The effect of reward expectation on working memory of emotional faces under different levels of cognitive load: an ERP study.

Publisher: Springer Verlag Country of Publication: Germany NLM ID: 0043312 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1432-1106 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00144819 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Exp Brain Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Berlin : Springer Verlag

Motivation* ; Electroencephalography*; Humans ; Memory, Short-Term ; Emotions/physiology ; Evoked Potentials/physiology ; Cognition ; Reward ; Facial Expression

Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this study examined the impact of reward expectations on working memory of emotional faces under different levels of cognitive load in a task combining the N-back paradigm and the reward expectation paradigm. The experiment involved presenting high- or low-reward cues followed by an N-back task for emotional faces with different loads. The accuracy results showed that under a high task load, both reward and emotion effects were significantly observed. However, these effects disappeared under a low task load. Analysis of the ERP data revealed that the early P2 and VPP components exhibited greater responses to fearful faces than to neutral faces. In the later stages, the P3 and LPP components showed greater reactions to high rewards than to low rewards. Additionally, the P2 component was found to be modulated by task load in relation to rewards, the EPN component demonstrated task load modulation with respect to emotions, and the N170 component showed an interaction effect between rewards and emotions. These findings imply that load regulates the reward effect and the emotional superiority effect in the process of working memory for emotional faces. In the cognitive processing of working memory, motivation and emotion jointly influence processing. Emotional factors have a greater impact in the early stage of processing, while motivation factors have a greater impact in the late stage of processing.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

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23A190002 Key Scientific Research Project of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province; 23A190001 Key Scientific Research Project of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province; 2020BJY028 Philosophy and Social Science Research Project in Henan Province; 2021BSH015 Philosophy and Social Science Research Project in Henan Province; 2021-XYJG-51 Teaching Reform Project of Xinxiang Medical Universityin China

Keywords: Emotional face; Event-related potential; N-back task; Reward expectation; Working memory

Date Created: 20240203 Date Completed: 20240226 Latest Revision: 20240802

20240802

10.1007/s00221-023-06776-6

38310175