Chunk #32 — Results — Effects of Externalizing Proneness on Brain Responses to Performance Feedback — Externalizing proneness and brain response: Comparison of effects for TD versus TF measures
It is informative to compare the markedly different effects of externalizing proneness on the two aforementioned TF component measures (theta-FRN, delta-P300) with effects for more traditional TD FRN and P300 measures. When the analyses depicted in Table 2 were repeated using TD FRN and P300 scores in place of the corresponding TF component scores, significant main effects of Externalizing were found for both the TD FRN variable and the TD P300 variable. The TD P300 showed the expected amplitude reduction as a function of higher externalizing proneness. In the case of TD FRN, higher externalizing proneness was associated with an apparent augmentation of the negative-polarity FRN (i.e., an effect opposite to the decrement in response-ERN amplitude reported by Hall et al., 2007). Based on the aforementioned overlap between the negative-going theta component of the feedback response and the positive-going delta component within the time window of the FRN, we hypothesized that the apparent enhancement of TD FRN for individuals high in externalizing proneness reflected diminished delta activity within this window (i.e., lesser positive contribution to signal amplitude) rather than enhanced theta activity (i.e., heightened negative contribution to signal amplitude).
