title: Performance monitoring during a minimal group manipulation.
abstract: The on-going (self-)monitoring of our behaviour is inextricably intertwined with the surrounding social context. In this study, we investigated whether a minimal group paradigm assigning individuals to arbitrary group categories is powerful enough to induce changes in behavioural, psychophysiological and event-related potential correlates of performance monitoring. Following arbitrary group assignment based on ostensible task performance and a group identification task, 22 volunteers performed a flanker-task during both in-group and out-group contexts, while electroencephalography was performed. More errors were committed in the out-group compared with the in-group context. Error-related negativity amplitudes were larger for in-group compared with out-group errors. However, subsequent processing reflected in late Pe amplitudes and stimulus-driven conflict reflected in N2 amplitudes were not affected by the group context. Heart rate deceleration (during both correct and incorrect trials) tended to be more pronounced during the out-group compared with the in-group context. This surprising observation was corroborated by subjective ratings of performance satisfaction, in which participants reported higher satisfaction with their out-group performance. This study identified specific stimulus evaluation processes to be affected by a minimal group manipulation and demonstrated thereby transient top-down effects of a social context manipulation on performance monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria daniela.pfabigan@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Daniela M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Pfabigan
authors.affiliation: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marie-Theres
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Holzner
authors.affiliation: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lamm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ERN; heart rate; intergroup bias; minimal group paradigm; top-down control