Estimating statistical power for event‐related potential studies using the late positive potential

ABSTRACTThe late positive potential (LPP) is a common measurement used to study emotional processes of subjects in event-related potential (ERP) paradigms. Despite its extensive use in affective neuroscience, there is presently no gold standard for how to appropriately power ERP studies using the LPP in within-subject and between-subjects experimental designs. The present study investigates how the number of trials, number of subjects, and magnitude of the effect size affect statistical power in analyses of the LPP. Using Monte Carlo simulations of ERP experiments with varying numbers of trials, subjects, and effect sizes, we measured the probability of obtaining a statistically significant effect in 1,489 different experiments repeated 1,000 times each. Predictably, our results showed that statistical power increases with increasing numbers of trials and subjects and at larger effect sizes. In addition, we found that higher levels of statistical power can be achieved with lower numbers of subjects and trials and at lower effect sizes in within-subject than in between-subjects designs. Furthermore, we found that, as subjects are added to an experiment, the slope of the relationship between effect size and statistical power increases and shifts to the left until the power asymptotes to nearly 100% at higher effect sizes. This suggests that adding more subjects greatly increases statistical power at lower effect sizes (<1 µV) compared with more robust (>1.5 µV) effect sizes.

Download Full-text

Emotion regulation effect of Baduanjin on college students: A pilot event-related potential study on late positive potential

World Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine ◽

10.4103/wjtcm.wjtcm_43_21 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

pp. 0

Author(s):

Qing-Chuan Hu ◽

Yu-Long Wei ◽

Qiang Gu ◽

Kevin Chen ◽

Jing-Jing Dong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Late Positive Potential ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Regulation Effect ◽

Potential Study

Download Full-text

Abnormalities of the late positive potential during emotional processing in individuals with psychopathic traits: a meta-analysis

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291719002216 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (12) ◽

pp. 2085-2095

Author(s):

William Vallet ◽

Antoine Hone-Blanchet ◽

Jerome Brunelin

Keyword(s):

Effect Size ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Late Positive Potential ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Negative Stimuli

AbstractBackgroundIndividuals with psychopathic traits display deficits in emotional processing. A key event-related potential component involved in emotional processing is the late positive potential (LPP). In healthy controls, LPP amplitude is greater in response to negative stimuli than to positive or neutral stimuli. In the current study, we aimed to compare LPP amplitudes between individuals with psychopathic traits and control subjects when presented with negative, positive or neutral stimuli. We hypothesized that LPP amplitude evoked by emotional stimuli would be reduced in individuals with psychopathic traits compared to healthy controls.MethodsAfter a systematic review of the literature, we conducted a meta-analysis to compare LPP amplitude elicited by emotional stimuli in individuals with psychopathic traits and healthy controls.ResultsIndividuals with psychopathic traits showed significantly reduced LPP amplitude evoked by negative stimuli (mean effect size = −0.47; 95% CI −0.60 to −0.33; p < 0.005) compared to healthy controls. No significant differences between groups were observed for the processing of positive (mean effect size = −0.15; 95% CI −0.42 to 0.12; p = 0.28) and neutral stimuli (mean effect size = −0.12; 95% CI 0.31 to 0.07; p = 0.21).ConclusionsMeasured by LPP amplitude, individuals with psychopathic traits displayed abnormalities in the processing of emotional stimuli with negative valence whereas processing of stimuli with positive and neutral valence was unchanged as compared with healthy controls.

