No abstract

SummaryData analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. To assess the impact of this flexibility on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results, the same dataset was independently analyzed by 70 teams, testing nine ex-ante hypotheses. The flexibility of analytic approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyze the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in hypothesis test results, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of their analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Importantly, meta-analytic approaches that aggregated information across teams yielded significant consensus in activated regions across teams. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset. Our findings show that analytic flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and demonstrate factors related to variability in fMRI. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed.

Available evidence from separate lines of event-related potential (ERP) research has highlighted the role of expectations and emotion regulation on emotional processing by revealing that (i) expectations can alter emotional responses, and (ii) the instructed use of emotion regulation strategies may modulate emotional responses. Yet, little is known about the interplay between expectations and habitual emotion regulation strategies prior to and at the onset of an emotional event. The present study aimed to investigate this potential relationship. Participants completed an affective-cueing task consisting of cues (red squares and blue circles) signaling the likely valence of upcoming target images (negative or neutral). This task allowed us to examine the impact of expectations at 2 temporal stages, Cue Interval and Target Interval, by measuring the late positive potential (LPP) as an index of emotional processing. Habitual use of emotion regulation strategies was assessed through the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), which measures the use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in everyday life. In the Cue Interval, LPP amplitude was greater for negative versus neutral cues (p < .001). In the Target Interval, LPP amplitude was greater for negatively cued versus neutrally cued targets, regardless of target valence (p = .003). ERQ reappraisal, but not suppression, negatively correlated with LPP modulation as a function of cue valence during both intervals (ps < .05). These findings provide novel insights regarding the interplay between expectations and habitual emotion regulation in emotional processing both prior to and at the onset of an emotional event. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mind wandering (MW) has been recently investigated in many studies. It has been suggested that, during MW, processing of perceptual stimuli is attenuated in favor of internal thoughts, a phenomenon referred to as perceptual decoupling. Perceptual decoupling has been investigated in ERP studies, which have used relatively simple perceptual stimuli, yet it remains unclear if MW can impact the perceptual processing of complex stimuli with real-world relevance. Here, we investigated the impact of MW on behavioral and neural responses to faces. Thirty-six participants completed a novel sustained attention to response task with faces. They were asked to respond to upright faces (nontargets) and withhold responses to inverted faces (targets) and to report intermittently if they were "On task" or "Off task." Behavioral analyses revealed greater intraindividual coefficient of variation for nontarget faces preceding Off task versus On task. ERP analyses focused primarily on the N170 component associated with face processing but also included the P1 and P3 components. The results revealed attenuated amplitudes to nontarget faces preceding Off task versus On task for the N170, but not for the P3 or P1. These findings suggest decoupled visual processing of faces during MW, which has implications for social neuroscience research.

Positive social sharing is an interpersonal emotion regulation strategy that enhances positive affect and social belonging, particularly when met with positive social feedback. Despite the ubiquity of positive social sharing both in person and online, what drives this behavior is not well understood. We hypothesized that positive social feedback serves as a reward that reinforces sharing behavior and strengthens social bonds. Participants made trial-by-trial choices about whether to share social media photos with peers who returned positive (“likes”) or negative (“dislikes”) feedback. Unbeknownst to participants, peer conditions were manipulated to yield varying amounts of positive and negative feedback. Social bonding was subsequently measured using a trust game and subjective closeness ratings. Participants shared more with peers who provided greater rates of positive feedback. This effect generalized to trust decisions and subjective feelings of closeness and varied individually as a function of interpersonal emotion regulation in daily life.