title: Influence of impulsiveness on emotional modulation of response inhibition: An ERP study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine how impulsiveness influences the emotional modulation of behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-nine healthy individuals scoring high (HI, N=16) or low (LI, N=13) on motor impulsiveness performed an emotional Go/Nogo task, including the presentation of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant pictures. Behavioral [reaction times (RTs), accuracy to Go and Nogo trials] and neural (Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3) correlates of response inhibition were compared between HI and LI groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Larger Nogo-P3 was found for emotional than neutral stimuli in HI relative to LI group. Faster RTs to Go stimuli and lower accuracy to Nogo stimuli were correlated with larger Nogo-P3 in HI, but not LI, group. No significant interactions between emotion content and impulsiveness for Nogo-N2 and behavioral measures were noted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Impulsiveness influences the emotional modulation of response inhibition by potentiating the response tendencies evoked by the emotional stimuli. Accordingly, high impulsive individuals may need an increased and/or more effortful response inhibition in order to counteract the prepotent tendency to respond elicited by the combination of high trait impulsiveness and high emotional arousal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study suggests the importance to examine how pathological impulsiveness may interact with emotional arousal in modulating response inhibition.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy. Electronic address: simone.messerotti@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Messerotti Benvenuti
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sarlo
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buodo
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mento
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palomba
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Emotion; Event-related potentials; Go/Nogo task; Impulsiveness; Inhibitory control; Nogo-P3