The effect of impulsivity and emotion on brain electrophysiology

Research in emotion has found a modulation in ERP components for affective stimuli (positive and negative valence). In verbal Go/No-Go paradigms this effect has not been reliable for trails requiring response inhibition (No-Go). This is possibly due to the salience of the chosen words. Using words chosen with specific criteria, the current study found a strong emotional modulation for Go and No-Go trials. Time-frequency analysis was performed resulting in an effect of the theta frequency only. The findings support the idea that inclusion of emotionally salient information is associated with reallocation of neural resources. In addition, the results of this study suggest that neural resources are recruited for the processing of valence information, regardless of task demands.