Behavioural approach system as a moderator of emotional arousal elicited by reward and punishment cues

A hypothesis was tested which predicts that individuals with high activity of Behavioural Approach System (BAS), as compared to individuals with low BAS activity, must experience higher emotional arousal in a reward and lower arousal in a punishment situation; the emotional arousal should reveal itself in increase of theta and high frequency oscillations (HFO) in cortical EEG and in increased coupling of these rhythms. Thirty-nine subjects were divided into two groups. One group was presented with reward, another one with punishment cues. The subjects also filled out the Carver and White’s BIS/BAS scales. In high Drive scorers, as compared to low Drive scorers, the increase of theta and HFO in the frontal cortical area was higher in the reward and lower in the punishment situation. Increase of theta–gamma coupling was shown in low Drive subjects in the punishment and in high Drive subjects in the reward situation.