In the anticipation of threat: Neural regulatory activity indicated by delta-beta correlation and its relation to anxiety

The anticipation of oncoming threats is emotionally challenging and related to anxiety. The current study aimed to investigate the neural regulatory processes during the anticipatory preparations in stressful situations in relation to trait anxiety, especially in an uncertainty-related stressful situation. To this end, we measured within-subjects delta-beta amplitude-amplitude correlation (AAC) and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) with electroencephalography using a well-defined stress-inducing paradigm in 28 high-trait-anxiety (HTA) and 29 low-trait-anxiety (LTA) college students. Specifically, a threat probability task was conducted, where participants anticipated the future stimuli under the uncertain (i.e., an average of 50% electric shocks), certain (i.e., 100% electric shocks) and no threat conditions, as well as a resting state task. Results showed a generally larger delta-beta AAC in the LTA group relative to the HTA group across conditions, supporting the hypothesis that delta-beta AAC reflects the efficiency of stress regulation and trait anxiety could compromise this adaptive regulatory activity. Furthermore, a larger delta-beta PAC was found under the uncertain threat condition relative to the no threat condition, indicating the sensitivity of delta-beta PAC in reflecting state anxiety. These findings indicate that while delta-beta AAC is more related to trait anxiety and could distinguish between high and low trait anxiety irrespective of conditions, delta-beta PAC is more related to state anxiety and is sensitive enough to detect the uncertainty-related anxious state.