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We examined whether math anxiety is related to a response inhibition deficit and, if so, whether it is a domain-specific inhibition deficit in numerical tasks or a general inhibition deficit. Behavioral performance and electroencephalogram activity were recorded while 28 highly math-anxious (HMA) and 28 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals performed both a numerical and a non-numerical Go/Nogo task. In the numerical task, single-digit numbers were presented, and participants were asked to press a button if the number was even. In the non-numerical task, letters were presented, and the button had to be pressed if the letter was a vowel. Nogo trials were answered less accurately and elicited larger Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3 than Go trials in both tasks and both groups. Importantly, behavioral and brain response differences between tasks were only found in the HMA group. First, they were more error-prone in numerical Nogo than in non-numerical Nogo trials; and second, their Nogo-N2 and N2d (Nogo-Go difference) were smaller in the numerical task than in the non-numerical task. No differences were found in the LMA group. These results suggest that HMA individuals' response inhibition is impaired specifically when dealing with numbers, which could contribute to their low achievement in math tasks.

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(1) Background: Response inhibition refers to the conscious ability to suppress behavioral responses, which is crucial for effective cognitive control. Currently, research on response inhibition remains controversial, and the neurobiological mechanisms associated with response inhibition are still being explored. The Go/No-Go task is a widely used paradigm that can be used to effectively assess response inhibition capability. While many studies have utilized equal numbers of Go and No-Go trials, how different ratios affect response inhibition remains unknown; (2) Methods: This study investigated the impact of different ratios of Go and No-Go conditions on response inhibition using the Go/No-Go task combined with event-related potential (ERP) techniques; (3) Results: The results showed that as the proportion of Go trials decreased, behavioral performance in Go trials significantly improved in terms of response time, while error rates in No-Go trials gradually decreased. Additionally, the NoGo-P3 component at the central average electrodes (Cz, C1, C2, FCz, FC1, FC2, PCz, PC1, and PC2) exhibited reduced amplitude and latency; (4) Conclusions: These findings indicate that different ratios in Go/No-Go tasks influence response inhibition, with the brain adjusting processing capabilities and rates for response inhibition. This effect may be related to the brain's predictive mechanism model.

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OBJECTIVES: To analyze the Nogo-P3 component of event-related potential (ERP) in the process of visual acuity processing, to provide electrophysiological evidence for objective evaluation of visual acuity. METHODS: Twenty-six subjects with no other ocular diseases except for ametropia were recruited, and all subjects had uncorrected visual acuity both eyes 1/10 (evaluated using Monoyer chart). Block letter E with different visual angles and directions were used as graphic stimuli. The Go/Nogo paradigm was used for ERP studies. The visual angle of Go stimulation angle was 1°15', Nogo stimuli were 1°15', 55', 24' and 15'. The visual acuity test was performed on each of the two naked eyes separately in all subjects, and the characteristics of the Nogo-P3 component were analyzed. RESULTS: The latency of Nogo-P3 showed no difference between the stimuli of 1°15' and 55', and between Nogo stimulation angle 24' and 15'. There was significant difference between Nogo stimulation angle 1°15' and 24', and between Nogo stimulation angle 1°15' and 15' (P<0.05). There was significant difference between Nogo stimulation angle 55' and 24', and between Nogo stimulation angle 55' and 15' (P<0.05). No significant differences were observed in the Nogo-P3 amplitude among Nogo stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: In the Go/Nogo paradigm, Nogo-P3 can reflect the cognitive response of subjects to Nogo stimulation, which can be used for objective evaluation of visual acuity.

