Psychophysiological characteristics of burnout syndrome : resting-state EEG analysis

Introduction. The consequences of chronic work-related stress are related to various emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms. Occupational burnout as a complex syndrome is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and lower professional efficacy. Moreover, the growing amount of research on the neural correlates of burnout broadens the existing knowledge on the mechanisms underlying this syndrome. Aim of the Study. The aim of the study is to explore possible differences in brain activity between burnout and nonburnout employees. Frequency-specific EEG power analyses in a resting-state condition in burnout subjects and controls are presented. Materials and Methods. Burnout employees (N=46; 19 men) were matched with the control group (N=49; 19 men; mean age: 36.14 years, SD=7.89). The Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS) and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) scale were used to measure burnout symptoms and work conditions, respectively. A 256-channel EEG (EGI System 300) was used to collect psychophysiological data. A repeated measures ANOVA was performed with condition (eyes-open vs. eyes-closed) and region (6 levels: extracted scalp regions) factors; burnout (2 levels: burnout vs. no burnout) was the grouping factor. Results. A significant difference was observed only in the alpha frequency band: the burnout group revealed significantly lower alpha power in the eyes-open condition compared to the controls (p<0.05). The correlation analysis revealed that gender may significantly change the pattern of relations between EEG spectral characteristics and burnout symptoms. Conclusions. Reduced alpha power in burnout individuals suggests cortical hyperactivity and may be related to greater mental effort and the possible development of compensatory mechanisms by burnout subjects

I don't want to miss a thing : learning dynamics and effects of feedback type and monetary incentive in a paired associate deterministic learning task

Effective functioning in a complex environment requires adjusting of behavior according to changing situational demands. To do so, organisms must learn new, more adaptive behaviors by extracting the necessary information from externally provided feedback. Not surprisingly, feedback-guided learning has been extensively studied using multiple research paradigms. The purpose of the present study was to test the newly designed Paired Associate Deterministic Learning task (PADL), in which participants were presented with either positive or negative deterministic feedback. Moreover, we manipulated the level of motivation in the learning process by comparing blocks with strictly cognitive, informative feedback to blocks where participants were additionally motivated by anticipated monetary reward or loss. Our results proved the PADL to be a useful tool not only for studying the learning process in a deterministic environment, but also, due to the varying task conditions, for assessing differences in learning patterns. Particularly, we show that the learning process itself is influenced by manipulating both the type of feedback information and the motivational significance associated with the expected monetary reward

Cognitive impairments in occupational burnout : error processing and Its indices of reactive and proactive control

The presented study refers to cognitive aspects of burnout as the effects of long-term work-related stress. The purpose of the study was to investigate electrophysiological correlates of burnout to explain the mechanisms of the core burnout symptoms: exhaustion and depersonalization/cynicism. The analyzed errorrelated electrophysiological markers shed light on impaired cognitive mechanisms and the specific changes in information-processing in burnout. In the EEG study design (N=80), two components of error-related potential (ERP), error-related negativity (ERN), and error positivity (Pe), were analyzed. In the non-clinical burnout group (N=40), a significant increase in ERN amplitude and a decrease in Pe amplitude were observed compared to controls (N D 40). Enhanced error detection, indexed by increased ERN amplitude, and diminished response monitoring, indexed by decreased Pe amplitude, reveal emerging cognitive problems in the non-clinical burnout group. Cognitive impairments in burnout subjects relate to both reactive and unconscious (ERN) and proactive and conscious (Pe) aspects of error processing. The results indicate a stronger ‘reactive control mode’ that can deplete resources for proactive control and the ability to actively maintain goals. The analysis refers to error processing and specific task demands, thus should not be extended to cognitive processes in general. The characteristics of ERP patterns in burnout resemble psychophysiological indexes of anxiety (increased ERN) and depressive symptoms (decreased Pe), showing to some extent an overlapping effect of burnout and related symptoms and disorders. The results support the scarce existing data on the psychobiological nature of burnout, while extending and specifying its cognitive characteristics

