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Brain Electrical Activity (brain + electrical_activity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Psychology	60%
Medical Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

Empathy Is Associated With Dynamic Change in Prefrontal Brain Electrical Activity During Positive Emotion in Children

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2009
Sharee N. Light
Empathy is the combined ability to interpret the emotional states of others and experience resultant, related emotions. The relation between prefrontal electroencephalographic asymmetry and emotion in children is well known. The association between positive emotion (assessed via parent report), empathy (measured via observation), and second-by-second brain electrical activity (recorded during a pleasurable task) was investigated using a sample of one hundred twenty-eight 6- to 10-year-old children. Contentment related to increasing left frontopolar activation (p < .05). Empathic concern and positive empathy related to increasing right frontopolar activation (ps < .05). A second form of positive empathy related to increasing left dorsolateral activation (p < .05). This suggests that positive affect and (negative and positive) empathy both relate to changes in prefrontal activity during a pleasurable task. [source]

Brain Electrical Activity Associated With Cognitive Processing During a Looking Version of the A-Not-B Task

INFANCY, Issue 3 2001
Martha Ann Bell
This work was designed to investigate individual differences in brain electrical activity during a looking version of the A-not-B task. It was proposed that this spatial task required the cognitive skills of working memory and inhibitory control, each associated with frontal lobe function. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded from 54 8-month-old infants during baseline and task. Only high performers on the looking task exhibited increases in 6- to 9-Hz EEG power from baseline to task. These task-related changes were evident at frontal and posterior scalp locations. High performers on the looking task exhibited lower EEG coherence values at right hemisphere frontal locations relative to the low performers. These lower coherence values were evident during baseline and task. All infants showed increased frontal-parietal coherence during the spatial working memory task relative to baseline values. These data confirm previous cognitive neuroscience work associating frontal lobe function with cognitive performance levels during infancy. [source]

Coupling of theta activity and glucose metabolism in the human rostral anterior cingulate cortex: An EEG/PET study of normal and depressed subjects

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 6 2003
Diego A. Pizzagalli
Abstract In rodents, theta rhythm has been linked to the hippocampal formation, as well as other regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). To test the role of the ACC in theta rhythm, concurrent measurements of brain electrical activity (EEG) and glucose metabolism (PET) were performed in 29 subjects at baseline. EEG data were analyzed with a source localization technique that enabled voxelwise correlations of EEG and PET data. For theta, but not other bands, the rostral ACC (Brodmann areas 24/32) was the largest cluster with positive correlations between current density and glucose metabolism. Positive correlations were also found in right fronto-temporal regions. In control but not depressed subjects, theta within ACC and prefrontal/orbitofrontal regions was positively correlated. The results reveal a link between theta and cerebral metabolism in the ACC as well as disruption of functional connectivity within frontocingulate pathways in depression. [source]

Topographic pharmaco-EEG mapping of the effects of the South American psychoactive beverage ayahuasca in healthy volunteers

BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
Jordi Riba
Aims,Ayahuasca is a traditional South American psychoactive beverage used in Amazonian shamanism, and in the religious ceremonies of Brazilian-based syncretic religious groups with followers in the US and several European countries. This tea contains measurable amounts of the psychotropic indole N,N -dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and ,-carboline alkaloids with MAO-inhibiting properties. In a previous report we described a profile of stimulant and psychedelic effects for ayahuasca as measured by subjective report self-assessment instruments. In the present study the cerebral bioavailability and time-course of effects of ayahuasca were assessed in humans by means of topographic quantitative-electroencephalography (q-EEG), a noninvasive method measuring drug-induced variations in brain electrical activity. Methods, Two doses (one low and one high) of encapsulated freeze-dried ayahuasca, equivalent to 0.6 and 0.85 mg DMT kg,1 body weight, were administered to 18 healthy volunteers with previous experience in psychedelic drug use in a double-blind crossover placebo-controlled clinical trial. Nineteen-lead recordings were undertaken from baseline to 8 h after administration. Subjective effects were measured by means of the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS). Results,Ayahuasca induced a pattern of psychoactive effects which resulted in significant dose-dependent increases in all subscales of the HRS, and in significant and dose-dependent modifications of brain electrical activity. Absolute power decreased in all frequency bands, most prominently in the theta band. Mean absolute power decreases (95% CI) at a representative lead (P3) 90 min after the high dose were ,20.20±15.23 µV2 and ,2.70±2.21 µV2 for total power and theta power, respectively. Relative power decreased in the delta (,1.20±1.31% after 120 min at P3) and theta (,3.30±2.59% after 120 min at P3) bands, and increased in the beta band, most prominently in the faster beta-3 (1.00±0.88% after 90 min at P3) and beta-4 (0.30±0.24% after 90 min at P3) subbands. Finally, an increase was also seen for the centroid of the total activity and its deviation. EEG modifications began as early as 15,30 min, reached a peak between 45 and 120 min and decreased thereafter to return to baseline levels at 4,6 h after administration. Conclusions, The central effects of ayahuasca could be objectively measured by means of q-EEG, showing a time pattern which closely paralleled that of previously reported subjective effects. The modifications seen for the individual q-EEG variables were in line with those previously described for other serotonergic psychedelics and share some features with the profile of effects shown by pro-serotonergic and pro-dopaminergic drugs. The q-EEG profile supports the role of 5-HT2 and dopamine D2 -receptor agonism in mediating the effects of ayahuasca on the central nervous system. [source]