basis (kawaii as emotion) and cultural determinants (kawaii asvalue). According to this model, kawaii is an expression of a positiveemotion associated with social motivation for protecting andnurturing others, which originally stems from affection towardbabies. This biological trait has been valued and amplified byJapanese cultural traditions. In the present study, to elucidate thebiological basis of kawaii, we measured electroencephalographic(EEG) and facial electromyographic (EMG) activities in response topictures characterized as kawaii, pleasant but not kawaii, andemotionally neutral.

Sixteen university students (8 men and 8 women) viewed 10kawaii pictures (human and animal babies), 10 pleasant but notkawaii pictures (foods, landscapes, and happy scenes with adults),and emotionally neutral pictures (daily objects), which werepresented in a random order for 6 seconds each. These pictures wereselected from the International Affective Picture System and similarimages from the Internet from a pilot study. As the participantsviewed the pictures, EEG was recorded at 19 scalp sites and facialEMGs were recorded over zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii.After each presentation, participants rated the cuteness, valence, andarousal properties of the pictures. At the end of the experiment,participants were allowed to look at each picture again for as long asthey wished. The viewing duration of each picture was measured.EEG power spectra were computed by the fast Fourier transform.EMG signals were rectified and averaged across the 6-s presentationperiod.

Results showed that the kawaii pictures elicited a higher EMGactivity over zygomaticus major than the pleasant and neutralpictures. Moreover, the delta-band power of the EEG tended todecrease while the participants were looking at the kawaii pictures.At the free-viewing session, the participants viewed the kawaiipictures for longer periods of time than they viewed the pleasantand neutral pictures. This effect was found even after the meanvalence scores were matched between the kawaii and the pleasantpictures.

The findings suggest that kawaii is based on a positive emotioncharacterized by smiling and approach behavior. The EEG result isunexpected, but the association between EEG delta-band power andemotional responses has been reported in a recent study on music-induced emotions. The present study implies that kawaii is anexpression of a distinct emotion that is functionally different fromother positive emotions.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.107

Interrelationships of baseline EEG, personality, and emotionalcardiovascular reactivity

N.V. Reva, S.V. Pavlov, V.V. Korenyok, L.I. AftanasResearch Institute of Physiology SB RAMS, Psychophysiology Laboratory,Novosibirsk, Russia

An individual's tendency to show exaggerated or otherwisedysregulated cardiovascular reactions to acute stressors has longbeen associated with increased risk for clinical and preclinicalendpoints of coronary heart disease. However, the ‘brain-body’pathways that link stressor-evoked cardiovascular reactions todisease risk remain uncertain. Thereupon, an investigation wascarried out to scan the interactions among baseline EEG, emotionalcardiovascular reactivity (CVR) and personality. The prerequisites forthis idea were as follows: a) there are personality traits of emotionalreactivity linked to the CVR; b) brain oscillations as indexed by EEGrepresent important correlates of human information processing andcognition; c) baseline EEG represent highly heritable traits and are

associated with personality; d) our previous findings (Reva et al., Int.J.Psychophysiol., 2008, 69(3), p.201) that individuals with high bloodpressure emotional reactivity had lower amplitude baseline EEG inthe low and middle frequency range than those with low bloodpressure reactivity.

In this research the individual measure of CVR was defined aschanges in mean blood pressure (Finometer's “beat-by-beat” tech-nology) during emotional imagery of personally relevant events in 49healthy male volunteers (age: M=27.24, SD=8.12). Baseline EEGpower spectrum values were obtained for both eyes closed and eyesopen conditions in the delta (2–4 Hz), theta-1 (4–6 Hz), theta-2 (6–8 Hz), alpha-1 (8–10 Hz), alpha-2 (10–12 Hz), alpha-3 (12–14 Hz),beta-1 (14–20 Hz), beta-2 (20–30 Hz) and gamma (30–45 Hz) bands.The following personality questionnaires were used: STAI, STAXI, BDI,TAS-26, EPQ, CM, PANAS-trait, BAS/BIS. Both CVR and resting EEGspectrum values were used to classify subjects. The three formedgroups yielded the following peculiarities: 1) Ss with low CVR andhigh EEG broad band power exhibited no psychometrical signs ofnegative emotionality; 2) Ss with high CVR and low EEG hadenhanced anger expression scores; 3) Ss with both low CVR and EEGpower showed enhanced anger expression, trait anxiety, depression,alexithymia, PANAS trait negative affectivity, introversion, anddecreased BAS/BIS ratio; additionally, the quality of emotionalimagery as indexed by subjective reports was also impaired,conforming with enhanced alexithymia scores.

