Correlations between the level of aggressiveness of personality and characteristics of event-related EEG potentials

In a group of 76 adults of both sexes, we examined interrelations between the level of aggressiveness of the individual (diagnosed using the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory) and parameters of event-related EEG potentials (ERPs) recorded under conditions of two behavioral test acts including a motor component. Within the framework of task A, the subject must push a button with the shortest delay after an executory signal preceded by a warning signal; the time of sensorimotor reaction was measured. Under these conditions, we recorded the contingent negative variayion (CNV) and the P300 potential. In the case of task B, it was necessary to measure a definite time interval limited by two pushings of the button. Under these conditions, the readiness potential (RP) was recorded in addition to the CNV and P300. The C3 and C4 leads were used (according to the 10–20 system); the time constant of an amplification tract was 10 sec. Despite natural broad interindividual variability, high amplitudes of the recorded ERPs (RP, CNV, and P300) in general corresponded to lower indices by scales of the Buss-Durkee inventory and smaller values of the indices of aggressiveness and hostility. These interrelations are, probably, based on the fact that both characteristics of aggressiveness of the personality and EEG amplitude parameters are to a considerable extent determined by hereditary factors. It is believed that the respective peculiarities of the neurodynamic constitution of the individual are to a great extent dependent on the specificities of organization and functioning of a few neurotransmitter (in particular, aminergic) and neurohumoral systems. Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 154–164, March–April, 2007.