Test-retest reliability of a smartphone-based approach-avoidance task: Effects of retest period, stimulus type, and demographics.

The approach-avoidance task (AAT) is an implicit task that measures people's behavioral tendencies to approach or avoid stimuli in the environment. In recent years, it has been used successfully to help explain a variety of health problems (e.g., addictions and phobias). Unfortunately, more recent AAT studies have failed to replicate earlier promising findings. One explanation for these replication failures could be that the AAT does not reliably measure approach-avoidance tendencies. Here, we first review existing literature on the reliability of various versions of the AAT. Next, we examine the AAT's reliability in a large and diverse sample (N = 1077; 248 of whom completed all sessions). Using a smartphone-based, mobile AAT, we measured participants' approach-avoidance tendencies eight times over a period of seven months (one measurement per month) in two distinct stimulus sets (happy/sad expressions and disgusting/neutral stimuli). The mobile AAT's split-half reliability was adequate for face stimuli (r = .85), but low for disgust stimuli (r = .72). Its test-retest reliability based on a single measurement was poor for either stimulus set (all ICC1s < .3). Its test-retest reliability based on the average of all eight measurements was moderately good for face stimuli (ICCk = .73), but low for disgust stimuli (ICCk = .5). Results suggest that single-measurement AATs could be influenced by unexplained temporal fluctuations of approach-avoidance tendencies. These fluctuations could be examined in future studies. Until then, this work suggests that future research using the AAT should rely on multiple rather than single measurements.

Revenge is sweet: Investigation of the effects of Approach-Motivated anger on the RewP in the motivated anger delay (MAD) paradigm.

Past research has found that neural activity associated with feedback processing is enhanced by positive approach-motivated states. However, no past work has examined how reward processing changes in the context of revenge. Using a novel aggression paradigm, we sought to explore the influence of approach-motivated anger on neural responses to feedback indicating the opportunity to seek revenge against an offending opponent by examining the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential indexing performance feedback. In Experiment 1, after receiving insulting feedback from an opponent, participants played a reaction time game with three trial types: revenge trials, aggravation trials, and no-consequence trials. Results revealed that RewP amplitudes were larger to revenge trial win feedback than no-consequence trial win feedback or revenge trial loss feedback. RewP amplitudes were larger to both aggravation trial win and loss feedback than on no-consequence trials. Experiment 2 examined the influence of approach-motivated anger during the acquisition of rewards on the RewP without the possibility of retribution from the offending individual. Participants played a reaction time game similar to Experiment 1, except instead of giving or receiving noise blasts, participants could win money from the insulter (revenge trials) or a neutral-party (e.g., bank). Results indicated that revenge wins elicited larger RewP amplitudes than bank wins. These results suggest that anger enhances revenge-related RewP amplitudes to obtaining revenge opportunities and further aggravation wins or losses. Anger appears to enhance the pleasurable feelings of revenge.

Negative affect varying in motivational intensity influences scope of memory.

Emotions influence cognitive processes involved in memory. While some research has suggested that cognitive scope is determined by affective valence, recent models of emotion-cognition interactions suggest that motivational intensity, rather than valence, influences these processes. The present research was designed to clarify how negative affects differing in motivational intensity impact memory for centrally or peripherally presented information. Experiments 1 & 2 found that, relative to a neutral condition, high intensity negative affect (anger) enhances memory for centrally presented information. Experiment 3 replicated this effect using another high intensity negative affect (threat). Experiment 4 extended this by finding that, relative to a neutral condition, low intensity negative affect (sadness) enhanced memory for peripherally presented information. Finally, in Experiment 5, the effects of sadness and threat on scope of memory were directly compared, finding that threat narrowed scope of memory, while sadness broadened scope of memory. Together, these results provide additional support for the motivational dimensional model of cognitive scope, in that high intensity emotions narrow cognitive scope, while low intensity emotions broaden cognitive scope.

Neural activity underlying motor-action preparation and cognitive narrowing in approach-motivated goal states.

