Patterns of regional brain activity differentiate types of anxiety.

Heller, Wendy; Nitschke, Jack B.; Etienne, Marci A.; Miller, Gregory A.

doi:10.1037/0021-843x.106.3.376

Cited by 408 publications

(426 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Statistically adjusting for fear in these regression analyses did not alter the size or significance of any of the reported effects. Moreover, the results of Heller et al (1997) suggest that individuals with anxious apprehension show decreased right frontal activity but not increased left frontal activity. In order for anxious apprehension to explain our results, HB should relate to anxious apprehension, decreased right frontal activity, and not increased left frontal activity.…”

Section: Individual Differences In Responses To Anger-inducing Situatmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Although some past research has supported the hypothesis that right parietal activity relates to emotional arousal, other research has not supported this hypothesis (e.g., Carretie, Mercado, & Tapia, 2000;Dawson, Panagiotides, Klinger, & Hill, 1992). 5 Because of research that suggests depression and anxiety are often highly correlated (e.g., Katon & Roy-Byrne, 1991) and research that suggests that anxious apprehension is associated with decreased right frontal activity (e.g., Heller, Nitschke, Etienne, & Miller, 1997), whereas anxious arousal is associated with increased right frontal activity (Nitschke et al, 1999), we examined the effects of HB and D on frontal asymmetry indices (and we examined left and right activity separately) while statistically controlling for baseline reported fear, a proxy of anxiety. Statistically adjusting for fear in these regression analyses did not alter the size or significance of any of the reported effects.…”

Section: Individual Differences In Responses To Anger-inducing Situatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Proneness to hypomania/mania symptoms or depression symptoms and asymmetrical frontal cortical responses to an anger-evoking event.

Harmon‐Jones

Abramson

Sigelman

et al. 2002

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

163

109

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The behavioral approach system (BAS) reflects the propensity to respond to signals of reward, including stimuli associated with safety and goal-oriented attack (e.g., anger). Hypomania/mania has been posited to involve increased BAS activity. In contrast, depression has been posited to involve decreased BAS activity. Building on past research, which suggests that increased left frontal cortical activity is a neurophysiological index of BAS activity, the present research tested the hypotheses that proneness toward hypomania/mania symptoms would be related to increased relative left frontal activity and that proneness toward depression symptoms would be related to decreased relative left frontal activity in response to an anger-evoking event. Results from 67 individuals who had completed a measure of proneness toward these affective symptoms and were exposed to an anger-evoking event supported the hypotheses.Prominent motivation theories share the assumption that two systems underlie much behavior. One system manages appetitive, incentive motivation and approach behavior. It has been called a behavioral activation system (Fowles, 1980(Fowles, , 1988, behavioral approach system (BAS; Gray, 1982Gray, , 1987Gray, , 1990Gray, , 1994aGray, , 1994b, and behavioral facilitation system (Depue & Collins, 1999;Depue & Iacono, 1989;Depue, Krauss, & Spoont, 1987). The other system, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), inhibits ongoing behavior (Gray, 1982(Gray, , 1987(Gray, , 1990(Gray, , 1994b).Gray 's (1982, 1987, 1994a, 1994b) theory has served as the basis for most of the other theories. Hence, we focus on it. Gray has posited that these fundamental motivation systems are present in the mammalian central nervous system and that each responds to separate classes of reinforcing events with particular types of behavior. Moreover, each is mediated by a separate set of interacting brain structures that process particular types of information. The BIS responds to conditioned stimuli associated with punishment, conditioned stimuli associated with the omission or termination of reward (frustrative nonreward), and novel stimuli. It causes the interruption of ongoing behavior, increases arousal, which prepares the organism for the next behavior, and increases attention toward stimuli, which would increase information gain. The neural structures posited to be involved in the BIS are the septohippocampal system (composed of the septal area, entorhinal cortex, dentate gyrus, hippocampus, and subicular area), the prefrontal cortex, and the monoaminergic pathways that ascend from the mesencephalon to innervate the septohippocampal system.The BAS is posited to respond to stimuli associated with reward and relieving nonpunishment (safety). It also responds to stimuli associated with skilled escape and predatory aggression. The neural structures involved in the BAS are the basal ganglia (the dorsal and ventral striatum, and dorsal and ventral pallidum), the dopaminergic fibers that ascend from the mesencephalon (substantia nigra and nu...

