title: Long-term academic stress increases the late component of error processing: an ERP study.
abstract: Exposure to long-term stress has a variety of consequences on the brain and cognition. Few studies have examined the influence of long-term stress on event related potential (ERP) indices of error processing. The current study investigated how long-term academic stress modulates the error related negativity (Ne or ERN) and the error positivity (Pe) components of error processing. Forty-one male participants undergoing preparation for a major academic examination and 20 non-exam participants completed a Go-NoGo task while ERP measures were collected. The exam group reported higher perceived stress levels and showed increased Pe amplitude compared with the non-exam group. Participants' rating of the importance of the exam was positively associated with the amplitude of Pe, but these effects were not found for the Ne/ERN. These results suggest that long-term academic stress leads to greater motivational assessment of and higher emotional response to errors.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wujh@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jianhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: yuanyr@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yiran
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: duanhx@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: szqin@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Shaozheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA. Electronic address: tbuchan7@slu.edu.
authors.forename: Tony W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Buchanan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhangk@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhangl@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERP; Error processing; Long-term academic stress; Ne/ERN; Pe