Outcome evaluations in group decision making using the majority rule: An electrophysiological study

Event‐related brain potential (ERP) reflecting outcome evaluation is called feedback‐related negativity (FRN). The present study examined the evaluative processes for two different types of outcomes by recording ERPs from three participants during a group decision task. First, we examined the evaluative processing of outcomes associated with group decisions using the majority rule. Second, we investigated whether the majority rule influenced the evaluation of conflicts related to individual opinions among group members. We found that FRN for monetary loss associated with the group decision was reduced when the participant's opinion was in the minority. In addition, conflict of opinions among group members elicited FRN‐like negativity, and greater amplitudes were observed when the participant's opinion was in the minority. The present results suggested that the majority rule can modulate outcome evaluations in group decision making.     

Perceptual properties of feedback stimuli influence the feedback‐related negativity in the flanker gambling task

A negative deflection in the event‐related potential is enhanced following error‐ and loss‐related feedback in decision‐making and simple gambling tasks. Researchers have assumed that the perceptual properties of the feedback stimuli are unimportant in explaining these effects. This assumption was tested in the present study through a flanker gambling task, in which the perceptual properties of the feedback were manipulated. Consistent with previous studies, loss elicited a larger feedback‐related negativity (FRN) than gain feedback. However, this FRN reward effect was modulated by the perceptual properties of the feedback stimuli. When gain and loss feedback were perceptually similar to each other, the enhancement of the FRN following the loss feedback was smaller compared to when the gain and loss feedback were different from each other. In addition, incongruent feedback elicited a larger FRN than congruent feedback; this FRN congruency effect was larger following gain than loss feedback. These results suggested that perceptual properties of the feedback stimuli play a role in the elicitation of the FRN.     

How does cognitive reappraisal affect the response to gains and losses?

To investigate the influence of cognitive reappraisal, one important kind of emotion regulation strategy, on psychological and electrophysiological responses to gains and losses, a monetary gambling task was performed in two conditions, that is, spontaneity and regulation. Event‐related potentials (ERP) and self‐rating emotional experiences to outcome feedback were recorded during the task. Cognitive reappraisal reduced self‐rating emotional experience to both gains and losses and the amplitudes of the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) and the P3 of ERPs. According to these results, we suggest that the application of cognitive reappraisal strategy significantly modulated the motivational salience of current outcomes, thus weakening the subjective emotional experience elicited. In addition, cognitive reappraisal might have changed the allocation of cognitive resources during outcome evaluation. This study extends emotion regulation studies by applying monetary outcomes as emotional stimuli, and also implicates the significance of emotion regulation in decision‐making processes.     

The reward positivity: From basic research on reward to a biomarker for depression

Feedback indicating monetary loss elicits an apparent negative deflection in the event‐related potential (ERP) that has been referred to as the feedback error‐related negativity, medial frontal negativity, feedback‐related negativity, and feedback negativity—all conceptualizations that suggest a negative ERP component that is greater for loss than gain. In the current paper, I review a programmatic line of research indicating that this apparent negativity actually reflects a reward‐related positivity (RewP) that is absent or suppressed following nonreward. I situate the RewP within a broader nomological network of reward processing and individual differences in sensitivity to rewards. Further, I review work linking reductions in the RewP to increased depressive symptoms and risk for depression. Finally, I discuss future directions for research on the RewP.     

Feedback delay gradually affects amplitude and valence specificity of the feedback‐related negativity (FRN)

Processing of performance‐related feedback is an essential prerequisite for adaptive behavior. Even though in everyday life feedback is rarely immediate, to date very few studies have investigated whether the feedback‐related negativity (FRN), a relative negativity in the ERP approximately 200 to 300 ms after feedback that is sensitive to feedback valence and predictability, is modulated by feedback timing, and findings are inconsistent. The present study investigated effects of gradually increasing feedback delays on feedback processing in the FRN time window. Subjects completed a probabilistic learning task in which feedback was provided after short, intermediate, or long delays. Difference wave‐based analyses showed that amplitudes decreased linearly with increasing feedback delay. A distinct pattern was observed for the FRN as defined in the original waveforms, with FRN amplitudes being largest for long and smallest for short delays. This pattern of results is consistent with the notion that the neural systems underlying feedback processing vary depending on feedback timing. The gradually reduced difference wave signal might reflect a gradual shift away from processing in frontostriatal circuits toward medial temporal involvement. To what extent increased signal amplitudes for longer delays in the original waveforms are related to processing in certain brain structures will need to be determined in future studies.     

Different strategies underlying uncertain decision making: Higher executive performance is associated with enhanced feedback‐related negativity

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of executive functions (EFs) in different strategies underlying risky decision making. Adult participants from a nonclinical sample were assigned to low or high EF groups based on their performance on EF tasks measuring shifting, updating, and inhibition. ERPs were recorded while participants performed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). In this task, each balloon pump was associated with either a reward or a balloon pop with unknown probability. The BART behavioral measures did not show between‐group differences. However, the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) associated with undesirable outcomes was larger in the high EF group than in the low EF group. Since the FRN represents salience prediction error, our results suggest that the high EF group formed internal models that were violated by the outcomes. Thus, we provided ERP evidence for EFs influencing risky decision‐making processes.     

The feedback-related negativity (FRN) in adolescents

This study examined age-related differences in the ERP correlates of external feedback processing (i.e., the feedback-related negativity [FRN]) in adolescent and young adult males, using a simple gambling task involving unpredictable monetary losses and gains of low and high magnitude. The FRN was larger after losses than gains, and was modulated by the magnitude of gains, but not the magnitude of losses, for all participants regardless of age. FRN amplitude was larger in adolescents than adults and also discriminated relatively less strongly between gains and losses in adolescents. In addition, the morphology of the waveform after high losses suggests that feedback in this condition may have been processed less efficiently by adolescents. Our results suggest that, although the FRN in adults and adolescents share some common characteristics, the neural processes that generate the FRN are still developing in midadolescence. These findings are discussed in the context of adolescent risk taking.     

Reliability of the electrocortical response to gains and losses in the doors task

The ability to differentiate between rewards and losses is critical for motivated action, and aberrant reward and loss processing has been associated with psychopathology. The reward positivity (RewP) and feedback negativity (FN) are ERPs elicited by monetary gains and losses, respectively, and are promising individual difference measures. However, few studies have reported on the psychometric properties of the RewP and FN—crucial characteristics necessary for valid individual difference measures. The current study examined the internal consistency and 1‐week test‐retest reliability of the RewP and FN as elicited by the doors task among 59 young adults. The RewP, FN, and their difference score (ΔRewP) all showed significant correlations between Time 1 and Time 2. The RewP and FN also achieved acceptable internal consistency at both time points within 20 trials using both Cronbach's α and a generalizability theory‐derived dependability measure. Internal consistency for ΔRewP was notably weaker at both time points, which is expected from two highly intercorrelated constituent scores. In conclusion, the RewP and FN have strong psychometric properties in a healthy adult sample. Future research is needed to assess the psychometric properties of these ERPs in different age cohorts and in clinical populations.     

Neural response to action and reward prediction errors: Comparing the error‐related negativity to behavioral errors and the feedback‐related negativity to reward prediction violations

The error‐related negativity (ERN) is thought to index an anterior cingulate (ACC) behavioral monitoring system. The feedback ERN (FRN) is elicited to error feedback when the correct response is not known, but also when a choice outcome is suboptimal and to passive reward prediction violation, suggesting that the monitoring system may not be restricted to actions. This study used principal components analysis to show that the ERN consists of a single central component whereas the reward prediction violation FRN is comprised of central and prefrontal components. A prefrontal component is also present in action monitoring but occurs later, at the error positivity latency. This suggests that ACC monitors both actions and events for reward prediction error. Prefrontal cortex may update reward expectation based on the prediction violation with the latency difference due to differential processing time for motor and perceptual information.     

