Trait Anticipatory Pleasure, Negative Affect, and the Stimulus-Preceding Negativity During Reward Anticipation

Presenter Information

• Rishana Amar, University of South FloridaFollow
• John L. Shuford, University of South FloridaFollow
• Gavin Heindorf, University of South FloridaFollow
• Harold A. Rocha, University of South FloridaFollow
• Peter E. Clayson, University of South FloridaFollow

Poster Preview

Reward anticipation involves the processes engaged while awaiting a potentially rewarding outcome. The stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) is an event-related brain potential component that becomes more negative while individuals anticipate motivationally significant outcomes. We tested whether greater trait anticipatory pleasure predicted allocation of attention during reward anticipation (i.e., more negative SPN), and whether trait negative affect weakens that relationship. We hypothesized that greater anticipatory pleasure would predict more negative SPN and that this association would be weaker among participants with high trait negative affect. Participants (N = 83) completed the anticipatory pleasure subscale of the Temporal Experiences of Pleasure Scale, the negative affect subscale of the General Temperament Survey, and the effort-doors task. To account for the nested structure of the electroencephalogram (EEG) data, we fit a linear mixed-effects model predicting subject-level SPN amplitude from anticipatory pleasure, negative affect, and their interaction, with a random intercept for participants. The two-way interaction and both main effects were not statistically significant. The moderating effect of negative affect was in the hypothesized direction, but the effect was not statistically significant. These findings do not support a robust association between self-reported anticipatory pleasure and SPN amplitude in this task and sample. The measures may capture related but nonidentical aspects of reward anticipation, and the effort-doors task may elicit anticipatory processes beyond reward valuation. These findings suggest caution in treating trait anticipatory pleasure and SPN amplitude as interchangeable indicators of reward anticipation.

College

College of Arts & Sciences

Mentor Information

Peter Clayson

Description

Reward anticipation involves the processes engaged while awaiting a potentially rewarding outcome. The stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) is an event-related brain potential component that becomes more negative while individuals anticipate motivationally significant outcomes. We tested whether greater trait anticipatory pleasure predicted allocation of attention during reward anticipation (i.e., more negative SPN), and whether trait negative affect weakens that relationship. We hypothesized that greater anticipatory pleasure would predict more negative SPN and that this association would be weaker among participants with high trait negative affect. Participants (N = 83) completed the anticipatory pleasure subscale of the Temporal Experiences of Pleasure Scale, the negative affect subscale of the General Temperament Survey, and the effort- doors task. To account for the nested structure of the electroencephalogram (EEG) data, we fit a linear mixed-effects model predicting subject-level SPN amplitude from anticipatory pleasure, negative affect, and their interaction, with a random intercept for participants. The two-way interaction and both main effects were not statistically significant. The moderating effect of negative affect was in the hypothesized direction, but the effect was not statistically significant. These findings do not support a robust association between self-reported anticipatory pleasure and SPN amplitude in this task and sample. The measures may capture related but nonidentical aspects of reward anticipation, and the effort-doors task may elicit anticipatory processes beyond reward valuation. These findings suggest caution in treating trait anticipatory pleasure and SPN amplitude as interchangeable indicators of reward anticipation.