Previous studies have shown that uncertainty about the expected valence of an upcoming stimulus modulates behavioural and neural responses to the stimulus. However, relatively little is known about how invalid emotion expectations (i.e. expecting a positive picture but seeing a negative picture) affect neural and behavioural responses. To investigate this, two experiments were conducted where participants viewed and rated the pleasantness of emotional pictures that were preceded by a cue. In Experiment 1, there were three cue conditions: uncertain, valid and invalid. The uncertain cue did not indicate the valence of the upcoming picture, whereas cues in the valid condition (70% of positive and negative cues) correctly indicated the valence of the upcoming picture. The remaining trials were invalid, where the valence of the picture differed from the expected valence. Behavioural results showed that invalidly cued negative pictures elicited more neutral valence ratings compared to validly cued pictures. In Experiment 2 we replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and in addition found an increased amplitude for the early (400 -600 ms) portion of the late positive potential (LPP) for invalidly compared to validly cued pictures. Together, these results show that invalid expectations influence the neural and behavioural processing of subsequently presented emotional pictures, where invalidly cued pictures led to attenuated (i.e., more neutral) emotional responses, and enhanced early LPP amplitude, compared to validly cued pictures.

The present study tested the validity of inferring verbal-analytic motor processing from EEG left-temporal alpha activity. Participants (n = 20) reached for and transport a jar under three conditions: one control condition and two self-talk conditions aimed at eliciting either task-unrelated verbal processing or task-related conscious control, while 32-channel EEG and kinematics were recorded. Compared to the control condition, both self-talk conditions elicited greater self-reported levels of verbal processing, but only the task-related self-talk condition was accompanied by greater left temporal activity (i.e., EEG alpha power decreased) during movement production. However, this increase was not localised to the left temporal region but was rather evident over all scalp regions examined, suggesting an interpretation more consistent with diminished neural efficiency. No effects for left temporal-frontal (T7-Fz) connectivity were detected across conditions. Our results failed to endorse left-temporal EEG alpha activity as valid index of verbal-analytic processing during motor tasks.

Humans have developed specific abilities to interact efficiently with their conspecifics (social cognition). Despite abundant behavioral and neuroscientific research, the influence of cultural factors on these skills remains poorly understood. This issue is of particular importance as most cognitive tasks are developed in highly specific contexts, not representative of what is encountered by the world’s population. Through a large international and multi-site study, we assessed core social cognition aspects using current gold-standard tasks in 587 participants from 12 countries. Age, gender, and education were found to impact emotion recognition as well as the ability to infer mental states. After controlling for these factors, differences between countries accounted for more than 20% of the variance on both abilities. Importantly, it was possible to isolate cultural from linguistic impacts, which classically constitute a major limitation. We suggest important methodological shifts to better represent social cognition at the fundamental and the clinical levels.

Uncertainty about the emotional impact of future events is a common part of everyday life.However, relatively little is known about whether the level of uncertainty about the affective nature of an upcoming visual image influences anticipatory neurocognitive processes. To investigate this, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral pictures, which were preceded by abstract anticipatory cues. Neural activity was measured using event-related potentials (ERPs). In the 'uncertain' cue condition, the cue could be followed by either a negative or a neutral picture with equal probability; in the 'fairly uncertain' condition the cue was followed by a negative picture on 70% of trials, and by a neutral picture on 30% of trials.In the 'certain' condition, the cue was always followed by a negative picture. For the P200 component, reflecting early stages of selective attention, there was no amplitude difference between cue conditions. At later stages of processing, the early posterior negativity (EPN) amplitude was enhanced for cues indicating a greater level of certainty, and the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude was greater for certain, compared to fairly uncertain and uncertain cues. The stimulus preceding negativity (SPN), an index of anticipatory processing, was more negative for certain cues compared to fairly uncertain and uncertain cues. For the SPN there was no difference between fairly uncertain and uncertain cues. These results provide evidence that the level of uncertainty regarding the affective nature of an upcoming picture influenced several stages of processing during the anticipation of the stimulus.

