Emotional processing changes of qigong on college students:A pilot ERP study of a randomized controlled trial

Objective:To investigate the influence of qigong on late positive potential,which was elicited by affective pictures.Methods:College students who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled and randomly allocated to the qigong group,which received a four-week training(n=41)or the control group(n=41).All participants were assessed before and after the training for event-related potential,which was elicited by negative,neutral,and positive pictures.Electrodes at the centerline position of the frontal area(FCz),parietal area(Pz),and occipital area(Oz)were analyzed.Results:Negative,neutral,and positive pictures demonstrated statistically significant differences on FCz(P<.001),Pz(P<.001),and Oz(P<.001).The interaction between the group factor and time factor was statistically significant on Pz(P<.028).The pairwise comparison of Pz on the time factor and group factor showed that the amplitudes of the qigong group after training were smaller than before(P<.001),and the amplitudes of the control group were not statistically significant(P?.355).Conclusion:Our results supported the conclusion that qigong practices could affect the emotional regulation of college students.Qigong exercise weakens the emotional regulation of late positive potential,which is sensitive to top-down affective modulation.The findings imply that the regulating effect of qigong on emotions may be part of the reason why it is effective in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms.

Electroencephalographic coherences during emotion identification task

Coherence, a measure of spectral similarity, may estimate cortical coupling between two EEG signals as a function of frequency. The coherence between EEG signals from different brain areas depends on the structural connection and functional coupling between two regions. The theory of hemispheric specialization proposes left hemisphere activation to positive emotions and right one to negative emotions. Other proposal is that right hemisphere activation occurs with emotional stimuli. In the present study EEG coherences were calculated during the presentation of the International Affective Pictures to 36 healthy male university students. The subjects’ task was to determine the valence of the stimuli. Base line recording were done with subjects observing the blank monitor. Our results showed higher coherences during the emotional condition. No differences between negative and positive emotions were obtained. Neutral pictures evoked the highest coherence values. These data suggest that coherences between functionally coupled brain areas do not reflect emotional recognition of the valence of stimuli, but they are internal indicators of different mental processes such as memory, mental effort and arousal. Our findings do not support the theory of hemispheric specialization, neither the theory of right hemisphere;rather they suggest a complex activation pattern that involves mostly frontal areas in connection with the entire cortex.