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Gerpheide K, Unterschemmann SL, Panitz C, Bierwirth P, Gross JJ, Mueller EM. Unpredictable threat increases early event-related potential amplitudes and cardiac acceleration: A brain-heart coupling study. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14563. [PMID: 38467585 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
In the face of unpredictable threat, rapid processing of external events and behavioral mobilization through early psychophysiological responses are crucial for survival. While unpredictable threat generally enhances early processing, it would seem adaptive to particularly increase sensitivity for unexpected events as they may signal danger. To examine this possibility, n = 77 participants performed an auditory oddball paradigm and received unpredictable shocks in threat but not in safe contexts while a stream of frequent (standard) and infrequent (deviant) tones was presented. We assessed event-related potentials (ERP), heart period (HP), and time-lagged within-subject correlations of single-trial EEG and HP (cardio-EEG covariance tracing, CECT) time-locked to the tones. N1 and P2 ERP amplitudes were generally enhanced under threat. The P3 amplitude was enhanced to deviants versus standards and this effect was reduced in the threat condition. Regarding HP, both threat versus safe and unexpected versus expected tones led to stronger cardiac acceleration, suggesting separate effects of threat and stimulus expectancy on HP. Finally, CECTs revealed two correlation clusters, indicating that single-trial EEG magnitudes in the N1/P2 and P3 time-windows predicted subsequent cardiac acceleration. The current results show that an unpredictable threat context enhances N1 and P2 amplitudes and cardiac acceleration to benign auditory stimuli. They further suggest separable cortical correlates of different effects on cardiac activity: an early N1/P2 correlate associated with threat-effects on HP and a later P3 correlate associated with expectedness-effects. Finally, the results indicate that unpredictable threat attenuates rather than enhances the processing of unexpected benign events during the P3 latency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathrin Gerpheide
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | | | - Christian Panitz
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | | | - James J Gross
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Erik M Mueller
- Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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2
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Qiu Y, Dou H, Wang J, Zhang H, Zhang S, Shen D, Li H, Lei Y. Reduced generalization of reward among individuals with subthreshold depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence. Int J Psychophysiol 2024; 200:112339. [PMID: 38554769 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Altered stimulus generalization has been well-documented in anxiety disorders; however, there is a paucity of research investigating this phenomenon in the context of depression. Depression is characterized by impaired reward processing and heightened attention to negative stimuli. It is hypothesized that individuals with depression exhibit reduced generalization of reward stimuli and enhanced generalization of loss stimuli. Nevertheless, no study has examined this process and its underlying neural mechanisms. In the present study, we recruited 25 participants with subthreshold depression (SD group) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (HC group). Participants completed an acquisition task, in which they learned to associate three distinct pure tones (conditioned stimuli, CSs) with a reward, a loss, or no outcome. Subsequently, a generalization session was conducted, during which similar tones (generalization stimuli, GSs) were presented, and participants were required to classify them as a reward tone, a loss tone, or neither. The results revealed that the SD group exhibited reduced generalization errors in the early phase of generalization, suggesting a diminished ability to generalize reward-related stimuli. The event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that the SD group exhibited decreased generalization of positive valence to reward-related GSs and heightened generalization of negative valence to loss-related GSs, as reflected by the N1 and P2 components. However, the late positive potential (LPP) was not modulated by depression in reward generalization or loss generalization. These findings suggested that individuals with subthreshold depression may have a blunted or reduced ability to generalize reward stimuli, shedding light on potential treatment strategies targeting this particular process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiwen Qiu
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Haoran Dou
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Jinxia Wang
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China; Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Huoyin Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Shiyunmeng Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Die Shen
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Hong Li
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for studies of Psychological Applications Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
| | - Yi Lei
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
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Sperl MFJ, Panitz C, Skoluda N, Nater UM, Pizzagalli DA, Hermann C, Mueller EM. Alpha-2 Adrenoreceptor Antagonist Yohimbine Potentiates Consolidation of Conditioned Fear. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2022; 25:759-773. [PMID: 35748393 PMCID: PMC9515133 DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyac038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2021] [Revised: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hyperconsolidation of aversive associations and poor extinction learning have been hypothesized to be crucial in the acquisition of pathological fear. Previous animal and human research points to the potential role of the catecholaminergic system, particularly noradrenaline and dopamine, in acquiring emotional memories. Here, we investigated in a between-participants design with 3 groups whether the noradrenergic alpha-2 adrenoreceptor antagonist yohimbine and the dopaminergic D2-receptor antagonist sulpiride modulate long-term fear conditioning and extinction in humans. METHODS Fifty-five healthy male students were recruited. The final sample consisted of n = 51 participants who were explicitly aware of the contingencies between conditioned stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimuli after fear acquisition. The participants were then randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 groups and received either yohimbine (10 mg, n = 17), sulpiride (200 mg, n = 16), or placebo (n = 18) between fear acquisition and extinction. Recall of conditioned (non-extinguished CS+ vs CS-) and extinguished fear (extinguished CS+ vs CS-) was assessed 1 day later, and a 64-channel electroencephalogram was recorded. RESULTS The yohimbine group showed increased salivary alpha-amylase activity, confirming a successful manipulation of central noradrenergic release. Elevated fear-conditioned bradycardia and larger differential amplitudes of the N170 and late positive potential components in the event-related brain potential indicated that yohimbine treatment (compared with a placebo and sulpiride) enhanced fear recall during day 2. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that yohimbine potentiates cardiac and central electrophysiological signatures of fear memory consolidation. They thereby elucidate the key role of noradrenaline in strengthening the consolidation of conditioned fear associations, which may be a key mechanism in the etiology of fear-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias F J Sperl
