Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111, Bonn, Germany.
Exp Brain Res. 2019 Sep;237(9):2397-2409. doi: 10.1007/s00221-019-05597-w. Epub 2019 Jul 10.
In the present study event-related potentials were used to shed further light on the neural signatures of active inhibition of the (affective) content of written words. Intentional inhibition was implemented by simply asking participants (N = 32) to ignore single words that served as primes in an affective priming (AP) task. In AP, evaluations about a priori neutral targets typically tend to shift towards the valence of preceding primes, denoting an AP effect (APE). To create a plausible cover-context emphasizing the usefulness of word inhibition, participants were asked to avoid this shift, that is, to make unbiased target evaluations. Ignoring the prime words was suggested as the most efficient strategy to achieve this aim. Effective inhibition of the words' (affective) content, as suggested by a significant APE present for words processed without any further instruction, but not for ignored ones, affected multiple stages of processing. On the neuronal level, word inhibition was characterized by reduced early perceptual (left-lateralized word-specific N170), later attentional (parietal P300), and affective-semantic processing (reduced posterior semantic asymmetry). Furthermore, an additional recruitment of top-down inhibitory control processes, which was mirrored in increased amplitudes of medial-frontal negativity, showed to be critically involved in intentional word inhibition.
在本研究中，我们使用事件相关电位（ERP）进一步探讨了主动抑制书面单词（情感）内容的神经特征。通过简单地要求参与者（N=32）忽略作为情感启动（AP）任务中启动词的单个单词，来实现有意抑制。在 AP 中，对事先中性目标的评估通常倾向于向先前启动词的效价转移，这表示存在 AP 效应（APE）。为了创造一个强调单词抑制有用性的合理掩盖语境，要求参与者避免这种转移，即做出无偏差的目标评估。忽略启动词被认为是实现这一目标的最有效策略。如在没有任何进一步指令处理的情况下呈现显著 APE 所示，对单词的（情感）内容的有效抑制会影响多个处理阶段。在神经元水平上，单词抑制的特征是减少早期感知（左侧特定的单词 N170）、后期注意（顶叶 P300）和情感语义处理（减少后语义不对称）。此外，自上而下抑制控制过程的额外募集，这反映在中额负性的振幅增加上，被证明在有意的单词抑制中起着关键作用。
