The heritability of frontal EEG asymmetry, a potential endophenotype for depression, was investigated using a large set of adolescent and young adult twins. Additionally, the relationship between polymorphisms within three serotonin genes, two receptor genes and one transporter gene, and frontal EEG asymmetry was also investigated. Using Falconer's estimate, frontal EEG asymmetry was shown to be more heritable at lateral compared to medial cites across nearly all reference montages, and greater in males compared to females. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), and investigating both additive (ACE) and non-additive (ADE) models of genetic heritability, males displayed consistently greater additive genetic contributions to heritability, with greater lateral contributions than medial ones. For female twins pairs, the additive genetic model data provided a mixed picture, with more consistent heritability estimates observed at medial sites, but with larger estimates shown at lateral channels. For non-additive genetic models, male twin pairs demonstrated exclusive non-additive contributions to heritability across channels within AVG and CZ referenced data, with metrics in the CSD and LM montages more mixed between additive and non-additive contributions. However, consistent with Falconer's estimates, lateral channels were nearly always estimated to be more heritable than medial channels regardless of gender. These models demonstrate some combination of additive and non-additive contributions to the heritability of frontal EEG asymmetry, with the CSD and AVG montages showing greater lateral compared to medial heritability and CZ and LM montages showing mixed contributions with additive heritability at lateral channels and non-additive primarily at medial channels. The complex interaction of gender and reference montage on the heritability estimates highlight the subtle yet important roles of age, gender, and recording methodology when investigating proposed endophenotypes. However, no association was found between the proposed polymorphisms in serotonin receptor 1a, 2a or serotonin transporter genes and frontal EEG asymmetry. Although the results support modest heritability of frontal EEG asymmetry, the proposed link to underlying serotonergic genetic markers remains an open question. Overall, these results indicate that frontal asymmetry may be a useful endophenotype for depressive risk with modest heritability, but is one that taps more environmental risk.

Infants prefer familiar adults (e.g. parents) to unfamiliar adults (e.g. strangers), but they also vary in which strangers they prefer. By 6-months, infants look longer at attractive than unattractive faces (e.g., Langlois et al., 1987); and by 12-months, infants show approach behaviors toward attractive strangers and withdrawal behaviors toward unattractive strangers (Langlois, Roggman, & Rieser-Danner, 1990). These preferences may be due to a mechanism referred to as cognitive averaging (e.g., Rubenstein, Kalakanis, & Langlois, 1999). Infants cognitively average face exemplars to form a face prototype. Infants likely perceive attractive faces as familiar because these faces are similar to the face prototype; and they likely perceive unattractive faces as especially novel because these face are dissimilar from the face prototype. Even young infants may be more motivated to approach attractive than unattractive faces but do not fully express this motivation due to limitations in locomotion and communication. I applied EEG asymmetry to study neural correlates of approach and withdrawal motivation in response to attractive and unattractive faces with 6- and 10-month-olds. More specifically, I measured EEG alpha power at mid-frontal regions while 39 infants viewed a series of attractive and unattractive faces. Left EEG asymmetry relates to approach motivation whereas right EEG asymmetry relates to withdrawal motivation. I predicted infants would show greater left EEG asymmetry (i.e., approach motivation) when viewing attractive faces than when viewing unattractive faces, and that 6-montholds would show even greater left asymmetry than 10-month-olds due to developmental differences in stranger wariness. Results supported the main hypothesis but not hypotheses regarding age. Infant EEG asymmetry was greater in response to attractive faces than unattractive faces suggesting that infants are more motivated to approach attractive people than unattractive people as early as 6-months. These results link visual preferences evident at 6-months to overt behaviors evident by 12-months providing additional information regarding rudiments of attractiveness stereotypes. Furthermore, this investigation supports the use of EEG asymmetry methodology to measure infant approach/withdrawal motivation, providing infant researchers one more tool to better understand how infants evaluate novel individuals in their social environment as they decide whom to approach and whom to avoid. / text

This study examined the moderating role of motivational tendencies for social approach and avoidance behavior, as measured by anterior EEG asymmetry, on symptom expression. In particular, this study aimed to replicate and extend previous findings that measures of anterior EEG asymmetry provide an important marker of subgroups of HFA children that significantly differ from each other, and controls, on measures of social communication impairment. EEG data were collected across two occasions on 51 HFA and 44 non-HFA children. EEG asymmetry was computed for homologous electrode pairs (e.g., lnF4-lnF3). More positive scores were indicative of relative left frontal asymmetry. Data on social and behavioral functioning were collected via parent- and self-report. Results of this short-term longitudinal study revealed moderate test-retest reliability for midfrontal asymmetry, r (65) = .39, p < .01. Results supported previous research demonstrating the differential relation of EEG asymmetry to symptom impairment among HFA children, such that parents of LFA-HFA children reported lower levels of impairment than RFA-HFA children on the SCQ Total Score, F (3, 47) = 3.58, p = .065, and Social Interaction Domain, F (3, 47) = 4.59, p < .05. Results also indicated that parents of LFA-HFA children reported higher levels of general communicative competence on the CCC-2, GCC, F (3, 47) = 6.83, p = .01, but greater impairment in pragmatic communication when compared to RFA-HFA children, SIDC, F (3, 47) = 4.41, p < .05. Additional analyses indicated that RFA was associated with early and more confident recognition of atypical (and stereotypically autistic) development based on retrospective parent-report (ADI-R #86), while LFA was associated with early, but less unambiguously autistic impairment, X2 (51) = 3.75, p = .05. This study demonstrates that anterior EEG asymmetry subgroups are reliable and useful markers of phenotypic variability that are meaningfully related to the experience and expression of symptoms of core autism impairment.

