Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34611294›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

Right frontal anxiolytic-sensitive EEG 'theta' rhythm in the stop-signal task is a theory-based anxiety disorder biomarker.

Shabah M Shadli, Lynne C Ando, Julia McIntosh, Veema Lodhia, Bruce R Russell, Ian J Kirk, Paul Glue, Neil McNaughton

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Sleep disorder increases risk of psychiatric disorder in burn survivors.Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries · 2025
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  4. Article
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  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Rhythmic activity in resting-state EEG predicts trait anxiety.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shabah M ShadliDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-3607-3469
Lynne C AndoDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.
Julia McIntoshDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.
Veema LodhiaDepartment of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-3205-9811
Bruce R RussellSchool of Pharmacy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0001-6935-1974
Ian J KirkDepartment of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-0444-6718
Paul GlueDepartment of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-7305-2800
Neil McNaughtonDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand. neil.mcnaughton@otago.ac.nz.ORCID 0000-0003-4348-8221

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Psychiatric diagnoses currently rely on a patient's presenting symptoms or signs, lacking much-needed theory-based biomarkers. Our neuropsychological theory of anxiety, recently supported by human imaging, is founded on a longstanding, reliable, rodent 'theta' brain rhythm model of human clinical anxiolytic drug action. We have now developed a human scalp EEG homolog-goal-conflict-specific rhythmicity (GCSR), i.e., EEG rhythmicity specific to a balanced conflict between goals (e.g., approach-avoidance). Critically, GCSR is consistently reduced by different classes of anxiolytic drug and correlates with clinically-relevant trait anxiety scores (STAI-T). Here we show elevated GCSR in student volunteers divided, after testing, on their STAI-T scores into low, medium, and high (typical of clinical anxiety) groups. We then tested anxiety disorder patients (meeting diagnostic criteria) and similar controls recruited separately from the community. The patient group had higher average GCSR than their controls-with a mixture of high and low GCSR that varied with, but cut across, conventional disorder diagnosis. Consequently, GCSR scores should provide the first theoretically-based biomarker that could help diagnose, and so redefine, a psychiatric disorder.

Indexed as

BiomarkersElectroencephalographyTheta RhythmAgedAnalysis of VarianceAnti-Anxiety AgentsAnxiety DisordersConflict, PsychologicalDisease SusceptibilityFemaleFrontal LobeHumansMaleMiddle AgedSeverity of Illness IndexAnti-Anxiety AgentsBiomarkers

Identifiers

PMID34611294
PMCPMC8492763

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.