UDC

612.821+616.89

Authors

Nekhoroshkova Aleksandra Nikolaevna, Institute of Medical and Biological Research, Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russia) 

Abstract

The article studied peculiarities of distribution of DC potential level in children with high level of anxiety. These characteristics can be objective psychophysiological markers of child anxiety. The study involved 105 children aged 8–10 years with normal (65 persons) and high (40 persons) levels of anxiety from comprehensive schools of Arkhangelsk city. The results indicate peculiarities of cerebral energy processes in children with high level of anxiety that can possibly be associated with greatly increased activity of the modulating system of the brain. The summary measures of DC potential level in anxious children are significantly higher than those in their peers with normal levels of anxiety. This rise is due to increased values of potentials in each of the recorded areas of the brain. The greatest increase in DC potential level was observed in the frontal and left temporal areas of the brain, which is caused by the active influence of anxiety in primary school age on the functional systems providing voluntary regulation of mental processes. In children with high level of anxiety we saw a violated principle of dome-shaped energy distribution: peak values of DC potential level were identified in the occipital lead, while there is practically no difference in energy expenditure between the central and occipital leads of the brain. Apparently, the distribution shift of DC potential level to the occipital area can be associated with increased functional activity of non-specific reticulo-limbic-cortical neural connections at high levels of anxiety.

Keywords

children with high level of anxiety, distribution of DC potential level, energy state of the brain.

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