Event related potentials to emotional adjectives during reading

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00638.x
• Publication Date: 2008-04-08T00:22:58Z
• Authors: Cornelia Herbert; Markus Junghofer; Johanna Kissler
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Emotions; 05 social sciences; Reading; Memory; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Evoked Potentials, Visual; Humans; Female; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Evoked Potentials; Psychomotor Performance

We investigated to what extent emotional connotation influences cortical potentials during reading. To this end, event-related (ERPs) were recorded reading of high arousal pleasant and unpleasant low neutral adjectives that presented at rates 1 Hz 3 Hz. Enhanced processing both compared was first reflected in an amplified early posterior negativity (EPN) starting from 200 ms after word onset. Later (>300 ms), as analyzed the slower condition, revealed facilitated selectively for associated with a reduced N400 enhanced late positive potential (LPP). Pleasant also better remembered incidental memory test. Thus, emotionally relevant are processed spontaneously selectively. Initially, drives attention capture (EPN). Healthy subjects may have natural bias toward information facilitating ERPs (N400, LPP) well their superior recall.