High-approach-motivated (pre-goal) positive affect states encourage tenacious goal pursuit and narrow cognitive scope. As such, high approach-motivated states likely enhance the neural correlates of motor-action preparation to aid in goal acquisition. These neural correlates may also relate to the cognitive narrowing associated with high approach-motivated states. In the present study, we investigated motor-action preparation during pre-goal and post-goal states using an index of beta suppression over the motor cortex. The results revealed that beta suppression was greatest in pre-goal positive states, suggesting that higher levels of motor-action preparation occur during high approach-motivated positive states. Furthermore, beta and alpha suppression in the high approach-motivated positive states predicted greater cognitive narrowing. These results suggest that approach-motivated pre-goal states engage the neural substrates of motor-action preparation and cognitive narrowing. Individual differences in motor-action preparation relate to the degree of cognitive narrowing.

Transient tasks and enduring emotions: the impacts of affective content, task relevance, and picture duration on the sustained late positive potential.

The present experiments were designed to examine the influences of picture duration, task relevance, and affective content on neural measures of sustained engagement, as indexed by the late positive potential (LPP). Much prior work has shown that the event-related potential in and around the P3-here referred to as the early LPP-is modulated by affective content, nonaffective task relevance, and stimulus duration. However, later portions of the LPP (>1,000 ms) may represent either a return to baseline or a continued physiological process related to motivational engagement. In the present experiments, we tested whether modulation of the later LPP depends on varying motivational engagement using stimulus duration, affective content, and task relevance. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that stimulus duration modulates the sustained LPP (i.e., 1,000-2,000 ms) in response to affective, but not task-relevant, stimuli from a modified counting oddball task. The results of Experiment 2 revealed that the sustained increase in the LPP is sensitive to both emotional content and task relevance when the task requires sustained engagement with target stimuli (e.g., determining the duration of stimulus presentation). The impacts of emotional content and task relevance had additive effects on the later portion of the LPP. In sum, both emotional content and task relevance can result in a protracted increase in the later LPP. These data suggest that affective content automatically sustains engagement, whereas task relevance only prolongs engagement when it is necessary for task completion.

Affective motivational direction drives asymmetric frontal hemisphere activation.

Decades of research have shown that the left- and right-frontal cortical regions are asymmetrically involved in affective processing. Specifically, this past work has demonstrated that greater left-frontal activation is related to positive-approach, and greater right-frontal activation is related to negative-withdrawal. However, much of this past work confounded motivation and affective valence. The current experiment sought to illuminate whether frontal asymmetry is related to motivation or affective valence by examining frontal-lateralized late positive potentials (f-LPPs) and frontal cortical alpha power activation to approach-positive, approach-negative, and withdrawal-negative affects in the same participants. Results revealed that f-LPPs to approach-positive and approach-negative pictures were larger in left- (vs. right-) frontal regions, whereas f-LPPs to withdrawal-negative pictures did not differ between frontal regions. In addition, midline LPPs to approach-positive and approach-negative pictures related to greater left-frontal cortical activation. Together, these results suggest that greater relative left-frontal activation is associated with positive and negative approach-motivated states in the same participants. More broadly, these results are consistent with conceptual models that asymmetric hemisphere activation is related to motivational direction, rather than affective valence.

Greater weekly physical activity linked to left resting frontal alpha asymmetry in women: A study on gender differences in highly active young adults.

Physical activity, beneficial for physical and psychological health, may facilitate affective mechanisms of positive emotion and approach-motivation. Greater resting frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), an index of greater relative left than right frontal cortical activity, is a neural correlate of affective mechanisms possibly associated with active lifestyles. This study sought to amplify limited literature on the relationship between physical (in)activity, FAA, and gender differences. College students (n = 70) self-reported physical activity (Total PA) and sedentary activity (Total Sitting) via the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), followed by a resting electroencephalography session to record FAA. A Total PA × gender interaction (ß = 0.462, t = 3.163, p = 0.002) identified a positive relationship between Total PA and FAA in women (ß = 0.434, t = 2.221, p = 0.030) and a negative relationship for men (ß = -0.338, t = -2.300, p = 0.025). Total Sitting was positively linked to FAA (ß = 0.288, t = 2.228, p = 0.029; no gender effect). Results suggest affective mechanisms reflected by FAA (e.g., positive emotion, approach-motivation) are associated with physical activity for women, indicating a possible mechanism of the psychological benefits linked with physically active lifestyles. A positive relationship between sedentary behavior and greater left FAA may also reflect motivated mechanisms of behavior that aid in minimizing energy expenditure, particularly within the context of our highly active sample.

