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Failing where others have succeeded: Medial Frontal Negativity tracks failure in a social context
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, & David De Cremer
Abstract - Most of us can appreciate that it feels worse to fail when people around you are successful than when others are also failing. Indeed, comparison with other individuals is of central importance within social groups. Despite the importance of relative success or failure for human decision-making and even well-being, the underlying neurobiological substrate of this social comparison process is not well understood. In the present study, EEG was recorded while two participants received feedback on both their own, and the other participant's performance on each trial. The results showed that medial frontal negativity, an ERP component associated with deviations from the desired outcome, is particularly enhanced when an individual's own outcomes are worse than those of others. These results indicate that the way the brain evaluates the success of our actions is crucially dependant on the success or failure of others.
Social status determines how we monitor and evaluate our performance
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, & David De Cremer
Abstract - Since people with low status are more likely to experience social evaluative threat and are therefore more inclined to monitor for these threats and inhibit approach behaviour, we expected that low status subjects would be more engaged in evaluating their own performance, compared to high status subjects. We created a highly salient social hierarchy based on performance of a simple time-estimation task. Subjects could achieve high, middle or low status while performing this task simultaneously with two other players who were either higher or lower in status. Subjects received feedback on their own performance, as well as on the performance of the other two players. EEG was recorded from all three participants. The results showed that Medial Frontal Negativity (an event-related potential reflecting performance evaluation) was significantly enhanced for low-status subjects. Implications for status-related differences in goal-directed behaviour are discussed.
Individual differences in approach motivation, resting-state frontal cortical activity and attentional scope
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, Mattie Tops & David De Cremer
Abstract - Recent research has demonstrated that individual differences in approach motivation modulate attentional scope. In turn, approach and inhibition have been related to different neural systems that are associated with asymmetries in relative frontal cortical activity (RFA). Here, we investigated whether individual differences in approach motivation (as measured by the BIS/BAS scale) and differences in 'resting state' hemispheric activity, would be associated with attentional scope. The results showed that only the BAS-Reward subscale was associated with left RFA during rest, while BIS, BAS-Drive and BAS-Fun were associated with more right RFA. Left RFA was associated with increased P3 (right-lateralized) amplitudes and decreased P3 latencies on trials requiring a global focus, which in turn were related to faster responses on stimuli requiring a global focus. These results provide evidence for a positive association between left RFA during rest, that is associated with approach motivation, and increased efficiency in processing global information.
Error-Related ERPs Track Evaluation of Non-Reward and Punishment in Schizophrenia
Maarten A.S. Boksem & Philip B. Ward
Abstract - Background: There are conflicting reports on whether decision-making deficits observed in schizophrenia are associated with changes in the evaluation of rewards, punishments, or both.
Methods: In the present study, we investigated a group of subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia (n=10) and a healthy control group (n=12) in separate conditions involving either explicit reward or explicit punishment while measuring event-related potentials (ERPs).
Results: Compared to controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited significantly reduced error-related negativity (ERN) amplitude in the reward omission condition, while ERN amplitude in the punishment condition did not differ between patients and controls.
Conclusions: These findings add to a number of studies reporting reductions in ERN amplitudes in schizophrenia, but extend these findings by demonstrating that this reduction is only observed under conditions of reward omission and not conditions of punishment. Implications for decision-making in schizophrenia and potential dysfunctions in its neural substrate are discussed.
From Effort to Reward or Burnout: a neurobiological framework.
Maarten A.S. Boksem & Mattie Tops
Abstract - Burnout is a condition characterized by depressed mood, fatigue and disengagement, and is proposed to be the final result of chronic work-related dysfunctions. Research on burnout has been dominated in recent years by two theoretical models: the demand-control model and the effort-reward imbalance model. In the present review, we will present a framework for the development of burnout that accommodates the neurobiological processes proposed to be involved in motivated engagement, disengagement, effort, and (ineffective) energetical mobilization in the context of high demands and low control. When the work situation is uncontrollable, people are forced to override the drive to disengage that results from an imbalance of perceived costs and benefits associated with their work. However, overriding this signal for prolonged periods of time may lead to chronic alterations in the mobilization of energetical resources. This, we propose, may be fundamental to disorders that are characterized by long-term fatigue, such as burnout.
In the face of disaproval: Performance monitoring in a social context.
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Kirsten I. Ruys & Henk Aarts
Abstract - Facial expressions are a potent source of information about how others evaluate our behaviour. In the present study, we investigated how the internal performance monitoring system, as reflected by error related negativity (ERN), is affected by external cues of positive (happy faces) or negative evaluation (disgusted faces) of performance. We hypothesized that if the social context indeed impacts on how we evaluate our own performance, we would expect that the same performance error would result in larger ERN amplitudes in the context of negative evaluation compared to a context of positive evaluation. Our findings confirm our predictions: ERN amplitudes were largest when stimuli consisted of disgusted faces (negative evaluation context), compared to when stimuli consisted of happy faces (positive evaluation context). Importantly, ERN amplitudes in our control condition, in which sad faces were used as stimuli, were no different from the positive evaluation condition, ruling out the possibility that effects in the negative evaluation condition were the result of the induced negative affect. We suggest that external social cues of approval or disapproval impact on how we evaluate our own performance at a very basic level: the brain processes errors associated with social disapproval as more motivationally salient, signalling the need for additional cognitive resources to prevent subsequent failures.
