Time course of automatic emotion regulation during a facial Go/Nogo task

► We introduced an implicit emotional task in a cued Go/Nogo paradigm. ► Go-N2 responses to emotional faces were lower than those to neutral faces; Nogo-N2 did not vary with valence. ► P3 amplitudes in response to emotional faces were higher than those to neutral faces in both Go and Nogo trials. ► Go-N2 reflects top-down attention, while Nogo-P3 overlaps with automatic response inhibition. ► Go-N2 and Nogo-P3 can be used as electrophysiological indices of automatic emotion regulation. Neuroimaging research has determined that the neural correlates of automatic emotion regulation (AER) include the anterior cingulate cortex. However, the corresponding time course remains unknown. In the current study, we collected event-related potentials (ERPs) from 20 healthy volunteers during a judgment of the gender of emotional faces in a cued Go/Nogo task. The results indicate that Go-N2 amplitudes and latencies following positive and negative faces decreased more than those following neutral faces; Nogo-N2 amplitudes and latencies did not vary with valence. Moreover, positive and negative faces prompted higher P3 amplitudes and shorter P3 latencies than neutral faces in both Go and Nogo trials. These observations suggest that in the executive processes, Go-N2 reflects top-down attention toward emotions, while Go-P3 reflects only motivated attention; in the inhibitory processes, Nogo-N2 reflects cognitive conflict monitoring, while Nogo-P3 overlaps with the automatic response inhibition of emotions. These observations imply that AER can modulate early ERP components, and both Go-N2 and Nogo-P3 can be used as electrophysiological indices of AER.