Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 24, 2026

Elevated Plus Maze Test Combined with Video Tracking Software to Investigate the Anxiolytic Effect of Exogenous Ketogenic Supplements
Published on: January 7, 2019
Anxiety disrupts the evaluative component of performance monitoring: An ERP study
Kristien Aarts1, Gilles Pourtois
1Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
Abstract:
Thirty low and 30 high anxious participants performed a speeded Go/noGo task during which they had to rely on evaluative feedback to infer whether their actions were timely (correct) or not. We focused on FRN, an ERP component that is sensitive to the valence of feedback. Depending on the context, neutral faces served either as positive or negative feedback. Whereas the FRN of low anxious individuals did discriminate between neutral faces when used either as positive or negative feedback, the FRN of high anxious individuals did not. However, before the FRN, we also found evidence for a differential perceptual effect at the level of the N170 face-specific component between the two feedback conditions, equally so in low and high anxious individuals. These results suggest that anxiety disrupts selectively the evaluative component of performance monitoring, which presumably allows to ascribe a given value (either positive or negative) to actions.
Related Concept Videos
Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory
Primary Appraisal:...
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
Psychological Responses to Stress
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Anxiolytic Drugs: Overview
Primary Types of Anxiolytic Drugs
1. Benzodiazepines:
Benzodiazepines bind to the GABA-A receptor in the brain, enhancing GABA's interaction. This action reduces neurotransmission, effectively blocking anxiety-associated limbic circuitry.
Self-Discrepancy and Its Effects

