Conflict can induce negative affect, which may enhance performance in subsequent tasks. Our recent behavirol study showed that the subjective experience of conflict improved performance not only in subsequent conflict (incongruent) trials but also in non-conflict (congruent) trials. However, it remains unclear how fluctuations in conflict-induced negative affect influence performance adjustments. In this electroencephalography (EEG) study, we investigated the influences of subjective experience and implicit regulation of conflict-induced negative affect on subsequent performance, by comparing two conditions: ‘Experience-do’ where participants simply experienced the Stroop stimulus, and ‘Experience-Rating-do’ where they rated their emotional response to the stimulus before responding. Thirty-eight participants performed a modified color-word Stroop task under these conditions. Behaviorally, both experiencing and rating conflict-induced negative affect improved subsequent performance across conflict and non-conflict trials. At the ERP level, the ‘Experience-R-do’ condition showed increased Late Positive Potential (LPP) and P1amplitudes in the preceding phase and decreased conflict slow potential (SP) in the current phase, suggesting lower control demands. In contrast, the ‘Experience-do’ condition showed increased LPP, P1, and conflict SP amplitudes in the current phase, reflecting heightened emotional and cognitive engagement. Notably, improvements in conflict adjustments were linked to distinct mechanisms: increased P1 and reduced conflict SP facilitated performance under the ‘Expereicen-R-do’ condition, while larger LPP was associated with gains in the ‘Experiecne-do’ condition. These findings shed light on the distinct mechanisms by which subjective experience and implicit regulation nof conflict-induced negative affect contribute to adaptive performance adjustments.

Motivation is considered a crucial factor in determining emotion regulation choice (ER choice). Our previous study revealed that increased motivation led to a preference for distraction over reappraisal due to the narrowed attention, yet neural underpinnings supporting this phenomenon remain unclear. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether motivation influences ER choice by early attention processing (P2) or late resource engagement (LPP). EEG activities were recorded for the pictorial contexts varying in motivational intensity and direction, while participants (N=68) were required to decide which strategy from the two options they would use to regulate their emotions. Consistent with previous studies, the results indicated that individuals chose more distraction over reappraisal in high-withdrawal motivated contexts while a reversed pattern was observed in low-withdrawal motivated contexts. Moreover, high-intensity motivated emotional contexts result in enhanced P2 and LPP. Further analysis indicates that only frontal P2 and the early LPP mediate the effect of motivational intensity on ER choice. These findings suggest that heightened motivation leads to a preference for distraction over reappraisal during emotion regulation due to the greater occupation of attentional resources.