Stronger connectivity and higher extraversion protect against stress-related deterioration of cognitive functions

Jacek Rogala,Marek Waligóra,Agnieszka Pluta,Urszula Malinowska,Ingrida Antonova,Joanna Dreszer,Andrzej Wróbel

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-96718-5

Abstract

Here we attempted to define the relationship between: EEG activity, personality and coping during lockdown. We were in a unique situation since the COVID-19 outbreak interrupted our independent longitudinal study. We already collected a significant amount of data before lockdown. During lockdown, a subgroup of participants willingly continued their engagement in the study. These circumstances provided us with an opportunity to examine the relationship between personality/cognition and brain rhythms in individuals who continued their engagement during lockdown compared to control data collected well before pandemic. The testing consisted of a one-time assessment of personality dimensions and two sessions of EEG recording and deductive reasoning task. Participants were divided into groups based on the time they completed the second session: before or during the COVID-19 outbreak ‘Pre-pandemic Controls’ and ‘Pandemics’, respectively. The Pandemics were characterized by a higher extraversion and stronger connectivity, compared to Pre-pandemic Controls. Furthermore, the Pandemics improved their cognitive performance under long-term stress as compared to the Pre-Pandemic Controls matched for personality traits to the Pandemics. The Pandemics were also characterized by increased EEG connectivity during lockdown. We posit that stronger EEG connectivity and higher extraversion could act as a defense mechanism against stress-related deterioration of cognitive functions.

Highlights

We attempted to define the relationship between: EEG activity, personality and coping during lockdown
We found that Pandemics were characterized by higher intensity of extraversion and stronger EEG connectivity and stable results of cognitive task during lockdown
These groups did not differ on fear of COVID-19, and subjective evaluation of the perceived threat between the groups could not account for the difference we observed

Summary

Introduction

We attempted to define the relationship between: EEG activity, personality and coping during lockdown. A subgroup of participants willingly continued their engagement in the study These circumstances provided us with an opportunity to examine the relationship between personality/ cognition and brain rhythms in individuals who continued their engagement during lockdown compared to control data collected well before pandemic. Dynamic responses of resting-state networks affect memory p erformance[10,11] and visual a ttention[12,13,14] Both memory and attention influence adherence to COVID-19 pandemic r egulations[15] and vulnerability to stress[16,17], a finding which could be related back to individual variations in brain connectivity. This unique set of circumstances provided us with an opportunity to examine the relationship between personality/cognition and associated brain rhythms in individuals who continued their engagement during lockdown compared to control data collected well before pandemic

Methods

Results

Conclusion