Download Full-text

Late Positive Potential in Bipolar Disorder Reflecting Emotional Disorder: An Event-Related Potential Study

10.35248/2167-1044.19.8.339 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 08 (03) ◽

Author(s):

Qiang Zhou ◽

Li Jun Zhang ◽

Liang Ying ◽

Jia Chen

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Late Positive Potential ◽

Emotional Disorder ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Potential Study

Download Full-text

Frontal Theta Oscillation as a Mechanism for Implicit Gender Stereotype Control: Electrophysiological Evidence From an Extrinsic Affective Simon Task

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnhum.2020.573187 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

Author(s):

Lei Jia ◽

Mengru Cheng ◽

Billy Sung ◽

Cheng Wang ◽

Jun Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Control Mechanism ◽

Simon Task ◽

Late Positive Potential ◽

Gender Stereotype ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Theta Oscillation ◽

Time Frequency

Previous research has indicated that frontal midline theta (FMθ) reflects a domain-general cognitive control mechanism of the prefrontal cortex. Brain imaging studies have shown that the inhibition of implicit stereotypes was dependent on this domain-general cognitive control mechanism. Based on this knowledge, the present study investigated the neural oscillatory correlates of implicit gender stereotype control in an extrinsic affective Simon task (EAST) using electrophysiological methods. Participants in this task conducted verification to white gender names and colored gender traits, and their behavioral response and electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded during their performances. As predicted, stereotype-inconsistent trials resulted in reduced response accuracies and slower response times than stereotype-consistent trials. For the event-related potential (ERP) results, the enhanced performance of stereotype-inconsistent trials was accompanied by an enhanced N400 amplitude but an attenuated late positive potential amplitude. In contrast, early attentional components such as P2 and N2 as well as their amplitudes were impacted by the experimental manipulations and individual differences in gender factors. In addition, based on time–frequency (TF) analysis, we found that the enhanced performance of stereotype-inconsistent trials was also accompanied by an event-related synchronization on the frontal theta oscillation. This frontal theta appeared at a late processing stage and persisted across a time window from N400 to late positive potential. Additionally, this enhanced frontal theta effect was not modulated by the experimental manipulations and individual differences in gender factors. Based on these findings, the feature of frontal theta oscillation in the implicit gender stereotype control process was discussed.

Download Full-text

Comparable Modulation of the Late Positive Potential by Emotion Regulation in Younger and Older Adults

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000009 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 186-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Sandra J. E. Langeslag ◽

Jan W. Van Strien

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Age Differences ◽

Late Positive Potential ◽

Self Report ◽

Apparent Discrepancy ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Psychophysiological Responses ◽

Psychophysiological Measures ◽

Emotional Pictures

It has been suggested that emotion regulation improves with aging. Here, we investigated age differences in emotion regulation by studying modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) by emotion regulation instructions. The electroencephalogram of younger (18–26 years) and older (60–77 years) adults was recorded while they viewed neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures and while they were instructed to increase or decrease the feelings that the emotional pictures elicited. The LPP was enhanced when participants were instructed to increase their emotions. No age differences were observed in this emotion regulation effect, suggesting that emotion regulation abilities are unaffected by aging. This contradicts studies that measured emotion regulation by self-report, yet accords with studies that measured emotion regulation by means of facial expressions or psychophysiological responses. More research is needed to resolve the apparent discrepancy between subjective self-report and objective psychophysiological measures.

Download Full-text

Feel Thine Own Self – Mood Congruency Evaluation of Emotional State Adjectives

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000272 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽

Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽

Jan Kaiser

Keyword(s):

Mood Induction ◽

Semantic Analysis ◽

Emotional State ◽

Time Window ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Negativity Bias ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Semantic Access ◽

Current Mood ◽

Component Time

Abstract. The goal of the study was to explore event-related potential (ERP) differences during the processing of emotional adjectives that were evaluated as congruent or incongruent with the current mood. We hypothesized that the first effects of congruence evaluation would be evidenced during the earliest stages of semantic analysis. Sixty mood adjectives were presented separately for 1,000 ms each during two sessions of mood induction. After each presentation, participants evaluated to what extent the word described their mood. The results pointed to incongruence marking of adjective’s meaning with current mood during early attention orientation and semantic access stages (the P150 component time window). This was followed by enhanced processing of congruent words at later stages. As a secondary goal the study also explored word valence effects and their relation to congruence evaluation. In this regard, no significant effects were observed on the ERPs; however, a negativity bias (enhanced responses to negative adjectives) was noted on the behavioral data (RTs), which could correspond to the small differences traced on the late positive potential.

Download Full-text