title: Interactions between cognition and emotion during response inhibition.
abstract: Cognition and emotion interact to determine ongoing behaviors. In this study, we investigated the interaction between cognition and emotion during response inhibition using the stop-signal task. In Experiment 1, low-threat stop-signals comprising fearful and happy face pictures were employed. We found that both fearful and happy faces improved response inhibition relative to neutral ones. In Experiment 2, we employed high-threat emotional stimuli as stop signals, namely stimuli previously paired with mild shock. In this case, inhibitory performance was impaired relative to a neutral condition. We interpret these findings in terms of the impact of emotional stimuli on early sensory/attentional processing, which resulted in improved performance (Experiment 1), and in terms of their impact at more central stages, which impaired performance (Experiment 2). Taken together, our findings demonstrate that emotion can either enhance or impair cognitive performance depending on the emotional potency of the stimuli involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. pessoa@umd.edu
authors.forename: Luiz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pessoa
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Padmala
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kenzer
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bauer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004597:Electroshock / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult