(PS2-97) The Impact of Anger Rumination on Error Monitoring During a Working Memory Task: Evidence from Event-Related-Potentials and Behavioral Measures

Abstract Text: Rumination is a form of abstract, repetitive negative thinking that has been shown to adversely affect cognitive control processes. One of these processes that may be negatively impacted by rumination is error monitoring, which involves detecting and correcting mistakes to optimize performance. In cognitive tasks, error monitoring is often measured behaviorally by post-error slowing (PES) or the tendency to slow responses after making a mistake in order to increase the likelihood of producing correct responses in the future. Two event-related potentials (ERPs) that have been shown to reflect early and later stages of error processing at the neurophysiological level are error-related negativity (ERN) and error-related positivity (Pe). While prior research has linked rumination to altered error sensitivity, the effects of state-induced anger rumination on error monitoring has yet to be examined. We hypothesize that participants in the rumination condition will show significantly reduced PES, indicating altered behavioral adjustments, relative to the distraction condition. Additionally, we hypothesize that participants in the rumination condition will show larger ERN amplitudes, reflecting heightened error detection, and smaller Pe amplitudes, indicating poorer error awareness.

Emerging adults (N=74) were randomly assigned to write about an angering event or a mundane activity. They were then instructed to re-read their written passage and focus on their thoughts or feelings evoked by the written passage. Participants then completed a working memory task (N-Back), which involved responding to target and non-target stimuli across three levels of difficulty, while EEG data were recorded. PES was calculated as the difference in response time following errors versus correct trials. ERPs are time-locked to incorrect trials and will be calculated as the mean amplitude at specific electrodes 0-100ms post-error (ERN), and 200-400ms post-error (Pe).

Preliminary results show that the mean PES for the rumination condition was 25.63ms slower (SD = 62.59ms) than the distraction condition. This mean difference in PES was not significant, F(7, 65) = 0.66, p = 0.71, suggesting that anger rumination did not lead to more pronounced behavioral adjustments following errors. The pre-processing of EEG data is currently underway and the results comparing ERN and Pe mean amplitudes across conditions will be completed in time for the conference. These findings will provide further insight as to whether anger rumination will result in error monitoring differences at the neurophysiological level even if this influence is not captured behaviorally. Understanding the impact of induced anger rumination on cognitive control may help elucidate how different forms of repetitive negative thinking may disrupt performance monitoring.