Procrastination and anxiety aspects of self-control predict individual differences in the mismatch negativity (MMN)

Self-control failures are often attributed to a lack of top-down behavioral regulation. Self-report measures of self-control reflect higher-level cognitive appraisals of behavioral control and lower-level innate temperamental traits associated with reactive processes. However, few studies have examined the extent to which different aspects of self-control relate to reactive processes. Using a large sample (n = 246), we investigated whether individual differences in six self-control trait measures were predictive of low-level processing indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited from a passive auditory oddball task. Larger MMNs are associated with greater prediction error when the input stimulus conflicts with expectation. Self-control traits were measured by effortful control, perfectionism, impulsiveness, procrastination, perceived stress, and anxiety scales. We assumed personality traits develop around innate differences in reaction to environmental changes, resulting in differential adult expressions of self-control reflected in the six traits. All but perfectionism and perceived stress correlated with MMN amplitudes: Greater self-control associated with smaller MMNs; stronger negative traits associated with larger MMNs. When the correlated measures were entered into a backwards multiple regression on MMN amplitudes, procrastination and anxiety remained in the model as significant, relatively independent contributors. Procrastination may reflect a top-down modulation of underlying reactivity. Trait anxiety may reflect a basic temperament of greater reactivity to environmental change. Individuals with strong innate reactivity and weaker top-down processes may be hypervigilant to deviations from expectation, producing larger prediction errors and MMNs. Self-control failures may reflect reduced top-down control, when the balance in cortical activity favors reactive systems over the prefrontal cortex.