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Section: Individual Differences In Responses To Anger-inducing Situatmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Individual Differences In Responses To Anger-inducing Situatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proneness to hypomania/mania symptoms or depression symptoms and asymmetrical frontal cortical responses to an anger-evoking event.

Harmon‐Jones

Abramson

Sigelman

et al. 2002

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

163

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous work examining anxious apprehension (e.g., Carter, Johnson, & Borkovec, 1986;Heller et al, 1997;Tucker, Antes, Stenslie, & Barnhardt, 1978;Tyler & Tucker, 1982) has found a greater frontal asymmetry involving left hemispheric activity in anxious apprehension groups.…”

Section: Physiological Characteristics Of Worry and Gadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an evaluation of current anxiety research, Heller and her colleagues (Heller, Etienne, & Miller, 1995;Heller, Nitschke, Etienne, & Miller, 1997) suggested that part of the lack of clarity lies with the field's undifferentiated approach to anxiety that ignores differences in anxious arousal (panic) and anxious apprehension (worry). That is to say, studies exploring situations which increase arousal may result in differential cortical activation than those focused on worry or GAD.…”

Section: Physiological Characteristics Of Worry and Gadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

Borkovec¹,

Ray²,

Stöber³

1998

Cognitive Therapy and Research

661

192

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Research on worry during the past 15 years has revealed a remarkable amount of knowledge about this pervasive human phenomenon. Worry involves a predominance of verbal thought activity, functions as a type of cognitive avoidance, and inhibits emotional processing. Worry also produces not only anxious experience but depressive affect as well. Recent evidence suggests that the very private experience of worry is developmentally connected to enmeshed childhood relationships with the primary caregiver and is currently associated with significant interpersonal problems, especially those involving tendency to be overly nurturing to others. At the physiological level, worry is characterized peripherally by parasympathetic deficiency and autonomic rigidity and centrally by left-frontal activation.

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“…Alphawaves have been shown to be inversely correlated with brain activity [18] and a reduction in left hemisphere activity is associated with anxiety and depression. The physiological measure, FA, was chosen because it has been used as an objective measure of depression and anxiety; depressed and anxious individuals tend to exhibit greater relative right anterior EEG or negative asymmetry [19][20][21][22][23], FA can predict future development of anxiety and depression [24], and this asymmetry has been shown to be a moderately stable individual difference in adults, irrespective of sex and history of depression [25,26]. A psychological measure, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) self-assessment questionnaire, was chosen because it is a widely used means of determining mood state [27][28][29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light and smell stimulus protocol reduced negative frontal EEG asymmetry and improved mood

et al. 2017

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Light and smell have both been shown to induce beneficial changes to human psychophysiology. Bright light therapy has been shown to have a positive impact on anxiety and depression and smell has also been shown to have positive effects on mood, stress, anxiety and depression. We developed a method for the delivery of integrated light and smell stimulation to try to optimise positive psychophysiological benefit. We tested its effectiveness on a physiological measure, EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FA) and a psychological paradigm, the POMS test, both of which have been used as a measure of emotional state and mood. Light, pleasant smell, combined light+smell and a no stimulus control were delivered for 90s while the frontal alpha asymmetry (FA) was monitored. Smell and light+smell caused significant reductions in negative FA during stimulation. Exposure to a longer 15 min nonadaptive light+smell stimulus protocol reduced negative FA and decreased negative affect (POMS). The effects were greater in the negative FA group. Both the physiological (EEG) and psychometric (POMS) data indicate that integrated light and smell stimulation can reduce negative affect and reduce a marker for anxiety/ depression. This light+smell sensory stimulation protocol could offer a safe treatment for depression/anxiety.

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Patterns of regional brain activity differentiate types of anxiety.

Cited by 408 publications

References 65 publications

Proneness to hypomania/mania symptoms or depression symptoms and asymmetrical frontal cortical responses to an anger-evoking event.

Proneness to hypomania/mania symptoms or depression symptoms and asymmetrical frontal cortical responses to an anger-evoking event.

Untitled

Light and smell stimulus protocol reduced negative frontal EEG asymmetry and improved mood

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