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Pierce JE, Thomasson M, Voruz P, Selosse G, Péron J. Explicit and Implicit Emotion Processing in the Cerebellum: A Meta-analysis and Systematic Review. CEREBELLUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2023; 22:852-864. [PMID: 35999332 PMCID: PMC10485090 DOI: 10.1007/s12311-022-01459-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The cerebellum's role in affective processing is increasingly recognized in the literature, but remains poorly understood, despite abundant clinical evidence for affective disruptions following cerebellar damage. To improve the characterization of emotion processing and investigate how attention allocation impacts this processing, we conducted a meta-analysis on task activation foci using GingerALE software. Eighty human neuroimaging studies of emotion including 2761 participants identified through Web of Science and ProQuest databases were analyzed collectively and then divided into two categories based on the focus of attention during the task: explicit or implicit emotion processing. The results examining the explicit emotion tasks identified clusters within the posterior cerebellar hemispheres (bilateral lobule VI/Crus I/II), the vermis, and left lobule V/VI that were likely to be activated across studies, while implicit tasks activated clusters including bilateral lobules VI/Crus I/II, right Crus II/lobule VIII, anterior lobule VI, and lobules I-IV/V. A direct comparison between these categories revealed five overlapping clusters in right lobules VI/Crus I/Crus II and left lobules V/VI/Crus I of the cerebellum common to both the explicit and implicit task contrasts. There were also three clusters activated significantly more for explicit emotion tasks compared to implicit tasks (right lobule VI, left lobule VI/vermis), and one cluster activated more for implicit than explicit tasks (left lobule VI). These findings support previous studies indicating affective processing activates both the lateral hemispheric lobules and the vermis of the cerebellum. The common and distinct activation of posterior cerebellar regions by tasks with explicit and implicit attention demonstrates the supportive role of this structure in recognizing, appraising, and reacting to emotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan E Pierce
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Marine Thomasson
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
- Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Philippe Voruz
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
- Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Garance Selosse
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Julie Péron
- Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 bd du Pont d'Arve, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Neuropsychology Unit, Neurology Department, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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52
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Vani MF, Lucibello KM, Welsh T, Sabiston CM. Body-related shame disrupts attentional focus over time in adolescence. J Adolesc 2023; 95:1520-1527. [PMID: 37439039 DOI: 10.1002/jad.12216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Body-related shame is a negative self-conscious emotion that is heightened during adolescence and is associated with several adverse outcomes. Of particular interest, and informed by Objectification Theory, body-related shame may impact attentional focus because the experience of this intense emotion may limit cognitive resources required to effectively engage in tasks. The purpose of the present study was to examine the association between body-related shame and attentional focus over time during adolescence. METHODS Adolescents (n = 160; Mage ± SD = 16.05 ± 0.98; 80% self-identifying girls) completed an online survey in 2022 at baseline (Time 1) and 3 months later (Time 2). Stepwise regression was used to test the association between body-related shame and attentional focus, with weight perception included as a covariate. RESULTS The regression model demonstrated that higher body-related shame predicted poorer attentional focus 3 months later (β = -0.44, p < .001), after controlling for weight perception (14% variance explained in attention). CONCLUSIONS Findings support and extend theoretical tenets by highlighting the potential importance of targeting body-related shame to reduce the negative impact on attentional focus among adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madison F Vani
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kristen M Lucibello
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Timothy Welsh
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Catherine M Sabiston
- Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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53
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Ziereis A, Schacht A. Motivated attention and task relevance in the processing of cross-modally associated faces: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:1244-1266. [PMID: 37353712 PMCID: PMC10545602 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01112-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Abstract
It has repeatedly been shown that visually presented stimuli can gain additional relevance by their association with affective stimuli. Studies have shown effects of associated affect in event-related potentials (ERP) like the early posterior negativity (EPN), late positive complex (LPC), and even earlier components as the P1 or N170. However, findings are mixed as to the extent associated affect requires directed attention to the emotional quality of a stimulus and which ERP components are sensitive to task instructions during retrieval. In this preregistered study ( https://osf.io/ts4pb ), we tested cross-modal associations of vocal affect-bursts (positive, negative, neutral) to faces displaying neutral expressions in a flash-card-like learning task, in which participants studied face-voice pairs and learned to correctly assign them to each other. In the subsequent EEG test session, we applied both an implicit ("old-new") and explicit ("valence-classification") task to investigate whether the behavior at retrieval and neurophysiological activation of the affect-based associations were dependent on the type of motivated attention. We collected behavioral and neurophysiological data from 40 participants who reached the preregistered learning criterium. Results showed EPN effects of associated negative valence after learning and independent of the task. In contrast, modulations of later stages (LPC) by positive and negative associated valence were restricted to the explicit, i.e., valence-classification, task. These findings highlight the importance of the task at different processing stages and show that cross-modal affect can successfully be associated to faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Ziereis
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Anne Schacht
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Goßlerstraße 14, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
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54
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Kryklywy JH, Forys BJ, Vieira JB, Quinlan DJ, Mitchell DGV. Dissociating representations of affect and motion in visual cortices. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:1322-1345. [PMID: 37526901 PMCID: PMC10545642 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01115-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023]
Abstract
While a delicious dessert being presented to us may elicit strong feelings of happiness and excitement, the same treat falling slowly away can lead to sadness and disappointment. Our emotional response to the item depends on its visual motion direction. Despite this importance, it remains unclear whether (and how) cortical areas devoted to decoding motion direction represents or integrates emotion with perceived motion direction. Motion-selective visual area V5/MT+ sits, both functionally and anatomically, at the nexus of dorsal and ventral visual streams. These pathways, however, differ in how they are modulated by emotional cues. The current study was designed to disentangle how emotion and motion perception interact, as well as use emotion-dependent modulation of visual cortices to understand the relation of V5/MT+ to canonical processing streams. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), approaching, receding, or static motion after-effects (MAEs) were induced on stationary positive, negative, and neutral stimuli. An independent localizer scan was conducted to identify the visual-motion area V5/MT+. Through univariate and multivariate analyses, we demonstrated that emotion representations in V5/MT+ share a more similar response profile to that observed in ventral visual than dorsal, visual structures. Specifically, V5/MT+ and ventral structures were sensitive to the emotional content of visual stimuli, whereas dorsal visual structures were not. Overall, this work highlights the critical role of V5/MT+ in the representation and processing of visually acquired emotional content. It further suggests a role for this region in utilizing affectively salient visual information to augment motion perception of biologically relevant stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- James H Kryklywy
- Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada.
| | - Brandon J Forys
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Joana B Vieira
- Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Derek J Quinlan
- Department of Psychology, Huron University College, London, Canada
- Graduate Brain and Mind Institute, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Derek G V Mitchell
- Graduate Brain and Mind Institute, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada
- Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
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55
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Gong M, Chen Y, Li F, Lin Z. The availability of attentional resources modulates the anger superiority effect. Psych J 2023; 12:628-636. [PMID: 37421365 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/10/2023]
Abstract
It is much debated whether there is an anger superiority effect (ASE) in the recognition of facial expressions. Recent research has shown that the attentional demand of a task plays a vital role in the emergence and magnitude of the ASE. However, only a visual crowding task was employed to manipulate attentional demands, and it is unclear whether the emergence and magnitude of the ASE was contingent on the availability of attentional resources in general. The present study employed a dual-task paradigm to manipulate the availability of attentional resources for facial expression discrimination in which participants were instructed to perform a central letter discrimination task and a peripheral facial expression discrimination task concurrently. Experiment 1 showed an ASE in the dual task but no ASE was yielded when the facial expression discrimination task was performed alone. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and further demonstrated a gradual shift from no ASE to an attenuated ASE and finally to a strong ASE as attentional resources that were available for facial expression discrimination gradually became limited. Together, these results suggest that the emergence and magnitude of the ASE is modulated by the availability of attentional resources, which supports an Attentional Demands Modulation Hypothesis of the ASE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingliang Gong
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Yufei Chen
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Fanghui Li
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhen Lin
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
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56
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Jiang C, Jiang W, Chen G, Xu W, Sun T, You L, Chen S, Yin Y, Liu X, Hou Z, Qing Z, Xie C, Zhang Z, Turner JA, Yuan Y. Childhood trauma and social support affect symptom profiles through cortical thickness abnormalities in major depressive disorder: A structural equation modeling analysis. Asian J Psychiatr 2023; 88:103744. [PMID: 37619416 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2023.103744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Childhood trauma, low social support, and alexithymia are recognized as risk factors for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms of risk factors, symptoms, and corresponding structural brain abnormalities in MDD are not fully understood. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has advantages in studying multivariate interrelationships. We aim to illustrate their relationships using SEM. METHODS 313 MDD patients (213 female; mean age 42.49 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging and completed assessments. We integrated childhood trauma, alexithymia, social support, anhedonia, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and cortical thickness into a multivariate SEM. RESULTS We first established the risk factors-clinical phenotype SEM with an adequate fit. Cortical thickness results show a negative correlation of childhood trauma with the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (p = 0.012), and social support was negatively correlated with the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) (p < 0.001). The final good fit SEM (χ2 = 32.92, df = 21, χ2/df = 1.57, CFI = 0.962, GFI = 0.978, RMSEA = 0.043) suggested two pathways, with left PCC thickness mediating the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation, and left MTG thickness mediating between childhood trauma and anhedonia/anxiety. CONCLUSION Our findings provide evidence for the impact of risk factor variables on the brain structure and clinical phenotype of MDD patients. Insufficient social support and childhood trauma might lead to corresponding cortical abnormalities in PCC and MTG, affecting the patient's mood and suicidal ideation. Future interventions should aim at these nodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenguang Jiang
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Wenhao Jiang
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Gang Chen
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University; Department of Medical Psychology, Huai'an No.3 People's Hospital, Huaian, China
| | - Wei Xu
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University; Department of Clinical Psychology, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou, China
| | - Taipeng Sun
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University; Department of Medical Psychology, Huai'an No.3 People's Hospital, Huaian, China
| | - Linlin You
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Suzhen Chen
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yingying Yin
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiaoyun Liu
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhenghua Hou
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhao Qing
- Shing-Tung Yau Center; School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chunming Xie
- Department of Neurology, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhijun Zhang
- Department of Neurology, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Jessica A Turner
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, OH, United States.
