Clayson Peter E, Varkala Kipras, Baldwin Scott A, Steffen Patrick R, Sandberg Jonathan G, Larson Michael J
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, United States.
Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, United States.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2025 Jan 18;20(1). doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaf053.
Spousal support can mitigate stress's impact on daily functioning and neural responses to stressors. However, the effectiveness of spousal support in reducing stress may be moderated by gender. The present study investigated the impact of observer presence in 66 heterosexual married couples, specifically a spouse or a confederate, on two neural indices of performance monitoring: early error detection [error-related negativity (ERN)] and later error awareness [error positivity (Pe)]. Contrary to predictions, ERN was consistently smaller in observed conditions, suggesting that being observed, irrespective of the observer's identity, diminished attention to errors. Notably, only women exhibited an enhanced ERN in the presence of their spouse, suggesting gender-specific differences in neural responses to spousal support during performance monitoring. Pe was larger when completing the task in the presence of a spouse and men displayed larger Pe than women. The present findings underscore the complex role of social context in performance monitoring, challenging existing assumptions about the uniformity of neural indices of performance monitoring during observation. Findings emphasize the need to dissect the nuanced interplay between observer presence, gender differences, and performance monitoring and offer valuable insights into the social modulation of error processing, particularly in a stressful observation context.
配偶支持可以减轻压力对日常功能以及对应激源的神经反应的影响。然而，配偶支持减轻压力的有效性可能会受到性别的调节。本研究调查了66对异性已婚夫妇中观察者在场（具体为配偶或同盟者）对绩效监测的两个神经指标的影响：早期错误检测[错误相关负波（ERN）]和后期错误意识[错误正波（Pe）]。与预测相反，在被观察条件下ERN始终较小，这表明被观察，无论观察者身份如何，都会减少对错误的关注。值得注意的是，只有女性在配偶在场时ERN增强，这表明在绩效监测过程中，对配偶支持的神经反应存在性别差异。当在配偶在场的情况下完成任务时Pe更大，并且男性的Pe比女性更大。本研究结果强调了社会背景在绩效监测中的复杂作用，挑战了关于观察期间绩效监测神经指标一致性的现有假设。研究结果强调需要剖析观察者在场、性别差异和绩效监测之间细微的相互作用，并为错误处理的社会调节提供有价值的见解，特别是在压力观察背景下。
