EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words.

Overview

Institutions: University of Trento (Italy); Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (Italy); Chulalongkorn University (Thailand); University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy)

Journal: Psychophysiology, volume 63, issue 5, article e70318

Dates: received 16 August 2025; accepted 8 May 2026; published online 18 May 2026; in print May 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1111/psyp.70318 · PMID 42149088 · PMCID PMC13182764 · OpenAlex W7161541631

Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only

Categories: EEG (modality), human (organism), cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Preprocessing, Evoked potentials, fMRI & imaging, Physiology & signal measures

Keywords: acceptance, emotion regulation, emotional words, event related potential, late positive potential, support vector machine

MeSH: Cerebral Cortex*, Electroencephalography*, Emotional Regulation*, Emotions*, Evoked Potentials*, Pattern Recognition, Visual*, Psycholinguistics*, Taboo*, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Support Vector Machine, Young Adult (* major topic)

Topic: Action Observation and Synchronization (Social Psychology, Psychology), according to OpenAlex

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 69 references in the paper

Abstract

Emotional meaning is often conveyed through language, and certain word categories, such as taboo words, can elicit strong affective responses that may require regulation. While taboo words are socially and psychologically salient, their neural processing remains to be fully explored. In this study, we investigated whether EEG signals can be used to predict neutral, negative, and taboo words, and whether this prediction is preserved under conditions of emotion regulation. Forty native Italian speakers viewed 240 words across these categories while EEG was recorded. Participants completed two conditions: a Look condition (passive observation) and an Accept condition (emotion regulation via acceptance). Using support vector machine (SVM) classifiers applied to event‐related potentials (ERPs), we found that word categories could be reliably decoded from the late positive potential (LPP) in central‐parietal‐occipital and anterior right regions between 450 and 850 ms. Notably, classification remained above chance but largely reduced even during the Accept condition, suggesting that word‐related affective information persists at the neural level despite the regulation effort. These findings advance our understanding of emotional language processing and highlight the utility of machine learning for decoding subtle neural representations.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

Datasets cited

osf:vfr72, at OSF; found in “Data Availability Statement”

Data Availability Statement

The preprocessed EEG data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository: https://osf.io/vfr72/?view_only=0085250ff7d44a1ea6ea73fad4f3d4a5.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

Publisher: n/a → Wiley

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 6 keywords, 14 MeSH terms, 65 references.

Cite

This paper

Ahmadi Ghomroudi, P., Scaltritti, M., Monachesi, B., Jalali, A., Wongupparaj, P., Job, R., & Grecucci, A. (2026). EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words. Psychophysiology, 63(5), e70318. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70318

BibTeX

@article{ahmadighomroudi2026eeg, author = {Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Parisa and Scaltritti, Michele and Monachesi, Bianca and Jalali, Atefeh and Wongupparaj, Peera and Job, Remo and Grecucci, Alessandro}, title = {{EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words}}, journal = {Psychophysiology}, year = {2026}, month = may, volume = {63}, number = {5}, pages = {e70318}, publisher = {Wiley}, issn = {0048-5772}, doi = {10.1111/psyp.70318}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70318}, pmid = {42149088}, pmcid = {PMC13182764} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Parisa AU - Scaltritti, Michele AU - Monachesi, Bianca AU - Jalali, Atefeh AU - Wongupparaj, Peera AU - Job, Remo AU - Grecucci, Alessandro TI - EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words T2 - Psychophysiology J2 - Psychophysiology PY - 2026 DA - 2026/05/01 VL - 63 IS - 5 SP - e70318 SN - 0048-5772 PB - Wiley DO - 10.1111/psyp.70318 UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70318 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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