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Emotion regulation in childhood and adolescence is related to their social development. Better emotion regulation is associated with great individual academic performance and mental health. However, compared with the research on emotion regulation strategies, children's automatic emotion regulation has been less investigated. Using event-related potential (ERP) technology, this study adopts the cued-emotion Go/Nogo paradigm to investigate the processing characteristics of automatic emotion regulation in children aged 8-12 years. The current study selected 34 younger group [16 boys, 18 girls, mean (M) ± SD = 8.91 ± 0.75], and 31 older group [18 boys, 13 girls, M ± SD = 11.26 ± 0.45]. The results showed that, for Nogo trials, the amplitude of N2 and P3 evoked by emotional faces were significantly larger than those evoked by neutral faces, reflecting the cognitive conflict experienced and the process of children's automatic response inhibition to emotional stimuli, respectively. However, no significant difference in N2 and P3 amplitude were found in Go trials, which may indicate that children aged 8-12 showed similar top-down control and similar motivated attention in this experiment, respectively. Further analysis found that the negative affect of temperament was significantly positively correlated with Nogo-P3 induced by neutral pictures (r = 0.37, p < 0.001), and preadolescents' social anxiety was significantly positively correlated with Nogo-P3 followed by neutral pictures (r = 0.31, p < 0.01). These findings can provide inspiration and empirical support for the promotion and intervention of emotion regulation in children and adolescents.

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OBJECTIVES@#To analyze the Nogo-P3 component of event-related potential (ERP) in the process of visual acuity processing, to provide electrophysiological evidence for objective evaluation of visual acuity.@*METHODS@#Twenty-six subjects with no other ocular diseases except for ametropia were recruited, and all subjects had uncorrected visual acuity both eyes 1/10 (evaluated using Monoyer chart). Block letter E with different visual angles and directions were used as graphic stimuli. The Go/Nogo paradigm was used for ERP studies. The visual angle of Go stimulation angle was 1°15', Nogo stimuli were 1°15', 55', 24' and 15'. The visual acuity test was performed on each of the two naked eyes separately in all subjects, and the characteristics of the Nogo-P3 component were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The latency of Nogo-P3 showed no difference between the stimuli of 1°15' and 55', and between Nogo stimulation angle 24' and 15'. There was significant difference between Nogo stimulation angle 1°15' and 24', and between Nogo stimulation angle 1°15' and 15' (P<0.05). There was significant difference between Nogo stimulation angle 55' and 24', and between Nogo stimulation angle 55' and 15' (P<0.05). No significant differences were observed in the Nogo-P3 amplitude among Nogo stimulation.@*CONCLUSIONS@#In the Go/Nogo paradigm, Nogo-P3 can reflect the cognitive response of subjects to Nogo stimulation, which can be used for objective evaluation of visual acuity.

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While early neurodevelopmental processes during the emergence of ADHD in childhood received considerable attention, the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the changes in ADHD in adulthood remain largely unaddressed. We wanted to delineate neurodevelopmental changes in adult ADHD using an electrophysiological measure, the fronto-central NoGo P3 event-related potential (ERP), which is an important neurophysiological index of brain functioning in ADHD, and biomarker for response inhibition and aging. ERPs were obtained from 45 ADHD and 41 healthy subjects using a 128-channel BioSemi recording-system, applying emotionally-valenced and neutral stimuli in a response inhibition task. Our results indicated that ADHD subjects manifested delayed developmental P3-trajectory in young-adulthood as compared to controls; they also showed P3 reduction across all emotional valences, and the reduction was most pronounced at younger ages. The differences in P3 diminished by mid-adulthood, and started to increase again at more advanced ages. Thus, similar to structural-MRI indices, developmental brain differences in the fronto-central NoGo P3 in ADHD largely normalize in young-adulthood. However, a reduction of P3 occurs again starting from mid-adulthood. As the fronto-central NoGo P3 reflects the functioning of the frontal areas (which show delayed maturation in ADHD), our findings are consistent with the ''last in, first out'' hypothesis, which refers to a mirroring pattern of brain development and aging, and posits that brain regions that develop relatively late degenerate relatively early with age. Thus, ADHD may not only be associated with delayed neurodevelopment, but also with a premature age-related deterioration, at least in some measures of electrophysiological functioning.