- Correspondence: Matthias F. J. Sperl, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Department of Psychology, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany ()
| | - Christian Panitz
- Department of Psychology, Personality Psychology and Assessment, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany,Department of Psychology, Experimental Psychology and Methods, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany,Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Nadine Skoluda
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Urs M Nater
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Diego A Pizzagalli
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, & Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Christiane Hermann
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Erik M Mueller
- Department of Psychology, Personality Psychology and Assessment, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Vuilleumier P. Amygdala function in emotion, cognition, and behavior. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2022; 187:359-380. [PMID: 35964983 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823493-8.00015-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a core structure in the anterior medial temporal lobe, with an important role in several brain functions involving memory, emotion, perception, social cognition, and even awareness. As a key brain structure for saliency detection, it triggers and controls widespread modulatory signals onto multiple areas of the brain, with a great impact on numerous aspects of adaptive behavior. Here we discuss the neural mechanisms underlying these functions, as established by animal and human research, including insights provided in both healthy and pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology & Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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5
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Linton SR, Levita L. Potentiated perceptual neural responses to learned threat during Pavlovian fear acquisition and extinction in adolescents. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13107. [PMID: 33817917 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Adolescents' experience of heightened anxiety and increased vulnerability to develop anxiety disorders is believed to partly result from blunted fear extinction processes. However, whether this anxiety is mediated by adolescent-specific differences in perceptual responses to learned threat is not known. To investigate this, we used EEG to examine reinforcement-dependent changes in early visual event-related potentials in adolescents (N = 28, 13-14 years) and adults (N = 23, 25-26 years old) during a differential Pavlovian fear conditioning task, with one conditioned stimulus (CS+) paired with an aversive sound (unconditioned stimulus [US]) on 50% of trials, and another (CS-) never paired with the US. An immediate extinction phase followed, where both CSs were presented alone. We found age-dependent dissociations between explicit and implicit measures of fear learning. Specifically, both adolescents and adults demonstrated successful fear conditioning and extinction according to their explicit awareness of changes in CS contingencies and their evaluative CS ratings, and their differential skin conductance responses. However, for the first time we show age differences at the neural level in perceptual areas. Only adolescents showed greater visual P1 and N1 responses to the CS+ compared to the CS- during acquisition, a dissociation that for the N1 was maintained during extinction. We suggest that the adolescent perceptual hyper-responsivity to learned threat and blunted extinction reported here could be an adaptive mechanism to protect adolescents from harm. However, this hyper-responsivity may also confer greater vulnerability to experience pathological levels of anxiety at this developmental stage.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Liat Levita
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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6
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Guo K, Calver L, Soornack Y, Bourke P. Valence-dependent Disruption in Processing of Facial Expressions of Emotion in Early Visual Cortex—A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study. J Cogn Neurosci 2020; 32:906-916. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Our visual inputs are often entangled with affective meanings in natural vision, implying the existence of extensive interaction between visual and emotional processing. However, little is known about the neural mechanism underlying such interaction. This exploratory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study examined the possible involvement of the early visual cortex (EVC, Area V1/V2/V3) in perceiving facial expressions of different emotional valences. Across three experiments, single-pulse TMS was delivered at different time windows (50–150 msec) after a brief 10-msec onset of face images, and participants reported the visibility and perceived emotional valence of faces. Interestingly, earlier TMS at ∼90 msec only reduced the face visibility irrespective of displayed expressions, but later TMS at ∼120 msec selectively disrupted the recognition of negative facial expressions, indicating the involvement of EVC in the processing of negative expressions at a later time window, possibly beyond the initial processing of fed-forward facial structure information. The observed TMS effect was further modulated by individuals' anxiety level. TMS at ∼110–120 msec disrupted the recognition of anger significantly more for those scoring relatively low in trait anxiety than the high scorers, suggesting that cognitive bias influences the processing of facial expressions in EVC. Taken together, it seems that EVC is involved in structural encoding of (at least) negative facial emotional valence, such as fear and anger, possibly under modulation from higher cortical areas.
