Trait anxiety and conflict monitoring following threat: An ERP study

Threat-related attentional disruptions in anxiety may relate to changes in cognitive control during task processing. The present study examined this question using the N2 event-related brain potential. It was predicted that threat stimuli will selectively influence the N2 for those showing elevated trait anxiety and that reduced N2 may reflect a compensatory process predicting better attention performance. EEG was recorded while 36 participants completed a cued flanker task with threat or nonthreat distracters. N2 amplitudes were greater to incongruent versus congruent flankers. Following threat, high trait anxious participants showed reduced modulation of the N2 by flanker type and greater N2 amplitudes to congruent flankers. Reduced N2 was associated with better attention performance. This study was among the first documenting the emotional modulation of the N2 related to the threat bias and its links with attention interference in anxiety.