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Posterior versus frontal theta activity indexes approach motivation during affective autobiographical memories

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Abstract

Research has recently identified a promising neurophysiological marker of approach motivation involving posterior versus frontal (Pz – Fz) electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity PFTA; Wacker, Chavanon, & Stemmler (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91:171-187, 2006). Preliminary evidence indicated that PFTA is modulated by dopaminergic activity, thought to underlie appetitive tendencies, and that it indexes self-reported behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity. To date, research has largely relied on resting indices of PFTA and has yet to examine the relationship between PFTA and specific approach-related affective states generated by emotionally salient laboratory tasks. Accordingly, the present study evaluated PFTA both at rest and during an ecologically valid autobiographical memory task in which participants recalled personal life experiences involving a goal-striving, an anxious apprehension, a low-point (i.e., difficult), and a neutral memory while EEG data were recorded. In line with prediction, elevated PFTA was observed during both goal-striving and anxious apprehension autobiographical memories. PFTA was particularly elevated during anxious apprehension memories coded as being high on approach-related tendencies. Elevated PFTA during anxious apprehension is consistent with a growing literature indicating that anxious apprehension is associated with elevated approach- and reward-related brain function. Lastly, elevated resting PFTA was positively correlated with self-reported trait anger, a negatively valenced emotion characterized by approach-related tendencies. These results have implications for (a) enhancing our understanding of the neurophysiology of approach-related emotions, (b) establishing PFTA as an index of appetitive motivational states, and (c) clarifying our understanding of the neurophysiology and approach-related tendencies associated with both anxious apprehension and anger.

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Notes

  1. To test whether our primary findings were driven by outliers with a small amount of usable data, we reran our primary analyses excluding participants who were three SDs below the mean in artifact-free epochs for both the resting and task conditions. This cutoff criterion corresponded to less than 62.22 epochs of usable data per minute and resulted in seven individuals being excluded. Using these exclusion criteria, the main effect of autobiographical memory on PFTA was maintained, F(3, 102) = 2.95, p < .05, η p 2 = .08. In addition, the finding of elevated PFTA in approach- versus withdrawal-oriented anxious apprehension scenes was also maintained, t(33) = 2.55, p < .05.

  2. This finding is consistent with research showing that theta activity at frontal midline sites tends to decrease with age (Cummins and Finnigan 2007). Because PFTA is calculated by subtracting the frontal midline electrode Fz from the posterior midline electrode Pz, lower frontal midline theta activity may have contributed to elevated PFTA among the older participants.

  3. Frontal alpha asymmetry is another commonly used neurophysiological index of approach-related affect (Sutton and Davidson 1997; Thibodeau et al. 2006). As with PFTA, higher levels of relative left-frontal EEG activity (as indexed by alpha) has been linked with elevated approach tendencies (Carver and Harmon-Jones 2009). However, in the present study, we found no main effect of autobiographical memory on frontal alpha asymmetry, F(3, 120) = 0.68, n.s. In addition, there was no difference in frontal alpha asymmetry between approach- and withdrawal-oriented anxious apprehension memories, t(40) = 0.97, n.s.

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  1. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    N. Pornpattananangkul, A. Curlee, D. P. McAdams & R. Nusslock

  2. Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    K. Walden

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Walden, K., Pornpattananangkul, N., Curlee, A. et al. Posterior versus frontal theta activity indexes approach motivation during affective autobiographical memories. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 15, 132–144 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-014-0322-7

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