Linking internal and external signals for performance monitoring: An event‐related potential study

The present study explored the relevance of internal signals for the dynamics of personal and nonpersonal feedback processing. To this end, pairs of participants performed concurrently a choice‐response task and received external signals in four feedback contexts. In two contexts, feedback was informative about the personal performance (personal/private and personal/public); in the other two contexts, instructions suggested that feedback was informative about the other participant's performance (nonpersonal/other) or that it was random (nonpersonal/random). Since personal feedback was contingent on performance, the two contexts with personal feedback allowed a reference between internal and external signals. This reference significantly affected personal feedback processing. On the one hand, in the processing of personal feedback, the feedback‐related negativities (FRNs) evoked by feedback associated with distinctively fast or slow responses were less negative than the FRN elicited by feedback related to responses made with average speed. On the other hand, feedback signals evoked FRNs with similar amplitudes in the two contexts with nonpersonal feedback. Furthermore, personal and nonpersonal feedback elicited ERPs with different strength. Starting with the P2 potential, personal feedback evoked a more positive electrophysiological response than nonpersonal feedback. Based on these results, we conclude that a link between internal and external signals, as for personal feedback, is a key factor influencing the dynamics of feedback processing.     

Temporal dissociation of salience and prediction error responses to appetitive and aversive taste

The feedback‐related negativity (FRN), a frontocentral ERP occurring 200–350 ms after emotionally valued outcomes, has been posited as the neural correlate of reward prediction error, a key component of associative learning. Recent evidence challenged this interpretation and has led to the suggestion that this ERP expresses salience instead. Here, we distinguish between utility prediction error and salience by delivering or withholding hedonistically matched appetitive and aversive tastes, and measure ERPs to cues signaling each taste. We observed a typical FRN (computed as the loss‐minus‐gain difference wave) to appetitive taste, but a reverse FRN to aversive taste. When tested axiomatically, frontocentral ERPs showed a salience response across tastes, with a particularly early response to outcome delivery, supporting recent propositions of a fast, unsigned, and unspecific response to salient stimuli. ERPs also expressed aversive prediction error peaking at 285 ms, which conformed to the logic of an axiomatic model of prediction error. With stimuli that most resemble those used in animal models, we did not detect any frontocentral ERP signal for utility prediction error, in contrast with dominant views of the functional role of the FRN ERP. We link the animal and human literature and present a challenge for current perspectives on associative learning research using ERPs.     

Electrophysiological correlates of processing facial attractiveness and its influence on cooperative behavior

The present study investigated the temporal features of processing facial attractiveness, and its influence on the subsequent cooperative behavior. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded for both face stimuli (attractive or unattractive faces) and feedback stimuli (loss or gain) while participants performed a modified trust game task, in which participants decided whether to cooperate with fictional partners (attractive or unattractive faces) for a chance to earn monetary rewards; feedback (loss or gain) were presented after their decisions. The behavioral results showed that participants were more likely to cooperate with the attractive partners than with the unattractive partners. The ERP analysis for face stimuli showed that a smaller P2 amplitude was elicited by attractive faces compared to unattractive faces. In addition, attractive faces elicited larger N2 and smaller late positive component (LPC) amplitudes than unattractive faces. More interestingly, a larger feedback related negativity (FRN) was elicited within the attractive face condition compared with the unattractive face condition. Therefore, our findings demonstrate that the discrimination of attractive and unattractive faces occurs at the early P2 stage, reflecting automatic processing of facial attractiveness. Moreover, the present study further demonstrates that facial attractiveness facilitates cooperative behavior, and that FRN elicited by outcome stimuli might be used as an index of how people judge and predict another's behavior in a social game.     

Impulsivity and the association between the feedback‐related negativity and performance on an inhibitory control task in young at‐risk children

Identifying neurocognitive processes associated with effective inhibitory control is particularly relevant for individuals at high risk for disruptive behaviors, such as maltreated children. Performance feedback processing during a flanker task was investigated in maltreated preschool‐aged children (N = 67) via an event‐related potential component, the feedback‐related negativity (FRN). The functionality of the FRN in children with high impulsivity was of interest, as impulsivity was associated with an exaggerated FRN in previous research. Results showed that high impulsivity was associated with an exaggerated FRN and greater post‐error slowing. For children with high impulsivity, there was a correlation between the FRN and accuracy, which was not found in children with low impulsivity. This suggests that an exaggerated FRN is particularly important for children with high impulsivity to maintain effective inhibitory control.     

