Unpredictable fearful stimuli disrupt timing activities: Evidence from event-related potentials

Qian Cui; Mingtong Liu; Chang Hong Liu; Zhengkun Long; Ke Zhao; Xiaolan Fu

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108057

Unpredictable fearful stimuli disrupt timing activities: Evidence from event-related potentials

Neuropsychologia. 2021 Dec 10:163:108057. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108057. Epub 2021 Oct 12.

Authors

Qian Cui¹, Mingtong Liu², Chang Hong Liu³, Zhengkun Long², Ke Zhao⁴, Xiaolan Fu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China; School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Dorset, United Kingdom.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. Electronic address: zhaok@psych.ac.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. Electronic address: fuxl@psych.ac.cn.

PMID: 34653495
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108057

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of an imminent fearful stimulus on an ongoing temporal task. Participants judged the duration of a blank temporal interval followed by a fearful or a neutral image. Results showed an underestimation of the duration in the fearful condition relative to the neutral condition, but only when the occurrence of the fearful image was difficult to predict. ERPs results for the blank temporal interval found no effect of the fearful stimulus on the contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitude in the clock stage. However, after the image onset, there was a larger P1 for the fearful relative to the neutral condition. Although this effect was indistinguishable regardless of whether the fearful event could be easily predicted, a late positive potential (LPP) component displayed larger amplitude only for unpredictable fearful stimuli. The time-frequency results showed enhanced delta-theta power (0.5-7.5 Hz) for the unpredictable fearful stimuli in the late stage. Importantly, the enhanced delta-theta rhythm correlated negatively with the duration judgments. Together, these results suggest that an unpredictable fearful event might divert more attention away from the counting process in the working memory stage, resulting in missing ticks and temporal underestimation.

Keywords: Delta-theta rhythm; Late positive potential; Time perception; Unpredictable fearful stimuli.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Contingent Negative Variation
Electroencephalography*
Evoked Potentials
Facial Expression*
Fear
Humans