The findings are discussed in the light of brain “hardware” and“software” origins of individual variability in emotional reactivity,manifested at psychological and physiological levels. It is suggestedthat measuring individual facets of “brain–body” interface as indexedby, for example, combining baseline EEG and CVR to personallyrelevant emotionally negative and positive stimuli, may be useful inrevealing individuals high at risk for development of CV diseases.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.108

Anger in the motivational context of states of control andno control

Elena Spiridon, Stephen FaircloughLiverpool John Moores University, School of Natural Science andPsychology, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The experience of an emotion incorporates cognitive, motiva-tional and affective dimensions (Matthews et al., 2002). Researchfrom asymmetrical brain activity (Harmon-Jones, 2004) supports amotivational model of emotion, in that a negative emotion (anger)can be experienced with approach or avoidance. However, cardio-vascular research (Stemmler et al., 2007) links anger to approachmotivation (SAM activity) and fear to avoidance motivation (PACresponse). But approach/avoidance motivation could be triggeredby a perceived degree of control over the task. The aim of the studywas to identify psychophysiological markers of anger in combina-tion with levels of control during an ecologically valid laboratorytask.

Twenty right-handed male participants (age: 25.51±7.46 years)matched in their trait anger performed two driving simulation tasks:one of high anger with time pressure, financial punishments, andobstacles with different stages of control (fog) and no control (trafficjams 1 and 2) and one of low anger. Psychophysiological variables(blood pressure (BP), heart rate, cardiac output, corrugator activityand frontal electroencephalography (EEG) asymmetry) and subjec-tive data were obtained. EEG data were converted to a linked-earsreference montage and analyzed via Fast Fourier Transformer at 2 sintervals. Mean power-amplitude was obtained for the alpha band (at8.2–12.9 Hz).

269Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 77 (2010) 239–287

Self-report measures indicated that anger and control manipula-tion were successful (ps<.01). There was a significant effect ofsystolic BP (F(4,72)=13.20, p<.001) with an increase in the highanger conditions compared to baseline (ps<.02) and to low anger(ps<.02). Corrugator activity was significantly different betweenconditions (F(4,156)=5.94, p<.01) with a significant increase inEMG activity in the anger/no control scenario (traffic jam 2; ps<.03).A significant decrease in alpha power at the F4-F3 site (F(5, 195)=3.03; p<.05) indicated an avoidance motivation for anger/no controlscenarios. Cardiovascular impedance measures were not sensitive tothe experimental conditions

Anger in combination with the perception of no control wasindexed by increased corrugator muscle activity, higher systolicBP, and an avoidance motivation, suggesting that emotion andmotivation interact with each other to intensify psychophysiologicalreactions.

References

Harmon-Jones, E., 2004. Contributions from research on anger and cognitive dissonanceto understanding the motivational functions of asymmetrical frontal brain activityBio-logical Psychology 67, 51–76.Matthews, G., Campbell, S.E., Falconer, S., Joyner, L.A., Huggins, J., Gilliland, K., et al.,2002. Fundamental dimensions of subjective state in performance settings: taskengagement, distress and worry. Emotion 24, 315–340.Stemmler, G., Aue, T., Wacker, J., 2007. Anger and fear: Separable effects of emotion andmotivational direction on somatovisceral responses. International Journal of Psycho-physiology 66, 141–153.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.109

Neuroticism and cardiovascular activity before and during mentalstress: Sex differences

Zlatislav Stoyanov, Piareta Nikolova, Emilia StanchevaDepartment of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Medical University“Prof. Paraskev Stoyanov”, Varna, Bulgaria

Background. Various personality traits are thought to have aninfluence on cardiovascular activity and cardiovascular responseto stress. Some of the existing data indicate that, in men, neuro-ticism (N) negatively correlates with cardiovascular reactivity tomental stress, i.e. higher N is associated with lower reactivity. It isnot clear, however, whether this association is valid for both sexes.The aim of the present study was to examine the correlationbetween N and two indices of cardiovascular activity (heart rateand vascular tone) in men and women before and during mentalload.

