title: Psychophysiological correlates of coping and quality of life in patients with ALS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Self-regulation models of coping suggest that patients with chronic diseases reporting low quality of life (QoL), an indicator of failed coping efforts, should show facilitated access to disease related words. Here we investigated whether a reduced N400 amplitude within an incongruent, i.e. unpredictable disease-related context would be a correlate of this facilitated access.
  
  
  METHODS
  ERPs were recorded in N=18 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and N=20 age-matched healthy controls during reading of sentences, ending either with congruent or incongruent words. Incongruent and congruent words were disease related or disease unrelated. Mean N400 amplitudes were analyzed with mixed models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Generally, incongruent words elicited a more negative N400 amplitude than congruent words in all groups and conditions, i.e. an N400 effect. In patients with high QoL this N400 effect did not differ between disease related and unrelated words. In patients with low QoL, however, the N400 effect was significantly smaller for disease related than for disease unrelated words. In healthy controls N400 amplitudes showed no such interaction between congruence, disease relatedness and QoL. Results remained stable when controlling for disease severity, duration and depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The N400 indicates increased accessibility to disease related information in ALS patients with low QoL. The increased access may imply a constantly activated disease related context which is linked to low QoL.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  N400 modulation by disease related information may serve as a psychophysiological correlate of coping and the patient's QoL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address: ruben.real@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: R G L
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Real
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, German Sport University Cologne, 50933 Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kotchoubey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wessig
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Volkmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kübler
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011788:Quality of Life; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: ALS; Coping; EEG; N400; Quality of life