| | - Yonggui Yuan
- Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
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57
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Štolhoferová I, Frynta D, Janovcová M, Rudolfová V, Elmi HSA, Rexová K, Berti DA, Král D, Sommer D, Landová E, Frýdlová P. The bigger the threat, the longer the gaze? A cross-cultural study of Somalis and Czechs. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1234593. [PMID: 37829068 PMCID: PMC10565226 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1234593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
High fear reaction, preferential attention, or fast detection are only a few of the specific responses which snakes evoke in humans. Previous research has shown that these responses are shared amongst several distinct cultures suggesting the evolutionary origin of the response. However, populations from sub-Saharan Africa have been largely missing in experimental research focused on this issue. In this paper, we focus on the effect of snake threat display on human spontaneous attention. We performed an eye-tracking experiment with participants from Somaliland and the Czechia and investigated whether human attention is swayed towards snakes in a threatening posture. Seventy-one Somalis and 71 Czechs were tested; the samples were matched for gender and comparable in age structure and education level. We also investigated the effect of snake morphotype as snakes differ in their threat display. We found that snakes in a threatening posture were indeed gazed upon more than snakes in a relaxed (non-threatening) posture. Further, we found a large effect of snake morphotype as this was especially prominent in cobras, less in vipers, and mostly non-significant in other morphotypes. Finally, despite highly different cultural and environmental backgrounds, the overall pattern of reaction towards snakes was similar in Somalis and Czechs supporting the evolutionary origin of the phenomenon. We concluded that human attention is preferentially directed towards snakes, especially cobras and vipers, in threatening postures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iveta Štolhoferová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Daniel Frynta
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Markéta Janovcová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Veronika Rudolfová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Hassan Sh Abdirahman Elmi
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Amoud University, Borama, Somalia
| | - Kateřina Rexová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Daniel Alex Berti
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - David Král
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - David Sommer
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Eva Landová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Petra Frýdlová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
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58
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K A, Prasad S, Chakrabarty M. Trait anxiety modulates the detection sensitivity of negative affect in speech: an online pilot study. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1240043. [PMID: 37744950 PMCID: PMC10512416 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1240043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Acoustic perception of emotions in speech is relevant for humans to navigate the social environment optimally. While sensory perception is known to be influenced by ambient noise, and bodily internal states (e.g., emotional arousal and anxiety), their relationship to human auditory perception is relatively less understood. In a supervised, online pilot experiment sans the artificially controlled laboratory environment, we asked if the detection sensitivity of emotions conveyed by human speech-in-noise (acoustic signals) varies between individuals with relatively lower and higher levels of subclinical trait-anxiety, respectively. In a task, participants (n = 28) accurately discriminated the target emotion conveyed by the temporally unpredictable acoustic signals (signal to noise ratio = 10 dB), which were manipulated at four levels (Happy, Neutral, Fear, and Disgust). We calculated the empirical area under the curve (a measure of acoustic signal detection sensitivity) based on signal detection theory to answer our questions. A subset of individuals with High trait-anxiety relative to Low in the above sample showed significantly lower detection sensitivities to acoustic signals of negative emotions - Disgust and Fear and significantly lower detection sensitivities to acoustic signals when averaged across all emotions. The results from this pilot study with a small but statistically relevant sample size suggest that trait-anxiety levels influence the overall acoustic detection of speech-in-noise, especially those conveying threatening/negative affect. The findings are relevant for future research on acoustic perception anomalies underlying affective traits and disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Achyuthanand K
- Department of Computational Biology, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Saurabh Prasad
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Mrinmoy Chakrabarty
- Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
- Centre for Design and New Media, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
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59
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Hall KJ, Van Ooteghem K, McIlroy WE. Emotional state as a modulator of autonomic and somatic nervous system activity in postural control: a review. Front Neurol 2023; 14:1188799. [PMID: 37719760 PMCID: PMC10500443 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1188799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in our understanding of postural control have highlighted the need to examine the influence of higher brain centers in the modulation of this complex function. There is strong evidence of a link between emotional state, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and somatic nervous system (somatic NS) activity in postural control. For example, relationships have been demonstrated between postural threat, anxiety, fear of falling, balance confidence, and physiological arousal. Behaviorally, increased arousal has been associated with changes in velocity and amplitude of postural sway during quiet standing. The potential links between ANS and somatic NS, observed in control of posture, are associated with shared neuroanatomical connections within the central nervous system (CNS). The influence of emotional state on postural control likely reflects the important influence the limbic system has on these ANS/somatic NS control networks. This narrative review will highlight several examples of behaviors which routinely require coordination between the ANS and somatic NS, highlighting the importance of the neurofunctional link between these systems. Furthermore, we will extend beyond the more historical focus on threat models and examine how disordered/altered emotional state and ANS processing may influence postural control and assessment. Finally, this paper will discuss studies that have been important in uncovering the modulatory effect of emotional state on postural control including links that may inform our understanding of disordered control, such as that observed in individuals living with Parkinson's disease and discuss methodological tools that have the potential to advance understanding of this complex relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karlee J. Hall
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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60
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Zhang J, Chen D, Srirangarajan T, Theriault J, Kragel PA, Hartley L, Lee KM, McVeigh K, Wager TD, Wald LL, Satpute AB, Quigley KS, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Barrett LF, Bianciardi M. Cortical and subcortical mapping of the allostatic-interoceptive system in the human brain: replication and extension with 7 Tesla fMRI. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.07.20.548178. [PMID: 37546889 PMCID: PMC10401932 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.20.548178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
The brain continuously anticipates the energetic needs of the body and prepares to meet those needs before they arise, a process called allostasis. In support of allostasis, the brain continually models the internal state of the body, a process called interoception. Using published tract-tracing studies in non-human animals as a guide, we previously identified a large-scale system supporting allostasis and interoception in the human brain with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 Tesla. In the present study, we replicated and extended this system in humans using 7 Tesla fMRI (N = 91), improving the precision of subgenual and pregenual anterior cingulate topography as well as brainstem nuclei mapping. We verified over 90% of the anatomical connections in the hypothesized allostatic-interoceptive system observed in non-human animal research. We also identified functional connectivity hubs verified in tract-tracing studies but not previously detected using 3 Tesla fMRI. Finally, we demonstrated that individuals with stronger fMRI connectivity between system hubs self-reported greater interoceptive awareness, building on construct validity evidence from our earlier paper. Taken together, these results strengthen evidence for the existence of a whole-brain system supporting interoception in the service of allostasis and we consider the implications for mental and physical health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiahe Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Danlei Chen
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | | | - Jordan Theriault
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02139
| | | | - Ludger Hartley
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Kent M. Lee
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Kieran McVeigh
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Tor D. Wager
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
| | - Lawrence L. Wald
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02139
| | - Ajay B. Satpute
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Karen S. Quigley
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | | | - Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02139
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02139
| | - Marta Bianciardi
- Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02139
- Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, MA
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61
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Dugré JR, Potvin S. Altered functional connectivity of the amygdala across variants of callous-unemotional traits: A resting-state fMRI study in children and adolescents. J Psychiatr Res 2023; 163:32-42. [PMID: 37201236 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Over the past years, research has shown that primary (high callousness and low anxiety) and secondary (high callousness and anxiety) variants of CU traits may be associated with opposite amygdala activity (hypo- and hyper-reactivity, respectively). However, their differences in amygdala functional connectivity remains largely unexplored. We conducted a Latent Profile Analysis on a large sample of adolescents (n = 1416) to identify homogeneous subgroups with different levels of callousness and anxiety. We then performed a seed-to-voxel connectivity analysis on resting-state fMRI data to compare subgroups on connectivity patterns of the amygdala. We examined the results in relation to conduct problems to identify potential neural risk factors. The Latent Profile Analysis revealed four subgroups, including the primary and secondary variants, anxious, and typically developing adolescents. The seed-to-voxel analyses showed that the primary variant was mainly characterized by increased connectivity between the left amygdala and left thalamus. The secondary variant exhibited deficient connectivity between the amygdala and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, temporo-parietal junction, premotor, and postcentral gyrus. Both variants showed increased connectivity between the left amygdala and the right thalamus but exhibited opposite functional connectivity between the left amygdala and the parahippocampal gyrus. Dimensional analyses indicated that conduct problems may play a mediating role between callousness and amygdala-dmPFC functional connectivity across youths with already high levels of callousness. Our study highlights that both variants differ in the functional connectivity of the amygdala. Our results support the importance of disentangling the heterogeneity of adolescents at risk for conduct problems in neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jules R Dugré
- Research Center of the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
| | - Stéphane Potvin
- Research Center of the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
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Nomura O, Abe T, Soma Y, Tomita H, Kijima H. Effect of problem-based learning tutor seniority on medical students' emotions: an equivalence study. BMC MEDICAL EDUCATION 2023; 23:419. [PMID: 37286967 DOI: 10.1186/s12909-023-04416-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The effectiveness of peer learning has been recognized and discussed by many scholars, and implemented in the formal curriculums of medical schools internationally. However, there is a general dearth of studies in measuring the objective outcomes in learning. METHODS We investigated the objective effect of near-peer learning on tutee's emotions and its equivalence within the formal curriculum of a clinical reasoning Problem Based Learning session in a Japanese medical school. Fourth-year medical students were assigned to the group tutored by 6th-year students or by faculties. The positive activating emotion, positive deactivating emotion, negative activating emotion, negative deactivating emotion, Neutral emotion were measured using the Japanese version of the Medical Emotion Scale (J-MES), and self-efficacy scores were also assessed. We calculated the mean differences of these variables between the faculty and the peer tutor groups and were statistically analyzed the equivalence of these scores. The equivalence margin was defined as a score of 0.4 for J-MES and 10.0 for the self-efficacy score, respectively. RESULTS Of the 143 eligible participant students, 90 were allocated to the peer tutor group and 53 were allocated to the faculty group. There was no significant difference between the groups. The 95% confidence interval of the mean score difference for positive activating emotions (-0.22 to 0.15), positive deactivating emotions (-0.35 to 0.18), negative activating emotions (-0.20 to 0.22), negative deactivating emotions (-0.20 to 0.23), and self-efficacy (-6.83 to 5.04) were withing the predetermined equivalence margins for emotion scores, meaning that equivalence was confirmed for these variables. CONCLUSIONS Emotional outcomes were equivalent between near-peer PBL sessions and faculty-led sessions. This comparative measurement of the emotional outcomes in near-peer learning contributes to understanding PBL in the field of medical education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osamu Nomura
- Department of Health Sciences Education, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan.
