Interactive Effects of Emotional Valence and Perceived Control on Multiscale Prefrontal EEG Complexity

Abstract

Objective: Affective states are accompanied by dynamic changes in neural activity that may depend on both emotional context and perceived control. The present study examined whether emotional valence and perceived control interact in relation to multiscale prefrontal EEG complexity during naturalistic affective processing.

Methods: Using the publicly available DREAMER dataset, prefrontal EEG recordings (AF3/AF4) were analyzed during naturalistic viewing of emotional videos. Trial-level ratings of valence and perceived control (dominance) were obtained following each stimulus. Multiscale entropy (MSE) was computed from alpha-band EEG signals as an index of signal complexity. Linear mixed-effects models tested the effects of valence, within-subject fluctuations in perceived control, and their interaction on prefrontal entropy. Secondary scale-bin sensitivity analyses examined whether effects were consistent across fine, medium, coarse, and very coarse MSE ranges. Parallel analyses examined whether entropy effects were reducible to alpha-band power differences.

Results: There were no significant main effects of valence or perceived control on prefrontal entropy. However, a significant valence × perceived control interaction was observed, such that entropy more strongly differentiated positive and negative affective states under high perceived control, whereas this differentiation was attenuated under low perceived control. Scale-bin sensitivity analyses showed that the interaction remained significant across all MSE scale bins after FDR correction. In contrast, alpha-band power showed no corresponding effects, indicating that entropy effects were not explained by spectral power differences.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that perceived control and affective valence are dynamically coupled in predicting prefrontal alpha-band signal complexity during affective processing.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{creel2026interactive,
  title = {{Interactive Effects of Emotional Valence and Perceived Control on Multiscale Prefrontal EEG Complexity}},
  author = {William Tanner Creel and Julia S. Larratt and Rich Hartman},
  howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.31234/osf.io/tkmwy_v1},
  url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tkmwy_v1/},
  note = {CC0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Interactive Effects of Emotional Valence and Perceived Control on Multiscale Prefrontal EEG Complexity
AU  - William Tanner Creel
AU  - Julia S. Larratt
AU  - Rich Hartman
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/06
PB  - PsyArXiv
DO  - 10.31234/osf.io/tkmwy_v1
UR  - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tkmwy_v1/
AB  - Objective: Affective states are accompanied by dynamic changes in neural activity that may depend on both emotional context and perceived control. The present study examined whether emotional valence and perceived control interact in relation to multiscale prefrontal EEG complexity during naturalistic affective processing.  Methods: Using the publicly available DREAMER dataset, prefrontal EEG recordings (AF3/AF4) were analyzed during naturalistic viewing of emotional videos. Trial-level ratings of valence and perceived control (dominance) were obtained following each stimulus. Multiscale entropy (MSE) was computed from alpha-band EEG signals as an index of signal complexity. Linear mixed-effects models tested the effects of valence, within-subject fluctuations in perceived control, and their interaction on prefrontal entropy. Secondary scale-bin sensitivity analyses examined whether effects were consistent across fine, medium, coarse, and very coarse MSE ranges. Parallel analyses examined whether entropy effects were reducible to alpha-band power differences.  Results: There were no significant main effects of valence or perceived control on prefrontal entropy. However, a significant valence × perceived control interaction was observed, such that entropy more strongly differentiated positive and negative affective states under high perceived control, whereas this differentiation was attenuated under low perceived control. Scale-bin sensitivity analyses showed that the interaction remained significant across all MSE scale bins after FDR correction. In contrast, alpha-band power showed no corresponding effects, indicating that entropy effects were not explained by spectral power differences.  Conclusions: Findings suggest that perceived control and affective valence are dynamically coupled in predicting prefrontal alpha-band signal complexity during affective processing.
ER  -

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