Department of Basic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 27;7(1):16446. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16657-y.
Cognitive control is a key process in decision making and adequately adapting our behavior to the environment. Previous studies have provided evidence of a lower capacity for cognitive control in emotion-laden contexts in comparison with neutral contexts. The aim of the present research was to study changes in cognitive control performance as a function of emotional intelligence (EI) level in contexts involving emotional information. The study sample was composed of 2 groups of 22 participants each: the high and low EI group. Participants carried out an emotional go/no-go task while brain activity was recorded by EEG. N2 and P3 ERPs were used as indices of cognitive control processing. Participants with higher EI showed a larger N2, reflecting a greater capacity for cognitive control related to changes in conflict monitoring, and to a better detection and evaluation of the emotional stimuli. Moreover, in general, response inhibition accuracy was reduced when emotional information was involved in this process. Our findings reveal that neural mechanisms underlying tasks that engage cognitive control depend on emotional content and EI level. This study indicates the important role played by EI in the relationship between emotion and cognition. EI training may be a very useful tool for improving performance in emotion-laden contexts.
认知控制是决策和适应环境的关键过程。先前的研究表明，在情绪语境下，认知控制能力比在中性语境下要低。本研究的目的是研究在涉及情绪信息的情境中，情绪智力（EI）水平对认知控制表现的变化。研究样本由两组各 22 名参与者组成：高 EI 组和低 EI 组。参与者在执行情绪 Go/No-go 任务时，大脑活动通过 EEG 记录。N2 和 P3 ERPs 被用作认知控制处理的指标。具有较高 EI 的参与者表现出较大的 N2，这反映了与冲突监测相关的认知控制能力更强，以及对情绪刺激的更好检测和评估。此外，当涉及到情绪信息时，一般来说，反应抑制的准确性会降低。我们的研究结果表明，参与认知控制任务的神经机制取决于情绪内容和 EI 水平。这项研究表明，EI 在情绪与认知之间的关系中起着重要作用。EI 训练可能是提高情绪语境下表现的非常有用的工具。