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Functional genetic polymorphisms in the brain dopamine (DA) system have been suggested to underlie individual differences in response inhibition, namely the suppression of a prepotent or inappropriate action. However, findings on associations between single DA polymorphisms and inhibitory control often are mixed, partly due to their small effect sizes. In the present study, a cumulative genetic score (CGS) was used: alleles previously associated with both impulsive behavior and lower baseline DA level, precisely the DRD4 Exon III 7-repeat, DAT1 VNTR 10-repeat and the COMT 158val allele, each added a point to the DA-CGS. Participants (N = 128) completed a Go/No-Go task varying in difficulty and EEG recordings were made with focus on the NoGo-P3, an ERP that reflects inhibitory response processes. We found a higher DA-CGS (lower basal/tonic DA level) to be associated with better performance (lower %FA and more adaptive responding) in the very demanding/rapid than in the less demanding/rapid condition, whereas the reverse pattern was true for individuals with a lower DA-CGS. A similar interaction pattern of DA-CGS and task condition was found for NoGo-P3 amplitude. In line with assumptions of distinct optimum DA levels for different cognitive demands, a DA-CGS-dependent variation of tonic DA levels could have modulated the balance between cognitive stability and flexibility, thereby affecting the optimal DA level required for the specific task condition. Moreover, a task demand-dependent phasic DA release might have added to the DA-CGS-related basal/tonic DA levels, thereby additionally affecting the balance between flexibility and stability, in turn influencing performance and NoGo-P3.

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BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment is a major health and social welfare problem, with serious and longstanding consequences. Impulse control ability plays an important role in reducing the risk of child maltreatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of oxytocin (OXT) and prolactin (PRL) with behavior inhibition using children's facial expressions (angry or neutral) as emotional distractions. This may clarify a part of the neuroendocrinological mechanism that modulates impulse control ability in the context of child caregiving. METHODS: Participants were 16 females who had never been pregnant. Following venous blood sampling for OXT and PRL levels, participants performed an emotional Go/Nogo task during their follicular and luteal phases to test inhibitory control ability. Behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the task were measured. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant fixed effects of OXT on behavioral performance, as measured by sensitivity (d-prime). This suggests that high peripheral OXT levels may be associated with better performance on the emotional Go/Nogo task, regardless of emotional distractors. PRL was associated with inhibitory processes as reflected by the Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3. Particularly, high PRL levels were associated with the Nogo-N2 latency extension with the emotional distractors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that OXT might be associated with improving behavioral performance regardless of emotional processes. It is suggested that processes related to PRL are related to premotor activities of behavioral inhibitions and emotions.

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BACKGROUND: It is known that emotion regulatory responses of humans are changed by the experiences they have, but in particular, they are changed by becoming a mother. A recent study has found how a woman's emotion regulatory response to a child's crying changes after becoming a mother. However, mothers' emotion regulatory responses other than those to children and the association between emotion regulatory response and parental stress are still unknown. METHODS: Eighteen healthy Japanese females (nine mothers and nine non-mothers) participated in the experiment. They performed an emotional Go/Nogo task, with facial expressions of others (angry, happy, and neutral faces) used as emotional stimuli. The percentage of correct responses, response time, and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the task was measured. RESULTS: This comparison revealed that the mother group had a larger P3 (Nogo-P3) amplitude than the non-mother group when Nogo trials were held. This indicates that in mothers, there was greater activation of the behavioral inhibition-related brain areas than in non-mother women when they inhibited inappropriate behavior following recognition of facial expressions of others. In addition, in the mother group, there was a negative correlation between parental stress levels and Nogo-P3 amplitudes evoked by angry faces. This suggests that there is a relation between the level of parental stress of mothers and their emotion regulatory responses to angry faces. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that mothers' emotion regulatory processes may differ from those of non-mothers in response, not only to a child's crying but also to expressions of emotions by others, and also suggest that the inhibitory recognition activity of mothers can be affected by parental stress.

