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Wagner-Altendorf TA, van der Lugt AH, Kroeber A, Cirkel A, Heldmann M, Münte TF. Differences in Implicit Attitudes in West and East Germans as Measured by the Go/NoGo Association Task and Event-related EEG Potentials. Cogn Behav Neurol 2023; 36:145-158. [PMID: 36961321 DOI: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 03/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Implicit social cognition refers to attitudes and stereotypes that may reside outside conscious awareness and control but that still affect human behavior. In particular, the implicit favoritism of an ingroup, to which an individual belongs, as opposed to an outgroup, to which the individual does not belong, characterized as ingroup bias, is of interest and is investigated here. METHOD We used a Go/NoGo association task (GNAT) and behavioral and electroencephalographic (event-related EEG potential [ERP] analysis) measures to investigate the implicit bias toward cities in East Germany, West Germany, and Europe, in 16 individuals each from West and East Germany (mixed gender, M age = 24). The GNAT assesses an individual's Go and NoGo responses for a given association between a target category and either pole (positive or negative) of an evaluative dimension. RESULTS Behavioral measures revealed slightly faster reaction times to the combination of European city names and negative, as compared with positive, evaluative words in both groups. ERP analysis showed an increased negativity at 400-800 ms poststimulus in the incongruent conditions of East German city/positive word pairings (in West Germans) and West German city/positive word pairings (in East Germans). CONCLUSION An implicitly moderately negative evaluation of Europe by both groups was exhibited based on the behavioral data, and an increased level of conflict arising from the "incongruent" pairings (ie, as manifestation of an implicitly negative attitude toward East Germany in West Germans, and toward West Germany in East Germans) was exhibited based on the electrophysiological data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tobias A Wagner-Altendorf
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
| | - Arie H van der Lugt
- Section Teaching & Innovation of Learning, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Anna Kroeber
- Department of Neuropsychology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Anna Cirkel
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Marcus Heldmann
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Thomas F Münte
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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Yao JY, Zheng ZW, Zhang Y, Su SS, Wang Y, Tao J, Peng YH, Wu YR, Jiang WH, Qiu JY. Electrophysiological evidence for the characteristics of implicit self-schema and other-schema in patients with major depressive disorder: An event-related potential study. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1131275. [PMID: 37113549 PMCID: PMC10126260 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1131275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The significance of implicit self-schema and other-schema in major depressive disorder (MDD) is highlighted by both cognitive theory and attachment theory. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) characteristics of implicit schemas in MDD patients. Methods The current study recruited 40 patients with MDD and 33 healthy controls (HCs). The participants were screened for mental disorders using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale-14 were employed to assess the clinical symptoms. Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) was conducted to measure the characteristics of implicit schemas. Meanwhile, reaction time and electroencephalogram data were recorded. Results Behavioral indexes showed that HCs responded faster to positive self and positive others than negative self (t = -3.304, p = 0.002, Cohen's d = 0.575) and negative others (t = -3.155, p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.549), respectively. However, MDD did not show this pattern (p > 0.05). The difference in other-EAST effect between HCs and MDD was significant (t = 2.937, p = 0.004, Cohen's d = 0.691). The ERP indicators of self-schema showed that under the condition of positive self, the mean amplitude of LPP in MDD was significantly smaller than that in HCs (t = -2.180, p = 0.034, Cohen's d = 0.902). The ERP indexes of other-schema showed that HCs had a larger absolute value of N200 peak amplitude for negative others (t = 2.950, p = 0.005, Cohen's d = 0.584) and a larger P300 peak amplitude for positive others (t = 2.185, p = 0.033, Cohen's d = 0.433). The above patterns were not shown in MDD (p > 0.05). The comparison between groups found that under the condition of negative others, the absolute value of N200 peak amplitude in HCs was larger than that in MDD (t = 2.833, p = 0.006, Cohen's d = 1.404); under the condition of positive others, the P300 peak amplitude (t = -2.906, p = 0.005, Cohen's d = 1.602) and LPP amplitude (t = -2.367, p = 0.022, Cohen's d = 1.100) in MDD were smaller than that in HCs. Conclusion Patients with MDD lack positive self-schema and positive other-schema. Implicit other-schema might be related to abnormalities in both the early automatic processing stage and the late elaborate processing stage, while the implicit self-schema might be related only to the abnormality in the late elaborate processing stage.
