Action complexity modulates motor performance in the emotional oddball task

Emotions affect all aspects of cognition and behavior, from attention and perception to memory and motor performance. Emotional effects vary according to attentional demand such that task difficulty modulates brain activation. However, it remains unclear how emotional stimuli influence ongoing motor performance and how action complexity affects motor performance. In the present work we used a modified emotional oddball paradigm with two different levels of action complexity to investigate the effects of emotional distractors on a motor task. We measured the root mean square error to reflect the feature of motor performance and measured brain activity via electroencephalography during both the planning and execution stages of the action. The results indicated that increased action complexity was associated with a decreased effect of emotional distractors. Larger N2 amplitudes were observed for emotional stimuli with a positive valence than for those with a negative valence, and a relatively more complex action was performed better in the presence of stimuli with a positive valence than with a negative valence. Larger delta-band oscillations were observed during the more complex action. These findings indicate that action complexity modulates motor performance in the emotional oddball task, with action complexity modulating the associated limitations on attentional processing resources in the presence of positive emotional distractors.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Emotions affect all aspects of cognition and behavior, from attention and perception to memory and motor performance, but it remains unclear how emotional stimuli influence ongoing motor performance and how action complexity affects motor performance. Utilizing an emotional oddball task, our study revealed that more complex actions requiring greater cognitive resources reduced interference from emotional distractors.