Event-Related Potential Correlates of Emotional Processing in a Rapid Picture-Viewing Paradigm

Extensive research and evolutionary theory have shown that humans have evolved to selectively attend to and process emotionally evocative stimuli. In order to examine the underlying neurobiology of affective processing, researchers have examined the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive potential (LPP), two event-related potentials (ERPs) reflecting, respectively, early visual processing and subsequent evaluative processing of salient affective stimuli. Externalizing proneness, dispositional tendencies towards negative behaviors to the outside world, is a commonly researched aspect in accordance with emotion regulation. This current study examined these ERPs within a rapid picture-viewing (RPV) paradigm to delineate how affective processing of emotionally evocative stimuli are impacted by the valence of prior and subsequent stimuli (i.e. serial affective processing). Additionally, the current study examined the relationship between externalizing proneness and these ERP indices of serial affective processing. More specifically, the RPV paradigm used in this study examined affective processing ERPs while participants passively viewed a series of 819 pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) displayed at a rate of 3 pictures per-second. Past research and a major focus of this study, have also suggested that ERPs derived from the rapid picture-viewing task relate to externalizing proneness and fear disorders such as PTSD and anxiety. Additionally, data analyses suggest a significant reduction in LPP responses and enhanced EPN responses in high externalizing prone individuals.