• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.94-102
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• 2018

It is known that gamma-band activity (GBA) and phase synchrony (GBPS) are induced by emotional visual stimuli. However, the characteristics of GBA and GBPS according to different emotional states have not been identified. The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in gamma-band neuronal synchronization induced by positive and negative emotional visual stimuli using electroencephalograms (EEGs). Thirteen healthy male subjects have participated in the experiment. The induced spectral power in gamma-band was the highest for negative stimuli, and the lowest for neutral stimuli in 300-2,000 ms after the stimulus onset. The inter-regional phase synchronization in gamma-band was increased in 500-2,000 ms, mainly between the bilateral frontal regions and the parieto-occipital regions. Larger number of significant connections were found by negative stimuli compared to positive ones. Judging from temporal and spatial characteristics of the gamma-band activity and phase synchrony increases, the results may imply that affective visual stimuli cause stronger memory encoding than non-emotional stimuli, and this effect is more significant for negative emotional stimuli than positive ones.