Impact of regular meditation practice on EEG activity at rest and during evoked negative emotions.

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine how long-term meditation practice is manifested in EEG activity under conditions of non-emotional arousal (eyes-closed and eyes-open periods, viewing emotionally neutral movie clip) and while experiencing experimentally induced negative emotions (viewing aversive movie clip). The 62-channel EEG was recorded in age-matched control individuals (n=25) and Sahaja Yoga meditators (SYM, n=25). Findings from the non-emotional continuum show that at the lowest level of arousal (eyes closed) SYM manifested larger power values in theta-1 (4-6 Hz), theta-2 (6-8 Hz) and alpha-1 (8-10 Hz) frequency bands.

Associations of alexithymia with anterior and posterior activation asymmetries during evoked emotions: EEG evidence of right hemisphere "electrocortical effort".

The objective of the study was to examine alexithymia influence on regional cortical activity in nonpatient individuals during evoked emotions. The 62-channels EEG was recorded in non-alexithymic (n = 27) and alexithymic (n = 17) participants viewing emotional film clips. Effects of alexithymia were found in the upper theta, low and upper alpha frequency bands; in all the bands the alexithymics exhibited greater reactivity of the right hemisphere, suggesting enhanced avoidance motivational tendencies, negative affect, and autonomic arousal.

Trait anxiety impact on posterior activation asymmetries at rest and during evoked negative emotions: EEG investigation.

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine how high trait anxiety would influence cortical EEG asymmetries under non-emotional conditions and while experiencing negative emotions. The 62-channel EEG was recorded in control (n=21) and high anxiety (HA, n=18) non-patient individuals. Results showed that in HA subjects, the lowest level of arousal (eyes closed) was associated with stronger right-sided parieto-temporal theta-1 (4-6 Hz) and beta-1 (12-18 Hz) activity, whereas increased non-emotional arousal (eyes open, viewing neutral movie clip) was marked by persisting favored right hemisphere beta-1 activity.

Trait anxiety impact on the EEG theta band power changes during appraisal of threatening and pleasant visual stimuli.

The main objective of the present investigation was to examine whether trait anxiety construct would influence EEG event-related synchronization (ERS) of the theta power during viewing of visual threatening stimuli. The 62-channel EEG was recorded while low (LA, n= 18) and high (HA, n= 18) trait-anxious subjects viewed sequentially presented neutral, threatening and pleasant pictures. Between-group differences, related to stimulus emotionality, were linked to the test period of 0-1000 ms after stimulus onset.

Time-dependent cortical asymmetries induced by emotional arousal: EEG analysis of event-related synchronization and desynchronization in individually defined frequency bands.

Event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) in the individually defined theta, alpha-1, alpha-2 and alpha-3 frequency bands were measured in 20 healthy subjects in response to International Affective Picture System (IAPS) stimuli with low, moderate and high arousal (LA, MA and HA) content. The 62-channel EEG, skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate (HR) were simultaneously recorded while subjects viewed sequentially presented pictures and subjectively rated them after each presentation. In the theta band, both MA and HA vs.