AUTHOR=Xia Lisheng , Mo Licheng , Wang Jian , Zhang Weifeng , Zhang Dandan 

TITLE=Trait Anxiety Attenuates Response Inhibition: Evidence From an ERP Study Using the Go/NoGo Task

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00028

DOI=10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00028

ISSN=1662-5153

ABSTRACT=Neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience have shown that anxious individuals have deficits in response inhibition. However, existing knowledge about the influence of trait anxiety on response inhibition is still inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate response inhibition between the high trait anxiety (HTA) and low trait anxiety (LTA) group. Here we used event-related potential (ERP) indexes as biomarkers to examine the effect of trait anxiety on response inhibition using the Go/Nogo task. Behavioral results indicated that HTA group made significantly lower accuracy than LTA group in the Nogo condition but not Go condition. Meanwhile, the HTA group needed significantly longer overall response time than the LTA group did. ERP analyses revealed that the HTA group had smaller and later frontal Nogo-N2 as well as larger and later parietal Nogo-P3 compared to the LTA group. The two response inhibition-related ERP components are distinct neurophysiological indexes that, first, the Nogo-N2 is a component involved in motor plan prior to motor execution inhibitory process. Second, the Nogo-P3 reflects later monitoring and evaluation of inhibition process. Accordingly, the current ERP findings suggest that HTA individuals’ response inhibition deficits are the consequence of abnormal pre-motor inhibition control and inefficient evaluation and monitoring. In addition, we also found that the peak amplitude of Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3 were significantly correlated with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores after correction for multiple comparisons. To sum up, these results support the notion that trait anxious individuals have response inhibition deficits in the Go/Nogo Task.