Recent studies have accumulated evidences that merely reminding people of money could lead to
behavioral changes including alleviating both physical pain and social distress. However, the underlying
neural mechanism regarding such pain-buffering effect of money is not clear. In this paper, we
applied event-related potentials (ERP) to investigate the neural effect of money reminders on induced
negative emotions. Subjects were first primed of money images and subsequently viewing unpleasant
pictures, while EEG was recorded. Behavioral results suggested a reduced sensitivity to unpleasant pictures
after participants being reminded of money. ERP data showed that money priming, compared to
neutral priming, generated a larger N2 in frontal and posterior areas, reflecting an endogenous mental
conflict and the recruitment of attention resources, and a smaller late positive potential (LPP) in parietal
and occipital regions, indicating a regulating process of negative emotions. Additionally, how brain
responded to money and neutral stimuli were also examined, indexed by “N170-P2” complex. This study
provided additional neurophysiological evidences to support previous behavioral researches on money
priming and discussed the two separated neural dynamic stages involved in emotion regulation.