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7
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Ferreira de Sá DS, Michael T, Wilhelm FH, Peyk P. Learning to see the threat: temporal dynamics of ERPs of motivated attention in fear conditioning. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:189-203. [PMID: 30481357 PMCID: PMC6374602 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2018] [Revised: 11/13/2018] [Accepted: 11/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Social threat detection is important in everyday life. Studies of cortical activity have shown that event-related potentials (ERPs) of motivated attention are modulated during fear conditioning. The time course of motivated attention in learning and extinction of fear is, however, still largely unknown. We aimed to study temporal dynamics of learning processes in classical fear conditioning to social cues (neutral faces) by selecting an experimental setup that produces large effects on well-studied ERP components (early posterior negativity, EPN; late positive potential, LPP; stimulus preceding negativity, SPN) and then exploring small consecutive groups of trials. EPN, LPP, and SPN markedly and quickly increased during the acquisition phase in response to the CS+ but not the CS-. These changes were visible even at high temporal resolution and vanished completely during extinction. Moreover, some evidence was found for component differences in extinction learning, with differences between CS+ and CS- extinguishing faster for late as compared to early ERP components. Results demonstrate that fear learning to social cues is a very fast and highly plastic process and conceptually different ERPs of motivated attention are sensitive to these changes at high temporal resolution, pointing to specific neurocognitive and affective processes of social fear learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana S Ferreira de Sá
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Tanja Michael
- Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Frank H Wilhelm
- Division of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| | - Peter Peyk
- Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
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8
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No intermodal interference effects of threatening information during concurrent audiovisual stimulation. Neuropsychologia 2019; 136:107283. [PMID: 31783079 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Revised: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Changes in attention can result in sensory processing trade-off effects, in which sensory cortical responses to attended stimuli are heightened and responses to competing distractors are attenuated. However, it is unclear if competition or facilitation effects will be observed at the level of sensory cortex when attending to competing stimuli in two modalities. The present study used electroencephalogram (EEG) and frequency-tagging to quantitatively assess auditory-visual interactions during sustained multimodal sensory stimulation. The emotional content of a 6.66 Hz rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) was manipulated to elicit well-established emotional attention effects, while a constant 63 dB tone with a 40.8 Hz modulation served as a concurrent auditory stimulus in two experiments. As a directed attention manipulation, participants were instructed to detect transient sound level events in the auditory stream in Experiment 1. To manipulate attention through threat anticipation, participants were instructed to expect an aversive noise burst after a higher 40.8 Hz modulated tone in Experiment 2. Each stimulus evoked reliable steady-state sensory cortical responses in all participants (n = 30) in both experiments. The visual cortical responses were modulated by the auditory detection task, but not by threat anticipation: Visual responses were smaller during auditory streams with a transient target as compared to uninterrupted auditory streams. Conversely, visual stimulus condition had no significant effects on auditory sensory cortical responses in either experiment. These results indicate that there is neither a competition nor facilitation effect of visual content on concurrent auditory sensory cortical processing. They further indicate that competition effects of auditory stream content on sustained visuocortical responses are limited to auditory target processing.