- Centre for Community-Based Health Professions Education, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan.
| | - Tatsuki Abe
- Department of International Cooperation for Medical Education, International Research Center for Medical Education, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yuki Soma
- Faculty of Education, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan
| | - Hirofumi Tomita
- Department of Cardiology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Kijima
- Department of Health Sciences Education, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan
- Centre for Community-Based Health Professions Education, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan
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Mouth proximity influences perceived disgust of visual stimuli. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
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64
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Lønne TF, Karlsen HR, Langvik E, Saksvik-Lehouillier I. The effect of immersion on sense of presence and affect when experiencing an educational scenario in virtual reality: A randomized controlled study. Heliyon 2023; 9:e17196. [PMID: 37360072 PMCID: PMC10285157 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) technology has been used to learn skills for decades. While no standardized measure exists for learning outcomes in VR training, commonly explored outcomes are immersion, sense of presence and emotions. Methods In this paper, the objective was to investigate these outcomes in two VR conditions, immersive and desktop in a randomized controlled trial with a parallel design. The sample consisted of 134 university students (70 women, mean age 23 years, SD = 2.99). These were randomized using a covariate-adaptive randomization procedure based on stratification by gender into two interventions; play out a VR scenario in either desktop (control group) or immersive VR (intervention group). The setting was a university lab. Results There was a significant within subject effect for positive affect and a significant between-group effect for the immersive compared to desktop VR groups. Positive affect was reduced after interacting with the VR scenario in both the immersive and desktop versions, however, positive affect was overall higher in the immersive, compared to the desktop version. The results show higher scores for sense of presence (d = 0.90, p < 0.001) and positive affect pre- and post-scenario in the immersive VR condition (d = 0.42, p = 0.017 and d = 0.54, p = 0.002) compared to the desktop condition. Conclusion Immersive VR may be beneficial in higher education as it promotes high levels of sense of presence as well as positive emotions. When it comes to changing the immediate emotions of the students, type of VR does not seem to matter. The project was funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills.
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Grassi F, Semmelhack EA, Ruge J, Schacht A. On the dynamics of gain and loss: Electrophysiological evidence from associative learning. Biol Psychol 2023; 180:108588. [PMID: 37224938 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Associated relevance affects the sensory encoding of low-level visual features of symbolic stimuli. It is unclear, however, which dimension of low-level visual features benefits from prioritized processing, and how these effects develop throughout the course of relevance acquisition. Moreover, previous evidence is inconclusive regarding the preservation of processing advantage once the association is no longer relevant, as well as its generalization to perceptually similar but novel stimuli. The present study addresses these questions by employing an associative learning paradigm. In two experiments (N = 24 each, between-subject design), different dimensions of low-level visual features of symbolic stimuli were associated with monetary gain, loss, or zero outcome. In a consecutive old/new decision task, associated stimuli were presented together with perceptually similar but novel stimuli. Event-related brain potentials (P1, EPN, LPC) were measured throughout both sessions. Early sensory encoding (P1) was boosted by loss association and appeared to be sensitive to the dimension of the associated low-level visual features. Gain association influenced post-perceptual processing stages (LPC), arising over the course of the learning phase, and are preserved even when the associated outcome was no longer relevant. Gain association also resulted in EPN modulations similar to the effects observed in the case of emotional words. None of the observed effects generalized to perceptually similar stimuli. These results show that acquired relevance can influence the sensory processing of specific dimensions of low-level visual features. Moreover, this study extends previous evidence of a dissociation of early and late neural effects of associated motivational relevance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Grassi
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen.
| | - Esther A Semmelhack
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen
| | - Julia Ruge
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen; Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
| | - Anne Schacht
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University of Goettingen
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Dini H, Simonetti A, Bigne E, Bruni LE. Higher levels of narrativity lead to similar patterns of posterior EEG activity across individuals. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1160981. [PMID: 37234601 PMCID: PMC10206039 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1160981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The focus of cognitive and psychological approaches to narrative has not so much been on the elucidation of important aspects of narrative, but rather on using narratives as tools for the investigation of higher order cognitive processes elicited by narratives (e.g., understanding, empathy, etc.). In this study, we work toward a scalar model of narrativity, which can provide testable criteria for selecting and classifying communication forms in their level of narrativity. We investigated whether being exposed to videos with different levels of narrativity modulates shared neural responses, measured by inter-subject correlation, and engagement levels. Methods Thirty-two participants watched video advertisements with high-level and low-level of narrativity while their neural responses were measured through electroencephalogram. Additionally, participants' engagement levels were calculated based on the composite of their self-reported attention and immersion scores. Results Results demonstrated that both calculated inter-subject correlation and engagement scores for high-level video ads were significantly higher than those for low-level, suggesting that narrativity levels modulate inter-subject correlation and engagement. Discussion We believe that these findings are a step toward the elucidation of the viewers' way of processing and understanding a given communication artifact as a function of the narrative qualities expressed by the level of narrativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hossein Dini
- The Augmented Cognition Lab, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Aline Simonetti
- Department of Marketing and Market Research, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Enrique Bigne
- Department of Marketing and Market Research, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Luis Emilio Bruni
- The Augmented Cognition Lab, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Ince S, Steward T, Harrison BJ, Jamieson AJ, Davey CG, Agathos JA, Moffat BA, Glarin RK, Felmingham KL. Subcortical contributions to salience network functioning during negative emotional processing. Neuroimage 2023; 270:119964. [PMID: 36822252 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Core regions of the salience network (SN), including the anterior insula (aINS) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), coordinate rapid adaptive changes in attentional and autonomic processes in response to negative emotional events. In doing so, the SN incorporates bottom-up signals from subcortical brain regions, such as the amygdala and periaqueductal gray (PAG). However, the precise influence of these subcortical regions is not well understood. Using ultra-high field 7-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study investigated the bottom-up interactions of the amygdala and PAG with the SN during negative emotional salience processing. Thirty-seven healthy participants completed an emotional oddball paradigm designed to elicit a salient negative emotional response via the presentation of random, task-irrelevant negative emotional images. Negative emotional processing was associated with prominent activation in the SN, spanning the amygdala, PAG, aINS, and dACC. Consistent with previous research, analysis using dynamic causal modelling revealed an excitatory influence from the amygdala to the aINS, dACC, and PAG. In contrast, the PAG showed an inhibitory influence on amygdala, aINS and dACC activity. Our findings suggest that the amygdala may amplify the processing of negative emotional stimuli in the SN to enable upstream access to attentional resources. In comparison, the inhibitory influence of the PAG possibly reflects its involvement in modulating sympathetic-parasympathetic autonomic arousal mediated by the SN. This PAG-mediated effect may be driven by amygdala input and facilitate bottom-up processing of negative emotional stimuli. Overall, our results show that the amygdala and PAG modulate divergent functions of the SN during negative emotional processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sevil Ince
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
| | - Trevor Steward
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Ben J Harrison
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Alec J Jamieson
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Christopher G Davey
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - James A Agathos
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Bradford A Moffat
- The Melbourne Brain Centre Imaging Unit, Department of Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Rebecca K Glarin
- The Melbourne Brain Centre Imaging Unit, Department of Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Kim L Felmingham
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
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Li W, Keil A. Sensing fear: fast and precise threat evaluation in human sensory cortex. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:341-352. [PMID: 36732175 PMCID: PMC10023404 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Animal models of threat processing have evolved beyond the amygdala to incorporate a distributed neural network. In human research, evidence has intensified in recent years to challenge the canonical threat circuitry centered on the amygdala, urging revision of threat conceptualization. A strong surge of research into threat processing in the sensory cortex in the past decade has generated particularly useful insights to inform the reconceptualization. Here, synthesizing findings from both animal and human research, we highlight sensitive, specific, and adaptable threat representations in the sensory cortex, arising from experience-based sculpting of sensory coding networks. We thus propose that the human sensory cortex can drive smart (fast and precise) threat evaluation, producing threat-imbued sensory afferents to elicit network-wide threat responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen Li
- Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
| | - Andreas Keil
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL, USA
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Cianfanelli B, Esposito A, Spataro P, Santirocchi A, Cestari V, Rossi-Arnaud C, Costanzi M. The binding of negative emotional stimuli with spatial information in working memory: A possible role for the episodic buffer. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1112805. [PMID: 37034170 PMCID: PMC10073470 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1112805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Remembering where negative events occur has undeniable adaptive value, however, how these memories are formed remains elusive. We investigated the role of working memory subcomponents in binding emotional and visuo-spatial information using an emotional version of the object relocation task (EORT). Methods After displaying black rectangles simultaneously, emotional pictures (from the International Affective Pictures System) appeared sequentially over each rectangle. Participants repositioned the rectangles as accurately as possible after all stimuli had disappeared. During the EORT encoding phase, a verbal trail task was administered concurrently to selectively interfere with the central executive (CE). The immediate post-encoding administration of an object feature-report task was used to interfere with the episodic buffer (EB). Results Only the EB-interfering task prevented the emotion-enhancing effect of negative pictures. The latter effect was not observed with a concurrent executive task. Discussion Overall, our findings suggest that pre-attentive automatic processes are primarily involved in binding emotional and visuo-spatial information in the EB.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Pietro Spataro
- Department of Economy, Universitas Mercatorum, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Vincenzo Cestari
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Marco Costanzi
- Department of Human Sciences, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
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70
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Wei L, Li X, Huang L, Liu Y, Hu L, Shen W, Ding Q, Liang P. An fMRI study of visual geometric shapes processing. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1087488. [PMID: 37008223 PMCID: PMC10062448 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1087488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Cross-modal correspondence has been consistently evidenced between shapes and other sensory attributes. Especially, the curvature of shapes may arouse the affective account, which may contribute to understanding the mechanism of cross-modal integration. Hence, the current study used the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique to examine brain activity’s specificity when people view circular and angular shapes. The circular shapes consisted of a circle and an ellipse, while the angular shapes consisted of a triangle and a star. Results show that the brain areas activated by circular shapes mainly involved the sub-occipital lobe, fusiform gyrus, sub and middle occipital gyrus, and cerebellar VI. The brain areas activated by angular shapes mainly involve the cuneus, middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus, and calcarine gyrus. The brain activation patterns of circular shapes did not differ significantly from those of angular shapes. Such a null finding was unexpected when previous cross-modal correspondence of shape curvature was considered. The different brain regions detected by circular and angular shapes and the potential explanations were discussed in the paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liuqing Wei
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
- Brain and Cognition Research Center, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
| | - Xueying Li
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
| | - Lina Huang
- Imaging Department, Changshu No. 2 People’s Hospital, The Clinical Medical College Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Changshu, China
| | - Yuansheng Liu
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
| | - Luming Hu
- Department of Psychology, School of Arts and Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China
| | - Wenbin Shen
- Imaging Department, Changshu No. 2 People’s Hospital, The Clinical Medical College Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Changshu, China
| | - Qingguo Ding
- Imaging Department, Changshu No. 2 People’s Hospital, The Clinical Medical College Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Changshu, China
- *Correspondence: Qingguo Ding,
| | - Pei Liang
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
- Brain and Cognition Research Center, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
- Imaging Department, Changshu No. 2 People’s Hospital, The Clinical Medical College Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Changshu, China
- Pei Liang,
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Maya C. Using PyMOL to Understand Why COVID-19 Vaccines Save Lives. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION 2023; 100:1351-1356. [PMID: 36920160 PMCID: PMC9999942 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Chemistry and biochemistry instructors must help students to develop the ability to visualize and manipulate 3D biomolecular structures and critically analyze them and their relationship to their functions. To do this, representative systems must be strategically selected to stimulate students' motivation. Since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a new beta-coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, huge efforts are being taken by researchers to learn in depth how this virus works and a lot of scientific results are continuously reported. Many of them focus on the structural features of the viral spike glycoprotein and their relation with the vaccine development. This paper presents a series of workouts that deep into the structural characteristics of the spike protein S SARS-CoV-2 virus and the structural features involved in its infection process, using free online resources such as the PDB and the computer program PyMOL. This type of activity is intended to engage structural biology students in examining these macromolecules and others to help establish procedures for controlling COVID-19 and other future infectious diseases. PyMOL session files and student activities are provided.
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Effects of spatially filtered fearful faces and awareness on amygdala activity in adults with autism spectrum disorder: A magnetoencephalography study. Neurosci Lett 2023; 800:137135. [PMID: 36804074 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2022] [Revised: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The amygdala is pivotal in emotional face processing. Spatial frequencies (SFs) of visual images are divided and processed via two visual pathways: low spatial frequency (LSF) information is conveyed by the magnocellular pathway, while the parvocellular pathway carries high spatial frequency information. We hypothesized that altered amygdala activity might underlie atypical social communication caused by changes in both conscious and non-conscious emotional face processing in the brain in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHOD Eighteen adults with ASD and 18 typically developing (TD) peers participated in this study. Spatially filtered fearful- and neutral-expression faces and object stimuli were presented under supraliminal or subliminal conditions, and neuromagnetic responses in the amygdala were measured using 306-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography. RESULTS The latency of the evoked responses at approximately 200 ms to unfiltered neutral face stimuli and object stimuli in the ASD group was shorter than that in the TD group in the unaware condition. Regarding emotional face processing, the evoked responses in the ASD group were larger than those in the TD group under the aware condition. The later positive shift during 200-500 ms (ARV) was larger than that in the TD group, regardless of awareness. Moreover, ARV to HSF face stimuli was larger than that to the other spatial filtered face stimuli in the aware condition. CONCLUSION Regardless of awareness, ARV might reflect atypical face information processing in the ASD brain.
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Yang X, Chen L, Yang P, Yang X, Liu L, Li L. Negative emotion-conditioned prepulse induces the attentional enhancement of prepulse inhibition in humans. Behav Brain Res 2023; 438:114179. [PMID: 36330905 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2022] [Revised: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a reduction of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR) when the startling stimulus is preceded by a weaker and non-startling stimulus (i.e., prepulse). Previous studies have revealed that PPI can be top-down modulated by selective attention to the fear-conditioned prepulse in animals. However, few researchers have tested this assumption in humans. Thus, in this study, the negative emotional-conditioned prepulse (CS+) was used to explore whether it could improve participants' attention, and further improve the PPI. The results showed that the CS+ prepulse increased the PPI only in females, PPI produced by CS+ prepulse was larger in females than in males, and the perceptual spatial attention further improved the PPI in both females and males. The results suggested that the PPI was affected by emotional, perceptual spatial attention, and sex. These findings highlight an additional method to measure top-down attentional regulation of PPI in humans. Which may offer a useful route to enhance the diagnosis of affective disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqin Yang
- Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China; National Institute on Drug Dependence and Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Liangjie Chen
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Pengcheng Yang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Xiaodong Yang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Lei Liu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China.
| | - Liang Li
- Laboratory of Brain Disorders, Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, Ministry of Science and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China; School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China.
