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Brigham Young University
Marital relationship satisfaction is associated with both physical- and mental-health benefits. Recent research suggests support provided by a spouse (e.g., hand holding) during a fear-inducing task reduces heightened neural activity associated with fear and anxiety, while neural activity associated with error processing is heightened when a non-familiar observer is present. Our study aims to further our understanding of the role of a spouse’s observation of erroneous behaviors and marital satisfaction on neural functioning. We will collect data from 100 married couples whose brain waves will be recorded using electroencephalogram (EEG) while they are being observed completing a task designed to elicit errors. Error-related neural processes will be examined during three separate conditions: baseline (no observer); non-familiar observer; and spouse observer. We hypothesize that the presence of a spouse observer will reduce error-related neural activity beyond changes associated with a non-familiar observer. In addition, we feel the error-related neural activity associated with spouse observation will go along with the couples’ degree of marital relationship satisfaction. This study has important implications for our understanding of the role marital support and satisfaction plays in modulating neural activity during stressful, evaluative situations, as well as furthering our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying error-processing when faced with potential negative evaluation.