Psychophysiology

Background. Early childhood is a critically important period of development for the formation of personality. Many studies provide convincing proof that elements of moral behavior are observable already in the early stages of ontogenesis. Of particular interest for psychophysiologists is the question of whether the capacity for moral evaluation in younger children can be reflected in specific EEG patterns characteristic of them.

Objective. To establish specific patterns of EEG oscillations, including the frontal alpha-rhythm asymmetry, in young children who are prone to evaluate differently the behaviors of “helping” and “hindering” puppets.

Design. Fifty-six children aged 16 to 42 months participated in the study. To measure the level of moral evaluation in children, we used the method designed by B. Kenward and M. Dahl, with some modifications. The EEG was recorded when children distributed resources among the puppet-actors.

Results. When deciding how to distribute resources among the puppets, the children with a higher moral evaluation index demonstrated an overall higher alpha rhythm amplitude, as well as a specific pattern of theta rhythm amplitude. The moral evaluation indices correlated with alpha asymmetry in the EEG loci F7 and F8.

Conclusions. 1. Significant differences in EEG patterns were found between the children who showed different levels of moral evaluation. Children with higher indices of moral evaluation showed a higher alpha rhythm amplitude when deciding how to distribute resources among the puppets, depending on the puppets’ “helping” or “hindering” behavior. 2. The theta rhythm oscillation patterns differed significantly between the samples of children with different moral evaluation indices. 3. Alpha asymmetry in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (loci F7, F8) was correlated with the moral evaluation indices, indicating an increased activation in the prefrontal regions of the left hemisphere in children with a more developed understanding of moral behavior.

Background. One promising direction in development of contactless techniques for assessment of the human psychoemotional state (PES) is elucidation of the relationships between psychophysiological indices and electromagnetic radiation in the IR and THz ranges.

Objective. To present a complex approach to assessing PESs based on combining psychological testing and psychophysiological diagnostics with measurements of radiation in the IR-THz range from face areas.

Methods. Stressful psychoemotional states were provoked by physical or cognitive stressors. The PES was monitored by psychological testing and registration of heart rate, photoplethysmogram, galvanic skin response, and respiration rate. The facial images in the IR-THz range were extracted by an IR/V-T0831Cdetector (NEC, Japan).

Results and Discussion. Different PESs are characterized by different specific patterns of psychophysiological parameters. Scores on the anxiety test are highly correlated with scores on the chronic stress questionnaire, but there are no reliable links between the data of psychological tests and the psychophysiological indicators. This discrepancy allows us to assume that for reliable identification of PESs, it is necessary to combine these technologies into one diagnostic complex. We found statistically significant correlations between the intensity of the IR-THz image in the forehead and the galvanic skin response.

Conclusion. For the effective diagnosis and forecast of changes in the PES, it is important to consider both the psychological and physiological data. Despite the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio and low frequency of image recording, it is possible to extract informative THz parameters of the broadband IR-THz signal and associate them with psychophysiological reactions. The improvement of IR-THz detectors and the development of new processing methods will allow wide use of the THz range for remote assessment of human PESs in real time.

Background. The genes responsible for regulating neuro-chemical metabolism are capable of influencing emotional responses. 

Objective. The goal is to determine the influence of the polymorphism of BDNF, HTR2A, and COMT genes on potentials evoked in response to faces with various emotional expressions and objects with different emotional valences. 

Design. The stimuli set included 175 faces and 150 objects with neutral, positive, and negative emotional content. All images were unified in size and brightness and presented for 500 ms. The participants’ task was to determine the emotional content of each stimulus. Each participant’s EEG was recorded at 128 points and averaged in alignment with her responses. Six measures of ERP were recorded for each lead: three for faces with different emotional expressions, and three for objects with different emotional valences.

Results. We discovered that the BDNF and HTR2A gene polymorphism does not affect the visual perception of emotionally charged stimuli as reflected in changes of ERP. By contrast, participants in the COMT Met-Met group differed from participants in groups COMT Val-Met and COMT Val-Val in that their ERPs for both faces and objects were characterized by an increase in P300 amplitude in their frontal, temporal, and parietal areas, predominantly in the right hemisphere. The COMT Met-Met participants were less successful in differentiating stimuli by their emotional valence. 

Conclusion. The COMT gene mutation of the Met/Met type may lead to deficiencies in decision-making about the emotional valence of visual stimuli, as reflected in a substantial increase in the P300 response amplitude.