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Lodha S, Gupta R. Irrelevant angry, but not happy, faces facilitate response inhibition in mindfulness meditators. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-04384-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
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He H, Lin W, Yang J, Chen Y, Tan S, Guan Q. Age-related intrinsic functional connectivity underlying emotion utilization. Cereb Cortex 2023:7033308. [PMID: 36758953 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 01/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies investigated the age-related positivity effect in terms of emotion perception and management, whereas little is known about whether the positivity effect is shown in emotion utilization (EU). If yes, the EU-related intrinsic functional connectivity and its age-associated alterations remain to be elucidated. In this study, we collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 62 healthy older adults and 72 undergraduates as well as their self-ratings of EU. By using the connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) method, we constructed a predictive model of the positive relationship between EU self-ratings and resting-state functional connectivity. Lesion simulation analyses revealed that the medial-frontal network, default mode network, frontoparietal network, and subcortical regions played key roles in the EU-related CPM. Older subjects showed significantly higher EU self-ratings than undergraduates, which was associated with strengthened connectivity between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and bilateral frontal poles, and between the left frontal pole and thalamus. A mediation analysis indicated that the age-related EU network mediated the age effect on EU self-ratings. Our findings extend previous research on the age-related "positivity effect" to the EU domain, suggesting that the positivity effect on the self-evaluation of EU is probably associated with emotion knowledge which accumulates with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao He
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, China
| | - Wenyi Lin
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jiawang Yang
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yiqi Chen
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Siping Tan
- Department of Radiology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Qing Guan
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, China
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Guex R, Ros T, Mégevand P, Spinelli L, Seeck M, Vuilleumier P, Domínguez-Borràs J. Prestimulus amygdala spectral activity is associated with visual face awareness. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:1044-1057. [PMID: 35353177 PMCID: PMC9930624 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 02/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Alpha cortical oscillations have been proposed to suppress sensory processing in the visual, auditory, and tactile domains, influencing conscious stimulus perception. However, it is unknown whether oscillatory neural activity in the amygdala, a subcortical structure involved in salience detection, has a similar impact on stimulus awareness. Recording intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) from 9 human amygdalae during face detection in a continuous flash suppression task, we found increased spectral prestimulus power and phase coherence, with most consistent effects in the alpha band, when faces were undetected relative to detected, similarly as previously observed in cortex with this task using scalp-EEG. Moreover, selective decreases in the alpha and gamma bands preceded face detection, with individual prestimulus alpha power correlating negatively with detection rate in patients. These findings reveal for the first time that prestimulus subcortical oscillations localized in human amygdala may contribute to perceptual gating mechanisms governing subsequent face detection and offer promising insights on the role of this structure in visual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphael Guex
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Tomas Ros
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory, Campus Biotech, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Lemanic Biomedical Imaging Centre (CIBM), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Spinelli
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08035, Spain
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77
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Fan S, Shen Z, Jiang M, Koenig BL, Kankanhalli MS, Zhao Q. Emotional Attention: From Eye Tracking to Computational Modeling. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE 2023; 45:1682-1699. [PMID: 35446761 DOI: 10.1109/tpami.2022.3169234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Attending selectively to emotion-eliciting stimuli is intrinsic to human vision. In this research, we investigate how emotion-elicitation features of images relate to human selective attention. We create the EMOtional attention dataset (EMOd). It is a set of diverse emotion-eliciting images, each with (1) eye-tracking data from 16 subjects, (2) image context labels at both object- and scene-level. Based on analyses of human perceptions of EMOd, we report an emotion prioritization effect: emotion-eliciting content draws stronger and earlier human attention than neutral content, but this advantage diminishes dramatically after initial fixation. We find that human attention is more focused on awe eliciting and aesthetic vehicle and animal scenes in EMOd. Aiming to model the above human attention behavior computationally, we design a deep neural network (CASNet II), which includes a channel weighting subnetwork that prioritizes emotion-eliciting objects, and an Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) structure that learns the relative importance of image regions at multiple scales. Visualizations and quantitative analyses demonstrate the model's ability to simulate human attention behavior, especially on emotion-eliciting content.
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78
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Barros F, Soares SC, Rocha M, Bem-Haja P, Silva S, Lundqvist D. The angry versus happy recognition advantage: the role of emotional and physical properties. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:108-123. [PMID: 35113209 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01648-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Facial emotional expressions are pivotal for social communication. Their fast and accurate recognition is crucial to promote adaptive responses to social demands, for the development of functional relationships, and for well-being. However, the literature has been inconsistent in showing differentiated recognition patterns for positive vs. negative facial expressions (e.g., happy and angry expressions, respectively), likely due to affective and perceptual factors. Accordingly, the present study explored differences in recognition performance between angry and happy faces, while specifically assessing the role of emotional intensity and global/regional low-level visual features. 98 participants categorized angry and happy faces morphed between neutral and emotional across 9 levels of expression intensity (10-90%). We observed a significantly higher recognition efficiency (higher accuracy and shorter response latencies) for angry compared to happy faces in lower levels of expression intensity, suggesting that our cognitive resources are biased to prioritize the recognition of potentially harmful stimuli, especially when briefly presented at an ambiguous stage of expression. Conversely, an advantage for happy faces was observed from the midpoint of expression intensity, regarding response speed. However, when compensating for the contribution of regional low-level properties of distinct facial key regions, the effect of emotion was maintained only for response accuracy. Altogether, these results shed new light on the processing of facial emotional stimuli, emphasizing the need to consider emotional intensity and regional low-level image properties in emotion recognition analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Barros
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. .,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Sandra C Soares
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. .,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Marta Rocha
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Pedro Bem-Haja
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Samuel Silva
- Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics (DETI), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.,Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Daniel Lundqvist
- NatMEG, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Nobels väg 9, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden
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79
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Attentional modulation as a mechanism for enhanced facial emotion discrimination: The case of action video game players. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:276-289. [PMID: 36670293 PMCID: PMC10050043 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01055-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Action video game players (AVGPs) outperform nonvideo game players (NVGPs) on a wide variety of attentional tasks, mediating benefits to perceptual and cognitive decision processes. A key issue in the literature is the extent to which such benefits transfer beyond cognition. Using steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) as a neural measure of attentional resource allocation, we investigated whether the attentional benefit of AVGPs generalizes to the processing of rapidly presented facial emotions. AVGPs (n = 36) and NVGPs (n = 32) performed a novel, attention-demanding emotion discrimination task, requiring the identification of a target emotion in one of two laterally presented streams of emotional faces. The emotional faces flickered at either 2.0 Hz or 2.5 Hz. AVGPs outperformed NVGPs at detecting the target emotions regardless of the type of emotion. Correspondingly, attentional modulation of the SSVEP at parieto-occipital recording sites was larger in AVGPs compared with NVGPs. This difference appeared to be driven by a larger response to attended information, as opposed to a reduced response to irrelevant distractor information. Exploratory analyses confirmed that this novel paradigm elicited the expected pattern of event-related potentials associated with target detection and error processing. These components did not, however, differ between groups. Overall, the results indicate enhanced discrimination of facial emotions in AVGPs arising from enhanced attentional processing of emotional information. This presents evidence for the attentional advantage of AVGPs to extend beyond perceptual and cognitive processes.
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80
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Kim H, Anderson BA. On the Relationship between Value- and Threat-Driven Attentional Capture and Approach-Avoidance Biases. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020158. [PMID: 36831701 PMCID: PMC9954098 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Reward learning and aversive conditioning have consequences for attentional selection, such that stimuli that come to signal reward and threat bias attention regardless of their valence. Appetitive and aversive stimuli have distinctive influences on response selection, such that they activate an approach and an avoidance response, respectively. However, whether the involuntary influence of reward- and threat-history-laden stimuli extends to the manner in which a response is directed remains unclear. Using a feedback-joystick task and a manikin task, which are common paradigms for examining valence-action bias, we demonstrate that reward- and threat-signalling stimuli do not modulate response selection. Stimuli that came to signal reward and threat via training biased attention and invigorated action in general, but they did not facilitate an approach and avoidance response, respectively. We conclude that attention can be biased towards a stimulus as a function of its prior association with reward or aversive outcomes without necessarily influencing approach vs. avoidance tendencies, such that the mechanisms underlying the involuntary control of attention and behaviour evoked by valent stimuli can be decoupled.
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81
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Kaur G, Anand R, Chakrabarty M. Trait Anxiety Influences Negative Affect-modulated Distribution of Visuospatial Attention. Neuroscience 2023; 509:145-156. [PMID: 36493911 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.11.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Visuospatial attention allows humans to selectively gate and prioritize visual (including salient, emotional) information for efficiently navigating natural visual environments. As emotions have been known to influence attentional performance, we asked if emotions also modulate the spatial distribution of visual attention and whether any such effect was further associated with individual differences in anxiety. Participants (n = 28) discriminated the orientation of target Gabor patches co-presented with distractors, speedily and accurately. The key manipulation was randomly presenting a task-irrelevant face emotion prime briefly (50 ms), conveying Neutral/Disgust/Scrambled (Null) emotion signal 150 ms preceding the target patches. We calculated attention gradient (change in negative inverse attentional efficiency with unit change in distance from the source of emotion signal) as a metric to answer our questions. Specifically, the Disgust signal modulated the direction of attention gradients differentially in individuals with varying degrees of trait - anxiety, such that the gradients correlated negatively with individual trait-anxiety scores. This implies spatial shifts in Disgust-signalled visual attention with varying trait - anxiety levels. Neutral yielded attention gradients comparable to Scrambled, implying no specific effect of this signal and there was no association with anxiety levels in both. No correlation was observed between state - anxiety and the emotion-cued attention gradients. In sum, the results suggest that individual trait - anxiety levels influence the effect of negative and physiologically arousing emotion signals (e.g., Disgust) on the spatial distribution of visual attention. The findings could be of relevance for understanding biases in visual behaviour underlying affective states and disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gursimran Kaur
- Dept. of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110020, India
| | - Rakshita Anand
- Dept. of Human-Centered Design, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110020, India
| | - Mrinmoy Chakrabarty
- Dept. of Social Sciences and Humanities, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110020, India.
