Proactive and reactive response inhibition of individuals with high schizotypy viewing different facial expressions: An ERP study using an emotional stop-signal task

The present study aimed to examine whether impairments in reactive (outright stopping) and proactive (preparation for stopping) response inhibition are affected by negative emotions in individuals with high schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, as well as the neural mechanisms underlying these processes. Twenty-seven participants with high schizotypy and 28 matched low-schizotypy individuals completed an emotional stop-signal task in which they responded to facial emotions (neutral or angry) or inhibited their responses (when the frame of the picture turned red). Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were also recorded during the task. At the neural level, analysis of go trials revealed that viewing angry faces impaired proactive inhibition. In addition, the high-schizotypy group exhibited a greater P3 amplitude in go trials in the neutral condition than the low-schizotypy group; however, no group difference was found in the angry condition. For stop trials (reactive inhibition), a smaller P3 amplitude was found in the angry condition than in the neutral condition. Moreover, high-schizotypy individuals showed smaller P3 amplitudes than low-schizotypy individuals. The current findings suggest that, at the neural level, viewing negative emotions impaired both proactive and reactive response inhibition. Individuals with high schizotypy exhibited impairments in proactive response inhibition in the neutral condition but not in the angry condition; they exhibited impaired reactive response inhibition in both emotion conditions. The present findings deepen our understanding of emotional response inhibition in individuals on the schizophrenia spectrum.