EEG Correlates of Anxiety and Emotional Stability in Adult Healthy Subjects

Abstract

We studied peculiarities of the spectral characteristics of EEG in 111 healthy adult subjects of both sexes. The levels of situative anxiety (anxiety state) and personal anxiety were estimated using the Spielberger-Khanin test system. To estimate anxiety-related properties of the personality, Cattel's technique 16 PF (form А) was used. Estimates of situative anxiety demonstrated only two cases of positive correlation with the spectral power density (SPD) of EEG rhythms (SPDs of the beta2 rhythm in the right-hemisphere temporal and occipital regions; recording with the eyes open). Estimates of personal anxiety positively correlated with the SPDs of the beta1 and (especially) beta2 EEG rhythms. Under conditions with the eyes open, the number of significant correlations was greater, and correlations themselves were tighter than with the eyes closed. The closest correlations of the estimates of personal anxiety with the SPDs of the beta rhythm were found in frontal and central leads of both hemispheres and in parietal and occipital loci of the right hemisphere. Only a single case of correlation of the alpha rhythm SPD with personal anxiety (negative correlation, a parietal lead in the left hemisphere) was found. At the same time, rather numerous correlations of the alpha rhythm expression with an index congeneric to anxiety, the C factor by the Cattel's questionnaire (emotional stability/instability), were found. Thus, the intense beta EEG rhythm can be considered an electrographic correlate of high situative and personal anxieties. At the same time, the alpha rhythm power correlates with the emotional stability of the individual. We suppose that persons with a well-developed alpha rhythm are characterized by active and stable functioning of the cerebral dopaminergic system; this simultaneously serves as a pre-requisite of high emotional stability and social adaptability.

Frontal cortex absolute beta power measurement in Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia patients

“…Our results are in agreement with previous studies that report a high absolute beta-power in PD patients (Sviderskaya et al, 2001;Gordeev, 2007;Pavlenko et al, 2009). The increase of beta activity has been associated with cortical activation (Bekisz and Wróbel, 1993;Gola et al, 2011).…”

A neurofeedback protocol to improve mild anxiety and sleep quality

“…From an endophenotypic perspective, alpha band (8-12 Hz) asymmetry in the left frontal cortex has emerged as the most prominent electroencephalographic (EEG) correlate of both anxiety and depression in right-handed people, followed by excessive band power in beta 1 (12-20 Hz) and beta 2 waves (20-30 Hz) in the right parietal lobe. 1 Shared features also extend to the genetic level, where the presence of copies of the short variation of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism increases the risk of both anxiety and depression.…”

Effect of preoperative anxiety on spectral entropy during induction with propofol

“…The EEG power density in each brain wave frequency is changeable according to the severity [4,6,14] and the type of anxiety [5,15]. There is a significant correlation between the raw EEG activity and the levels of anxiety in the non-anesthetized healthy patients [6,16].…”

“…According to a previous study [6], a Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) between STAI-trait anxiety scores and SE before the induction was assumed to be 0.3. Based on the analysis with IBM® SPSS® SamplePower® 3.0.1), the sample size of 81 subjects was calculated to obtain a power of 80% and an α of 0.05 for the Spearman correlation test.…”

“…Brain wave activities measured by electroencephalography are determined by various psychopathological conditions [3]. Even in healthy adults, anxiety status induces changes of brain wave patterns [4-6]. Therefore, spectral entropy values may be altered by the degree of anxiety.…”