRN) chronometry to understand soil Hg dynamics by revisiting the METAALICUS experiments 20 years after enriched isotope tracers ( 198 Hg, 200 Hg, 201 Hg, and 202 Hg) were applied to two boreal watersheds in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Hg spikes formed well-defined peaks in organic horizons of both watersheds at depths of 3-6 cm and were accurately dated to the year of spike application in 6 of 7 cases (error = -0.8 ± 1.2 years). A seventh site was depleted by ca. 90% of both the 200 Hg spike and background Hg, and the spike was dated 16 years older than its application. Robust FRN age models and mass balances demonstrate that loss of Hg is attributable to its specific physicochemical behavior at this site, but more work is required to attribute this to reemission or leaching. This study demonstrates the potential of FRN chronometry to provide insights into Hg accumulation, mobilization, and fate in forest soils.

Background: For the encoding part of U-Net3+,the ability of brain tumor feature extraction is insufficient, as a result, the features can not be fused well during up-sampling, and the accuracy of segmentation will reduce. Methods: In this study, we put forward an improved U-Net3+ segmentation network based on stage residual. In the encoder part, the encoder based on the stage residual structure is used to solve the vanishing gradient problem caused by the increasing in network depth, and enhances the feature extraction ability of the encoder which is instrumental in full feature fusion when up-sampling in the network. What's more, we replaced batch normalization (BN) layer with filter response normalization (FRN) layer to eliminate batch size impact on the network. Based on the improved U-Net3+ two-dimensional (2D) model with stage residual, IResUnet3+ three-dimensional (3D) model is constructed. We propose appropriate methods to deal with 3D data, which achieve accurate segmentation of the 3D network. Results: The experimental results showed that: the sensitivity of WT, TC, and ET increased by 1.34%, 4.6%, and 8.44%, respectively. And the Dice coefficients of ET and WT were further increased by 3.43% and 1.03%, respectively. To facilitate further research, source code can be found at: https://github.com/YuOnlyLookOne/IResUnet3Plus. Conclusion: The improved network has a significant improvement in the segmentation task of the brain tumor BraTS2018 dataset, compared with the classical networks u-net, v-net, resunet and u-net3+, the proposed network has smaller parameters and significantly improved accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory electroencephalography (EEG) studies have already provided important insights into the neuronal mechanisms of performance monitoring. However, to our knowledge no study so far has examined neuronal correlates of performance monitoring using an ecologically valid task outside a typical laboratory setting. Therefore, we examined midfrontal theta and the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) using mobile EEG in a physical shooting task within an ecologically valid environment with highly dynamical visual feedback. Participants shot a target using a toy gun while moving and looking around freely. Shots that missed the target evoked stronger midfrontal theta activity than hits and this response was rather phase‐unlocked. There was no difference between misses and hits in the FRN. The results raise the question whether the absence of certain ERP components like the FRN could be due to methodological reasons or to the fact that partially different neuronal processes may be activated in the laboratory as compared to more ecologically valid tasks. Overall, our results indicate that crucial neurocognitive processes of performance monitoring can be assessed in highly dynamic and ecologically valid settings by mobile EEG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cumulative effect of positive or negative feedback on subsequent emotional experiences remains unclear. Elucidating this effect could help individuals to better understand and accept the change in emotional experience, irrespective of when they or others receive consecutive positive or negative feedback. This study aimed to examine this effect on 37 participants using self‐reported pleasantness and event‐related potential data as indicators. After completing each trial, the participants received predetermined false feedback; they were then assessed on a nine‐point pleasantness scale. There were 12 false feedback conditions categorized into three valence types. The positive type consisted of three consecutive positive feedbacks and a fourth medium feedback; the medium type contained four consecutive medium feedbacks; the negative type consisted of three consecutive negative feedbacks and a fourth medium feedback. We abbreviated medium false feedback after three positive, medium, and negative false feedbacks as 3 pm, 3 mm, and 3 nm, respectively. The results showed that the score of self‐reported pleasantness of 3mm was significantly lower than that of 3 pm and higher than that of 3 nm. The feedback‐related negativity amplitude of 3 pm was significantly greater than that of 3 mm and 3 nm, and the late‐positive potential amplitude of 3 nm was significantly greater than that of 3 pm and 3 mm. We found that individuals experienced medium feedback more positively and negatively after continuous positive and negative feedback, respectively. Our findings suggest that individuals should seek continuous positive feedback and avoid continuous negative feedback; this strategy may contribute to increased