THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF ASYMMETRIC CEREBRAL ACTIVATION

This study examined the psychological correlates of asymmetric cerebral activation as measured by electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings. Five content areas were investigated in the context of EEG asymmetry: hierarchical visual processing, creative potential, mood, personality, and EEG asymmetry, and the effect of a mood induction procedure on cognition and EEG asymmetry. Undergraduate participants completed two experimental sessions separated by two to three weeks. Participants completed a comprehensive set of emotion, personality, and creative potential measures, a cognitive task assessing individual differences in hierarchical visual processing. and a short form of the Rorschach inkblot test. Additionally. each participant underwent either a happy or a sad mood induction procedure to examine the effects of mood on verbal and spatial fluency tasks and EEG asymmetry. EEG was measured in frontal, central. and parietal locations. The primary findings regarding the psychometrics of EEG asymmetry suggested that a large proportion of participants show relatively stable EEG asymmetry across two to three weeks. The results failed to replicate previous research suggesting a relationshi