The relationship between appearance of frontal midline theta activity (Fmθ), concentration of attention and arousal level

The distinct than rhythm in the frontal midline area during performance of mental tasks has been called Fmθ. In the present study, the arousal level and the sonsentration of attention of the two groups were investigated by using averaged photopaipebral relax(PPR) and auditory evoled response (AER). The one was Fmθ appearance group which consisted of 12 male unibersity students who showed aooearance of Fmθ in 3 sonsesutive days, and the other was non-Fmθ appearance group which consisted of 12 subjects who failed to show any appearance of Fmθ over these 3 days. PPR and AER were recorded as the control in a relaxed condition, and then PPR during a mental arythmetic and AER during an arythmetic addition were recorded gor 5min, respectively. In the Fmθ appearance group, the latencies of PPR were shortended but the latencies of AER were prolonged by the mental tasks. In the non-Fmθ appearance group, those of PPR were prolonged but those of AER were shourtened. These results suggest that the appearance of Fmθ is closely related to an sttention mechanism or the arousal level of the subject.