University students often face high emotional and cognitive demands, highlighting the need for effective strategies to regulate anxiety and emotional reactivity. Bilateral stimulation (BLS) is a technique that alternately activates brain hemispheres through rhythmic sensory stimuli. It is hypothesized to reduce emotional reactivity by weakening fear memory traces and promoting cognitive integration of emotional experiences. The Late Positive Potential (LPP) is an event-related potential (ERP) sensitive to emotional dysregulation. This makes the LPP a suitable index to assess BLS-induced emotion processing modulation. This study examined whether alternating BLS alone could modulate emotional reactivity and state anxiety, as reflected by changes in LPP amplitude in response to negative stimuli.
Thirty university students were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. EEG was recorded in two sessions (T0 and T1) during a visuomotor Emotional Simple Response Task (E-SRT) to assess the LPP evoked by negative and neutral stimuli. Between recordings, the experimental group received bimodal (visual-tactile) alternating BLS, while the control group received bimodal simultaneous BLS. State anxiety (STAI-Y1) and emotional impact of the negative stimuli (0-100 Visual Analog Scale, VAS) were measured at both time points. Results showed a centro-parietal LPP decreased from T0 to T1 in the experimental group only. Behavioral responses in E-SRT, state anxiety and VAS scores showed no significant changes. The attenuation of the LPP may reflect decreased emotional reactivity, supporting a desensitizing effect even without conscious changes in perceived anxiety and emotional impact. These findings suggest that alternating BLS may enhance students’ psychological well-being.

Authors:
Sabrina Pitzalis, University of Rome, Italy
Camilla Panacci, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Italy
Luca Boccacci, University of Rome, Italy
Margherita Filosa, University of Rome, Italy
Raffaele Costanzo, University of Rome, Italy
Andrea Casella, University of Rome, Italy
BiancaMaria Di Bello, University of Rome, Italy
Francesco Di Russo, University of Rome, Italy

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Sabrina Pitzalis is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Rome ‘‘Foro Italico’’ (Italy)

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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