The functional role of individual-alpha based frontal asymmetry in stress responding

C.W.E.M. Quaedflieg*, T. Meyer, F.T.Y. Smulders, T. Smeets

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Asymmetry in frontal electrical activity has been suggested to index tendencies in affective responding and thus may be associated with hormonal stress responses. To assess the functional role of frontal asymmetry (FA) in stress, we measured FA at rest and following exposure to acute stress induced with the Maastricht Acute Stress Task (MAST; N = 70) in the standard 8-13 Hz band as well as based on individual alpha frequency (IAF) band. IAF-based resting FA(F4-F3) was associated with the stress induced neuroendocrine response, such that left individual frontal activity predicted smaller total cortisol increases in response to the MAST. Like previous studies, we found resting left-sided FA(F8-F7) to predict trait behavioural activation measured with the BIS/BAS scales. FA remained unaffected by stress-induced cortisol response. These findings suggest that individual FA might reflect a trait-like characteristic that moderates the stress response. Our results underscore the utility of IAF in studying individual differences in stress responding. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-81
Number of pages7
JournalBiological Psychology
Volume104
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • BEHAVIORAL ACTIVATION
  • BRAIN ASYMMETRY
  • CORTICAL ACTIVITY
  • CORTISOL SECRETION
  • Cortisol
  • EEG
  • EEG ASYMMETRY
  • EMOTION REGULATION
  • Frontal alpha oscillations
  • INHIBITION SYSTEMS
  • Individual alpha frequency
  • PERFORMANCE
  • PREFRONTAL CORTEX
  • RHESUS-MONKEYS

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