positive emotional experiences in the future. We provide strong evidence that continuous positive and negative feedback has a cumulative effect on emotional experience through the results of self‐reported pleasantness, feedback‐related negativity, and late positive potential. Specifically, individuals perceived subsequent medium feedback more positively following continuous positive feedback, and more negatively following continuous negative feedback. Our findings add a new perspective on increasing future positive emotional experience by pursuing continuous positive feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) may affect decision-making processes. This study aimed to investigate the neuronal correlates of feedback processing during a decision-making task in young and older adults with and without SMCs. Event-related potentials and behavioral performance during the Iowa gambling task were recorded in a total of 136 participants (65 young adults, 71 older adults). The participants were divided into two groups according to their SMCs (with SMCs: n = 60, without SMCs: n = 76). Feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 were analyzed in the feedback stage of the decision-making process. Older adults with SMCs scored worse in the ambiguity phase than older adults without SMCs. The FRN latency was longer for losses in older people with SMCs than in older people without SMCs in the first block. No significant differences between young and older adults with and without SMCs were observed in the other ERP measures. Compared to young adults, older adults showed delayed latency in the FRN component and reduced amplitudes and delayed latency in the P3 component. In conclusion, older people with SMCs present deficits in the decision-making process. These deficits are observed at the behavioral level, but also in neural mechanisms of early feedback processing of negative outcomes.

Performance monitoring is critical for learning and behavioral adaption and is supported by both externally and internally sourced information. Cross-sectional studies indicate an increase in internal error processing across childhood, suggesting a potential developmental transition from reliance on external information to reliance on internally developed models. However, little research has examined the association between these constructs longitudinally. Data from 339 children assessed annually from kindergarten to 2nd grade were examined to determine the developmental trajectory of ERP indices of performance monitoring, and whether the association between these indices changes across time. EEG data were recorded during an incentivized Go/No-Go task and ERP component amplitudes were extracted as peak measures at Fz. Despite small increases in magnitude, no significant changes were observed in any of the ERPs. Multi-level regression analyses indicated that in kindergarten a more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN) was associated with a more negative error-related negativity (ERN) and a more negative error positivity (Pe). Further, the association between the FRN and Pe changed over time, such that in 2nd grade the FRN and Pe decoupled from one another and were no longer associated. These results suggest that the development of performance monitoring through middle childhood may be a phasic process. More specifically, matured external feedback monitoring processes may first facilitate the development of conscious error recognition, and then the development of internal error monitoring processes. Once internal models of error monitoring are well-established, children may then reduce their utilization of external feedback. • Across middle childhood the amplitude of the FRN and Pe remained stable. • In Kindergarten, a more negative FRN was associated with a more negative ERN and Pe. • In 2nd grade, the FRN and Pe decoupled and were no longer associated. • External feedback processing may help consolidate internal monitoring processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) may affect decision-making processes. This study aimed to investigate the neuronal correlates of feedback processing during a decision-making task in young and older adults with and without SMCs. Event-related potentials and behavioral performance during the Iowa gambling task were recorded in a total of 136 participants (65 young adults, 71 older adults). The participants were divided into two groups according to their SMCs (with SMCs: n = 60, without SMCs: n = 76). Feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 were analyzed in the feedback stage of the decision-making process. Older adults with SMCs scored worse in the ambiguity phase than older adults without SMCs. The FRN latency was longer for losses in older people with SMCs than in older people without SMCs in the first block. No significant differences between young and older adults with and without SMCs were observed in the other ERP measures. Compared to young adults, older adults showed delayed latency in the FRN component and reduced amplitudes and delayed latency in the P3 component. In conclusion, older people with SMCs present deficits in the decision-making process. These deficits are observed at the behavioral level, but also in neural mechanisms of early feedback processing of negative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enduring pain would change individuals' behavioral preferences and neural responses in multiple decision-making tasks. Yet few studies have investigated how money's casual association with painful experience would modify people's decisions with it. It