Occupational burnout and its overlapping effect with depression and anxiety

Objectives: The problem of defining burnout concerns its overlapping effect with other syndromes and disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, some individual characteristics influence susceptibility to burnout (e.g., neuroticism). Therefore, the question arises whether burnout is or is not a distinct syndrome. The aim of the study is to compare 2 distinct burnout measures by analyzing their connections with organizational and individual variables. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in the Institute of Applied Psychology at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland on a group of employees (N = 100; 40 men; mean age 36.03 years). All participants completed 2 burnout scales: the "Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey" (MBI-GS) and the "Link Burnout Questionnaire" (LBQ). Organizational and individual factors were controlled with "Areas of Worklife Survey, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, NEO Five-Factor Inventory and Beck's Depression Inventory" scales. A structural equation path model was created to quantify the relations between organizational factors and burnout, as well as to control the individual factors of anxiety, neuroticism and depression. Results: The results indicate high compatibility between MBI-GS and LBQ on burnout diagnosis. The MBI-GS and LBQ revealed stronger connections with organizational context and individual characteristics, respectively. Depression explains dimensions of exhaustion (MBI-GS, LBQ), sense of disillusion (LBQ), neuroticism-exhaustion (MBI-GS); anxiety explains sense of professional inefficacy (LBQ). Conclusions: Besides organizational variables, individual characteristics also play an important role in explaining burnout syndrome. Exploring the 2 burnout models has revealed that depression is an important determinant of exhaustion. Cynicism and relationship deterioration have consistently been explained only by organizational context

THE INFLUENCE OF SUBLIMINAL AFFECTIVE PRIMING ON THE AMPLITUDE OF THE ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY.

Przeprowadzone badanie miało na celu weryfikację czy natężenie zaindukowanego negatywnego afektu wpływa na wielkość amplitudy error-related negativity (ERN), który jest potencjałem zdarzeniowym, pojawiającym się w zapisie EEG po popełnieniu błędu w wykonywanym zadaniu. W trakcie procedury eksperymentalnej, osoby badane wykonywały Eriksen flanker task, który został podzielny na trzy bloki, w których poszczególny bodźce poprzedzone były prezentowanymi podprogowo prymami, wyświetlanymi na ekranie komputera przez 16 ms. Prymy przedstawiały neutralne obiekty, obiekty nacechowane negatywnie oraz twarze wyrażające negatywne emocje. Zostały postawione dwie hipotezy badawcze: pierwsza zakładała, iż amplituda ERN będzie zwiększona w bloku z prymami przedstawiającymi twarzy wyrażające negatywne emocje w porównaniu z blokiem w którym prymy przedstawiały neutralne obiekty, natomiast druga hipoteza badawcza zakładała iż amplituda ERN będzie wyższa w bloku z prymami przedstawiającymi twarze wyrażające negatywne emocje z porównaniu do bloku w którym prymami były obiekty nacechowane negatywnie.Analiza uzyskanych wyników pozwoliła na potwierdzenie obydwóch hipotez badawczych, wskazując iż ERN jest potencjałem zdarzeniowym wrażliwym na natężenie modulacji emocjonalnej. Uzyskane wyniki pozostają w zgodzie z badaniami nad lękiem, które wskazują iż osoby o wysokim poziomie lękowości generują ERN mający wyższą amplitudę w porównaniu z osobami cechującymi się niskim poziomem lęku.The current study examined whether the magnitude of induced negative affect modulates the amplitude of error-related negativity (ERN). ERN is a response-locked event-related brain potential, appearing on the EEG after committing an error in performance. In the course of the study participants were presented with an Eriksen flanker task, divided into three blocks, in which single stimuli were preceded by subliminal primes, appearing on the computer screen for 16 ms. Primes were either neutral pictures, pictures with negative valence, or negative facial expressions. Two research hypotheses were made: first, that the amplitude of the ERN is enhanced in blocks primed with negative facial expressions compared to those primed with neutral picture; and the second, that the amplitude of ERN is enhanced in blocks primed with negative facial expressions compared to negatively valenced scenes. The analysis of the obtained results proved both hypotheses, demonstrating that the amplitude of the ERN is modulated by the magnitude of experienced negative affect. These results are in line with research upon anxiety, showing that highly anxious patients generate an ERN of higher amplitude compared to participants with low anxiety trait

Evidence for specificity of the impact of punishment on error-related brain activity in high versus low trait anxious individuals

A previous study suggests that when participants were punished with a loud noise after committing errors, the error-related negativity (ERN) was enhanced in high trait anxious individuals. The current study sought to extend these findings by examining the ERN in conditions when punishment was related and unrelated to error commission as a function of individual differences in trait anxiety symptoms; further, the current study utilized an electric shock as an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Results confirmed that the ERN was increased when errors were punished among high trait anxious individuals compared to low anxious individuals; this effect was not observed when punishment was unrelated to errors. Findings suggest that the threat-value of errors may underlie the association between certain anxious traits and punishment-related increases in the ERN