Cognitive, Behavioral, and Systems NeuroscienceResearch PaperEmotional arousal to negative information after traumatic experiences: an event-related brain potential study

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during an emotional Stroop task were measured in two groups of participants: 14 participants who had experienced the great Sichuan earthquake (earthquake group) and 14 participants who did not experience the earthquake (control group). ERP data showed that negative words elicited a more negative P2 than positive words in the earthquake group. Moreover, negative words also elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N280-380 effect) than positive words in the earthquake group, while this effect was not found in the control group. We suggest that the N280-380 effect may reflect heightened emotional arousal to negative words due to personal experience of a traumatic event. Dipole analysis localized the N280-380 to the parahippocampal gyrus and the cuneus, which we suggest may be related to the automatic recollection of the traumatic experience.

▶Negative words elicited littler P2 than did positive words in the earthquake group. ▶Negative words elicited N280-380 than did positive words in the earthquake group. ▶The N280-380 reflects emotional arousal by negative words.