Acute Stress Modulates Feedback Processing in Men and Women: Differential Effects on the Feedback-Related Negativity and Theta and Beta Power

Stella Banis, Linda Geerligs, Monicque M. Lorist*, Hendrika Banis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)
348 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Sex-specific prevalence rates in mental and physical disorders may be partly explained by sex differences in physiological stress responses. Neural networks that might be involved are those underlying feedback processing. Aim of the present EEG study was to investigate whether acute stress alters feedback processing, and whether stress effects differ between men and women. Male and female participants performed a gambling task, in a control and a stress condition. Stress was induced by exposing participants to a noise stressor. Brain activity was analyzed using both event-related potential and time-frequency analyses, measuring the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and feedback-related changes in theta and beta oscillatory power, respectively. While the FRN and feedback-related theta power were similarly affected by stress induction in both sexes, feedback-related beta power depended on the combination of stress induction condition and sex. FRN amplitude and theta power increases were smaller in the stress relative to the control condition in both sexes, demonstrating that acute noise stress impairs performance monitoring irrespective of sex. However, in the stress but not in the control condition, early lower beta-band power increases were larger for men than women, indicating that stress effects on feedback processing are partly sex-dependent. Our findings suggest that sex-specific effects on feedback processing may comprise a factor underlying sex-specific stress responses.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere95690
Number of pages17
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22-Apr-2014

Keywords

  • MEDIAL FRONTAL-CORTEX
  • DECISION-MAKING
  • OSCILLATORY ACTIVITY
  • ANTICIPATORY STRESS
  • COGNITIVE CONTROL
  • BRAIN POTENTIALS
  • PHASE SYNCHRONY
  • GAMBLING TASK
  • REWARD
  • DEPRESSION

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