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Frontal brain asymmetry and reward responsiveness: a source-localization study.
Diego A Pizzagalli1, Rebecca J Sherwood, Jeffrey B Henriques
1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. dap@wjh.harvard.edu
Psychological Science
|September 27, 2005
Summary
Frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, particularly left prefrontal activity, predicts reward-seeking behavior. This study links resting EEG patterns to approach tendencies and identifies specific brain regions involved in reward motivation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Approach and avoidance tendencies influence affect, reasoning, and behavior.
- Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry, favoring left prefrontal regions, is theorized to indicate approach tendencies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis that left prefrontal EEG asymmetry reflects a propensity for approach-related tendencies.
- To investigate the relationship between resting EEG asymmetry and reward-related behavior.
Main Methods:
- Resting electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from 18 subjects.
- Subjects performed a verbal memory task under neutral, reward, and punishment incentive conditions.
- Source-localization techniques were used to analyze EEG data.
Main Results:
- Higher resting alpha2 activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal regions correlated with a stronger bias towards reward cues.
- Left prefrontal resting activity explained 54.8% of the variance in reward bias.
- Findings support the role of frontal EEG asymmetry in appetitively motivated behavior.
Conclusions:
- Frontal EEG asymmetry is confirmed to modulate the propensity for appetitively motivated behavior.
- Specific brain systems, including left dorsolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal regions, underlie reward bias.