Incidental emotions influence risk preference and outcome evaluation

Incidental emotions, which are irrelevant to the current decision, play a significant role in the decision‐making process. In this study, to investigate the influence of incidental emotions on behavioral, psychological, and electrophysiological responses in the process of decision making, participants were required to perform a monetary gambling task. During the selection stage, an emotional picture, which was chosen from the Chinese Affective Picture System and fell into one of three categories: negative, neutral, and positive, was presented between two alternatives (small/large amount of bet). The pictures were provided to induce incidental emotions. ERPs and self‐rating emotional experiences to outcome feedback were recorded during the task. Behavioral results showed that positive incidental emotions elicited risk preference, but emotional experiences to outcome feedback were not influenced by incidental emotions. The feedback‐related negativity amplitudes were larger in the positive emotion condition than in the negative and neutral emotion conditions for small outcomes (including wins and losses), whereas there was no difference between the three conditions for large outcomes. In addition, the amplitudes of P3 were reduced overall in the negative emotion condition. We suggest that incidental emotions have modulated both the option assessment stage (manifested in behavioral choices) and the outcome evaluation stage (manifested in ERP amplitudes) of decision making unconsciously (indicated by unchanged subjective emotional experiences). The current findings have expanded our understanding of the role of incidental emotion in decision making.     

When the outcome is different than expected: Subjective expectancy shapes reward prediction error at the FRN level

Converging evidence in human electrophysiology suggests that evaluative feedback provided during performance monitoring (PM) elicits two distinctive and successive ERP components: the feedback‐related negativity (FRN) and the P3b. Whereas the FRN has previously been linked to reward prediction error (RPE), the P3b has been conceived as reflecting motivational or attentional processes following the early processing of the RPE, including action value updating. However, it remains unclear whether these two consecutive neurophysiological effects depend on the direction of the unexpectedness (better‐ or worse‐than‐expected outcomes; signed RPE) or instead only on the degree of unexpectedness irrespective of direction (i.e., unsigned RPE). To address this question, we devised an experiment in which we manipulated the objective reward probability and the subjective reward expectancy (via instructions) in a factorial within‐subject design and explored amplitude changes of the FRN and the P3b. A 64‐channel EEG was recorded while 32 participants performed a speeded go/no‐go task in which evaluative feedback based on the reward probability either violated expectancy (thereby creating a RPE) or did not. This violation corresponded either to better‐ or worse‐than‐expected events. Results showed that the FRN was larger when RPE occurred than when it did not, but irrespective of the direction of this violation. Interestingly, in these two conditions, action value was updated for the positive feedback selectively, as shown by the P3b amplitude. These results obey a two‐stage model of PM assuming that unsigned RPE is first rapidly detected (FRN level) before the positive feedback’s value is updated selectively (P3b effect).     

Teasing apart the anticipatory and consummatory processing of monetary incentives: An event‐related potential study of reward dynamics

The monetary incentive delay (MID) task has been widely used in fMRI studies to investigate the neural networks involved in anticipatory and consummatory reward processing. Previous efforts to adapt the MID task for use with ERPs, however, have had limited success. Here, we sought to further decompose reward dynamics using a comprehensive set of anticipatory (cue‐N2, cue‐P3, contingent negative variation [CNV]) and consummatory ERPs (feedback negativity [FN], feedback P3 [fb‐P3]). ERP data was recorded during adapted versions of the MID task across two experiments. Unlike previous studies, monetary incentive cues modulated the cue‐N2, cue‐P3, and CNV; however, cue‐related ERPs and the CNV were uncorrelated with one another, indicating distinct anticipatory subprocesses. With regard to consummatory processing, FN amplitude primarily tracked outcome valence (reward vs. nonreward), whereas fb‐P3 amplitude primarily tracked outcome salience (uncertain vs. certain). Independent modulation of the cue‐P3 and fb‐P3 was observed, indicating that these two P3 responses may uniquely capture the allocation of attention during anticipatory and consummatory reward processing, respectively. Overall, across two samples, consistent evidence of both anticipatory and consummatory ERP activity was observed on an adapted version of the MID paradigm, demonstrating for the first time how these ERP components may be integrated with one another to more fully characterize the time course of reward processing. This ERP‐MID paradigm is well suited to parsing reward dynamics, and can be applied to both healthy and clinical populations.     

