Effect of links between stimulus and outcome on the evaluation process: An event-related brain potential study

Abstract

A relatively unknown fact is that in Japan, “O” (circle) and “X” (cross) symbolize a “good” and “bad” sign respectively. From when Japanese began understanding symbols, and links between symbols and their meanings have been hyperexperienced in their everyday lives. This study explored whether neural processing of such links in the evaluation of events is characteristic. Two gambling tasks were conducted to investigate this issue by using feedback-related negativity (FRN)--an event-related potential (ERP) component that reflects whether the outcome is good or bad. In the symbol task, we associated “O”/“X” with Gain/Loss (congruent) and Loss/Gain (incongruent). In the graphic task, we used graphics that were neutral in meaning and associated a rhombus/hexagon with Gain/Loss (rhombus gain) and Loss/Gain (hexagon gain). The results showed that the FRN was elicited by "loss" feedback in both tasks and conditions. Moreover, in the congruent condition, the FRN was smaller than that in the other conditions. This suggests that the hyper-experienced link between the symbol and event has an effect on the evaluative processing of the outcome.