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9
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Rehbein MA, Pastor MC, Moltó J, Poy R, López-Penadés R, Junghöfer M. Identity and expression processing during classical conditioning with faces. Psychophysiology 2018; 55:e13203. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2017] [Revised: 03/26/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maimu A. Rehbein
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis; University Hospital Münster; Münster Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience; University of Münster; Münster Germany
| | - Maria Carmen Pastor
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology; Universitat Jaume I; Castellón de la Plana Spain
| | - Javier Moltó
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology; Universitat Jaume I; Castellón de la Plana Spain
| | - Rosario Poy
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology; Universitat Jaume I; Castellón de la Plana Spain
| | - Raül López-Penadés
- Department of Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology; Universitat de les Illes Balears; Palma de Mallorca Spain
| | - Markus Junghöfer
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis; University Hospital Münster; Münster Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience; University of Münster; Münster Germany
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10
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Howsley P, Levita L. Anticipatory representations of reward and threat in perceptual areas from preadolescence to late adolescence. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2017; 25:246-259. [PMID: 28359682 PMCID: PMC6987791 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2016] [Revised: 01/29/2017] [Accepted: 03/08/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
This study examined whether changes in perceptual processes can partially account for the increase in reward-orientated behaviour during adolescence. This was investigated by examining reinforcement-dependent potentiation to discriminative stimuli (SD) that predicted rewarding or threatening outcomes. To that end, perceptual event-related potentials that are modulated by motivationally salient stimuli, the N170 and Late Positive Potential (LPP), were recorded from 30 preadolescents (9–12 years), 30 adolescents (13–17 years), and 34 late adolescents (18–23 years) while they completed an instrumental task in which they emitted or omitted a motor response to obtain rewards and avoid losses. The LPP, but not the N170, showed age, but not gender, differences in reinforcement-dependent potentiation; preadolescents, adolescents, and late adolescents showed potentiation to SD that predicted a threat, whereas only preadolescents showed potentiation to SD that predicted a reward. Notably, the magnitude of threat-related LPP reinforcement-dependent potentiation decreased during the course of adolescence. In addition, greater sensation seeking was associated with greater LPP amplitudes in preadolescent males, but smaller LPP amplitudes in late adolescent males. Critically, these findings provide initial evidence for developmental differences in value-related coding in perceptual areas, where adolescents show greater perceptual biases to avoidance-related cues than to reward-related cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippa Howsley
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2LT, United Kingdom.
| | - Liat Levita
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2LT, United Kingdom.
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11
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Ventura-Bort C, Löw A, Wendt J, Dolcos F, Hamm AO, Weymar M. When neutral turns significant: brain dynamics of rapidly formed associations between neutral stimuli and emotional contexts. Eur J Neurosci 2016; 44:2176-83. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Revised: 06/17/2016] [Accepted: 06/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Ventura-Bort
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology; University of Greifswald; Franz-Mehring-Str. 47 17487 Greifswald Germany
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology; Universitat Jaume I; Castellón Spain
| | - Andreas Löw
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences; Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg; Hamburg Germany
| | - Julia Wendt
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology; University of Greifswald; Franz-Mehring-Str. 47 17487 Greifswald Germany
| | - Florin Dolcos
- Psychology Department; Neuroscience Program; Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Champaign IL USA
| | - Alfons O. Hamm
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology; University of Greifswald; Franz-Mehring-Str. 47 17487 Greifswald Germany
| | - Mathias Weymar
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology; University of Greifswald; Franz-Mehring-Str. 47 17487 Greifswald Germany
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12
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Camfield DA, Mills J, Kornfeld EJ, Croft RJ. Modulation of the N170 with Classical Conditioning: The Use of Emotional Imagery and Acoustic Startle in Healthy and Depressed Participants. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:337. [PMID: 27445773 PMCID: PMC4928609 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested that classical conditioning may be capable of modulating early sensory processing in the human brain, and that there may be differences in the magnitude of the conditioned changes for individuals with major depressive disorder. The effect of conditioning on the N170 event-related potential was investigated using neutral faces as conditioned stimuli (CS+) and emotional imagery and acoustic startle as unconditioned stimuli (UCS). In the first experiment, electroencephalogram was recorded from 24 undergraduate students (M = 21.07 years, SD = 3.38 years) under the following conditions: (i) CS+/aversive imagery, (ii) CS+/aversive imagery and acoustic startle, (iii) CS+/acoustic startle, and (iv) CS+/pleasant imagery. The amplitude of the N170 was enhanced following conditioning with aversive imagery as well as acoustic startle. In the second experiment, 26 healthy control participants were tested (17 females and 9 males, age M = 25.97 years, SD = 9.42) together with 18 depressed participants (13 females and 5 males, age M = 23.26 years, SD = 4.01) and three conditions were used: CS+/aversive imagery, CS+/pleasant imagery, and CS-. N170 amplitude at P7 was increased for the CS+/aversive condition in comparison to CS- in the conditioning blocks versus baseline. No differences between depressed and healthy participants were found. Across both experiments, evaluative conditioning was absent. It was concluded that aversive UCS are capable of modulating early sensory processing of faces, although further research is also warranted in regards to positive UCS.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Camfield