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Self-knowledge is a type of personal semantic knowledge that concerns one’s self-image and personal identity. It has most often been operationalized as the summary of one’s personality traits (“I am a stubborn person”). Interestingly, recent studies have revealed that the neural correlates of self-knowledge can be dissociated from those of general semantic and episodic memory in young adults. However, studies of “dedifferentiation” or loss of distinctiveness of neural representations in ageing suggest that the neural correlates of self-knowledge might be less distinct from those of semantic and episodic memory in older adults. We investigated this question in an event-related potential (ERP) study with 28 young and 26 older adults while they categorised personality traits for their self-relevance (self-knowledge conditions), and their relevance to certain groups of people (general semantic condition). Participants then performed a recognition test for previously seen traits (episodic condition). The amplitude of the late positive component (LPC), associated with episodic recollection processes, differentiated the self-knowledge, general semantic, and episodic conditions in young adults, but not in older adults. However, in older adults, participants with higher composite episodic memory scores had more differentiated LPC amplitudes across experimental conditions. Moreover, consistent with the fact that age-related neural dedifferentiation may be material and region specific, in both age groups some differences between memory types were observed for the N400 component, associated with semantic processing. Taken together, these findings suggest that declarative memory subtypes are less distinct in ageing, but that the amount of differentiation varies with episodic memory function.

1All talk? Left temporal alpha oscillations are not specific to verbal-analytical processing during 2 conscious motor control 3 4Johnny Abstract 29The present study tested the validity of inferring verbal-analytic motor processing from EEG 30 left-temporal alpha activity. Participants (n = 20) reached for and transport a jar under three 31 conditions: one control condition and two self-talk conditions aimed at eliciting either task-unrelated 32 verbal processing or task-related conscious control, while 32-channel EEG and kinematics were 33 recorded. Compared to the control condition, both self-talk conditions elicited greater self-reported 34 levels of verbal processing, but only the task-related self-talk condition was accompanied by greater 35 left temporal activity (i.e., EEG alpha power decreased) during movement production. However, this 36 increase was not localised to the left temporal region but was rather evident over all scalp regions 37 examined, suggesting an interpretation more consistent with diminished neural efficiency. No effects 38 for left temporal-frontal (T7-Fz) connectivity were detected across conditions. Our results failed to 39 endorse left-temporal EEG alpha activity as valid index of verbal-analytic processing during motor 40 tasks. 41Keywords: conscious motor processing, self-talk, verbal-processing, T7-Fz, neural efficiency. 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 3 52 1. Introduction 53The progression from beginner to skilled motor performance is characterised by an 54 attenuation of energy expenditure as the expression of greater metabolic efficiency (Hatfield, 2018; 55 Hatfield & Hillman, 2001). Such adaptations are not only observed as decreased somatic activity (e.g., 56reduced muscular activation), but also as decreased mental activity (e.g., reduced regional activation 57 in the brain). By using neuroimaging techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG), researchers 58 have provided evidence that practice of a motor skill induces changes in the cerebral cortex consistent 59 with the concept of "neural efficiency". 60A cortical region that is often deemed to be implicated in the attainment of greater neural 61 efficiency is the left temporal region. By recording the magnitude of EEG oscillatory activity within 62 the 8-12 Hz frequency range, an inverse marker of neuronal activity termed "alpha power" (Klimesch, 63 2012), researchers have observed diminished activity in the left temporal region as a function of 64 66 temporal region includes structures implicated in language processing (e.g., Broca's area and 67Wernicke's area), the abovementioned findings have been interpreted as evidence that expert 68 performance is less reliant on declarative verbal-analytic processes that characterise the conscious 69 motor control of novices (e.g., Fitts & Posner, 1967). 70In addition to regional activation, cortico-cortical networking has been examined to reveal the 71 interaction across various cortical regions. For example, phase-based measures of alpha connectivity 72 between the left tempo...