Neural responses to social and monetary reward in early adolescence and emerging adulthood

Reward processing is often considered to be a monolithic construct, with different incentive types eliciting equivalent neural and behavioral responses. The majority of the literature on reward processing has used monetary incentives to elicit reward‐related activity, yet social incentives may be particularly important due to their powerful ability to shape behavior. Findings from studies comparing social and monetary rewards have identified both overlapping and distinct responses. In order to explore whether reward processing is domain general or category specific (i.e., the same or different across reward types), the present study recorded ERPs from early adolescents (ages 12–13) and emerging adults (ages 18–25) while they completed social and monetary reward tasks. Temporospatial principal components analysis revealed morphologically similar reward positivities (RewPs) in the social and monetary reward tasks in each age group. In early adolescents, no significant difference was found between the magnitude of the RewP to social and monetary rewards. In emerging adults, however, the RewP to monetary rewards was significantly larger than the RewP to social rewards. Additionally, responses to feedback between the two tasks were not significantly correlated in either age group. These results suggest that both domain‐general and category‐specific processes underlie neural responses to rewards and that the relative incentive value of different types of rewards may change across development. Findings from this study have important implications for understanding the role that neural response to rewards plays in the development of psychopathology during adolescence.     

Feedback negativity and decision‐making behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in adolescents is modulated by peer presence

Adolescent risk taking is strongly influenced by peer presence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of peer presence on the ERP after negative and positive feedback in the time range of the feedback‐related negativity (FRN). Eighteen male adolescents completed a version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) under two conditions: playing alone and while observed by a peer. We recorded the ERPs after success or failure feedback and analyzed risk‐taking behavior under both conditions. Behavioral results show that the participants were more cautious when being watched by a peer, especially after success. ERPs show that participants under peer presence exhibit more negative FRN after failure feedback than in the single condition, but no greater positivities after success feedback in the observed condition compared to the single condition. Results are in line with reinforcement learning theory and psychological aspects of loss prevention. The results suggest that the effect of peer presence on risk‐taking behavior depends on the specific situational context.     

Attention‐dependent sound offset‐related brain potentials

When performing sensory tasks, knowing the potentially occurring goal‐relevant and irrelevant stimulus events allows the establishment of selective attention sets, which result in enhanced sensory processing of goal‐relevant events. In the auditory modality, such enhancements are reflected in the increased amplitude of the N1 ERP elicited by the onsets of task‐relevant sounds. It has been recently suggested that ERPs to task‐relevant sound offsets are similarly enhanced in a tone‐focused state in comparison to a distracted one. The goal of the present study was to explore the influence of attention on ERPs elicited by sound offsets. ERPs elicited by tones in a duration‐discrimination task were compared to ERPs elicited by the same tones in not‐tone‐focused attentional setting. Tone offsets elicited a consistent, attention‐dependent biphasic (positive‐negative—P1‐N1) ERP waveform for tone durations ranging from 150 to 450 ms. The evidence, however, did not support the notion that the offset‐related ERPs reflected an offset‐specific attention set: The offset‐related ERPs elicited in a duration‐discrimination condition (in which offsets were task relevant) did not significantly differ from those elicited in a pitch‐discrimination condition (in which the offsets were task irrelevant). Although an N2 reflecting the processing of offsets in task‐related terms contributed to the observed waveform, this contribution was separable from the offset‐related P1 and N1. The results demonstrate that when tones are attended, offset‐related ERPs may substantially overlap endogenous ERP activity in the postoffset interval irrespective of tone duration, and attention differences may cause ERP differences in such postoffset intervals.     

This ought to be good: brain activity accompanying positive and negative expectations and outcomes

The current study employed a modified gambling task, in which probabilistic cues were provided to elicit positive or negative expectations. Event-related potentials (ERPs) to "final outcome" and "probabilistic cues" were analyzed. Difference waves between the negative condition and the corresponding positive condition were examined. The results confirm that feedback related negativity (FRN) amplitude is modulated by the interaction of outcome valence and expectancy by showing larger FRN difference waves for unexpected than expected outcomes. More interestingly, the difference wave between ERPs elicited by positive and negative expectations showed a negative deflection, with a frontal midline source density around 280 ms after onset of the predictive cue. Negative expectations were associated with larger FRN amplitudes than positive expectations. This suggests that FRN is elicited by probabilistic cues to pending outcomes.