is an important and common social situation. The present study investigated how money's association with pain influences the way people make monetary decisions. Participants gambled with money that they earned in four different ways: enduring pain (Pain), randomly assigned (Random), non-painful effort task (Effort), and observing negative images (NO). Results revealed two different patterns. In the Random and Pain conditions, participants were not sensitive to the gambling risk such that they more randomly chose high- and low-risk options; the differences in FNR amplitude triggered by high- and low-risk choices were comparable on the neural level. In contrast, in the Effort and NO conditions, participants showed higher sensitivity to the magnitude and larger differences in FNR amplitudes between high- and low-risk choices. These findings suggested that pain cannot increase the subjective value of monetary gain like other non-painful efforts can do and monetary rewards may not be the optimal way to compensate for the physical suffering or loss in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Leaders with higher social dominance, tended to make faster decisions. • They also exhibited increased beta PSD and more pronounced negativity in the FRN component of ERPs. • The findings imply they may have heightened responsiveness to rewards rather than punishments. Numerous studies have explored the concept of social dominance and its implications for leadership within the behavioral and cognitive sciences in recent years. The current study aims to address the gap regarding the neural correlates of social dominance by investigating the associations between psychological measures of social dominance and neural features among a sample of leaders. Thirty healthy male volunteers engaged in a monetary gambling task while their resting-state and task-based electroencephalography data were recorded. The results revealed a positive association between social dominance and resting-state beta oscillations in central electrodes. Furthermore, a negative association was observed between social dominance and task-based reaction time as well as the amplitude of the feedback-related negativity component of the event-related potentials during the gain, but not the loss condition. These findings suggest that social dominance is associated with enhanced reward processing which has implications for social and interpersonal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scarcity goods have generally been perceived as high in value in real-world and empirical studies. However, few studies have investigated this value over time, such as performance in intertemporal decision making. This study’s chief objective was to determine how scarcity evaluation changes temporally. We used the electroencephalogram technique and an outcome evaluation task with the valuation of scarcity and ordinary rewards delivered at different times to explore the effect of scarcity on delay discounting. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) results show that ordinary goods were associated with a more negative amplitude than scarcity goods, and that rewards delivered in the future evoked more negative deflection compared to those delivered immediately. The prominent FRN effect was derived mainly from ordinary trials rather than scarcity trials in the immediate condition and in the future rather than only in the immediate condition. The Frontal Asymmetry Index (FAI) results show that the scarcity condition was associated with greater relative left frontal cortical activity than the ordinary condition when delivered immediately. The frontal asymmetry indicated greater approach motivation. Our electrophysiology data indicate that scarcity goods have a perceived high value, particularly when delivered immediately.

Dopamine signaling is thought to mediate reward-based learning. We tested for a role of dopamine in motor adaptation by administering the dopamine precursor levodopa to healthy participants in two experiments involving reaching movements. Levodopa has been shown to impair reward-based learning in cognitive tasks. Thus, we hypothesized that levodopa would selectively impair aspects of motor adaptation that depend on the reinforcement of rewarding actions. In the first experiment, participants performed two separate tasks in which adaptation was driven either by visual error-based feedback of the hand position or binary reward feedback. We used EEG to measure event-related potentials evoked by task feedback. We hypothesized that levodopa would specifically diminish adaptation and the neural responses to feedback in the reward learning task. However, levodopa did not affect motor adaptation in either task nor did it diminish event-related potentials elicited by reward outcomes. In the second experiment, participants learned to compensate for mechanical force field perturbations applied to the hand during reaching. Previous exposure to a particular force field can result in savings during subsequent adaptation to the same force field or interference during adaptation to an opposite force field. We hypothesized that levodopa would diminish savings and anterograde interference, as previous work suggests that these phenomena result from a reinforcement learning process. However, we found no reliable effects of levodopa. These results suggest that reward-based motor adaptation, savings, and interference may not depend on the same dopaminergic mechanisms that have been shown to be disrupted by levodopa during various cognitive tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]