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82
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Inagaki M, Inoue KI, Tanabe S, Kimura K, Takada M, Fujita I. Rapid processing of threatening faces in the amygdala of nonhuman primates: subcortical inputs and dual roles. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:895-915. [PMID: 35323915 PMCID: PMC9890477 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A subcortical pathway through the superior colliculus and pulvinar has been proposed to provide the amygdala with rapid but coarse visual information about emotional faces. However, evidence for short-latency, facial expression-discriminating responses from individual amygdala neurons is lacking; even if such a response exists, how it might contribute to stimulus detection is unclear. Also, no definitive anatomical evidence is available for the assumed pathway. Here we showed that ensemble responses of amygdala neurons in monkeys carried robust information about open-mouthed, presumably threatening, faces within 50 ms after stimulus onset. This short-latency signal was not found in the visual cortex, suggesting a subcortical origin. Temporal analysis revealed that the early response contained excitatory and suppressive components. The excitatory component may be useful for sending rapid signals downstream, while the sharpening of the rising phase of later-arriving inputs (presumably from the cortex) by the suppressive component might improve the processing of facial expressions over time. Injection of a retrograde trans-synaptic tracer into the amygdala revealed presumed monosynaptic labeling in the pulvinar and disynaptic labeling in the superior colliculus, including the retinorecipient layers. We suggest that the early amygdala responses originating from the colliculo-pulvino-amygdalar pathway play dual roles in threat detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikio Inagaki
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Ken-ichi Inoue
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Soshi Tanabe
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Kei Kimura
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Masahiko Takada
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Ichiro Fujita
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
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83
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Decomposing Neural Representational Patterns of Discriminatory and Hedonic Information during Somatosensory Stimulation. eNeuro 2023; 10:ENEURO.0274-22.2022. [PMID: 36549914 PMCID: PMC9829099 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0274-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to interrogate specific representations in the brain, determining how, and where, difference sources of information are instantiated can provide invaluable insight into neural functioning. Pattern component modeling (PCM) is a recent analytic technique for human neuroimaging that allows the decomposition of representational patterns in brain into contributing subcomponents. In the current study, we present a novel PCM variant that tracks the contribution of prespecified representational patterns to brain representation across areas, thus allowing hypothesis-guided employment of the technique. We apply this technique to investigate the contributions of hedonic and nonhedonic information to the neural representation of tactile experience. We applied aversive pressure (AP) and appetitive brush (AB) to stimulate distinct peripheral nerve pathways for tactile information (C-/CT-fibers, respectively) while patients underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. We performed representational similarity analyses (RSAs) with pattern component modeling to dissociate how discriminatory versus hedonic tactile information contributes to population code representations in the human brain. Results demonstrated that information about appetitive and aversive tactile sensation is represented separately from nonhedonic tactile information across cortical structures. This also demonstrates the potential of new hypothesis-guided PCM variants to help delineate how information is instantiated in the brain.
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84
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Qiu Z, Jiang J, Becker SI, Pegna AJ. Attentional capture by fearful faces requires consciousness and is modulated by task-relevancy: A dot-probe EEG study. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1152220. [PMID: 37034154 PMCID: PMC10076762 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1152220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
In the current EEG study, we used a dot-probe task in conjunction with backward masking to examine the neural activity underlying awareness and spatial processing of fearful faces and the neural processes for subsequent cued spatial targets. We presented face images under different viewing conditions (subliminal and supraliminal) and manipulated the relation between a fearful face in the pair and a subsequent target. Our mass univariate analysis showed that fearful faces elicit the N2-posterior-contralateral, indexing spatial attention capture, only when they are presented supraliminally. Consistent with this, the multivariate pattern analysis revealed a successful decoding of the location of the fearful face only in the supraliminal viewing condition. Additionally, the spatial attention capture by fearful faces modulated the processing of subsequent lateralised targets that were spatially congruent with the fearful face, in both al and electrophysiological data. There was no evidence for nonconscious processing of the fearful faces in the current paradigm. We conclude that spatial attentional capture by fearful faces requires visual awareness and it is modulated by top-down task demands.
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85
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Cushing CA, Dawes AJ, Hofmann SG, Lau H, LeDoux JE, Taschereau-Dumouchel V. A generative adversarial model of intrusive imagery in the human brain. PNAS NEXUS 2023; 2:pgac265. [PMID: 36733294 PMCID: PMC9887942 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying the subjective experiences of mental disorders remain poorly understood. This is partly due to long-standing over-emphasis on behavioral and physiological symptoms and a de-emphasis of the patient's subjective experiences when searching for treatments. Here, we provide a new perspective on the subjective experience of mental disorders based on findings in neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, we propose the subjective experience that occurs in visual imagination depends on mechanisms similar to generative adversarial networks that have recently been developed in AI. The basic idea is that a generator network fabricates a prediction of the world, and a discriminator network determines whether it is likely real or not. Given that similar adversarial interactions occur in the two major visual pathways of perception in people, we explored whether we could leverage this AI-inspired approach to better understand the intrusive imagery experiences of patients suffering from mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder. In our model, a nonconscious visual pathway generates predictions of the environment that influence the parallel but interacting conscious pathway. We propose that in some patients, an imbalance in these adversarial interactions leads to an overrepresentation of disturbing content relative to current reality, and results in debilitating flashbacks. By situating the subjective experience of intrusive visual imagery in the adversarial interaction of these visual pathways, we propose testable hypotheses on novel mechanisms and clinical applications for controlling and possibly preventing symptoms resulting from intrusive imagery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cody A Cushing
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Alexei J Dawes
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0106, Japan
| | - Stefan G Hofmann
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, 35037 Marburg, Germany
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Hakwan Lau
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0106, Japan
| | - Joseph E LeDoux
- Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, 10012, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Medical School, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H1N 3M5, Canada
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86
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Pinheiro AP, Sarzedas J, Roberto MS, Kotz SA. Attention and emotion shape self-voice prioritization in speech processing. Cortex 2023; 158:83-95. [PMID: 36473276 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Both self-voice and emotional speech are salient signals that are prioritized in perception. Surprisingly, self-voice perception has been investigated to a lesser extent than the self-face. Therefore, it remains to be clarified whether self-voice prioritization is boosted by emotion, and whether self-relevance and emotion interact differently when attention is focused on who is speaking vs. what is being said. Thirty participants listened to 210 prerecorded words spoken in one's own or an unfamiliar voice and differing in emotional valence in two tasks, manipulating the attention focus on either speaker identity or speech emotion. Event-related potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) informed on the temporal dynamics of self-relevance, emotion, and attention effects. Words spoken in one's own voice elicited a larger N1 and Late Positive Potential (LPP), but smaller N400. Identity and emotion interactively modulated the P2 (self-positivity bias) and LPP (self-negativity bias). Attention to speaker identity modulated more strongly ERP responses within 600 ms post-word onset (N1, P2, N400), whereas attention to speech emotion altered the late component (LPP). However, attention did not modulate the interaction of self-relevance and emotion. These findings suggest that the self-voice is prioritized for neural processing at early sensory stages, and that both emotion and attention shape self-voice prioritization in speech processing. They also confirm involuntary processing of salient signals (self-relevance and emotion) even in situations in which attention is deliberately directed away from those cues. These findings have important implications for a better understanding of symptoms thought to arise from aberrant self-voice monitoring such as auditory verbal hallucinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana P Pinheiro
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; Basic and Applied NeuroDynamics Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
| | - João Sarzedas
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Magda S Roberto
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Basic and Applied NeuroDynamics Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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87
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Li X, Lin Z, Chen Y, Gong M. Working memory modulates the anger superiority effect in central and peripheral visual fields. Cogn Emot 2022; 37:271-283. [PMID: 36565287 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2022.2161483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Angry faces have been shown to be detected more efficiently in a crowd of distractors compared to happy faces, known as the anger superiority effect (ASE). The present study investigated whether the ASE could be modified by top-down manipulation of working memory (WM), in central and peripheral visual fields. In central vision, participants held a colour in WM for a final memory test while simultaneously performing a visual search task that required them to determine whether a face showed a different expression from other coloured faces. The colour held in WM matched either the colour of the target face (target-matching), the colour of a distractor face (distractor-matching), or neither (non-matching). Results showed that the ASE was observed when the probability of target-matching trials was low. However, when the top-down WM effect was strengthened by raising the probability of target-matching trials, the ASE in the target-matching condition was completely eliminated. Intriguingly, when the visual search task was substituted by a peripheral crowding task, similar results to central vision were found in the target-matching condition. Taken together, our findings indicate that the ASE is subject to the top-down WM effect, regardless of the visual field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Li
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhen Lin
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Yufei Chen
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
| | - Mingliang Gong
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, People's Republic of China
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88
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Molins F, Martínez-Tomás C, Serrano MÁ. Implicit Negativity Bias Leads to Greater Loss Aversion and Learning during Decision-Making. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:17037. [PMID: 36554918 PMCID: PMC9779195 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192417037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
It is widely accepted there is the existence of negativity bias, a greater sensitivity to negative emotional stimuli compared with positive ones, but its effect on decision-making would depend on the context. In risky decisions, negativity bias could lead to non-rational choices by increasing loss aversion; yet in ambiguous decisions, it could favor reinforcement-learning and better decisions by increasing sensitivity to punishments. Nevertheless, these hypotheses have not been tested to date. Our aim was to fill this gap. Sixty-nine participants rated ambiguous emotional faces (from the NimStim set) as positive or negative to assess negativity bias. The implicit level of the bias was also obtained by tracking the mouse's trajectories when rating faces. Then, they performed both a risky and an ambiguous decision-making task. Participants displayed negativity bias, but only at the implicit level. In addition, this bias was associated with loss aversion in risky decisions, and with greater performance through the ambiguous decisional task. These results highlight the need to contextualize biases, rather than draw general conclusions about whether they are inherently good or bad.
