Induction of emotional states by reading aloud texts with various emotional valences and changes in the EEG power in the β and γ frequency bands

The EEG power in the β 1 , β 2 , and γ frequency bands during reading according to the method of “self-regulatory utterance” was compared in subjects reading aloud emotionally neutral business texts related to an unknown field of activity, fiction texts with clear positive or negative valences or personally important autobiographic texts with similar emotional valences. Two groups of subjects participated in the study: students training to be actors ( N = 22) and students with other specializations ( N = 23). We observed higher values of the EEG power in the γ (30–40 Hz) and β 2 (18.5–29.5 Hz) frequency bands when comparing the states during reading of emotionally positive and emotionally negative fiction texts and personally important texts. These data are similar to our previous studies with the use of techniques that apply internal induction of positive or negative emotions without speech, in different groups of subjects. Internal induction of positive emotions was associated with an increase in the EEG power in these bands compared to the performance of an emotionally neutral task, whereas induction of negative emotions resulted in a decrease in the EEG power.