In the scope of the project 347/18 – Driving synaptic plasticity in motor-to-visual neural pathways to enhance action prediction, Alessio Avenanti et al., published in the journa Physiology & Behavior the paper “Affective modulation of cognitive control: A systematic review of EEG studies” with the following highlights:
- The search followed the PRISMA guidelines and resulted in 35 articles selected for qualitative synthesis.
- The main electrophysiological approach across studies was the analysis of event-related potentials (ERPs), with affective modulation of different components/waves during cognitive control task performance.
- Most of the studies focused on N2 and P3, showing a prevalent interest in the effects of affective induction on attentional processes and response inhibition.
- It is recommended a greater specificity in the report of the technical aspects of studies in this field to improve the comparability between studies and their replicability.
Abstract
In recent years, a growing corpus of research has been conducted utilizing a variety of behavioral and neurophysiological methodologies to investigate the relationship of emotion and cognition, yielding unique insights into fundamental concerns about the human mind and mental disease. Electroencephalography (EEG) has been utilized to investigate how emotional states alter neural markers of cognitive control. The current study is a systematic analysis of EEG research that looks at affective modulation (mood, emotion) of cognitive control and its many sub-processes (e.g., cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory). The PRISMA standards were followed in this review, which looked at experimental designs and tasks, as well as methodological elements of EEG recording and analysis across research. A total of 35 articles were chosen for qualitative synthesis as a consequence of the search. The examination of event-related potentials (ERPs), which showed affective modulation of 19 different components, was the most common electrophysiological approach used across research. The majority of the investigations focused on N2 and P3, indicating that affective induction has a strong influence on attentional processes and response inhibition. Future research should look into different methodologies such as source location and connection metrics to better understand the brain's areas and dynamic response during affective induction activities. It is also suggested that the technical components of the report be more explicit in order to promote study comparability and replication.