Asymmetrical hemisphere activation enhances global-local processing.

Decades of research focusing on the neurophysiological underpinnings related to global-local processing of hierarchical stimuli have associated global processing with the right hemisphere and local processing with the left hemisphere. The current experiment sought to expand this research by testing the causal contributions of hemisphere activation to global-local processing. To manipulate hemisphere activation, participants engaged in contralateral hand contractions. Then, EEG activity and attentional scope were measured. Right-hand contractions caused greater relative left-cortical activity than left-hand contractions. Participants were more narrowly focused after left-hemisphere activation than after right-hemisphere activation. Moreover, N1 amplitudes to local targets in the left hemisphere were larger after left-hemisphere activation than after right-hemisphere activation. Consistent with past research investigating hemispheric asymmetry and attentional scope, the current results suggest that manipulating left (right) hemisphere activity enhanced local (global) attentional processing.

The longest year ever: Emotions and time perception interact to predict how frequently individuals engage in COVID-19 avoidance behaviors.

Affective states alter the perception of how quickly time is passing. However, previous studies have not examined the independent and interactive effects of emotion and time perception on behavioral outcomes. The current study sought to better understand the relationships between affect, time perception, and reported engagement in COVID-19 pathogen avoidance behaviors (e.g., social distancing, wearing a mask) over 1 year. The study sample was comprised of American adults (n = 1,000) recruited using Prolific. The majority of participants in the final sample (50.1% male, 46.8% female, 3.1% nonbinary/other) identified as White/Caucasian (78.9%) or Black/African American (11.9%). The average age in the sample was 34.4 years (SD = 11.3). Consistent with study hypotheses, approach-motivated affective states (happiness) were associated with time flying, and avoidance-motivated affective states (nervous, lack of control) were associated with time dragging. Moderation analyses revealed that reports of greater avoidance-motivated affect and time dragging, and reports of greater approach-motivated affect and time flying interacted to predict more frequent engagement in pathogen avoidance behaviors. These results contribute to the existing literature describing the affective and behavioral effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by suggesting both approach- and avoidance-motivated affective states have important implications for engagement in pathogen avoidance behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Using Wearable Passive Sensing to Predict Binge Eating in Response to Negative Affect Among Individuals With Transdiagnostic Binge Eating: Protocol for an Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Binge eating (BE), characterized by eating a large amount of food accompanied by a sense of loss of control over eating, is a public health crisis. Negative affect is a well-established antecedent for BE. The affect regulation model of BE posits that elevated negative affect increases momentary risk for BE, as engaging in BE alleviates negative affect and reinforces the behavior. The eating disorder field's capacity to identify moments of elevated negative affect, and thus BE risk, has exclusively relied on ecological momentary assessment (EMA). EMA involves the completion of surveys in real time on one's smartphone to report behavioral, cognitive, and emotional symptoms throughout the day. Although EMA provides ecologically valid information, EMA surveys are often delivered only 5-6 times per day, involve self-report of affect intensity only, and are unable to assess affect-related physiological arousal. Wearable, psychophysiological sensors that measure markers of affect arousal including heart rate, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity may augment EMA surveys to improve accurate real-time prediction of BE. These sensors can objectively and continuously measure biomarkers of nervous system arousal that coincide with affect, thus allowing them to measure affective trajectories on a continuous timescale, detect changes in negative affect before the individual is consciously aware of them, and reduce user burden to improve data completeness. However, it is unknown whether sensor features can distinguish between positive and negative affect states, given that physiological arousal may occur during both negative and positive affect states. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study are (1) to test the hypothesis that sensor features will distinguish positive and negative affect states in individuals with BE with >60% accuracy and (2) test the hypothesis that a machine learning algorithm using sensor data and EMA-reported negative affect to predict the occurrence of BE will predict BE with greater accuracy than an algorithm using EMA-reported negative affect alone. METHODS: This study will recruit 30 individuals with BE who will wear Fitbit Sense 2 wristbands to passively measure heart rate and electrodermal activity and report affect and BE on EMA surveys for 4 weeks. Machine learning algorithms will be developed using sensor data to distinguish instances of high positive and high negative affect (aim 1) and to predict engagement in BE (aim 2). RESULTS: This project will be funded from November 2022 to October 2024. Recruitment efforts will be conducted from January 2023 through March 2024. Data collection is anticipated to be completed in May 2024. CONCLUSIONS: This study is anticipated to provide new insight into the relationship between negative affect and BE by integrating wearable sensor data to measure affective arousal. The findings from this study may set the stage for future development of more effective digital ecological momentary interventions for BE. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/47098.

