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Task-dependent changes in frontal brain asymmetry: Effects of incentive cues, outcome expectancies, and motor responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2001

ANITA MILLER  and
ANDREW J. TOMARKEN
ANITA MILLER
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, USA
ANDREW J. TOMARKEN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA
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Abstract

The current study was designed to clarify the psychological functions most closely associated with frontal brain asymmetry. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 60 participants while they performed a delayed reaction time (RT) task that included manipulations of incentive, expectancy, and response. Significant alpha asymmetry effects were reflected in topographic differences across anterior EEG sites. Variations in monetary incentives resulted in parametric changes in anterior frontal alpha asymmetry. Manipulations of outcome expectancies were related to mid-frontal EEG changes that differed for men and women. Varied response requirements were related to central asymmetry patterns. Taken together, the findings suggest that regionally specific patterns of frontal asymmetry are functionally related to particular aspects of approach–withdrawal tendencies involved in the temporal guidance and regulation of goal-directed behavior.

Keywords

Brain physiologyElectroencephalographyFrontal cortexEmotionMotivationApproach–withdrawal
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , May 2001 , pp. 500 - 511
Copyright
2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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