Effects of Emotion on Auditory ERPs Are Independent of Manipulated Target Relevance

Emotional attention describes the prioritized processing of emotional information to help humans quickly detect biologically salient stimuli and initiate appropriate reactions. Humans can also voluntarily attend to specific stimulus features that are target-relevant. Electrophysiological studies have shown specific temporal interactions between voluntary and emotional attention, while no such studies exist for natural sounds (e.g., explosions, running water, applause). In two experiments (N = 40, each), we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) toward target relevant or irrelevant negative, neutral, or positive sounds. Target relevance was induced by the instruction to respond blockwise to either negative, neutral, or positive sounds. Emotional sounds elicited increased fronto-central N1 and P2 amplitudes and a larger late positive potential (LPP), with more sustained effects for negative sounds. Target relevance increased amplitudes during an early LPP interval (400-900 ms) but did not interact with the valence of the sounds. These results show early and late ERP modulations for natural sounds, which do not interact with the target relevance of the sound valence, in contrast to findings from the visual domain. Thus, findings indicate little temporal overlap between emotional processes and target relevance effects in the auditory domain.

Automated summary

Emotional attention prioritizes the processing of emotional information, helping humans quickly detect important stimuli and react appropriately. While there are studies on the temporal interactions between voluntary and emotional attention in the visual domain, this study investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) for natural sounds and found that emotional sounds elicited distinct ERP modulations, but target relevance did not interact with the valence of the sounds, suggesting little temporal overlap between emotional processes and target relevance effects in the auditory domain.