Electrophysiological (CNV) Analysis of Personality Traits under Stress

Abstract

Contingent negative variation (CNV) recordings were performed in 55 healthy volunteers under stress condition (experimentally induced pain). A total of 20 subjects were included in the control group (no painful administration). In the tested group (n = 35) the painful stimulus was delivered before Si, between S2 and Si, and before S2. In the control group there were no changes in CNV parameters. Conversely, among the tested group a positive correlation was found between CNV values (whenever the painful stimulus was administered before Si as well as before S2) and the highest scores in the State Trait Anxiety Inventory × 2 test. In addition, all individuals displayed the appearance of a positive deflection with a latency of about 300 ms from S₂ when the experimental stress was given before S2. Furthermore, the postimperative negative variation (PINV) appeared in 13 out of 35 subjects. There was a strong correlation between the latter electrophysiological phenomenon and the Nowlis test. Our findings suggest that CNV study is useful for the investigation of personality traits in human beings under stress conditions.

Cognitive event-related potential correlates of schizophrenia.

“…Contingent negative variation reduction does not appear to be specific to schizophrenia, as it has been reported in patients suffering from anxiety neurosis (McCallum & Walter, 1968) as well as in persons with high levels of trait anxiety (Amabile et al, 1984; Knott & Irwin, 1973). A similar pattern is seen for affective disorders (Claverie, Brun, Nizard, Brenot, & Paty, 1984; Small & Small, 1971; Small, Small, & Perez, 1971; Timsit-Berthier et al, 1973; Walter, 1971) and autism (Walter, 1969).…”

“…Rockstroh et al's experimental group, who experienced a sudden loss of control of the ability to terminate warned aversive stimulation, manifested much larger PINVs than did a yoked control group, who experienced the same aversive stimulation as the experimental group but never had control over it. The PINV can also be produced in normal subjects who are performing tasks involving a very high degree of mental workload, high workload paired with aversive stimulation, or aversive stimulation in subjects with self-reports of high levels of concentration (Amabile et al, 1984; Gauthier & Gottesmann, 1977; Tecce & Cole, 1976).…”

“…The PINV appears to be largely a state marker of schizophrenic psychosis, particularly in acute patients. In acute schizophrenics, the percentage of individuals manifesting PINV reportedly drops to zero on remission (Rizzo et at., 1983(Rizzo et at., , 1984. Van Den Bosch (1983) reported no PINV in what appeared to be a higher functioning, relatively young group of mixed in-and outpatients.…”

Adaptation changes in dynamic postural control and contingent negative variation during backward disturbance by transient floor translation in the elderly

“…It has been suggested that the decrease following the CNV peak would represent the onset of attentional shift to the objects other than S2, such as sensory information and output of motor command [11,12,16]. In addition, the CNV potential reportedly decreased when the S1-S2 task was performed under anxious or fearful conditions [21,22]. In the present study, the slight and continuous increase of TA background activity would represent the increase of muscle tension against the disturbance, indicating a strategy of postural preparation [12].…”

Adaptation changes in dynamic postural control and contingent negative variation during repeated transient forward translation in the elderly

“…This finding would suggest age-related deterioration of anticipatory attention and/or motor preparation. On the other hand, also in the button press task under anxious or fearful conditions, late CNV with a negative peak was not found [34,35]. For the present subjects, in the sets in which the late CNV was not recognized, postural controllability was inferior to the young subjects.…”