Auditory-induced emotion modulates processes of response inhibition: an event-related potential study

This study investigated the impact of auditory-induced emotion on response inhibition. Fifty kinds of positive, neutral, and negative sounds were used as emotional materials whose presentation was followed by a Go/Nogo task. Event-related potentials were recorded for Go and Nogo tones. The response times for Go stimuli were longer under negative than under positive and neutral emotions. In addition, Go and Nogo stimuli elicited larger N1 amplitudes during neutral than during emotional conditions. Moreover, Nogo-related N2 was larger for neutral sounds than for positive and negative sounds. The Nogo-N2, however, was not different between positive and negative sounds. Therefore, auditory-induced emotions significantly modulated the behavioral performance and the process of response conflict monitoring, a central component to the activity of response inhibition.