The role of valence, arousal, stimulus type, and temporal paradigm in the effect of emotion on time perception: A meta-analysis.

Anecdotal experiences show that the human perception of time is subjective, and changes with one's emotional state. Over the past 25 years, increasing empirical evidence has demonstrated that emotions distort time perception and usually result in overestimation. Yet, some inconsistencies deserve clarification. Specifically, it remains controversial how valence (positive/negative), arousal (high/low), stimulus type (scenic picture/facial expression/word/sound), and temporal paradigm (reproduction/estimation/discrimination) modulate the effect of emotion on time perception. Thus, the current study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to quantify evidence for these moderators. After searching the Web of Science, SpiScholar, and Google Scholar, 95 effect sizes from 31 empirical studies were calculated using Hedges'g. The included studies involved 3,776 participants. The results a highlighted significant moderating effect of valence, arousal, stimulus type, and temporal paradigm. Specifically, negative valence tends to result in overestimation relative to positive valence; the increasing arousal leads to increasing temporal dilating; scenic picture, facial picture, and sound are more effective in inducing distortions than word; the overestimation can be better observed by discrimination and estimation paradigms relative to reproduction paradigms, and estimation paradigm is likely to be the most effective. These results suggest that the effect of emotion on time perception is influenced by valence, arousal, stimulus type, and temporal paradigm. These mitigating factors should be considered by scientists when studying time perception.

Feedback Related Negativity Amplitude is Greatest Following Deceptive Feedback in Autistic Adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if feedback related negativity (FRN) can capture instantaneous elevated emotional reactivity in autistic adolescents. A measurement of elevated reactivity could allow clinicians to better support autistic individuals without the need for self-reporting or verbal conveyance. The study investigated reactivity in 46 autistic adolescents (ages 12-21 years) completing the Affective Posner Task which utilizes deceptive feedback to elicit distress presented as frustration. The FRN event-related potential (ERP) served as an instantaneous quantitative neural measurement of emotional reactivity. We compared deceptive and distressing feedback to both truthful but distressing feedback and truthful and non-distressing feedback using the FRN, response times in the successive trial, and Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) reactivity scores. Results revealed that FRN values were most negative to deceptive feedback as compared to truthful non-distressing feedback. Furthermore, distressing feedback led to faster response times in the successive trial on average. Lastly, participants with higher EDI reactivity scores had more negative FRN values for non-distressing truthful feedback compared to participants with lower reactivity scores. The FRN amplitude showed changes based on both frustration and reactivity. The findings of this investigation support using the FRN to better understand emotion regulation processes for autistic adolescents in future work. Furthermore, the change in FRN based on reactivity suggests the possible need to subgroup autistic adolescents based on reactivity and adjust interventions accordingly.

Peers, play, and performance to build social salience in autistic youth: A multisite randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have significant impairment in social competence and reduced social salience. SENSE Theatre, a peer-mediated, theater-based intervention has demonstrated posttreatment gains in face memory and social communication. The multisite randomized clinical trial compared the Experimental (EXP; SENSE Theatre) to an Active Control Condition (ACC; Tackling Teenage Training, TTT) at pretest, posttest, and follow-up. It was hypothesized that the EXP group would demonstrate greater incidental face memory (IFM) and better social behavior (interaction with novel peers) and social functioning (social engagement in daily life) than the ACC group, and posttest IFM would mediate the treatment effect on follow-up social behavior and functioning. METHOD: Two hundred ninety participants were randomized to EXP (N = 144) or ACC (N = 146). Per protocol sample (≥ 7/10 sessions) resulted in 207 autistic children 10-16 years. Event-related potentials measured IFM. Naive examiners measured social behavior (Vocal Expressiveness, Quality of Rapport, Social Anxiety) and functioning (Social Communication). Structural equation modeling was used to assess treatment effects. RESULTS: SENSE Theatre participants showed significantly better IFM (b = .874, p = .039) at posttest, and significant indirect effects on follow-up Vocal Expressiveness a × b = .064, with 90% CI [.014, .118] and Quality of Rapport a × b = .032, with 90% CI [.002, .087] through posttest IFM. CONCLUSIONS: SENSE Theatre increases social salience as reflected by IFM, which in turn affected Vocal Expressiveness and Quality of Rapport. Results indicate that a neural mechanism supporting social cognition and driven by social salience is engaged by the treatment and has a generalized, indirect effect on clinically meaningful functional outcomes related to core symptoms of autism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Time flies when you're having approach-motivated fun: effects of motivational intensity on time perception.

