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The Relationship of Cortical Activity and Personality in a Reinforced Go-Nogo Paradigm

Published Online:January 01, 2005https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001.26.2.86

Abstract

Abstract. The reinforcement sensitivity theory proposes two biological systems for the regulation of emotion, motivation, and personality: the behavioral activation system (BAS), which responds to stimuli related to positive and negative reinforcement, and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which responds to conditioned stimuli of punishment and nonreward. Recent findings provided evidence for increased bilateral frontal cortical trait activity in high BAS subjects. We hypothesized that increased bilateral frontal cortical state activity might be found in high BAS subjects in response to stimuli related to positive and negative reinforcement. The cortical reaction of 38 subjects to a reinforced Go-Nogo task was analyzed. A trial consisted of three subsequent stimuli: a cue stimulus (indicating positive, negative, or no reinforcement), an imperative stimulus (Go or Nogo/Inhibition), and a feedback stimulus (success/failure). Alpha power was extracted as a measure of cortical activity. In addition, BAS and BIS were measured using questionnaires. There was an increased cortical activity in response to the cues for reinforcement. High BAS subjects showed an even higher bilateral frontal cortical activity in response to the cues for positive and negative reinforcement as compared to neutral trials. This finding further corroborates a relation of bilateral frontal cortical activity and the BAS, which has now been demonstrated for cortical trait and state activity.

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