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Cognitive impairment is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), but the nature of cognitive changes varies considerably between individuals. According to the dual-syndrome hypothesis, one cluster of patients is characterized by deficits in executive function that may be related to fronto-striatal dysfunction. Other patients primarily show non-frontal cognitive impairments that progress rapidly to PD dementia (PDD). We provide a comprehensive review of event-related potential (ERP) studies to identify ERP measures substantiating the heterogeneity of cognitive impairment in PD. Our review revealed evidence for P3b and mismatch-negativity alterations in PDD, but not in non-demented PD, indicating that alterations of these ERPs constitute electrophysiological markers for PDD. In contrast, ERP correlates of executive functions, such as NoGo-P3, N2, and error(-related) negativity (Ne/ERN), appear to be attenuated in non-demented PD patients in a dopamine-dependent manner. Hence, ERP measures confirm and yield distinct electrophysiological markers for the heterogeneity of cognitive impairment in PD. We discuss limitations and open questions of the ERP approach and provide directions and predictions for future ERP research.

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From the standpoint of conflict-monitoring theory (Botvinick et al., 2001), detecting an incident of information-processing conflict should attenuate the disruptive influence of information-processing conflicts encountered subsequently, by which time cognitive-control operations will have been engaged. To examine the generality of this conflict-adaptation process across task dimensions, the present research analyzed event-related potentials in a Go/NoGo task that randomly varied the NoGo decision criterion applied across trials. Sequential analyses revealed reduced-amplitude fronto-central N2 and NoGo P3 responses on the second of two consecutive NoGo trials. Importantly, both of these conflict-adaptation effects were present only when the same NoGo decision criterion was applied across trials n and n-1. These findings support the theory that encountering information-processing conflict focuses attention on specific stimulus-response contingencies (Verguts & Notebaert, 2009) rather than engages general cognitive-control mechanisms (Freitas & Clark, 2015). Further implications for the generality of cognitive control are discussed.

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The inhibition of inappropriate responses is a function known to rely on prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning. Similarly, working memory processes are known to rely on the PFC. Even though these processes are usually closely intertwined and the functional neuroanatomy underlying these processes is largely overlapping, the influence of working memory load on inhibitory control process has remained largely elusive. In the current study, we therefore examine how response inhibition processes are modulated by working memory load. For this, we systematically increased the working memory load of participants by integrating mental rotation processes in a Go/NoGo paradigm. To examine the system neurophysiology of these processes in detail, and to examine whether there are differential effects of working memory load on distinct response inhibition subprocesses, we applied event-related potentials (ERPs) in combination with source localization techniques. The data shows that after exceeding a certain threshold, inhibitory control processes are aggravated by working memory load. The neurophysiological data paralleled the behavioral data. However, it suggests that distinguishable response inhibition subprocesses are differentially modulated by working memory load: Changes were evident in the NoGo-P3 amplitude but not in the NoGo-N2 amplitude. On a system level, this distinctive modulation of response inhibition subprocesses was related to differences in neural activity in the left inferior and middle frontal gyri. We show that inhibitory control processes are impaired when the working memory load surpasses a certain threshold. This, however only applies to situations in which the necessity of inhibitory control processes cannot be easily detected on the basis of perceptual factors.

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OBJECTIVE: To examine how impulsiveness influences the emotional modulation of behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition. METHODS: Twenty-nine healthy individuals scoring high (HI, N=16) or low (LI, N=13) on motor impulsiveness performed an emotional Go/Nogo task, including the presentation of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant pictures. Behavioral [reaction times (RTs), accuracy to Go and Nogo trials] and neural (Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3) correlates of response inhibition were compared between HI and LI groups. RESULTS: Larger Nogo-P3 was found for emotional than neutral stimuli in HI relative to LI group. Faster RTs to Go stimuli and lower accuracy to Nogo stimuli were correlated with larger Nogo-P3 in HI, but not LI, group. No significant interactions between emotion content and impulsiveness for Nogo-N2 and behavioral measures were noted. CONCLUSIONS: Impulsiveness influences the emotional modulation of response inhibition by potentiating the response tendencies evoked by the emotional stimuli. Accordingly, high impulsive individuals may need an increased and/or more effortful response inhibition in order to counteract the prepotent tendency to respond elicited by the combination of high trait impulsiveness and high emotional arousal. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study suggests the importance to examine how pathological impulsiveness may interact with emotional arousal in modulating response inhibition.