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89
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Task-irrelevant emotional faces impact BOLD responses more for prosaccades than antisaccades in a mixed saccade fMRI task. Neuropsychologia 2022; 177:108428. [PMID: 36414100 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 11/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control allows individuals to flexibly and efficiently perform tasks by attending to relevant stimuli while inhibiting distraction from irrelevant stimuli. The antisaccade task assesses cognitive control by requiring participants to inhibit a prepotent glance towards a peripheral stimulus and generate an eye movement to the mirror image location. This task can be administered with various contextual manipulations to investigate how factors such as trial timing or emotional content interact with cognitive control. In the current study, 26 healthy adults completed a mixed antisaccade and prosaccade fMRI task that included task irrelevant emotional faces and gap/overlap timing. The results showed typical antisaccade and gap behavioral effects with greater BOLD activation in frontal and parietal brain regions for antisaccade and overlap trials. Conversely, there were no differences in behavior based on the emotion of the task irrelevant face, but trials with neutral faces had greater activation in widespread visual regions than trials with angry faces, particularly for prosaccade and overlap trials. Together, these effects suggest that a high level of cognitive control and inhibition was required throughout the task, minimizing the impact of the face presentation on saccade behavior, but leading to increased attention to the neutral faces on overlap prosaccade trials when both the task cue (look towards) and emotion stimulus (neutral, non-threatening) facilitated disinhibition of visual processing.
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90
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Akselevich V, Gilaie-Dotan S. Positive and negative facial valence perception are modulated differently by eccentricity in the parafovea. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21693. [PMID: 36522350 PMCID: PMC9755278 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24919-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding whether people around us are in a good, bad or neutral mood can be critical to our behavior, both when looking directly at them or when they are in our peripheral visual field. However, facial expressions of emotions are often investigated at central visual field or at locations right or left of fixation. Here we assumed that perception of facial emotional valence (the emotion's pleasantness) changes with distance from central visual field (eccentricity) and that different emotions may be influenced differently by eccentricity. Participants (n = 58) judged the valence of emotional faces across the parafovea (≤ 4°, positive (happy), negative (fearful), or neutral)) while their eyes were being tracked. As expected, performance decreased with eccentricity. Positive valence perception was least affected by eccentricity (accuracy reduction of 10-19% at 4°) and negative the most (accuracy reduction of 35-38% at 4°), and this was not a result of speed-accuracy trade-off or response biases. Within-valence (but not across-valence) performance was associated across eccentricities suggesting perception of different valences is supported by different mechanisms. While our results may not generalize to all positive and negative emotions, they indicate that beyond-foveal investigations can reveal additional characteristics of the mechanisms that underlie facial expression processing and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasilisa Akselevich
- grid.22098.310000 0004 1937 0503School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Life Science, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel ,grid.22098.310000 0004 1937 0503The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Sharon Gilaie-Dotan
- grid.22098.310000 0004 1937 0503School of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Life Science, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel ,grid.22098.310000 0004 1937 0503The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel ,grid.83440.3b0000000121901201UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, UK
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91
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Sun M, Shang C, Jia X, Liu F, Cui L, Wei P, Zhang Q. Expectation modulates the preferential processing of task-irrelevant fear in the attentional blink: evidence from event-related potentials. Behav Brain Funct 2022; 18:16. [DOI: 10.1186/s12993-022-00203-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Reporting the second of the two targets is impaired when it occurs 200–500 ms after the first, the phenomenon in the study of consciousness is the attentional blink (AB). In the AB task, both the emotional salience and the expectation of the second target increase the likelihood of that target being consciously reported. Yet, little is known about how expectations modulate the prioritized processing of affective stimuli. We examined the role of expecting fearful expression when processing fear in an AB task. Participants were presented with an AB task where the 2nd target (T2) is either a fearful face or a neutral face, and had to report the target's gender. The frequency of fearful to neutral faces on a given block was manipulated, such that participants could either expect more or less fearful faces.
Results
In the Experiment 1, we found that fearful faces were more likely to be recognized than neutral faces during the blink period (lag3) when participants were not expecting a fearful face (low fear-expectation); however, high fear-expectation increased the discrimination of fearful T2 than neutral T2 outside the blink period (lag8). In the Experiment 2, we assessed ERP brain activity in response to perceived T2 during the blink period. The results revealed that fearful faces elicited larger P300 amplitudes compared to neutral faces, but only in the low fear-expectation condition, suggesting that expecting a fearful expression can suppress the processing of task-irrelevant facial expression and unexpected fearful expression can break through this suppression. Fearful T2 elicited larger vertex positive potential (VPP) amplitudes than neutral T2, and this affective effect was independent of fear-expectation. Since no effect of expectation was found on the VPP amplitude while P300 exhibited significant interaction between expectation and expression, this suggests that expectations modulate emotional processing at a later stage, after the fearful face has been differentially processed.
Conclusions
These results provided clear evidence for the contribution of the expectation to the prioritized processing of second affective stimuli in the AB.
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92
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Dalmaso M. Exploring the Social Environment with the Eyes: A Review of the Impact of Facial Stimuli on Saccadic Trajectories. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:16615. [PMID: 36554496 PMCID: PMC9779695 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192416615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Eye movement parameters can be highly informative regarding how people explore the social environment around them. This theoretical review examines how human faces and their features (e.g., eye-gaze direction, emotional expressions) can modulate saccadic trajectories. In the first part, studies in which facial stimuli were presented in a central location, such as during a face-to-face social interaction, are illustrated. The second part focuses on studies in which facial stimuli were placed in the periphery. Together, these works confirm the presence of an intriguing link between eye movements and facial processing, and invite consideration of saccadic trajectories as a useful (and still underused) opportunity to track ongoing mechanisms that support the social vision. Some directions for future research are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Dalmaso
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
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93
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Zijlstra TW, van Berlo E, Kret ME. Attention Towards Pupil Size in Humans and Bonobos ( Pan paniscus). AFFECTIVE SCIENCE 2022; 3:761-771. [PMID: 36519142 PMCID: PMC9743857 DOI: 10.1007/s42761-022-00146-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2022] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Previous work has established that humans have an attentional bias towards emotional signals, and there is some evidence that this phenomenon is shared with bonobos, our closest relatives. Although many emotional signals are explicit and overt, implicit cues such as pupil size also contain emotional information for observers. Pupil size can impact social judgment and foster trust and social support, and is automatically mimicked, suggesting a communicative role. While an attentional bias towards more obvious emotional expressions has been shown, it is unclear whether this also extends to a more subtle implicit cue, like changes in pupil size. Therefore, the current study investigated whether attention is biased towards pupils of differing sizes in humans and bonobos. A total of 150 human participants (141 female), with a mean age of 19.13 (ranging from 18 to 32 years old), completed an online dot-probe task. Four female bonobos (6 to 17 years old) completed the dot-probe task presented via a touch screen. We used linear mixed multilevel models to examine the effect of pupil size on reaction times. In humans, our analysis showed a small but significant attentional bias towards dilated pupils compared to intermediate-sized pupils and intermediate-sized pupils when compared to small pupils. Our analysis did not show a significant effect in bonobos. These results suggest that the attentional bias towards emotions in humans can be extended to a subtle unconsciously produced signal, namely changes in pupil size. Due to methodological differences between the two experiments, more research is needed before drawing a conclusion regarding bonobos. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00146-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. W. Zijlstra
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - E. van Berlo
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - M. E. Kret
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, the Netherlands
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94
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Grignolio A, Morelli M, Tamietto M. Why is fake news so fascinating to the brain? Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:5967-5971. [PMID: 36256496 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Grignolio
- Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.,Interdepartmental Center for Research Ethics and Integrity, National Research Council (CNR), Italy
| | - Micaela Morelli
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Marco Tamietto
- Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy.,Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
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95
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Amoah DK. Advances in the understanding and enhancement of the human cognitive functions of learning and memory. BRAIN SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022. [DOI: 10.26599/bsa.2022.9050023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning and memory are among the key cognitive functions that drive the human experience. As such, any defective condition associated with these cognitive domains could affect our navigation through everyday life. For years, researchers have been working toward having a clear understanding of how learning and memory work, as well as ways to improve them. Many advances have been made, as well as some challenges that have also been faced in the process. That notwithstanding, there are prospects with regards to the frontier of the enhancement of learning and memory in humans. This review article selectively highlights four broad areas of focus in research into the understanding and enhancement of learning and memory. Brain stimulation, effects of sleep, effects of stress and emotion, and synaptic plasticity are the main focal areas of this review, in terms of some pivotal research works, findings and theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Kofi Amoah
- Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra LG 25, Ghana
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96
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Laméris DW, van Berlo E, Roth TS, Kret ME. No Evidence for Biased Attention Towards Emotional Scenes in Bornean Orangutans ( Pongo pygmaeus). AFFECTIVE SCIENCE 2022; 3:772-782. [PMID: 36519144 PMCID: PMC9743850 DOI: 10.1007/s42761-022-00158-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Attention may be swiftly and automatically tuned to emotional expressions in social primates, as has been demonstrated in humans, bonobos, and macaques, and with mixed evidence in chimpanzees, where rapid detection of emotional expressions is thought to aid in navigating their social environment. Compared to the other great apes, orangutans are considered semi-solitary, but still form temporary social parties in which sensitivity to others' emotional expressions may be beneficial. The current study investigated whether implicit emotion-biased attention is also present in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). We trained six orangutans on the dot-probe paradigm: an established paradigm used in comparative studies which measures reaction time in response to a probe replacing emotional and neutral stimuli. Emotional stimuli consisted of scenes depicting conspecifics having sex, playing, grooming, yawning, or displaying aggression. These scenes were contrasted with neutral scenes showing conspecifics with a neutral face and body posture. Using Bayesian mixed modeling, we found no evidence for an overall emotion bias in this species. When looking at emotion categories separately, we also did not find substantial biases. We discuss the absence of an implicit attention bias for emotional expressions in orangutans in relation to the existing primate literature, and the methodological limitations of the task. Furthermore, we reconsider the emotional stimuli used in this study and their biological relevance. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00158-x.
