@article{RieplMusselOsinskyetal.2016,
  author    = {Riepl, Korbinian and Mussel, Patrick and Osinsky, Roman and Hewig, Johannes},
  title     = {Influences of State and Trait Affect on Behavior, Feedback-Related Negativity, and P3b in the Ultimatum Game},
  series = {PLoS One},
  volume    = {7},
  journal   = {PLoS One},
  number    = {11},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0146358},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-147386},
  pages     = {e0146358},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {The present study investigates how different emotions can alter social bargaining behavior. An important paradigm to study social bargaining is the Ultimatum Game. There, a proposer gets a pot of money and has to offer part of it to a responder. If the responder accepts, both players get the money as proposed by the proposer. If he rejects, none of the players gets anything. Rational choice models would predict that responders accept all offers above 0. However, evidence shows that responders typically reject a large proportion of all unfair offers. We analyzed participants' behavior when they played the Ultimatum Game as responders and simultaneously collected electroencephalogram data in order to quantify the feedback-related negativity and P3b components. We induced state affect (momentarily emotions unrelated to the task) via short movie clips and measured trait affect (longer-lasting emotional dispositions) via questionnaires. State happiness led to increased acceptance rates of very unfair offers. Regarding neurophysiology, we found that unfair offers elicited larger feedback-related negativity amplitudes than fair offers. Additionally, an interaction of state and trait affect occurred: high trait negative affect (subsuming a variety of aversive mood states) led to increased feedback-related negativity amplitudes when participants were in an angry mood, but not if they currently experienced fear or happiness. We discuss that increased rumination might be responsible for this result, which might not occur, however, when people experience happiness or fear. Apart from that, we found that fair offers elicited larger P3b components than unfair offers, which might reflect increased pleasure in response to fair offers. Moreover, high trait negative affect was associated with decreased P3b amplitudes, potentially reflecting decreased motivation to engage in activities. We discuss implications of our results in the light of theories and research on depression and anxiety.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MusselUlrichAllenetal.2016,
  author    = {Mussel, Patrick and Ulrich, Nathalie and Allen, John J. B. and Osinsky, Roman and Hewig, Johannes},
  title     = {Patterns of theta oscillation reflect the neural basis of individual differences in epistemic motivation},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  doi       = {10.1038/srep29245},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146957},
  pages     = {29245},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Theta oscillations in the EEG have been shown to reflect ongoing cognitive processes related to mental effort. Here, we show that the pattern of theta oscillation in response to varying cognitive demands reflects stable individual differences in the personality trait epistemic motivation: Individuals with high levels of epistemic motivation recruit relatively more cognitive resources in response to situations possessing high, compared to low, cognitive demand; individuals with low levels do not show such a specific response. Our results provide direct evidence for the theory of the construct need for cognition and add to our understanding of the neural processes underlying theta oscillations. More generally, we provide an explanation how individual differences in personality traits might be represented on a neural level.},
  language  = {en}
}