Abstract
Self-control is an individual’s ability to direct attention and action towards a specific goal while inhibiting other actions or impulses (Baumeister et al., 2007). Through the use of EEG the question of whether self-control is promoted by a more competitive personality can be addressed. In previous research the event related potential called the error related negativity (ERN) has been shown to appear in a greater magnitude in individuals performing a task that requires cognitive control, like a self-control task, when they make a mistake (Hajack et al. 2005). This is thought to occur because the amplitude of the ERN is associated with an individual’s response conflict when an error has been made. This study uses the ERN as a physiological indicator of task engagement and motivation, to investigate how neural responses to self-control failure can be mediated by competitive personality traits. Through the use of the Go/No-Go self-control task, both individually and jointly, it is possible to measure the ERN in response to self-control exertion. The task was explained to the participants as a game with three rounds and the option to earn points to win. This study originally hypothesized that a more competitive person would express a stronger ERN while performing a self-control task because of their drive to succeed over the other participant. In addition it was hypothesized that competitiveness would enhance \r accuracy of task performance due to an increased motivation and focus. However, we found that competitive individuals gain no advantage of performance on the task.