Proneness to Hypomania/Mania Symptoms or Depression Symptoms and Asymmetrical Frontal Cortical Responses to an Anger-Evoking Event Eddie Harmon-Jones, Lyn Y. Abramson, Jonathan Sigelman, Amanda Bohlig, Michael E. Hogan, and Cindy Harmon-Jones University of Wisconsin—Madison The behavioral approach system (BAS) reflects the propensity to respond to signals of reward, including stimuli associated with safety and goal-oriented attack (e.g., anger). Hypomania/mania has been posited to involve increased BAS activity. In contrast, depression has been posited to involve decreased BAS activity. Building on past research, which suggests that increased left frontal cortical activity is a neurophysiological index of BAS activity, the present research tested the hypotheses that proneness toward hypomania/mania symptoms would be related to increased relative left frontal activity and that proneness toward depression symptoms would be related to decreased relative left frontal activity in response to an anger-evoking event. Results from 67 individuals who had completed a measure of proneness toward these affective symptoms and were exposed to an anger-evoking event supported the hypotheses. Prominent motivation theories share the assumption that two systems underlie much behavior. One system manages appetitive, incentive motivation and approach behavior. It has been called a behavioral activation system (Fowles, 1980, 1988), behavioral approach system (BAS; Gray, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1994a, 1994b), and behavioral facilitation system (Depue & Collins, 1999; Depue & Iacono, 1989; Depue, Krauss, & Spoont, 1987). The other system, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), inhibits ongoing behavior (Gray, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1994b). Gray’s (1982, 1987, 1994a, 1994b) theory has served as the basis for most of the other theories. Hence, we focus on it. Gray has posited that these fundamental motivation systems are present in the mammalian central nervous system and that each responds to separate classes of reinforcing events with particular types of behavior. Moreover, each is mediated by a separate set of inter- acting brain structures that process particular types of information. The BIS responds to conditioned stimuli associated with punish- ment, conditioned stimuli associated with the omission or termi- nation of reward (frustrative nonreward), and novel stimuli. It causes the interruption of ongoing behavior, increases arousal, which prepares the organism for the next behavior, and increases attention toward stimuli, which would increase information gain. The neural structures posited to be involved in the BIS are the septohippocampal system (composed of the septal area, entorhinal cortex, dentate gyrus, hippocampus, and subicular area), the pre- frontal cortex, and the monoaminergic pathways that ascend from the mesencephalon to innervate the septohippocampal system. The BAS is posited to respond to stimuli associated with reward and relieving nonpunishment (safety). It also responds to stimuli associated with skilled escape and predatory aggression. The neu- ral structures involved in the BAS are the basal ganglia (the dorsal and ventral striatum, and dorsal and ventral pallidum), the dopa- minergic fibers that ascend from the mesencephalon (substantia nigra and nucleus A 10 in the ventral tegmental area) to innvervate the basal ganglia, thalamic nuclei linked to the basal ganglia, and neocortical areas (motor, sensorimotor, and prefrontal cortex) linked to the basal ganglia. In addition to these two systems involving different neural substrates and exerting distinct influences on action, these motive systems are posited to be involved in the generation of emotions that are relevant to approach behavior and the inhibition of behav- ior. For example, the BAS has been posited to be involved in the generation of euphoria and anger (Depue & Iacono, 1989), whereas the BIS has been posited to be involved in the generation of anxiety (Gray, 1982). In addition, theories of psychopathology have posited that depression involves a hypoactive BAS (Fowles, 1988, 1993) and that mania/hypomania involves a hyperactive BAS (Depue & Iacono, 1989; Depue et al., 1987). BAS and Left Frontal Cortical Activity Recent research with humans has found that scores on a sub- jective measure of BAS sensitivity, Carver and White’s (1994) BIS–BAS scale, are associated with increased left frontal cortical activity during resting baseline (Harmon-Jones & Allen, 1997; Sutton & Davidson, 1997). These findings suggest that left frontal Eddie Harmon-Jones, Lyn Y. Abramson, Jonathan Sigelman, Amanda Bohlig, Michael E. Hogan, and Cindy Harmon-Jones, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin—Madison. This research was funded in part by Grants 1 R03 MH60747-01 and R-10 MH52662 from the National Institute of Mental Health awarded to Eddie Harmon-Jones and Lyn Y. Abramson and by a grant from the Wisconsin/Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fund awarded to Amanda Bohlig and Eddie Harmon-Jones. We gratefully acknowledge the technical and mechanical support provided by Dirk Wilker, Ziggy Bialzik, Andy Mulder, and Greg Kant. The experiment was run using the DMDX software developed at Monash University and at the University of Arizona by K. I. Forster and J. C. Forster. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eddie Harmon-Jones, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin— Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. E-mail: eharmonj@facstaff.wisc.edu Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2002, Vol. 82, No. 4, 610 – 618 0022-3514/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.4.610 610