Electrocortical endophenotypes of anxiety

2019 ◽  
pp. 216-234
Author(s):  
Erik M Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Gene Variants ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Error Related Negativity ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Frontal Midline Theta ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
The Relationship

Individual differences in dispositional anxiety and risk for anxiety disorders are heritable. Because robust direct associations between single gene variants and complex anxiety-related phenotypes remain sparse, it is important to identify brain “endophenotypes” that mediate the relationship between genotypes and dispositional anxiety. Due to its high temporal resolution, electroencephalography (EEG) is an ideal non-invasive tool to study individual differences in basic fear and anxiety-related neural processes, which often occur within few hundred milliseconds after threat signals appear. In this chapter, putative anxiety-related EEG markers are presented including the C1, P100, N1, N170, NoGo-N2, P300, Late Positive Potential, Feedback-Related Negativity, Error-Related Negativity, frontal midline theta, and N300H brain–heart-coupling components. For each marker, heritability estimates and/or tentative associations with single gene variants are presented and discussed. While individual differences in anxiety-related EEG activity seem genetically influenced, more replication studies are needed to confirm specific links between gene variants and anxiety-related EEG markers.

scholarly journals Individual differences in frontal midline theta activity during visuomotor adaptation are related to execution noise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeb D. Jonker ◽  
Rick van der Vliet ◽  
Guido Maquelin ◽  
Joris van der Cruijsen ◽  
Gerard M. Ribbers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Motor Adaptation ◽  
Visuomotor Adaptation ◽  
Theta Activity ◽  
Small Perturbations ◽  
Error Magnitude ◽  
Frontal Midline Theta ◽  
Adaptation Experiment ◽  
Eeg Recordings ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTFrontal midline EEG activity has been found to correlate with error magnitude during motor adaptation. We replicated a previous visuomotor adaptation experiment with very small perturbations, likely to invoke implicit adaptation, in a new group of 60 participants and combined it with EEG recordings. We used this data to explore 1) whether frontal midline activity will be evoked in the absence of awareness of the perturbation; 2) whether frontal midline activity is related to implicit adaptation; 3) whether individual differences in frontal midline activity are related to individual differences in motor learning. The results showed that frontal midline theta activity (FMΘ) is also present during small perturbations, does not drive between-trial error correction, and that the sensitivity of FMΘ to error magnitude was smaller for participants with greater execution noise. This relation between FMΘ-error-sensitivity and execution noise could be fully explained by looking at the relationship between FMΘ and error probability. This implies that frontal midline theta activity represents a surprise-like saliency signal, potentially driving awareness and cognitive control in situations with more salient errors.

The Need to Belong and the Relationship Between Loneliness and Health

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 194-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freda-Marie Hartung ◽  
Britta Renner
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health State ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Perceived Social Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Humans are social animals; consequently, a lack of social ties affects individuals’ health negatively. However, the desire to belong differs between individuals, raising the question of whether individual differences in the need to belong moderate the impact of perceived social isolation on health. In the present study, 77 first-year university students rated their loneliness and health every 6 weeks for 18 weeks. Individual differences in the need to belong were found to moderate the relationship between loneliness and current health state. Specifically, lonely students with a high need to belong reported more days of illness than those with a low need to belong. In contrast, the strength of the need to belong had no effect on students who did not feel lonely. Thus, people who have a strong need to belong appear to suffer from loneliness and become ill more often, whereas people with a weak need to belong appear to stand loneliness better and are comparatively healthy. The study implies that social isolation does not impact all individuals identically; instead, the fit between the social situation and an individual’s need appears to be crucial for an individual’s functioning.

Attachment and Field Dependence: Individual Differences in Information Processing

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Vermigli ◽  
Alessandro Toni
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Field Dependence ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Figure Test ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Measure Field

The present research analyzes the relationship between attachment styles at an adult age and field dependence in order to identify possible individual differences in information processing. The “Experience in Close Relationships” test of Brennan et al. was administered to a sample of 380 individuals (160 males, 220 females), while a subsample of 122 subjects was given the Embedded Figure Test to measure field dependence. Confirming the starting hypothesis, the results have shown that individuals with different attachment styles have a different way of perceiving the figure against the background. Ambivalent and avoidant individuals lie at the two extremes of the same dimension while secure individuals occupy the central part. Significant differences also emerged between males and females.

