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Emotion regulation is a set of processes responsible for controlling, evaluating and adjusting reactions to achieve a goal. Results derived from magnetic resonance imaging agreed on the involvement of frontal and limbic structures in this process. Findings using cognition and physiology interactions are still scarce but suggest a role of alpha rhythm in emotional induction and for theta in regulation. Our goal was to investigate alpha and theta rhythm during the reappraisal of aversive stimuli. We hypothesized that an implication of alpha rhythm in emotional induction only and an increase in prefrontal theta rhythm positively correlated with successful regulation. Twenty-four healthy participants were recorded with 64 EEG electrodes while asked to watch or reappraise negative pictures passively. Theta and alpha rhythms were compared across maintain, decrease and increase regulation conditions, and a source localization estimated the generators. Theta activity was consistently higher in the upregulation than in the maintenance condition (p =.04) for the entire control period, but mainly at the beginning of regulation (1–3 s) for low-theta and later (5–7 s) for high-theta. Moreover, our results confirm that a low-theta generator correlated with mainly the middle frontal gyrus and the anterior dorsal cingulate cortex during upregulation. Theta was sensitive to emotion upregulation, whereas the alpha oscillation was non-sensitive to emotion induction and regulation. Theta rhythm was involved explicitly in emotion upregulation processes that occur at a definite time during reappraisal, whereas the alpha rhythm was not altered by emotion induction and regulation. • EEG rhythms were compared across emotional regulation conditions to aversive pictures. • Theta was higher at the beginning of the upregulation condition for low-theta power. • Low-theta generator correlated with the middle frontal and the anterior cingulate cortex. • Alpha oscillation was non-sensitive to emotion induction and regulation. • Theta is involved in upregulation at a definite time during emotional reappraisal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We establish EEG alpha power reliability and consistency in chronic knee pain. • Alpha power in chronic knee pain is reliable and consistent across recordings, sites. • Recommendations are provided for quantifying alpha-related measures in pain research. Chronic pain studies investigating the ability to detect sensory processing differences related to thalamic gating using electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha have yielded conflicting results. Alpha's basic psychometric properties in pain populations requires further study. The present study reports on the test–retest reliability and internal consistency of EEG alpha power in older adults with chronic knee pain. Repeated EEG alpha power measurements were taken of older adults (N = 31) with chronic knee pain across two sessions separated by a ten-day period associated with a pilot clinical trial study. Recordings included resting periods (eyes open and eyes closed) as well as periods involving a pain management activity. Most single alpha-power measures and all within-participant averages of alpha obtained within a session showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's α > 0.7) and satisfactory-to-excellent re-test reliability (Pearson's rs > 0.6) of both alpha power and alpha blocking (eyes closed minus eyes open) across repeated conditions. EEG alpha power seems mostly reliable and consistent, particularly when participants' eyes are closed, after a period of habituation, and when alpha measures are averaged as within-participant estimates. This analysis suggests that within-subject averages of EEG alpha are the most reliable for developing indices of chronic knee pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Posterior EEG alpha has been identified as a putative biomarker of clinical outcomes in major depression (MDD). Separately, personal importance of religion and spirituality (R/S) has been shown to provide protective benefits for individuals at high familial risk for MDD. This study directly explored the joint value of posterior alpha and R/S on predicting clinical health outcomes of depression.Methods: Using a mixed-effects model approach, we obtained virtual estimates of R/S at age 21 using longitudinal data collected at 5 timepoints spanning 25 years. Current source density and frequency principal component analysis was used to quantify posterior alpha in 72-channel resting EEG (eyes open/closed). Depression severity was measured between 5 and 10 years after EEG collection using PHQ-9 and IDAS-GD scales.Results: Greater R/S (p = .008, η2p = 0.076) and higher alpha (p = .02, η2p = 0.056) were separately associated with fewer symptoms across scales. However, an interaction between alpha and R/S (p = .02, η2p = 0.062) was observed, where greater R/S predicted fewer symptoms with low alpha but high alpha predicted fewer symptoms with lower R/S.Limitations: Small-to-medium effect sizes and homogeneity of sample demographics caution overall interpretation and generalizability.Conclusions: Findings revealed a complementary role of R/S and alpha in that either variable exerted protective effects only if the other was present at low levels. These findings confirm the relevance of R/S importance and alpha oscillations as predictors of depression symptom severity. More research is needed on the neurobiological mechanism underlying the protective effects of R/S importance for MDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impulse control and adequate decision making are vital functions when it comes to detection and adherence to personal goals and societal rules. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that increasing the salience of environmental cues would be most effective in improving impulse control, as assessed by a stop-signal task, in subjects with low environmental susceptibility as indexed by low pre-stimulus EEG alpha power. In addition, we anticipated that an external-reward manipulation improves performance during a Go/No go task, especially in individuals with low task-induced motivation as indexed by low theta/beta power ratios. High salience of stop signals enhanced stopping performance but there was no difference in responsivity to the salience manipulation between participants with high and low EEG alpha power. Individuals with low theta/beta power ratios responded more accurately when rewards were involved. Together these results suggest that increasing the salience of external cues may help impulse control in general, whereas the effectiveness of external-reward manipulations is higher in individuals with low task-induced motivation. • Impulse control can be enhanced by increasing the salience of external cues • No evidence was found for a relationship between EEG alpha power and impulse control • Participants with high and low alpha power did not differ in their responsivity to the salience manipulation of stop signals • Individuals with low theta/beta power ratios responded more accurately when rewards were involved in a rewarded Go/Nogo task • Increasing the salience of external cues may help impulse control in general • The effectiveness of external-reward manipulations is higher in individuals with low task-induced motivation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prior report ( Tenke et al., 2013 Biol. Psychol. 