Cognitive and emotional conflicts of counter-conformity choice in purchasing books online: an event-related potentials study.
Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this study investigated the neural substrates of the conflicts in counter-conformity choices in purchasing books online. For each trial, a participant decided whether to buy a book according to the title keyword, as well as the numbers of positive and negative reviews on the book. A participant's choice was termed conformity if she/he decided to buy the book under the condition of consistently positive reviews, or not to buy the book under the condition of consistently negative reviews, whereas the case was counter-conformity if a participant did the opposite. In the time window 300-600ms after the stimulus onset, a strong negative deflection of ERP (N500) was recorded when participants made counter-conformity choices. The topographic distribution of the N500 (N400-like) is not typical of the semantic N400. The N500 might be evoked by the cognitive and emotional conflicts faced by participants in counter-conformity choices. The present findings provide evidence that the N400 can be elicited by non-semantic conflicts.
Chen
Mingliang
M
School of Management, Zhejiang University, PR China; Neuromanagement Lab, Zhejiang University, PR China.
Ma
Qingguo
Q
Li
Minle
M
Lai
Hongxia
H
Wang
Xiaoyi
X
Shu
Liangchao
L
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009862:Online Systems; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012925:Social Conformity; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult