Long-term cognitive modulation of event related potentials to affective stimuli as a function of trait anxiety

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, 2013.The present work aimed to test the adaptive role of reconsolidation as a window of opportunity to modify emotional memories by pairing an experimentally specified meaning to aversive emotional stimuli and measuring the change with event-related potentials (ERPs). The present hypothesis was that this cognitive intervention during the reconsolidation window would impact the acquisition and consolidation of emotional memories. This result would have important implications for the treatment of anxiety disorders. The proposed research examined (a) differences in responses to negative affective stimuli in individuals with and without elevated anxiety during passive viewing of negative and affectively neutral slides, and (b) the effectiveness of a brief cognitive intervention to reduce responses to negative affective stimuli, especially in anxious persons. Participants were 81 young adults with varying levels of trait anxiety. Task participation occurred across two laboratory sessions, held 5 -10 days apart. Session 1 consisted of two blocks of 160 presentations of affective slides (Passive Viewing and Emotional Regulation) and Session 2 (Follow Up) involved one block of the same 160 affective slides. In both sessions, ERPs were measured. Findings indicating differences in cognitive processing of emotional stimuli were found as early as ERPs peaking at 100 ms through 2 seconds. Results for Passive Viewing showed that ERPs evoked by affectively negative images reflect more processing of emotional compared to neutral stimuli; notably, Late Positive Potential amplitude to aversive slides was enhanced among anxious persons. In addition, the attendant amplitude modulations observed for the earlier and later ERP components replicated previous work in this area. Results during Emotion Regulation involving specific reappraisal conditions yielded mixed results. ERPs evoked by affectively negative images suggest that emotional memories are in fact malleable and modifiable, but not in the intended direction. Specifically, images that did not have any descriptions evoked higher ERP amplitudes than aversive slides preceded by a description, whether positively or negatively framed. However, the malleability of emotional memories during the reconsolidation window was demonstrated by increased amplitude of ERPs in the Follow Up block for selected conditions. Ratings of valence and arousal were generally consistent with hypotheses, but differed from ERP results. Specifically, individuals viewed images preceded by a negatively framed description (Enhancing condition) as most unpleasant, followed by images not preceded by a description (No Description Condition); the lowest unpleasantness was attributed to those images preceded by a positively framed description (Attenuating condition). Finally, higher levels of trait anxiety magnified the overall changes in ERP amplitude between blocks, a pattern that is consistent with a greater bias for affectively negative stimuli in anxious persons