Analysis of the Emotional-Cognitive Processes using a Modified Multisource Interference Task and Recording of EEG and Behavioral Responses

Abstract

We investigated changes in the EEG signals and the latency of behavioral responses in the cognitive test with interfering emotional stimuli. It was hypothesized that the cognitive process would be not only influenced by emotional factors but would also result in different patterns by emotional types (e.g., annoyance, happiness, neutrality, etc.) We developed a new method, the modified multisource interference task (mMSIT), to test our hypotheses. The EEG signals and behavioral responses were collected. Participants were required to press a button after stimulation; simultaneously, four-channel EEGs (F3, F4, Cz, and Pz) were recorded from 21 healthy participants. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and time-frequency EEG spectrograms were analyzed. Behavioral patterns were quantified by measuring the reaction times and error rates for button pressing. The P2 amplitudes at presentation of images of annoyed faces were found to be significantly lower than those for neutral and happy interference faces. The spectral powers of the β range in F4 and Pz were also significantly smaller in annoyed interference compared to others. Additionally, the latency of behavioral responses for annoyed faces was significantly longer compared to that for happy faces. However, an error rate increase for annoyed faces was not observed. These results show that electrophysiological responses and behavioral reactions are significantly affected at visual perception of annoyed faces. Our findings demonstrate that negative emotional interference can increase the load of cognitive processing as a distractor, and our results show that the mMSIT is a useful task in studies of normal human cognition and emotions.