Relations among EEG-alpha asymmetry, BIS/BAS, and dispositional Optimism.

Frontal asymmetrical activity has been involved in the experience and expression of emotions and motivations. Past research has been unable to address whether the activity in the frontal hemispheres is related to the direction of motivation (approach vs. withdrawal) or valence of emotion (positive vs. negative). The present study was an attempt to address this question by using a standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) that improves the localization of EEG activity sources in the brain and provides measures, which are independent of the recording reference. Resting brain electrical activity, self-report measures of Behavioral Activation and Inhibition System (BAS and BIS) strength, dispositional optimism and a measure of hedonic tone, were collected from 51 unselected undergraduates. Three measures of cortical activation were obtained: (a) alpha asymmetry at conventional scalp sites, (b) anterior and posterior source alpha asymmetries (sLoreta method), (c) posterior versus frontal delta and theta activity. Both alpha asymmetry measures (conventional EEG and sLORETA) yielded significant frontal and parietal asymmetry correlation patterns. Neither measure identified significant associations between resting posterior versus frontal delta and theta activity personality traits. Higher BAS was uniquely related to greater left-sided activation in the middle frontal gyrus (BA11). Optimism was associated with higher activations in the left-superior frontal gyrus (BA10) and in the right-posterior cingulate cortex (BA31). These findings confirm that frontal EEG asymmetry correlated with the propensity to engage in approach-related behavior, and showed that both left-frontal and right-posterior asymmetries are associated with dispositional optimism. These findings also provide anatomical details about the underlying brain systems.
Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.
PMID: 23735707