Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control—Relationship Between Baseline Activation in Lateral PFC and an Electrophysiological Index of Response Inhibition

The capacity to inhibit inappropriate responses is crucial for goal-directed behavior. Inhibiting such responses seems to come more easily to some of us than others, however. From where do these individual differences originate? Here, we measured 263 participants' neural baseline activation using resting electroencephalogram. Then, we used this stable neural marker to predict a reliable electrophysiological index of response inhibition capacity in the cued Continuous Performance Test, the NoGo-Anteriorization (NGA). Using a source-localization technique, we found that resting delta, theta, and alpha1 activity in the left middle frontal gyrus and resting alpha1 activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus were negatively correlated with the NGA. As a larger NGA is thought to represent better response inhibition capacity, our findings demonstrate that lower levels of resting slow-wave oscillations in the lateral prefrontal cortex, bilaterally, are associated with a better response inhibition capacit

Different Behavioral Types of Distributional Preferences Are Characterized by Distinct Neural Signatures

There are many situations where resources are distributed between two parties and where the deciding party has information about the initial distribution and can change its outcome, for example, the allocation of budget for funds or bonuses, where the deciding party might have self-interested motives. Although the neural underpinnings of distributional preferences of resources have been extensively studied, it remains unclear if there are different types of distributional preferences and if these types underlie different disposing neural signatures. We used source-localized resting EEG in combination with a data-driven clustering approach to participants' behavior in a distribution game in order to disentangle the neural sources of the different types of distributional preferences. Our findings revealed four behavioral types: Maximizing types always changed initial distributions to maximize their personal outcomes, and compliant types always left initial distributions unchanged. Disadvantage-averse types only changed initial distributions if they received less than the other party did, and equalizing types primarily changed initial distributions to fair distributions. These behavioral types differed regarding neural baseline activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus. Maximizing and compliant types showed the highest baseline activation, followed by disadvantage-averse types and equalizing types. Furthermore, maximizing types showed significantly higher baseline activation in the left OFC compared to compliant types. Taken together, our findings show that different types of distributional preferences are characterized by distinct neural signatures, which further imply differences in underlying psychological processes in decision-making

Neural signatures of different behavioral types in fairness norm compliance

Fairness norm compliance is critical in any society. However, norm compliant behavior is very heterogeneous. Some people are reliably fair (voluntary compliers). Some are fair to avoid sanctions (sanction-based compliers), and some are reliably unfair (non-compliers). These types play divergent roles in society. However, they remain poorly understood. Here, we combined neural measures (resting electroencephalography and event-related potentials) and economic paradigms to better understand these types. We found that voluntary compliers are characterized by higher baseline activation in the right temporo-parietal junction, suggesting better social cognition capacity compared to sanction-based compliers and non-compliers. The latter two types are differentiated by (a) baseline activation in the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, a brain area known to be involved in self-control processes, and (b) event-related potentials in a classic self-control task. Both results suggest that sanction-based compliers have better self-control capacity than non-compliers. These findings improve our understanding of fairness norm compliance. Broadly, our findings suggest that established training techniques that boost self-control might help non-compliers adhere to fairness norms

Clocking the social mind by identifying mental processes in the IAT with electrical neuroimaging

Why do people take longer to associate the word “love” with outgroup words (incongruent condition) than with ingroup words (congruent condition)? Despite the widespread use of the implicit association test (IAT), it has remained unclear whether this IAT effect is due to additional mental processes in the incongruent condition, or due to longer duration of the same processes. Here, we addressed this previously insoluble issue by assessing the spatiotemporal evolution of brain electrical activity in 83 participants. From stimulus presentation until response production, we identified seven processes. Crucially, all seven processes occurred in the same temporal sequence in both conditions, but participants needed more time to perform one early occurring process (perceptual processing) and one late occurring process (implementing cognitive control to select the motor response) in the incongruent compared with the congruent condition. We also found that the latter process contributed to individual differences in implicit bias. These results advance understanding of the neural mechanics of response time differences in the IAT: They speak against theories that explain the IAT effect as due to additional processes in the incongruent condition and speak in favor of theories that assume a longer duration of specific processes in the incongruent condition. More broadly, our data analysis approach illustrates the potential of electrical neuroimaging to illuminate the temporal organization of mental processes involved in social cognition

Frequency of everyday pro-environmental behaviour is explained by baseline activation in lateral prefrontal cortex

Humankind faces a plethora of environmental problems, many of which are directly influenced by individual human behaviour. To better understand pro-environmental behaviour, we here try to identify interindividual markers that explain variance in the frequency of every-day pro-environmental behaviour. So far, research on this topic has mainly relied on subjective self-report measures and has yielded mixed results. In this study, we applied a neural trait approach to assess stable, objective individual differences. Using source-localised electroencephalography, we measured cortical activation at rest and combined our neural task-independent data with an ecologically valid assessment of everyday pro-environmental behaviour. We find whole-brain-corrected evidence that task-independent baseline activation in the right lateral prefrontal cortex, a brain area known to be involved in cognitive control and self-control processes explains individual differences in pro-environmental behaviour. The higher the cortical baseline activation in this area, the higher the frequency of everyday pro-environmental behaviour. Implications for the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour are discussed

A Neural Marker of Costly Punishment Behavior

Human readiness to incur personal costs to punish norm violators is a key force in the maintenance of social norms. The willingness to punish is, however, characterized by vast individual heterogeneity that is poorly understood. In fact, this heterogeneity has so far defied explanations in terms of individual-level demographic or psychological variables. Here, we use resting electroencephalography, a stable measure of individual differences in cortical activity, to show that a highly specific neural marker—baseline cortical activity in the right prefrontal cortex—predicts individuals’ punishment behavior. The analysis of task-independent individual variation in cortical baseline activity provides a new window into the neurobiology of decision making by bringing dispositional neural markers to the forefront of the analysis