Methods. Sixteen men and 16 women aged between 20 and 22years were studied. The Eysenck Personality Inventory (ЕРI) was usedfor assessment of N. By means of infrared photoplethismographic(PPG) probe, the volume changes of peripheral blood flow wererecorded at rest before mental load and during mental stress. Themental challengewas a combination ofmemoryandmental arithmetictasks. Heart rate (HR, in beats per minute — b.p.m.) was calculatedfrom the interbeat interval, measured as time (in ms) between thebeginning of one PPG-complex and the beginning of the next PPG-complex. The levels of vascular tone were judged by values of thephotoplethismographic indicator “module of elasticity” (ME, inrelative units) — “a/Т”, where “a” is the duration (in ms) of theascending part of the PPG-wave, and “T” is the duration (in ms) of thewhole PPG-complex. HigherME indicates higher tonic tension of bloodvessels.

Results. At mental rest, in both sexes HR was within the limits ofphysiological norm: 75.1±7.9 b.p.m. in males and 74.6±8.9 b.p.m. infemales. In men only a significant negative correlation (r=–0.533,

p<0.05) was established between the levels of N and HR at rest.During mental stress HR increased significantly in both sexes: inmales up to 95.1±15.4 (t=4.615, p<0.0001) and in females up to95.1±23.0 (t=3.314, p<0.01). Neither HR during mental load norbaseline-to-task HR changes correlated significantly with N scores inboth sexes. At rest, МЕ had close values in men and women: 16.1±2.5 and 18.1±6.1 respectively (both valueswerewithin the norm— 13to 19 relative units). In women, only a significant positive correlation(r=0.621, p<0.05) was established between the levels of N and МЕat rest. During mental stress, the values of ME increased in bothsexes: significantly in males – 20.3±4.0 (t=3.561, p=0.001) andinsignificantly in females – 20.9±6.6 (t=1.215, p=0.234). MEduring mental load correlated positively with N, almost significantly inwomen (r=0.485, p=0.057). Baseline-to-task changes of ME did notcorrelate significantly with N scores in both sexes.

Conclusions. The obtained results confirmed that N has someeffect on the level of tension in cardiovascular regulatory mechanismsbefore and during mental stress. Our data indicated that therelationship between N and cardiovascular activity in stressfulconditions is sex-specific, presented in the different cardiovascularindices with different magnitude and direction in men and women.Further research is needed to clarify the causes of the established sex-related differences.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.110

Trait anxiety as a predictor of cardiovascular regulation duringpsychological stress

D.A. Dimitriev, E.V. SaperovaI. Y. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University, Cheboksary, Russia

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to investigatethe predictive characteristics of trait anxiety for heart rate variability(HRV) parameters during examination stress.

Methods: The sample consisted of 237 healthy female students(mean age 20.06±0.12 years). Personality features were assessed bySpielberger trait anxiety inventory. All subjectswere divided into threegroups: high level of anxiety — group 1; medium level of anxiety —

group 2 and low level of anxiety — group 3. HRV parameters wererecorded for 5min in a supine position. The students were examinedtwice: at rest and shortly before the real life stress, produced by thepreparation for a university examination. Statistical analysis wasperformed using ANOVA and correlation test (R).

Results: During the stress day, significant differences wereobserved in standard deviation of all normal RR intervals (SDNN),which reflects parasympathetic outflow to the heart, between group1 and group 3 (0.068±0.017 vs. 0.044±0.003; F=4.50; p=0.039).The square root of the mean squared differences of all normal RRcardio intervals (RMSSD), an indicator of parasympathetic activation,was significantly reduced in the group with high level of anxietycompared with the low level of anxiety group (0.066±0.026 vs.0.034±0.003; F=6.47; p=0.014). Significant differences wereobserved in the low-frequency component of the HRV spectrum(LF) between groups 1 and 3 (3302.33±1320.55 vs. 1177.09±167.59;F=8.72; p=0.005) and between groups 1 and 2 (3302.33±1320.55vs. 1555.97±167.03; F=4.93; p=0.030); and in the high-frequencycomponent of the HRV spectrum (HF), which reflects parasympa-thetic modulation of heart rate, between groups 1 and 3 (2380.67±1006.78 vs. 488.57±79.16; F=24.87; p=0.00001) and betweengroups 1 and 2 (2380.67±1006.78 vs. 791.58±127.46; F=7.01;p=0.010). At examination, trait anxiety scores were significantlycorrelated with SDNN (R=-0.249; p=0.009), LF (R=-0.279;p=0.004) and HF (R=-0.263; p=0.006).

270 Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 77 (2010) 239–287