Individual Differences in Students' Preferences for Lecturers' Personalities

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Student Ratings ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Personality Profile ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Intelligence Scores ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between students' personality and intelligence scores with their preferences for the personality profile of their lecturers. Student ratings (N = 136) of 30 lecturer trait characteristics were coded into an internally reliable Big Five taxonomy ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ). Descriptive statistics showed that, overall, students tended to prefer conscientious, open, and stable lecturers, though correlations revealed that these preferences were largely a function of students' own personality traits. Thus, open students preferred open lecturers, while agreeable students preferred agreeable lecturers. There was evidence of a similarity effect for both Agreeableness and Openness. In addition, less intelligent students were more likely to prefer agreeable lecturers than their more intelligent counterparts were. A series of regressions showed that individual differences are particularly good predictors of preferences for agreeable lecturers, and modest, albeit significant, predictors of preferences for open and neurotic lecturers. Educational and vocational implications are considered.

Investment Traits and Intelligence in Adulthood

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie von Stumm
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Openness To Experience ◽  
Intelligence Tests ◽  
Crystallized Intelligence ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Intelligence-as-knowledge in adulthood is influenced by individual differences in intelligence-as-process (i.e., fluid intelligence) and in personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their intelligence over time. Here, the relationship between two investment traits (i.e., Openness to Experience and Need for Cognition), intelligence-as-process and intelligence-as-knowledge, as assessed by a battery of crystallized intelligence tests and a new knowledge measure, was examined. The results showed that (1) both investment traits were positively associated with intelligence-as-knowledge; (2) this effect was stronger for Openness to Experience than for Need for Cognition; and (3) associations between investment and intelligence-as-knowledge reduced when adjusting for intelligence-as-process but remained mostly significant.

The role of personality in shaping pandemic response: Systemic sociopolitical factors drive country differences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Siritzky ◽  
David M Condon ◽  
Sara J Weston
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
The Relationship

The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public-health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common big-five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility and autocracy. Finally, there was little evidence that the big five traits were associated with preventive behaviors. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.

scholarly journals Linking the Rapid Cascade of Visuo-Attentional Processes to Successful Memory Encoding

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
B R Geib ◽  
R Cabeza ◽  
M G Woldorff
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Memory Encoding ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Dm Effect

Abstract While it is broadly accepted that attention modulates memory, the contribution of specific rapid attentional processes to successful encoding is largely unknown. To investigate this issue, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of electroencephalographic recordings to directly link a cascade of visuo-attentional neural processes to successful encoding: namely (1) the N2pc (peaking ~200 ms), which reflects stimulus-specific attentional orienting and allocation, (2) the sustained posterior-contralateral negativity (post-N2pc), which has been associated with sustained visual processing, (3) the contralateral reduction in oscillatory alpha power (contralateral reduction in alpha > 200 ms), which has also been independently related to attentionally sustained visual processing. Each of these visuo-attentional processes was robustly predictive of successful encoding, and, moreover, each enhanced memory independently of the classic, longer-latency, conceptually related, difference-due-to memory (Dm) effect. Early latency midfrontal theta power also promoted successful encoding, with at least part of this influence being mediated by the later latency Dm effect. These findings markedly expand current knowledge by helping to elucidate the intimate relationship between attentional modulations of perceptual processing and effective encoding for later memory retrieval.

The relationship between eye movements and subsequent recognition: Evidence from individual differences and amnesia

Cortex ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 182-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosanna K. Olsen ◽  
Vinoja Sebanayagam ◽  
Yunjo Lee ◽  
Morris Moscovitch ◽  
Cheryl L. Grady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
The Relationship

scholarly journals Individual differences in working memory capacity are unrelated to the magnitudes of retrocue benefits

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoxiong Ye ◽  
Qianru Xu ◽  
Xinyang Liu ◽  
Piia Astikainen ◽  
Yongjie Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Significant Positive Correlation ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Capacity Measurement ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Feature Dimension ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Internal Attention

AbstractPrevious studies have associated visual working memory (VWM) capacity with the use of internal attention. Retrocues, which direct internal attention to a particular object or feature dimension, can improve VWM performance (i.e., retrocue benefit, RCB). However, so far, no study has investigated the relationship between VWM capacity and the magnitudes of RCBs obtained from object-based and dimension-based retrocues. The present study explored individual differences in the magnitudes of object- and dimension-based RCBs and their relationships with VWM capacity. Participants completed a VWM capacity measurement, an object-based cue task, and a dimension-based cue task. We confirmed that both object- and dimension-based retrocues could improve VWM performance. We also found a significant positive correlation between the magnitudes of object- and dimension-based RCB indexes, suggesting a partly overlapping mechanism between the use of object- and dimension-based retrocues. However, our results provided no evidence for a correlation between VWM capacity and the magnitudes of the object- or dimension-based RCBs. Although inadequate attention control is usually assumed to be associated with VWM capacity, the results suggest that the internal attention mechanism for using retrocues in VWM retention is independent of VWM capacity.

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