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Affiliation(s)
- D. W. Laméris
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
- Antwerp ZOO Centre for Research & Conservation (CRC), Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (RZSA), Antwerp, Belgium
| | - E. van Berlo
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - T. S. Roth
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Apenheul Primate Park, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
| | - M. E. Kret
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands
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97
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Roesmann K, Wessing I, Kraß S, Leehr EJ, Klucken T, Straube T, Junghöfer M. Developmental aspects of fear generalization - A MEG study on neurocognitive correlates in adolescents versus adults. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 58:101169. [PMID: 36356485 PMCID: PMC9649997 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2022] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fear generalization is pivotal for the survival-promoting avoidance of potential danger, but, if too pronounced, it promotes pathological anxiety. Similar to adult patients with anxiety disorders, healthy children tend to show overgeneralized fear responses. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate neuro-developmental aspects of fear generalization in adolescence - a critical age for the development of anxiety disorders. METHODS We compared healthy adolescents (14-17 years) with healthy adults (19-34 years) regarding their fear responses towards tilted Gabor gratings (conditioned stimuli, CS; and slightly differently titled generalization stimuli, GS). In the conditioning phase, CS were paired (CS+) or remained unpaired (CS-) with an aversive stimulus (unconditioned stimuli, US). In the test phase, behavioral, peripheral and neural responses to CS and GS were captured by fear- and UCS expectancy ratings, a perceptual discrimination task, pupil dilation and source estimations of event-related magnetic fields. RESULTS Closely resembling adults, adolescents showed robust generalization gradients of fear ratings, pupil dilation, and estimated neural source activity. However, in the UCS expectancy ratings, adolescents revealed shallower generalization gradients indicating overgeneralization. Moreover, adolescents showed stronger visual cortical activity after as compared to before conditioning to all stimuli. CONCLUSION Various aspects of fear learning and generalization appear to be mature in healthy adolescents. Yet, cognitive aspects might show a slower course of development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kati Roesmann
- Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Siegen, Obergraben 23, 57072 Siegen, Germany; Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany.
| | - Ida Wessing
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Muenster, Schmeddingstraße 50, 48149 Muenster, Germany
| | - Sophia Kraß
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Elisabeth J Leehr
- Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Building A9a, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Tim Klucken
- Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Siegen, Obergraben 23, 57072 Siegen, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University Hospital Münster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Markus Junghöfer
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany
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98
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Goold S, Murphy MJ, Goodale MA, Crewther SG, Laycock R. Faster social attention disengagement in individuals with higher autism traits. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2022; 44:755-767. [PMID: 36694386 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2023.2167943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Atypical visual and social attention has often been associated with clinically diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and with the broader autism phenotype. Atypical social attention is of particular research interest given the importance of facial expressions for social communication, with faces tending to attract and hold attention in neurotypical individuals. In autism, this is not necessarily so, where there is debate about the temporal differences in the ability to disengage attention from a face. METHOD Thus, we have used eye-tracking to record saccadic latencies as a measure of time to disengage attention from a central task-irrelevant face before orienting to a newly presented peripheral nonsocial target during a gap-overlap task. Neurotypical participants with higher or lower autism-like traits (AT) completed the task that included central stimuli with varied expressions of facial emotion as well as an inverted face. RESULTS High AT participants demonstrated faster saccadic responses to detect the nonsocial target than low AT participants when disengaging attention from a face. Furthermore, faster saccadic responses were recorded when comparing disengagement from upright to inverted faces in low AT but not in high AT participants. CONCLUSIONS Together, these results extend findings of atypical social attention disengagement in autism and highlight how differences in attention to faces in the broader autism phenotype can lead to apparently superior task performance under certain conditions. Specifically, autism traits were linked to faster attention orienting to a nonsocial target due to the reduced attentional hold of the task irrelevant face stimuli. The absence of an inversion effect in high AT participants also reinforces the suggestion that they process upright or inverted faces similarly, unlike low AT participants for whom inverted faces are thought to be less socially engaging, thus allowing faster disengagement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saxon Goold
- School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Melanie J Murphy
- School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Melvyn A Goodale
- Western Institute for Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sheila G Crewther
- School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Robin Laycock
- School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.,School of Health and Biomedical Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
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99
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Wiens S, Eklund R, Szychowska M, Miloff A, Cosme D, Pierzchajlo S, Carlbring P. Electrophysiological correlates of in vivo and virtual reality exposure therapy in spider phobia. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14117. [PMID: 35687668 PMCID: PMC9788153 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Specific phobia can be treated successfully with exposure therapy. Although exposure therapy has strong effects on self-reported ratings and behavioral avoidance, effects on measures derived from electroencephalography (EEG) are scant and unclear. To fill this gap, spider-phobic individuals received either in-vivo or virtual reality exposure treatment. Patients were tested twice (one week before and after treatment), and control subjects once. In each session, EEG was recorded to spider pictures as well as other positive, negative, and neutral pictures. During EEG recording, participants performed a simple detection task while task-irrelevant pictures were shown in the background. The task was used to reduce potential confounding effects from shifts of attention. After the task, subjects were shown the pictures again and rated each in terms of their emotional reaction (arousal and pleasantness). The results showed that before treatment, patients rated spiders as more negative than did control subjects. Patients also showed elevated early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP) to spiders. After treatment, the negative emotional ratings of spiders were substantially reduced. Critically, Bayesian analyses suggested that EPN and LPP were unaffected by treatment and that the treatment groups did not differ in their responses (EPN, LPP, and ratings). These findings suggest that the effects of in vivo and virtual reality exposure therapy are similar and that the initial stages of motivated attention (EPN and LPP) are unaffected by treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Wiens
- Department of PsychologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | - Rasmus Eklund
- Department of PsychologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | | | | | - Danielle Cosme
- Annenberg School for CommunicationUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaUSA
| | | | - Per Carlbring
- Department of PsychologyStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
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100
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Genheimer H, Pauli P, Andreatta M. Biomarkers of Anxiety Acquisition and Generalization in Virtual Reality Experiments. ZEITSCHRIFT FUR KLINISCHE PSYCHOLOGIE UND PSYCHOTHERAPIE 2022. [DOI: 10.1026/1616-3443/a000658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. Anxiety disorders are characterized by exaggerated responses to a threatening situation and overgeneralization. Context conditioning has been used for the identification of risk factors. This systematic literature search identifies 16 articles published between 1990 and 2021 on differential anxiety conditioning and generalization in humans. Additionally, we provide example data for individuals suffering from panic attacks with and without depressive symptoms. Successful anxiety acquisition (discrimination between anxiety and safety context) was found on the subjective level of anxiety and US-expectancy, on the physiological level of electrodermal activity, and in the defensive behavior of startle response. Anxiety generalization (discrimination between generalization and safety context) was found on the verbal but not on the physiobehavioral level. In sum, we emphasize the impact of virtual reality on anxiety research. Verbal and physiobehavioral responses serve as reliable biomarkers for anxiety. Few studies found ratings to be the best predictor for anxiety generalization. Genetic predisposition or personality traits might foster overgeneralization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah Genheimer
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
| | - Paul Pauli
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
- Center of Mental Health, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
| | - Marta Andreatta
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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