Time flies when you're having fun, but what is it about pleasant experiences that makes time seem to go by faster? In the experiments reported here, we tested the proposal that approach motivation causes perceptual shortening of time during pleasant experiences. Relative to a neutral state or a positive state with low approach motivation (experiment 1), a positive state with high approach motivation shortened perceptions of time. Also, individual differences in approach motivation predicted shorter perceptions of time. In experiment 2, we manipulated approach motivation independently of the affective state and showed that increasing approach motivation caused time to be perceived as passing more quickly. In Experiment 3, we showed that positive approach motivation, as opposed to arousal, shortens perception of time by comparing a highly arousing positive state with a highly arousing negative state. Shortening of time perception in appetitive states may prolong approach-motivated behavior and increase the likelihood of acquiring appetitive objects or goals.

How Does Emotion Influence Time Perception? A Review of Evidence Linking Emotional Motivation and Time Processing.

Emotions have a strong influence on how we experience time passing. The body of research investigating the role of emotion on time perception has steadily increased in the past twenty years. Several affective mechanisms have been proposed to influence the passing of time. The current review focuses on how three dimensions of affect-valence, arousal, and motivation-are related to time perception. The valence-based model of time perception predicts that all positive affects hasten the perception of time and all negative affects slow the perception of time. Arousal is thought to intensify the effects of the influence of valence on time perception. In much of this past work, motivational direction has been confounded with valence, whereas motivational intensity has been confounded with arousal. Research investigating the role of motivation in time perception has found that approach-motivated positive and negative affects hasten the perception of time, but withdrawal-motivated affects slow the perception of time. Perceiving time passing quickly while experiencing approach-motivated states may provide significant advantages related to goal pursuit. In contrast, perceiving time passing slowly while experiencing withdrawal-motivated states may increase avoidance actions. Below, we review evidence supporting that approach motivation hastens the passing of time, whereas withdrawal motivation slows the passing of time. These results suggest that motivational direction, rather than affective valence and arousal, drive emotional changes in time perception.

Motivated for movement: Beta activation over the motor cortex resulting from intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.

Past work on motivation has primarily studied dichotomous distinctions of motivation (e.g., extrinsic or intrinsic). However, focusing on the overall motivational intensity may be better at accentuating the unique differences within and between varying motivators as it pertains to the impetus to act. Specifically, motivational intensity influences neural patterns of beta band frequency (13-30 Hz) as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) that enable motor-action preparation, a neural correlate of motivated movement. The primary aim of across three experiments was to investigate neural motor-action preparation to modified flanker tasks within achievement (Experiment 1), autonomous (Experiment 2), and extrinsic vs. intrinsic (Experiment 3) motivational contexts. Experiment 1 revealed greater motor-action preparation for challenging trial cues and did not differ in behavioral attentional and performance measures across both trial types. Experiment 2 revealed no significant difference in motor-action preparation, did not differ in behavioral attentional narrowing and had worse behavioral performance in high autonomy relative to low autonomy trials. Experiment 3 revealed greater motor-action preparation for challenging trial cues, did not differ in behavioral attentional narrowing and had a faster performance for reward trials relative to high autonomy trials. These findings suggest motivators of the same category (i.e., intrinsic) may differ in motivational strength, as suggested by a neurophysiological measure of immediate motivated movement planning.

Quantitative EEG Changes in Youth With ASD Following Brief Mindfulness Meditation Exercise.