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Wagner-Altendorf TA, van der Lugt AH, Banfield JF, Deibel J, Cirkel A, Heldmann M, Münte TF. Studying Implicit Attitudes Towards Smoking: Event-Related Potentials in the Go/NoGo Association Task. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:634994. [PMID: 33613219 PMCID: PMC7892465 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.634994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cigarette smoking and other addictive behaviors are among the main preventable risk factors for several severe and potentially fatal diseases. It has been argued that addictive behavior is controlled by an automatic-implicit cognitive system and by a reflective-explicit cognitive system, that operate in parallel to jointly drive human behavior. The present study addresses the formation of implicit attitudes towards smoking in both smokers and non-smokers, using a Go/NoGo association task (GNAT), and behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures. The GNAT assesses, via quantifying participants’ reaction times, the strength of association between a target category and either pole of an evaluative dimension (positive or negative). EEG analysis is performed to determine the temporal course of the event-related potential (ERP) components underlying Go/NoGo decisions and implicit attitude formation. Both smokers and non-smokers showed prolonged reaction times to smoking-related pictures when the pictures were coupled with positive evaluative words (“incongruent condition”). This indicates negative implicit attitudes towards smoking in both groups alike at the time point of the behavioral response (600–700 ms post-stimulus). However, only the non-smokers, not the smokers, were found to show a delay of the N200 component in the incongruent condition. This is interpreted as reflecting ambivalent or even positive implicit attitudes towards smoking in the smoker group at the time point of the N200 (300–400 ms post-stimulus). Our study thus provides evidence for the hypothesis that implicit attitudes are subject to changes within several hundred milliseconds after stimulus presentation, and can be altered in the course of their formation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Arie H van der Lugt
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Jane F Banfield
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Jacqueline Deibel
- Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Anna Cirkel
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Marcus Heldmann
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Thomas F Münte
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter A. White
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
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Wu L, Gu R, Cai H, Zhang J. Electrophysiological evidence for executive control and efficient categorization involved in implicit self-evaluation. Soc Neurosci 2015; 11:153-63. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1044673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Wu L, Gu R, Cai H, Luo YLL, Zhang J. The neural response to maternal stimuli: an ERP study. PLoS One 2014; 9:e111391. [PMID: 25375157 PMCID: PMC4222870 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2013] [Accepted: 10/02/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Mothers are important to all humans. Research has established that maternal information affects individuals' cognition, emotion, and behavior. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine attentional and evaluative processing of maternal stimuli while participants completed a Go/No-go Association Task that paired mother or others words with good or bad evaluative words. Behavioral data showed that participants responded faster to mother words paired with good than the mother words paired with bad but showed no difference in response to these others across conditions, reflecting a positive evaluation of mother. ERPs showed larger P200 and N200 in response to mother than in response to others, suggesting that mother attracted more attention than others. In the subsequent time window, mother in the mother + bad condition elicited a later and larger late positive potential (LPP) than it did in the mother + good condition, but this was not true for others, also suggesting a positive evaluation of mother. These results suggest that people differentiate mother from others during initial attentional stage, and evaluative mother positively during later stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Wu
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ruolei Gu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Huajian Cai
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- * E-mail: (HC); (JZ)
| | - Yu L. L. Luo
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jianxin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- * E-mail: (HC); (JZ)
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Wu L, Cai H, Gu R, Luo YLL, Zhang J, Yang J, Shi Y, Ding L. Neural manifestations of implicit self-esteem: an ERP study. PLoS One 2014; 9:e101837. [PMID: 25006966 PMCID: PMC4090159 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2014] [Accepted: 06/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral research has established that humans implicitly tend to hold a positive view toward themselves. In this study, we employed the event-related potential (ERP) technique to explore neural manifestations of positive implicit self-esteem using the Go/Nogo association task (GNAT). Participants generated a response (Go) or withheld a response (Nogo) to self or others words and good or bad attributes. Behavioral data showed that participants responded faster to the self paired with good than the self paired with bad, whereas the opposite proved true for others, reflecting the positive nature of implicit self-esteem. ERP results showed an augmented N200 over the frontal areas in Nogo responses relative to Go responses. Moreover, the positive implicit self-positivity bias delayed the onset time of the N200 wave difference between Nogo and Go trials, suggesting that positive implicit self-esteem is manifested on neural activity about 270 ms after the presentation of self-relevant stimuli. These findings provide neural evidence for the positivity and automaticity of implicit self-esteem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Wu
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Huajian Cai
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- * E-mail:
| | - Ruolei Gu
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yu L. L. Luo
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jianxin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yuanyuan Shi
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lei Ding
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, United States of America
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Abstract
Background Brands create product personalities that are thought to affect consumer decisions. Here we assessed, using the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT) from social psychology, whether brands as opposed to no-name products are associated with implicit positive attitudes. Healthy young German participants viewed series of photos of cosmetics and food items (half of them brands) intermixed with positive and negative words. In any given run, one category of goods (e.g., cosmetics) and one kind of words (e.g., positive) had to be responded to, whereas responses had to be withheld for the other categories. Event-related brain potentials were recorded during the task. Results Unexpectedly, there were no response-time differences between congruent (brand and positive words) and incongruent (brand and negative words) pairings but ERPs showed differences as a function of congruency in the 600–750 ms time-window hinting at the existence of implicit attitudes towards brand and no-name stimuli. This finding deserves further investigation in future studies. Moreover, the amplitude of the late positive component (LPC) was found to be enhanced for brand as opposed to no-name stimuli. Conclusions Congruency effects suggest that ERPs are sensitive to implicit attitudes. Moreover, the results for the LPC imply that pictures of brand products are more arousing than those of no-name products, which may ultimately contribute to consumer decisions.
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Osinsky R, Mussel P, Ohrlein L, Hewig J. A neural signature of the creation of social evaluation. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013; 9:731-6. [PMID: 23547246 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that receiving an unfair monetary offer in economic bargaining elicits also-called feedback negativity (FN). This scalp-recorded brain potential probably reflects a bad-vs-good evaluation in the medial frontal cortex and has been linked to fundamental processes of reinforcement learning. In the present study, we investigated whether the evaluative mechanism indexed by the FN is also involved in learning who is an unfair vs fair bargaining partner. An electroencephalogram was recorded while participants completed a computerized version of the Ultimatum Game, repeatedly receiving fair or unfair monetary offers from alleged other participants. Some of these proposers were either always fair or always unfair in their offers. In each trial, participants first saw a portrait picture of the respective proposer before the monetary offer was presented. Therefore, the faces could be used as predictive cues for the fairness of the pending offers. We found that not only unfair offers themselves induced a FN, but also (over the task) faces of unfair proposers. Thus, when interaction partners repeatedly behave in an unfair way, their faces acquire a negative valence, which manifests in a basal neural mechanism of bad-vs-good evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Osinsky
- Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany and Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick Mussel
- Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany and Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Linda Ohrlein
- Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany and Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Johannes Hewig
- Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany and Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, GermanyDepartment of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany and Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
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