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, & David De Cremer
Abstract - Most of us can appreciate that it feels worse to fail when people around you are successful than when others are also failing. Indeed, comparison with other individuals is of central importance within social groups. Despite the importance of relative success or failure for human decision-making and even well-being, the underlying neurobiological substrate of this social comparison process is not well understood. In the present study, EEG was recorded while two participants received feedback on both their own, and the other participant's performance on each trial. The results showed that medial frontal negativity, an ERP component associated with deviations from the desired outcome, is particularly enhanced when an individual's own outcomes are worse than those of others. These results indicate that the way the brain evaluates the success of our actions is crucially dependant on the success or failure of others.
Social status determines how we monitor and evaluate our performance
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, & David De Cremer
Abstract - Since people with low status are more likely to experience social evaluative threat and are therefore more inclined to monitor for these threats and inhibit approach behaviour, we expected that low status subjects would be more engaged in evaluating their own performance, compared to high status subjects. We created a highly salient social hierarchy based on performance of a simple time-estimation task. Subjects could achieve high, middle or low status while performing this task simultaneously with two other players who were either higher or lower in status. Subjects received feedback on their own performance, as well as on the performance of the other two players. EEG was recorded from all three participants. The results showed that Medial Frontal Negativity (an event-related potential reflecting performance evaluation) was significantly enhanced for low-status subjects. Implications for status-related differences in goal-directed behaviour are discussed.
Individual differences in approach motivation, resting-state frontal cortical activity and attentional scope
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Evelien Kostermans, Mattie Tops & David De Cremer
Abstract - Recent research has demonstrated that individual differences in approach motivation modulate attentional scope. In turn, approach and inhibition have been related to different neural systems that are associated with asymmetries in relative frontal cortical activity (RFA). Here, we investigated whether individual differences in approach motivation (as measured by the BIS/BAS scale) and differences in 'resting state' hemispheric activity, would be associated with attentional scope. The results showed that only the BAS-Reward subscale was associated with left RFA during rest, while BIS, BAS-Drive and BAS-Fun were associated with more right RFA. Left RFA was associated with increased P3 (right-lateralized) amplitudes and decreased P3 latencies on trials requiring a global focus, which in turn were related to faster responses on stimuli requiring a global focus. These results provide evidence for a positive association between left RFA during rest, that is associated with approach motivation, and increased efficiency in processing global information.
Error-Related ERPs Track Evaluation of Non-Reward and Punishment in Schizophrenia
Maarten A.S. Boksem & Philip B. Ward
Abstract - Background: There are conflicting reports on whether decision-making deficits observed in schizophrenia are associated with changes in the evaluation of rewards, punishments, or both.
Methods: In the present study, we investigated a group of subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia (n=10) and a healthy control group (n=12) in separate conditions involving either explicit reward or explicit punishment while measuring event-related potentials (ERPs).
Results: Compared to controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited significantly reduced error-related negativity (ERN) amplitude in the reward omission condition, while ERN amplitude in the punishment condition did not differ between patients and controls.
Conclusions: These findings add to a number of studies reporting reductions in ERN amplitudes in schizophrenia, but extend these findings by demonstrating that this reduction is only observed under conditions of reward omission and not conditions of punishment. Implications for decision-making in schizophrenia and potential dysfunctions in its neural substrate are discussed.
From Effort to Reward or Burnout: a neurobiological framework.
Maarten A.S. Boksem & Mattie Tops
Abstract - Burnout is a condition characterized by depressed mood, fatigue and disengagement, and is proposed to be the final result of chronic work-related dysfunctions. Research on burnout has been dominated in recent years by two theoretical models: the demand-control model and the effort-reward imbalance model. In the present review, we will present a framework for the development of burnout that accommodates the neurobiological processes proposed to be involved in motivated engagement, disengagement, effort, and (ineffective) energetical mobilization in the context of high demands and low control. When the work situation is uncontrollable, people are forced to override the drive to disengage that results from an imbalance of perceived costs and benefits associated with their work. However, overriding this signal for prolonged periods of time may lead to chronic alterations in the mobilization of energetical resources. This, we propose, may be fundamental to disorders that are characterized by long-term fatigue, such as burnout.
In the face of disaproval: Performance monitoring in a social context.
Maarten A.S. Boksem, Kirsten I. Ruys & Henk Aarts
Abstract - Facial expressions are a potent source of information about how others evaluate our behaviour. In the present study, we investigated how the internal performance monitoring system, as reflected by error related negativity (ERN), is affected by external cues of positive (happy faces) or negative evaluation (disgusted faces) of performance. We hypothesized that if the social context indeed impacts on how we evaluate our own performance, we would expect that the same performance error would result in larger ERN amplitudes in the context of negative evaluation compared to a context of positive evaluation. Our findings confirm our predictions: ERN amplitudes were largest when stimuli consisted of disgusted faces (negative evaluation context), compared to when stimuli consisted of happy faces (positive evaluation context). Importantly, ERN amplitudes in our control condition, in which sad faces were used as stimuli, were no different from the positive evaluation condition, ruling out the possibility that effects in the negative evaluation condition were the result of the induced negative affect. We suggest that external social cues of approval or disapproval impact on how we evaluate our own performance at a very basic level: the brain processes errors associated with social disapproval as more motivationally salient, signalling the need for additional cognitive resources to prevent subsequent failures.