Mindfulness has growing empirical support for improving emotion regulation in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Mindfulness is cultivated through meditation practices. Assessing the role of mindfulness in improving emotion regulation is challenging given the reliance on self-report tools. Electroencephalography (EEG) has successfully quantified neural responses to emotional arousal and meditation in other populations, making it ideal to objectively measure neural responses before and after mindfulness (MF) practice among individuals with ASD. We performed an EEG-based analysis during a resting state paradigm in 35 youth with ASD. Specifically, we developed a machine learning classifier and a feature and channel selection approach that separates resting states preceding (Pre-MF) and following (Post-MF) a mindfulness meditation exercise within participants. Across individuals, frontal and temporal channels were most informative. Total power in the beta band (16-30 Hz), Total power (4-30 Hz), relative power in alpha band (8-12 Hz) were the most informative EEG features. A classifier using a non-linear combination of selected EEG features from selected channel locations separated Pre-MF and Post-MF resting states with an average accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 80.76%, 78.24%, and 82.14% respectively. Finally, we validated that separation between Pre-MF and Post-MF is due to the MF prime rather than linear-temporal drift. This work underscores machine learning as a critical tool for separating distinct resting states within youth with ASD and will enable better classification of underlying neural responses following brief MF meditation.

Frontal Asymmetry in an approach-avoidance conflict paradigm.

The frontal cortex appears to be asymmetrically related to approach motivation, avoidance motivation, and motivational conflict. Much past work has investigated approach and avoidance motivation, but little work has investigated frontal asymmetry in the face of motivational conflict in part because of the inherent conflict between avoidance motivation and motivational conflict. The current study sought to disentangle the existing confound between avoidance motivation and motivational conflict. In the study, participants selected the likelihood of viewing negative (vs. positive) images for zero reward points (avoidance only condition), or negative (vs. positive) images for the chance to win reward points (approach-avoidance conflict conditions). Participants exhibited greater relative right frontal asymmetry while making percent likelihood selections in the approach-avoidance conflict conditions relative to the avoidance only conditions. Additionally, participants exhibited greater relative right frontal asymmetry while viewing disgust images during trials with the greatest approach-avoidance conflict relative to trials with the lowest approach-avoidance conflict. Together, these results suggest that motivational conflict, and not avoidance motivation, is associated with greater relative right frontal activity.

Motor Preparation and Execution for Performance Difficulty: Centroparietal Beta Activation during the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task as a Function of Motivation.

Debate exists as to the effects of anxiety in performance-based studies. However, no studies have examined the influence of motivation both in preparation of a motor movement and during movement performance. The present study measured beta activation in preparation for and during execution of the effort expenditure for rewards task (EEfRT), a button-pressing task consisting of easy and hard trials. Results indicated that motor preparation (i.e., reduced beta activation) was greater in preparation for hard trials than for easy trials. Additionally, motor preparation decreased (i.e., beta activation increased) over the course of hard trial execution. These results suggest that motor preparation is enhanced prior to more challenging tasks but that motor preparation declines as participants become closer to completing their goal in each challenging trial. These results provide insight into how beta activation facilitates effort expenditure for motor tasks varying in difficulty and motivation. The impact of these results on models of anxiety and performance is discussed.

Individual differences in motivation and impulsivity link resting frontal alpha asymmetry and motor beta activation.

Previous research has linked neural correlates with motivational traits and measures of impulsivity. However, few previous studies have investigated whether individual differences in motivation and impulsivity moderate the relationship between these disparate neural activity patterns. In a sample of 118 young adults, we used Electroencephalography (EEG) to examine whether behavioral activation and inhibition systems (BIS/BAS) and impulsivity facets (negative urgency, lack of perseverance), moderate the relationship between beta power and resting frontal alpha asymmetry. Regression analyses revealed a novel relationship between lesser beta power and greater left frontal alpha asymmetry (LFA). Moderation analyses suggest this relationship may strengthen as BIS/BAS levels increase, and trait impulsivity levels decrease from the mean. These results are among the first revealing a relationship between two widely investigated neural activity patterns of motivation and provide some indication individual differences moderate this relationship. The limitations of these findings and need for future research are discussed.