Event-related potentials reveal early attention bias for negative, unexpected behavior

Numerous studies have documented that expectancy-violating (EV) behavior (i.e., behavior that violates existing person impressions) elicits more effortful cognitive processing compared to expectancy-consistent (EC) behavior. Some studies also have shown that this effect is modulated by the valence of behavior, though this finding is inconsistent with some extant models of expectancy processes. The current research investigated whether the valence of EV information affects very rapid attentional processes thought to tag goal-relevant information for more elaborative processing at later stages. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants read depictions of behavior that either were consistent with or violated established impressions about fictitious characters. Consistent with predictions, a very early attention-related ERP component, the frontal P2, differentiated negative from positive EV behavior but was unaffected by the valence of EC behavior. This effect occurred much earlier in processing than has been demonstrated in prior reports of EV effects on neural response, suggesting that impression formation goals tune attention to information that might signal the need to modify existing impressions.