Defensiveness and anxiety predict frontal EEG asymmetry only in specific situational contexts

Both defensiveness and anxiety have been associated with asymmetrical frontal EEG activity. Recent evidence suggests that context effects in the measurement situation may play a decisive role for the relationship between hemispheric frontal asymmetry and personality. However, until now this hypothesis has not been directly tested. In the present study, participants were confronted with negative or positive personality feedback in a private and a public context. The negative feedback in the public context was assumed to induce fear of social exclusion along with the need for positive self-presentation to restore social acceptance particularly in defensive participants. As predicted, defensive (vs. non-defensive) participants exhibited relative left-frontal activity and high anxious (vs. low anxious) participants exhibited relative right-frontal activity only in this socially threatening negative public situation. These findings indicate that an association between EEG-asymmetry and personality variables may only be observed in situations that are relevant to the personality dimensions of interest.