94:426–432) found that participants who rated religion or spirituality (R/S) highly important had greater posterior alpha after 10 years compared to those who did not. Participants who subsequently lowered their rating also had prominent alpha, while those who increased their rating did not. Here we report EEG findings 20 years after initial assessment. Clinical evaluations and R/S ratings were obtained from 73 (52 new) participants in a longitudinal study of family risk for depression. Frequency PCA of current source density transformed EEG concisely quantified posterior alpha. Those who initially rated R/S as highly important had greater alpha compared to those who did not, even if their R/S rating later increased. Furthermore, changes in religious denomination were associated with decreased alpha. Results suggest the possibility of a critical stage in the ontogenesis of R/S that is linked to posterior resting alpha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resting and task-related EEG alpha are used in studies of cognition and psychopathology. Although Laplacian methods have been applied, apprehensions about loss of global activity dissuade researchers from greater use except as a supplement to reference-dependent measures. The unfortunate result has been continued reliance on reference strategies that differ across labs, and a systemic preference for a montage-dependent average reference over true reference-free measures. We addressed these concerns by comparing resting- and task-related EEG alpha using three EEG transformations: nose- (NR) and average-referenced (AR) EEG, and the corresponding CSD. Amplitude spectra of resting and prestimulus task-related EEG (novelty oddball) and event-related spectral perturbations were scaled to equate each transformation. Alpha measures quantified for 8–12 Hz bands were: 1) net amplitude (eyes-closed minus eyes-open) and 2) overall amplitude (eyes-closed plus eyes-open); 3) task amplitude (prestimulus baseline) and 4) task event-related desynchronization (ERD). Mean topographies unambiguously represented posterior alpha for overall, net and task, as well as poststimulus alpha ERD. Topographies were similar for the three transformations, but differed in dispersion, CSD being sharpest and NR most broadly distributed. Transformations also differed in scale, AR showing less attenuation or spurious secondary maxima at anterior sites, consistent with simulations of distributed posterior generators. Posterior task alpha and alpha ERD were positively correlated with overall alpha, but not with net alpha. CSD topographies consistently and appropriately represented posterior EEG alpha for all measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] High personal importance of religion/spirituality protects against MDD and is associated with greater posterior EEG alpha. [•] Those who expressed high importance only at 10-y followup did not show increased alpha. [•] Group differences in EEG alpha were clearest for individuals with a lifetime history of depression. [•] EEG alpha may index a common adaptive mechanism underlying affective regulation and personal spirituality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent progress in cognitive neuroscience suggests that alpha activity may reflect selective cortical inhibition involved in signal amplification, rather than neural idling. Unfortunately, these theoretical advances remain largely ignored in affective neuroscience. To address this limitation the present paper proposes a novel research avenue aimed at using alpha to elucidate cortical inhibitory mechanisms involved in affective processes. The proposal is illustrated by developing inhibitory accounts of affective attention and affective tuning phenomena. The emergent predictions were tested using event-related perturbations from 73 students evaluating affective and nonaffective aspects of five types of emotional images. The results revealed that upper alpha power was increased by affective content in general and aversive stimuli in particular from 350ms at posterior and from 575ms at central sites. The evaluation task interacted with affective content only at a liberal statistical significance level in late posterior alpha. These results are generally in line with the proposed inhibitory accounts of affective attention and tuning, although the evidence is preliminary rather than conclusive. As confirmation of functional origins of alpha in affect remains beyond the scope of a single study, this paper aims to inspire further extrapolation of the inhibitory account of alpha within affective neuroscience. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cognitive style refers to an individual''s characteristic approach to processing information. One widely studied dimension is the contrast between “analytic” and “wholistic” styles. Recent studies suggest that patterns of electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha activity (8–13 Hz) during a task (e.g., Biological Psychology 51 (1999) 23), or during a resting baseline period (e.g., Learning and Individual Differences 3 (1991) 265), may be predictive of these stylistic differences, with lower alpha activity related to a more analytic style. In the present study, EEG was collected at 19 sites during eyes-open baseline, and during reading of short text passages. Forty adults (20 males) read highly structured expository text and minimally structured poetry. Lower baseline alpha activity across widely distributed sites was significantly correlated with higher recall of the expository text but was essentially uncorrelated with recall of poetry. Level of alpha during reading did not correlate with recall for either passage, suggesting that baseline periods, unconstrained by specific tasks, may provide the clearest picture of neural correlates of cognitive style. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Intelligent automated systems are needed to assist the tedious visual analysis of polygraphic recordings. Most systems need detection of different electroencephalogram (EEG) waveforms. The problem in automated detection of alpha activity is the large inter-individual variability of its amplitude and duration. In this work, a fuzzy reasoning based method for the detection of alpha activity was designed and tested using a total of 32 recordings from seven different subjects. Intelligence of the method was distributed to features extracted and the way they were combined. The ranges of the fuzzy rules were determined based on feature statistics. The advantage of the detector is that no alpha amplitude threshold needs to be selected. The performance of the alpha detector was assessed with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. When the true positive rate was 94.2%, the false positive rate was 9.2%, which indicates good performance in sleep EEG analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]