EEG Correlates of the Implicit Perception of the Emotional Coloring of Sentences and Personal Characteristics of the Control of the Emotions

• Published in: Neuroscience and behavioral physiology 2021-11, Vol.51 (9), p.1262-1267
• Main Authors: Bocharov, A. V., Savostyanov, A. N., Tamozhnikov, S. S., Saprygin, A. E., Merkulova, E. A., Proshina, E. A., Knyazev, G. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cognitive ability; Coloration; EEG; Electroencephalography; Emotions; Neurobiology; Neurosciences; Perception
• ISSN: 0097-0549; 1573-899X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11055-021-01188-x

The aim of the present work was to study the relationships between the individual characteristics of emotional control and changes in brain bioelectrical activity during the implicit perception of emotional coloration of verbal information. The study, which included 43 volunteers (26 women) aged 18–34 years evaluated individual features of emotional control strategies using the Gross questionnaire and total brain bioelectrical activity (the EEG) was measured during presentation of negative, positive, and neutral sentences. Attention was distracted from the emotional content of the sentences by giving study participants a task consisting of finding syntax errors. The search for syntax errors had to be done as quickly as possible, the presence of the emotional component in the sentence not being emphasized. The study identified a positive correlation between cognitive reappraisal of emotions and spectral power in the θ range in the period between 100 msec and 300 msec during presentation of negative sentences not containing syntax errors. A positive correlation was also found between expressive suppression and spectral power in the β range in the period from 100 to 1300 msec during presentation of positive sentences containing syntax errors.