Preliminary Investigation into the Neural Correlates of Intolerance of Uncertainty

Abstract

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic trait linked to anxiety and altered responses to unpredictable outcomes. This study examined how IU relates to neural dynamics of prediction and emotional processing using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants (N = 8) completed an auditory S1–S2 paradigm in which emotional facial cues predicted the valence of auditory chord outcomes under varying levels of certainty (100%, 75%, 50%). EEG recorded neural responses during outcome evaluation, focusing on early (100–800 ms) and late (600–1500 ms; P3/LPP) time windows. IU was measured using the IUS-12 item scale (Carleton et al., 2007).

Results showed no significant effects of predictive context or valence on P3/LPP amplitudes, suggesting stable late-stage processing across conditions. A nominal context-by-valence interaction emerged in the early time window (p=0.043) but was not robust after correction. IU was not significantly correlated with target ERP amplitudes, although inhibitory IU showed a moderate, non-significant positive association with LPP amplitude. Exploratory findings also indicated that auditory chords elicited valence-differentiated neural responses.

Overall, our findings suggest that late-stage evaluative processing may be relatively stable across uncertainty levels, while earlier processing and individual differences in IU may play a subtler role. Results are preliminary due to small sample size and potential timing issues, requiring replication in larger samples.