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This study assessed conflict monitoring during presentation of risky decision alternatives, as indexed by the Nogo-N2, Nogo-P3, N2d and P3d event-related potentials (ERP). Decision-makers were tested on a Go/Nogo gambling task in which gain/loss outcomes as well as stimulus type (Go/Nogo) were equiprobable. Frontal-central Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3 did not significantly differ across risky decision alternatives, whereas N2d and P3d amplitudes were more sensitive to the nature of risky decision alternatives. Frontal-central N2d was moderated by the magnitude of alternatives, with N2d amplitude greater for large than small alternatives, a result that suggests a greater degree of conflict monitoring for the former. Central P3d was associated with alternative valence, such that P3d amplitude was greater for loss than gain valences, again suggestive of more conflict monitoring for the former. The N2d and P3d potentials in risky decision alternatives are discussed in terms of the functional significance of the N2/P3 complex.

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This study investigated the response inhibition in individuals with psychopathic traits. We examined the cortical source localization of the NoGo stimuli in a Go/NoGo task by employing a standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) using EEG. Fifteen psychopathic trait subjects and 15 control subjects performed the Go/NoGo task. The statistical analysis of P3 elicited by the NoGo stimuli indicated that the psychopathic trait group showed significantly reduced NoGo-P3 amplitudes than the control group at the frontocental area. In the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the psychopathic trait group showed significantly higher perseverative responses than the control group. Compared to the control group, cortical sources reduction elicited by NoGo-P3 in the psychopathic trait group was found at the left superior frontal gyrus, bilateral anterior cingulate, right precentral gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobule. These results suggest that individuals with psychopathic traits have difficulties in inhibiting a response with reduced frontal function.

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OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the time course for processing conflict in dyslexic adults using a flanker task. METHODS: Sixteen dyslexic and 15 control adults performed a flanker task comprising congruent and incongruent trials in which participants had to indicate the direction of targets surrounded by flankers. Early negative potentials associated with orienting of attention (i.e., N1) and conflict monitoring (i.e., N2) and two positive potentials associated with conflict resolution (i.e., P3b and Nogo P3) were recorded. RESULTS: The behavioral data showed differences between incongruent and congruent trials for reaction times in both groups but for error rate only in dyslexics. As in previous studies, controls displayed greater N1, N2 and NoGo P3 as well as a smaller P3b in incongruent trials. Dyslexics lacked N1, N2 and P3b modulation whereas NoGo P3 effect was preserved. CONCLUSION: Dyslexics showed impairments in conflict monitoring and in some aspects of conflict resolution (i.e., the allocation of attentional resources) whereas other aspects of conflict resolution (i.e., the inhibition) were preserved. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to investigate conflict control processing in dyslexic adults using ERPs. Results provide evidence for deficits in orienting of attention, conflict monitoring and allocation of attentional resources in dyslexics.

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The efficacy of executive functions is critically modulated by information processing in earlier cognitive stages. For example, initial processing of verbal stimuli in the language-dominant left-hemisphere leads to more efficient response inhibition than initial processing of verbal stimuli in the non-dominant right hemisphere. However, it is unclear whether this organizational principle is specific for the language system, or a general principle that also applies to other types of lateralized cognition. To answer this question, we investigated the neurophysiological correlates of early attentional processes, facial expression perception and response inhibition during tachistoscopic presentation of facial "Go" and "Nogo" stimuli in the left and the right visual field (RVF). Participants committed fewer false alarms after Nogo-stimulus presentation in the left compared to the RVF. This right-hemispheric asymmetry on the behavioral level was also reflected in the neurophysiological correlates of face perception, specifically in a right-sided asymmetry in the N170 amplitude. Moreover, the right-hemispheric dominance for facial expression processing also affected event-related potentials typically related to response inhibition, namely the Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3. These findings show that an effect of hemispheric asymmetries in early information processing on the efficacy of higher cognitive functions is not limited to left-hemispheric language functions, but can be generalized to predominantly right-hemispheric functions.