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Brigham Young University

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Marriage

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Marital Satisfaction, Error-Observation, And The Brain: Harmful Or Beneficial Effects Of Spouse Observation?, Chelsea E. Romney, Michael Larson, Jonathan Sandberg, Patrick R. Steffen, Scott Baldwin Apr 2015

Marital Satisfaction, Error-Observation, And The Brain: Harmful Or Beneficial Effects Of Spouse Observation?, Chelsea E. Romney, Michael Larson, Jonathan Sandberg, Patrick R. Steffen, Scott Baldwin

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Introduction

Rewarding marital relationships are associated with many positive outcomes in one’s physical and mental health, including improved cardiovascular functioning, decreased depression risk, higher self-reported levels of happiness, and overall lower rates of mortality. The purpose of this study was to observe the differences in performance monitoring between males and females (while being observed by their spouses) using error-related brain activity (ERN). ERN is a response-locked, negative deflecting event-related potential (ERP) that occurs 50-100 milliseconds following an error. Heightened (i.e., more negative) ERN amplitude is associated with stressful or anxiety-provoking situations. Conversely, dampened ERN amplitude (i.e., less negative ERN) may …