ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Cognitive Neuroscience
Trait Self-Responsibility Modulates Neural Responses to Near-Miss Loss: An ERP study
1. University College London, London, United Kingdom
2. National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
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Abstract
Introduction: Near-miss loss is outcome that is objectively loss but physically proximal to a win, often triggering higher physiological arousal and motivation than regular loss (full loss). This study investigated how trait self-responsibility modulates the behavioral and neural processing of near and full gambling outcomes. Methods: Participants were categorized into high and low trait self-responsibility groups, performed a "Wheel of Fortune" gambling task while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Results: Behavioral results showed that while near-miss loss universally induced counterfactual thinking, the high trait self-responsibility group reported significantly higher pleasantness and sustained gambling motivation compared to the low trait self-responsibility group. Electrophysiologically, the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) showed no group differences, suggesting that early outcome valuation is insensitive to personality traits. However, the P300 component revealed a significant interaction: the high trait self-responsibility group exhibited attenuated P300 amplitudes specifically for near-miss losses compared to full losses. Discussion: These findings indicate that trait self-responsibility modulates the near-miss effect at the late cognitive stage, where the increased internal processing load in high trait self-responsibility individuals likely competes with the attentional resources allocated to external feedback.
Summary
Keywords
ERP, FRN, Near-miss effect, P300, Trait Self-Responsibility
Received
29 January 2026
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Jin and Yin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Hanmo Yin
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