Emotion and hypervigilance: negative affect predicts increased P1 responses to non-negative pictorial stimuli

Previous research has demonstrated that negative affect influences attentional processes. Here, we investigate whether pre-experimental negative affect predicts a hypervigilant neural response as indicated by increased event-related potential amplitudes in response to neutral and positive visual stimuli. In our study, seventeen male participants filled out the German version of the positive and negative affect schedule (Watson et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 54:1063-1070, 1988; Krohne et al. in Diagnostica 42:139-156, 1996) and subsequently watched positive (erotica, extreme sports, beautiful women) and neutral (daily activities) photographs while electroencephalogram was recorded. In line with our hypothesis, low state negative affect but not (reduced) positive affect predicted an increase in the first positive event-related potential amplitude P1 as a typical marker of increased selective attention. As this effect occurred in response to non-threatening picture conditions, negative affect may foster an individual's general hypervigilance, a state that has formerly been associated with psychopathology only.