PSYC329 2024 Lab Report Handout

University of Wollongong
School of Psychology
PSYC329 Lab Report Handout 2024
Is the relationship between arousal and EEG alpha activity mediated by personality?
Due date: 29th September 2024 by 11:59 pm (Sunday at end of Week 10).
Word limit: 1500 words.
Marking criteria: See subject outline.
Questions: Post on PSYC329 Moodle Lab Report discussion board.
Introduction
CNS arousal (as measured via skin conductance level, or SCL) and EEG alpha power show an inverse relationship, i.e.
as arousal/SCL increases alpha power decreases (e.g., Barry et al. 2004, 2005). This effect is usually examined as a
group mean, with individual differences not considered. Here, one individual difference will be considered –
extraversion as derived from the International Personality Item Pool.
To explain individual differences in personality or temperament, Eysenck proposed the PEN model and Gray
attempted to reformulate Eysenck's theory. In the PEN model, personality is comprised of three major dimensions:
extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. These descriptive dimensions have psychophysiological roots in which
cortical arousal causes extraversion, visceral brain activation causes neuroticism, and gonadal hormones and enzymes
cause psychoticism.
According to the arousal theory, Eysenck (1990) provides a biological explanation of extraversion in terms of cortical
arousal via the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS). Activity in the ARAS stimulates the cerebral cortex,
which, in turn, leads to higher cortical arousal. Cortical arousal can be measured by skin conductance, EEG, or
sweating (Eysenck, 1990). Because of the different levels of ARAS activity, "introverts are characterized by higher
levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts" (Eysenck & Eysenck,
1985, p. 197). Recent empirical evidence supports that extraverts are chronically under-aroused as measured by EEG
(Jawinski et al., 2021). Here we seek to examine the arousal/SCL and alpha activity relationship in groups of adults
high and low in extraversion.
Hypotheses
1. Across groups, there will be an inverse relationship between arousal and global alpha power.
2. The high E and low E groups will show differences in arousal level, and alpha power.
3. There will be an inverse relationship between arousal and alpha power for the high E group.
4. There will be an inverse relationship between arousal and alpha power for the low E group.
Method
Participants
Thirty six participants (24 female, m = 24.0 years, range 20-59 years) took part in this study. Participation was
required to partially fulfil course requirements.
Materials
Participants completed the General Health Questionnaire, the Connors adult ADHD rating Scale, the International
Personality Item Pool, and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale.
Procedure
Each participant completed a demographic and screening questionnaire. An electro-cap with 129 electrodes
referenced to linked ears and grounded by the cap electrode was fitted. vEOG and hEOG were also recorded using tin
cup electrodes placed 2 cm above and below the left eye, outer canthi of left and right eyes. Impedance was below
five kΩ for cap/EOG electrodes and three kΩ for ear electrodes. The raw EEG signals were amplified (EEG x 20,000,
EOG x 5,000) with a bandpass of 0-30 Hz and sampled by a 16-bit A/D converter with a sampling rate of 512 Hz.
SCL was recorded using Ag/AgCl disk electrodes taped on the ventral surfaces of the medial phalanges of digits II and
III of the non-dominant hand. An electrolyte of 0.05 M NaCl in an inert ointment base was used, and a constant
voltage of 0.5 V was applied across the electrode pair
A 2-minute eyes-closed baseline period was recorded before and after the tasks. EEG and SCL from the first 2-minute
eyes-closed baseline period was examined for current study. While participants completed additional measures, only
the E scale from the International Personality Item Pool will be examined for the current study. Extraversion scores
ranged from 17 to 45 (m = 33). Thirty-six participants were selected for the subsequent analysis, based on whether
they scored high E (18 participants: range 38 – 45) or low E (18 participants: range 17-26) on the extraversion scale.
Data extraction and analysis
EEG and SCL data were recorded using AMLAB. The EEG data were divided into 2 s epochs, with all epochs containing
artifacts rejected. Participants contributed an average of 45.5 artifact-free epochs (SD = 10.5, minimum = 15). For
each participant average power spectra were calculated using FFTs with a 10 % Welch window. At each electrode,
absolute power in the delta (1.5–3.5 Hz), theta (4-7.5 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz) and beta (13.5-25 Hz) bands were
calculated, as was the weighted mean alpha frequency. Only mean (over all sites: Fz, F3, F4, F7, F8, Cz, C3, C4, T3, T4,
T5, T6, Pz, P3, P4, O1 and O2) alpha power will be examined for this report. Mean SCL was calculated for the same 2-
minute period as the EEG. All data was then input to an SPSS data file.
Statistical analysis involved (1) a Pearson correlation between SCL and alpha power over groups, (2) a between groups
(High E, Low E) ANOVA on SCL and alpha power, and (3) Pearson correlations between SCL and alpha power for the
high E and low E groups separately.
Data analysis tips
To complete the data analysis, you will need to download the SPSS data (PSYC329 2024 data.sav) and SPSS syntax
(PSYC329 2024 analysis.sps) files from Moodle lab report folder.
• Open the data file in SPSS. Open the syntax file. Choose RUN ALL from the menu. The analyses will run. All
of the analyses you need to carry out are provided in the syntax file.
o For the first analysis, a correlation was obtained between arousal (SCL) and alpha power over
groups.
o For the second analysis, a between groups (High E, Low E) ANOVA was conducted for arousal level
and alpha power separately.
o For the third analysis, correlations were obtained between arousal (SCL) and alpha power for the
high E and low E groups separately.
• Your results section should include some illustrations of your results. Below is a figure showing the
relationship between arousal and alpha power over both groups.
• The data is provided in an excel sheet to enable you to illustrate other findings of interest.
References
Barry, R.J., Rushby, J.A., Wallace, M., Clarke, A.R., Johnstone, S.J., & Zlojutro, I. (2005). Caffeine effects on resting state
arousal. Clinical Neurophysiology, 116, 2693-2700. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2005.08.008
Barry, R.J., Clarke, A.R., McCarthy, R., Selikowitz, M., Rushby, J.A. & Ploskova, E. (2004). EEG differences in children as
a function of resting-state arousal level. Clinical Neurophysiology, 115, 402-408. doi: 10.1016/s1388-2457(03)00343-
2.
Jawinski, P., Markett, S., Sander, C., Huang, J., Ulke, C., Hegerl, U., Hensch, T. (2021). The big five personality traits and
brain arousal in the resting state. Brain Sciences, 11(10) 1272. doi: 10.3390/brainsci11101272
Monte, C.F. (1995). Beneath the mask: An introduction to theories of personality (5th ed.) Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt
Brace. (Chapter 16).
Notes:
1. There are many references for Eysenck’s theory - Monte is suggested as a starting point.
2. As we used the international personality item pool to derive extraversion scores, the questionnaire has also been
included. Further information about this test may be found at http://ipip.ori.org/ipip/.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
The contents of this lab-report handout are intended as a general guide to your lab report, and under no
circumstances should any text or number be referenced, quoted, or copied in the body of your lab report, unless
clearly specified below:
From this handout, you may only use the (a) hypotheses, and (b) the Method section. You may also use the figure
provided in the excel file but are expected to make improvements (i.e. APA formatting) and provide others yourself.

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Data extraction and analysis

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