Relationship conflict puts individuals at risk for emotional distress and physical illness. Although many studies in the field have focused on examining cardiovascular, endocrine, and immunological changes associated with relationship conflict, the role of central nervous system processes in relationship functioning remains vastly underexplored. The present study examined frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetry during discussions of disagreements in romantic partners. Asymmetrical brain activity over the frontal cortex has been conceptualized in the literature as both a trait and state indicator of approach and withdrawal behaviors, with relatively greater left than right frontal activity corresponding to approach behaviors and relatively less left than right frontal activity corresponding to withdrawal behaviors. It was hypothesized that during discussions of disagreements in romantic partners, relatively greater left than right frontal activity would be associated with approach of discussion whereas relatively less left than right frontal EEG asymmetry would be associated with avoidance of discussion. It was also hypothesized that partners would engage in higher level of approach behaviors and exhibit relatively greater left than right frontal activity during discussion of the issue in the relationship that they chose to discuss relative to the issue chosen by their partner. Fifty heterosexual college couples in romantic relationships for at least two months came to the laboratory for a 2.5-hour experimental session, during which self-reported measures were administered, EEG activity was recorded continuously from both partners, and interactions were video-recorded. Participants were asked to engage in 2 discussions of topics on which they disagreed, in counterbalanced order, and each partner was given an opportunity to select an issue to be discussed (Her Issue vs. His Issue). After each discussion, participants were asked to watch a video-recording of their discussions and rate themselves continuously, using a computer mouse, on how much they approached and avoided the discussion. After excluding left-handed participants and data unusable due to equipment failure, data from 25 couples were analyzed. Consistent with the study hypothesis, during discussion of Her Issue, in female partners, greater self-reported rating of approach of discussion was associated with relatively greater left than right frontal activity at F4-F3 and F2-F1 EEG leads. However, there was no significant association between rating of approach of discussion and frontal EEG asymmetry at any of the sites in males during Her Issue, and no effects of rating of approach of discussion on frontal EEG asymmetry at any of the sites during His Issue in either males or females. Consistent with the study hypothesis, both female and male participants evidenced greater rating of approach of discussion during the issue they chose to discuss relative to their partners' issue. Additionally, consistent with the study prediction, males evidenced relatively greater left than right frontal activity measured by the overall asymmetry across 4 regions as well as at F6-F5, F4-F3, and F2-F1 during His Issue relative to Her Issue, and females exhibited greater relative left frontal activity at F8-F7 during Her Issue relative to His Issue. However, there were no significant differences in level of frontal EEG asymmetry measured at other EEG sites. There was a significant positive association between own approach of discussion, as derived from a self-report measure of Demand-Withdraw, and relatively greater left than right frontal activity at F8-F7, F6-F5, and F4-F3 during Her Issue but not His Issue. The current study provided partial support for the association between approach and withdrawal interactions and frontal EEG asymmetry during discussions of disagreements in romantic partners. Future studies should establish whether patterns of changes in frontal EEG activity associated with these interactions have an effect on relationship quality and satisfaction, partners' ability to resolve disagreements, and partners' psychological and physical health.

No description available.

