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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Oct 24.

Published in final edited form as: Brain Res. 2012 Sep 1;1481:13–36. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.08.045

Behavioral effects of conflict and emotion. Mean reaction time (RT) is plotted for cI fearful face trials (black) and cI neutral face trials (grey) in the HE task and the LE task (a). While cI neutral face trials were slower than cI fearful face trials in both tasks, a task (HE task, LE task) by face (cI fearful face, cI neutral face) interaction was driven by an improvement in RT for cI neutral face trials in the HE task compared to the LE task. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean (SEM). For each subject, mean RT for cI neutral face trials, LE task – mean RT for cI neutral face trials, HE task was plotted against trait anxiety score (b). High anxiety was negatively correlated with this behavioral measure, showing that lower anxiety is associated with greater RT improvement on cI neutral face trials in the HE task. Mean % accuracy for the cI neutral face trial in the HE task was plotted against trait anxiety score (c). High anxiety was negatively correlated with this behavioral measure as well, showing that lower anxiety is associated with higher accuracy on this trial type in the HE task. Correlations were partial correlations, controlling for task order and task version (see methods). HE = high expectancy task; LE = low expectancy task; cI = incongruent trial preceded by congruent trial.

Behavioral effects of conflict and emotion. Mean reaction time (RT) is plotted for cI fearful face trials (black) and cI neutral face trials (grey) in the HE task and the LE task (a). While cI neutral face trials were slower than cI fearful face trials in both tasks, a task (HE task, LE task) by face (cI fearful face, cI neutral face) interaction was driven by an improvement in RT for cI neutral face trials in the HE task compared to the LE task. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean (SEM). For each subject, mean RT for cI neutral face trials, LE task – mean RT for cI neutral face trials, HE task was plotted against trait anxiety score (b). High anxiety was negatively correlated with this behavioral measure, showing that lower anxiety is associated with greater RT improvement on cI neutral face trials in the HE task. Mean % accuracy for the cI neutral face trial in the HE task was plotted against trait anxiety score (c). High anxiety was negatively correlated with this behavioral measure as well, showing that lower anxiety is associated with higher accuracy on this trial type in the HE task. Correlations were partial correlations, controlling for task order and task version (see methods). HE = high expectancy task; LE = low expectancy task; cI = incongruent trial preceded by congruent trial.