Evidence suggests that a distinction between anxious
apprehension (worry) and anxious arousal (somatic anxiety)
might account for some discrepancies in the literature
examining brain activity in anxiety. In the current study,
we compared the regional brain activity of groups of anxious
apprehension and anxious arousal participants, selected
on the basis of self-report measures previously shown to
be psychometrically distinct from each other and from a
specific measure of depression. Patterns of hemispheric
asymmetry in electroencephalogram alpha distinguished the
two types of anxiety, with the anxious arousal group showing
more right than left activity. No significant asymmetry
was found for the anxious apprehension group. The results
provide further support for contrasting patterns of brain
activity in distinct types of anxiety. Research is needed
to specify further the topography and functional significance
of this distinction.