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) involves changing one’s mental states in response to an emotionally eliciting event in order to down regulate the potential emotional impact. In this study, 50 children who were 9-10 years old were instructed to engage in CR during a sad film. Children were then exposed to a disappointing situation and asked to self-report on their CR after the disappointment task. As hypothesized, there was variability in level of CR use during the disappointment task. Contrary to hypothesis, children’s CR was not related to parent CR. Nor was the association between parent CR and child CR moderated by child baseline frontal EEG asymmetry, as hypothesized. Post-hoc analyses revealed that parent CR moderated the association between child baseline frontal EEG asymmetry and task-related frontal EEG asymmetry, such that children presenting with left frontal asymmetry at baseline and who had parents with higher CR showed left frontal asymmetry during the disappointment task. This was conceptualized as physiological regulation during an emotion event. Post-hoc analyses also revealed that children’s CR after the disappointment task was predicted by task-related frontal EEG asymmetry, as well as self-reports of ER strategies. I conclude that task-specific CR can be assessed in preadolescents but that much research is needed to determine the correlates of child use of CR during emotional situations. / M.S. / Changing the way one thinks of an emotional event is considered highly adaptive, this strategy is referred to as cognitive reappraisal (CR). 50 children between the ages of 9 and 10 and their parents participated in this study. Children were asked to engage in CR while watching a sad film. Then, they were exposed to a disappointing event. After the disappointment, children were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire which gathered information on their CR during the disappointment task. Parents also completed an adult version of this questionnaire. Children’s responses were varied, but their CR was not related to their parent’s CR. Children’s brain activity was also not related to either parent’s nor children’s CR. Parent’s own CR was linked to children’s brain activity during rest and during the disappointment task, making brain activity more extreme for children with greater activation in the frontal left hemisphere of the brain during rest, the area involved with greater regulation. Additionally, children’s CR was predicted by their self-reported emotion regulation and their brain activity during the disappointment task. Our results indicate that wen parents are capable of changing the way they think about an emotional event, using CR, their children are benefitting in ways that are not easily observable, such as through brain activity.

Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry has been hypothesized to be a biological marker of clinical depression but may reflect an endophenotype specific to women. Frontal EEG asymmetry was assessed in individuals (22% male) with (n = 12) and without (n = 21) a DSM-IV diagnosis of lifetime Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or Dysthmic Disorder on 4 occasions within a two-week period. Depressed women exhibited greater relative right frontal activity at rest than never-depressed women across occasions. In contrast, depressed men displayed greater relative left frontal activity than never-depressed men. The same participants engaged in a Passive Viewing Face task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The present study did not replicate previous findings which show a hyperactive hemodynamic response in the amygdalae among depressed individuals. Mixed linear models indicated a lifetime depression by biological sex by amygdala activation interaction. For never-depressed control participants, frontal asymmetry is unrelated to the level of emotion-related amygdalae activation, but for lifetime depression spectrum participants, in both men and women, relatively greater amygdalae activation to emotional faces is associated with less left frontal activity as compared to those with less amygdalae activation to emotional faces. Also, when activation to emotionally expressive faces was closer to the levels of activation observed in the neutral face condition, the predicted pattern of association between frontal EEG asymmetry and depression based on the above findings was disrupted in men, but preserved in women. When levels of activation to emotion faces was considerably lower than that to neutral faces, the pattern was generally preserved for men, but not for women. Preliminary tests were also conducted in an attempt to replicate previous reports that document a positive correlation between the risk allele of the serotonin transporter gene and amygdalae activation. The present study failed to replicate this pattern, perhaps on account of the relatively small sample size available when non-Caucasian participants were excluded from the analysis.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a severe dysphoric form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) that is included as a diagnosis for further study in the DSM-IV (APA, 2000). A primary aim of the present study was to characterize the co-occurrence of PMDD and major depression, in a sample that spans the entire range of depressive severity. The range included non-depressed controls, women meeting criteria for dysthymia, and women meeting criteria for current Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Co-occurrence of MDD and PMDD were only statistically significant when considering Lifetime MDD. Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry has been hypothesized to tap a diathesis toward depression or other emotion-related psychopathology. Another primary aim was to assess Frontal EEG asymmetry in college women who meet criteria for Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (n = 25) and 25 matched controls. Participants were assessed four times in a two week period. Women reporting low premenstrual dysphoric symptomatology exhibited greater relative left frontal activity at rest than did women high in premenstrual dysphoric symptomatology. These results are consistent with a diathesis-stress model for premenstrual dysphoric symptomatology. A secondary aim was to assess whether individuals with PMDD or menstrual related mood variability, but no current diagnosis of depression, have an increased family history of depression. Promising evidence of a relationship between family history of MDD and a likelihood of PMDD was discovered. A trend was found for Spectrum PMDD women: a higher rate of Family History of MDD (36%) than non PMDD women (19.6%). Ideally, resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry could help us learn more about the etiology of depression and hormonal-related depression specifically, and test whether they may share etiological factors.

No description available.

The opponent process theory of emotion [Solomon, R.L., and Corbit, J.D. (1974). An opponent-process theory of motivation: I. Temporal dynamics of affect. Psychological Review, 81, 119-143.] predicts a temporary reversal of emotional valence during the recovery from emotional stimulation. We hypothesized that this affective contrast would be apparent in asymmetrical activity patterns in the frontal lobes, and would be more apparent for left frontally active individuals. The present study tested this prediction by examining EEG asymmetries during and after blocked presentations of aversive pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). 12 neutral images, 12 aversive images, and 24 neutral images were presented in blocks. Participants who were right frontally active at baseline did not show changes in EEG asymmetry while viewing aversive slides or after cessation. Participants left frontally active at baseline, however, exhibited greater relative left frontal activity after aversive stimulation than before stimulation. Asymmetrical activity patterns in the frontal lobes may relate to affect regulatory processes, including contrasting opponent after-reactions to aversive stimuli.