Embarrassment differs in embarrassability and affects behavioral inhibitory control: an ERP study
摘要
This study investigated cognitive neural processing of embarrassing information at varying levels of embarrassment intensities among individuals with different embarrassability degrees. Participants included 41 individuals (21 high-embarrassability, 20 low-embarrassability). In a two-choice emotional oddball task, participants were required to distinguish a standard stimulus (one neutral sentence) and three deviant stimuli corresponding to low-, medium-, and high-intensity embarrassment, respectively. Compared to the standard, deviant stimuli were associated with lower accuracy and longer response times (RT). The deviant low-intensity-embarrassment stimulus had the highest accuracy costs and RT costs. In terms of event-related potential (ERPs), deviant stimuli elicited higher late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes than standard stimuli, with the high-intensity embarrassment stimulus eliciting the highest LPC amplitude. The highest N2 amplitude was elicited by the standard stimulus, while in deviant stimuli responses, higher N2 amplitudes was elicited by low- and medium-intensity embarrassment. Embarrassing stimuli evoked higher LPC amplitudes among low-embarrassability individuals. Overall, compared to individuals with high-embarrassability, those with low-embarrassability process embarrassment more elaboratively at later stages. Embarrassment at low intensity in particular impairs behavioral inhibitory control, and high embarrassment intensity demands fewer resources in early conflict detection and more complex processing at later stages.