Draft:Late Positive Potential

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Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Kbwofford (talk) 18:26, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method that records electrical activity from the scalp. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide visible evidence of the brain's electrical activity in response to an event. The Late Positive Potential (LPP) is an ERP component produced in response to emotional information. It is considered an indicator of sustained attention and emotion processing. The LPP is larger for valenced stimuli (that is, images or words rated as pleasant and unpleasant) in comparison to neutral stimuli, but presentation may vary by valence. The LPP appears as a positive-going change in the height or amplitude of the EEG signal, typically measured in microvolts. The signal begins around 400ms after the stimulus is presented but can continue over several seconds. The LPP is usually largest over the central and parietal regions of the scalp. Researchers use the LPP to study how emotionally significant a stimulus is, how it relates to the self, and how people regulate their emotions.^[1]

The LPP was initially described as the late positive complex, a large positive wave observed in the ERP in response to emotional stimuli. Presentation of the LPP exists regardless of how often those stimuli appear, or how common or rare those stimuli were within the task.^[2][3][4] Similar effects were later observed when participants viewed emotional images,^[5] faces,^[6] gestures, and words.^[7] The LPP is a statistically reliable measure of emotion processing and regulation^[8] and exhibits good test-retest reliability. LPP amplitudes appear stable across studies that examine participants over multiple occasions, whether researchers analyze the raw amplitudes of the waveform or compute difference scores between emotional and neutral conditions. Amplitudes of the LPP are largest in parietal regions, which indicates sustained processing of sensory information. Presentation location may vary depending on how important the information is to the person viewing it.^[9] Early studies noted a significant difference in cortical response to stimuli with emotional relevance or significance to participants. Findings have been mixed regarding whether individuals with psychopathic traits exhibit increased or decreased emotion processing compared to healthy controls.^[10] Generally, amplitudes were smaller in clinical populations viewing unpleasant information compared to healthy controls, with no difference noted for pleasant or neutral information.

An influential account of the LPP is based on the motivated attention theory.^[11] This theory states that evolutionarily, we are more likely to focus on emotionally important information. For example, pleasant social cues may signal opportunities for reward, whereas threatening stimuli, such as dangerous animals, may signal potential harm. Based on this theory, the LPP is often expected to be larger for unpleasant information than for pleasant information. This is because detecting potential threats may be more critical for survival than identifying rewarding situations. The LPP is also used to study emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal, during which individuals purposefully reinterpret a situation to change its emotional impact. Successful reappraisal of a situation leads to smaller LPP amplitudes.

The field also acknowledges contradictory viewpoints that view the LPP as a measure of stimulus significance, not just motivation^[4].^[12] A common viewpoint is that the stimuli are significant because they are new to the individual. The individual must update their understanding of the situation over time, a process sometimes referred to as context updating. The LPP is often related to the P300 as it exists in a similar time window after stimulus presentation and in a similar space on the head. This debate has created many viewpoints, but ultimately, the LPP is thought of as a separate component. While they both measure the significance of a stimulus, the presence of the LPP is most common for valenced information, whereas the P300 is a reaction to novel information. The LPP is shown even when the participant looks at the stimuli without completing a task. Passive viewing is different from the traditional oddball task, during which participants are asked to spot the rare stimuli among frequent stimuli. While the LPP can exist in an emotional oddball, it is not limited to this type of task.^[13]

Because perceptions of what is pleasant or unpleasant can vary across individuals, the size and pattern of LPP responses may also differ between people. Generally, stimuli that are high in intensity of feeling, or arousal, are known to produce similar responses across individuals. This pattern, sometimes described as a negativity bias (increased attention to negative information), is consistent with the idea that humans are highly attuned to potential threats.^[14] This provides support for the motivated attention theory that humans are highly focused on spotting threats.^[15] This negativity bias may also result in decreased processing of pleasant information, shown by decreased LPP. Evidence of a positivity bias is less present in the LPP literature, but is beginning to evolve with non-clinical samples like college students. In these cases, the LPP is larger in response to pleasant information.

As the LPP is used as a metric of emotion regulation, it also exists in development as a measure of children's ability to reappraise or reframe situations.^[16] The ability to reframe and regulate emotions is considered an important aspect of growing up and has been linked to a range of mental health difficulties. Around 8-12 years, children begin to engage in abstract thought and are able to reappraise situations and emotions. However, these effects are not limited to this age group. Evidence of reappraisal is found in 5–7-year-olds and even as young as 3 years old when the type of experiment is catered to the age group.

Research has been done to determine how the presentation of the LPP varies in people with psychopathology. As the LPP is an indicator of emotion processing, it is often used in clinical neuroscience to examine how mental health and illness relate to patterns of emotional processing and regulation^[4].

Individuals with clinical depression show increased processing of negative information, especially when that information is related to the self.^[17] Individuals with depression frequently report negative views of themselves and may be more likely to interpret unpleasant information as self-relevant^[17]. Because individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) often experience reduced responsiveness to emotional events and persistent low mood, they often show reduced LPP amplitudes to emotional stimuli compared to control participants. When depression co-occurs with anxiety, some studies have instead found increased LPP amplitudes to unpleasant stimuli^[10].

Because substance use disorders are associated with heightened attention to drug-related cues and craving, the LPP can be used as a measure of motivated attention and processing of drug-related images.^[18] Overall, the LPP to drug-related images was larger in those with substance abuse issues. The change in LPP was most pronounced among older adults, people currently using substances, and for stimulant-related images compared to depressant-related stimuli. Longer duration of substance use was associated with reduced LPP amplitudes to unpleasant non–drug-related stimuli in individuals with substance use disorders.