Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM) on Trait Anxiety among Malaysian Chinese Children

Objective - Woefully, the early onset of anxiety disorders had affected children in different aspects throughout their developmental stages. In order to get rid of the increased prevalence rate among children, the biological attributed risk factors for anxiety should be given more concern. Particularly, this research intended to study the biological brain mechanism for trait anxiety among children. With brain electrical activity mapping, this research was aimed to study the relationship between the brain locations situated at the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe with trait anxiety. Subsequently, this research aimed to predict the associated brain locations for trait anxiety among anxious children. Methodology/Technique – A total of 212 Chinese children from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with high trait anxiety was recruited after the first phase of the screening phase through the administration of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children-Trait Scale (STAIC-T). Recruited children then proceeded to the second phase of brain electrical activity brain mapping with a Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG) brain mapping machine. Finding – Results showed that brain locations Fp1, Fp2, F7, F8, F3, F4, T3, and T4 are significantly correlated with trait anxiety while F8, Fp2, F4, and Fp1 are the significant predictors for trait anxiety among children during on task state. In short, the biological brain mechanism of brain locations played a role in forming the anxious trait the personality of children which resulted in reducing their resilience towards stress. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: D83, I19 Keywords: Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM); Children; Chinese; Malaysia; Trait anxiety; Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG) Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Cheong, C.C; Ashari, A; Ibrahim, R; Sulaiman, W.A.W; Yong, K.K. (2020). Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM) on Trait Anxiety among Malaysian Chinese Children, GATR Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 8(4): 246 – 259. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2020.8.4(6)

Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (Beam) on Trait Anxiety among Malaysian Chinese Children

Woefully, the twenty-first century is described as an era of anxiety (Malcolm, 2015; Karas, 2013). In fact, the increasing prevalence rate of anxiety disorder has afflicted children at alarming rates nowadays. However, early onset of childhood anxiety is still underestimated. Consistent and intense feeling of fear had affected them in various aspects like emotions, behaviours and cognitive functions throughout their developmental stage (Bittner et al., 2007; Pine, Cohen, Gurley, Brook, & Ma, 1998; Woodward & Fergusson, 2001). Without proper early intervention, children are at risk for anxiety disorders with more severe anxiety symptoms when they are growing up. In order to get rid of the elevating of prevalence rate for anxiety, understanding the etiology of the onset of anxiety should be given more concern. In fact, this Biopsychosocial model views anxiety disorders as the products of biological aspects (gene and brain mechanism), psychological aspect (beliefs, behavior, coping skills) and social aspect (environmental factor). Among these three aspects, biological attributed vulnerabilities formed the first anxious personality in children since birth and reduced their resilience towards psychological and social stressors later on in their life (Averill, 2015). For instance, trait anxiety, the prolong state of anxious feeling is much more impactful for children compared to state anxiety as this inborn anxious personality shaped the first default biological vulnerability to fear. Hight trait anxiety level be adopted by the individual and form anxious personality in children since birth (Miu et al., 2009; Miclea, Albu & Ciuca, 2009). Keywords: Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM); Children; Chinese; Malaysia; Trait anxiety; Quantitative Electroencephalogram (qEEG)

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESTING STATE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM FOR DIAGNOSIS OF COGNITIVE DISORDERS IN CARDIAC SURGERY PATIENTS

This article reviews the issues of cognitive disorders common in cardiac surgery patients as they contribute to the structure of postoperative complications and the long-term prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. Attention is drawn to the fact that the diagnostic capabilities to assess the changes in cognitive status of cardiac surgery patients are limited; and the authors emphasize the need to search for objective and sensitive criteria for diagnosis of cognitive disorders in patients, candidates to direct myocardial revascularization. Relevance of the modern methods for brain electrical activity mapping to study neurophysiological status of patients with coronary artery disease undergoing cardiac surgery interventions is evaluated.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESTING STATE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM FOR DIAGNOSIS OF COGNITIVE DISORDERS IN CARDIAC SURGERY PATIENTS

This article reviews the issues of cognitive disorders common in cardiac surgery patients as they contribute to the structure of postoperative complications and the long-term prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. Attention is drawn to the fact that the diagnostic capabilities to assess the changes in cognitive status of cardiac surgery patients are limited; and the authors emphasize the need to search for objective and sensitive criteria for diagnosis of cognitive disorders in patients, candidates to direct myocardial revascularization. Relevance of the modern methods for brain electrical activity mapping to study neurophysiological status of patients with coronary artery disease undergoing cardiac surgery interventions is evaluated.

Fabric Hand-Feel Evaluation Based on Neurophysiology: An Event-Related Potential Study

Fabric hand-feel is an important indicator of textile comprehensive evaluation. In the past century, many achievements have been made in characterization and evaluation of fabric hand-feel. With the development of experimental methods, the electrophysiological technique was used in exploring the formation mechanism and cognitive principle of fabric hand-feel. In this paper, event-related potential (ERP) technique was used in revealing the difference of handfeel between polyester and silk. The exogenous component P2 showed that polyester caused more excitability in human brain. However, the endogenous component P3 indicated that silk caused more soft and comfortable feelings. Even more amazingly, touching fabrics caused significant activation of the visual cortex from the Brain Electrical Activity Mapping (BEAM), and it is also shown that the potential distribution evoked by grasping silk is wider than the polyester’s. All the experiment results show that potential variation of the cerebral cortex is closely related to perceptual cognition and process. All the above findings show that event-related potential technique is feasible and effective in detecting the differences of tactile cognition, and it provides objective evidence from neurophysiologic in fabric hand-feel research.

Cortical Representation of the Vestibular System as Evidenced by Brain Electrical Activity Mapping of Vestibular Late Evoked Potentials

We examined the space and temporal distributions of the rotatory evoked brain electrical activity patterns (brain electrical activity mapping of vestibular evoked potentials [VestEP]) in humans. We performed a longitudinal scalp line analysis, transversal line analysis, and clockwise/counterclockwise rotation analysis of the VestEP principal components in 75 healthy persons aged 22 to 30 years (mean: 25.8). We found that the shortest VestEP latencies and the highest amplitudes were registered in a relatively distinct cortical area that is covered by the transversal electrode line T3-C3-Cz-C4-T4, in accordance with the 10/20 international electrode scheme. This area corresponds to the posterior part of the frontal lobe (Brodmann's area 4, the primary motor field of the isocortex) and the anterior parts of the cerebral parietal lobe (the gyrus postcentralis, which corresponds to the primary somatosensory fields, Brodmann's areas 1, 2, and 3). In this article, we discuss a method of investigation that exhibits the VestEPs, and we review one normal case and three typical cases of pathologic VestEPs.