Does emotional valence affect cognitive performance and neurophysiological response during decision making? A preliminary study

This study investigated the impact of the emotional valence of external situations (EVES) on cognitive performance and electrophysiological (EEG) responses during decision-making. 26 healthy adults underwent a modified version of the Trier social stress test, performing five interview-style discourses. Each discourse entailed preparing a speech under increasingly stressful conditions. Participants were also exposed to gradually increasing EVES (i.e., an examining committee displaying progressively more negative-connoted emotional facial expressions). In addition, after each speech, participants completed an arithmetic task to test how emotional manipulation affected cognitive performance. Behavioral data (preparation times) and EEG data (frequency bands) were collected to assess stress regulation, stress resilience, and cognitive performance. The results indicate that EVES significantly influenced stress regulation and resilience, as reflected in the behavioral data. Neurophysiological findings showed increased parietal lobe activity (P4) in the theta and delta bands with rising emotional valence, plateauing from the preparation of the second discourse onward. This suggests enhanced emotional processing and attentional demands. However, gamma band activity decreased in P4 during the preparations for the two discourses following the first, indicating a shift of cognitive resources from higher cognitive functions to emotional processing. This highlights the cognitive cost of maintaining performance and stress regulation under emotionally charged conditions. Such findings suggest that emotional valence modulates cognitive performance and that specific neural mechanisms are involved in managing stress responses. The findings underscore the complex relationship between emotion, cognition, and neural mechanisms, offering valuable insights for stress regulation and resilience, and enhancing performance under pressure.