EEG asymmetry, dispositional mood and personality

Recent studies have demonstrated that dispositional positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) can be predicted by resting electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry in anterior brain regions. The aim of the present study was a conceptual replication of these results. An extensive literature review suggested that asymmetry might also be related to personality and we investigated the possibility to extend the association between asymmetry and dispositional mood to personality traits. Resting EEG of 36 subjects was recorded and questionnaires were administered to assess PA, NA, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N). Subjects who scored high on NA had greater relative left-sided cortical activation than subjects scoring low on NA, which was due to greater absolute activation of the left anterior temporal site in high NA scorers. There were no associations between asymmetry and PA. A functional neuroanatomical model is presented which suggests that greater tonical activation of the left temporal cortex increases the susceptibility to experience negative emotions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.