- School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, WollongongNSW, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, WollongongNSW, Australia
| | - Jessica Mills
- School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, WollongongNSW, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, WollongongNSW, Australia
| | - Emma J Kornfeld
- School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW, Australia
| | - Rodney J Croft
- School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, WollongongNSW, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, WollongongNSW, Australia
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13
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Sperl MFJ, Panitz C, Hermann C, Mueller EM. A pragmatic comparison of noise burst and electric shock unconditioned stimuli for fear conditioning research with many trials. Psychophysiology 2016; 53:1352-65. [PMID: 27286734 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2015] [Accepted: 04/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Several methods that are promising for studying the neurophysiology of fear conditioning (e.g., EEG, MEG) require a high number of trials to achieve an adequate signal-to-noise ratio. While electric shock and white noise burst are among the most commonly used unconditioned stimuli (US) in conventional fear conditioning studies with few trials, it is unknown whether these stimuli are equally well suited for paradigms with many trials. Here, N = 32 participants underwent a 260-trial differential fear conditioning and extinction paradigm with a 240-trial recall test 24 h later and neutral faces as conditioned stimuli. In a between-subjects design, either white noise bursts (n = 16) or electric shocks (n = 16) served as US, and intensities were determined using the most common procedure for each US (i.e., a fixed 95 dB noise burst and a work-up procedure for electric shocks, respectively). In addition to differing US types, groups also differed in closely linked US-associated characteristics (e.g., calibration methods, stimulus intensities, timing). Subjective ratings (arousal/valence), skin conductance, and evoked heart period changes (i.e., fear bradycardia) indicated more reliable, extinction-resistant, and stable conditioning in the white noise burst versus electric shock group. In fear conditioning experiments where many trials are presented, white noise burst should serve as US.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias F J Sperl
- Faculty of Psychology, Personality Psychology and Assessment, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.,Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Christian Panitz
- Faculty of Psychology, Personality Psychology and Assessment, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.,Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Christiane Hermann
- Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Erik M Mueller
- Faculty of Psychology, Personality Psychology and Assessment, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.,Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
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14
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Anticipation of electric shocks modulates low beta power and event-related fields during memory encoding. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2015; 123:196-204. [PMID: 26119254 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2014] [Revised: 06/16/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
In humans, the temporal and oscillatory dynamics of pain anticipation and its effects on long-term memory are largely unknown. Here, we investigated this open question by using a previously established behavioral paradigm in combination with magnetoencephalography (MEG). Healthy human subjects encoded a series of scene images, which was combined with cues predicting an aversive electric shock with different probabilities (0.2, 0.5 or 0.8). After encoding, memory for the studied images was tested using a remember/know recognition task. Behaviorally, pain anticipation did not modulate recollection-based recognition memory per se, but interacted with the perceived unpleasantness of the electric shock [visual analogue scale rating from 1 (not unpleasant) to 10 (highly unpleasant)]. More precisely, the relationship between pain anticipation and recollection followed an inverted u-shaped function the more unpleasant the shocks were rated by a subject. At the physiological level, this quadratic effect was mimicked in the event-related magnetic fields associated with successful memory formation ('DM-effect') ∼450ms after image onset at left frontal sensors. Importantly, across all subjects, shock anticipation modulated oscillatory power in the low beta frequency range (13-20Hz) in a linear fashion at left temporal sensors. Taken together, our findings indicate that beta oscillations provide a generic mechanism underlying pain anticipation; the effect on subsequent long-term memory, on the other hand, is much more variable and depends on the level of individual pain perception. As such, our findings give new and important insights into how aversive motivational states can drive memory formation.
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Pastor MC, Rehbein MA, Junghöfer M, Poy R, López R, Moltó J. Facing Challenges in Differential Classical Conditioning Research: Benefits of a Hybrid Design for Simultaneous Electrodermal and Electroencephalographic Recording. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:336. [PMID: 26106318 PMCID: PMC4460875 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Several challenges make it difficult to simultaneously investigate central and autonomous nervous system correlates of conditioned stimulus (CS) processing in classical conditioning paradigms. Such challenges include, for example, the discrepant requirements of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) recordings with regard to multiple repetitions of conditions and sufficient trial duration. Here, we propose a MultiCS conditioning set-up, in which we increased the number of CSs, decreased the number of learning trials, and used trials of short and long durations for meeting requirements of simultaneous EEG–EDA recording in a differential aversive conditioning task. Forty-eight participants underwent MultiCS conditioning, in which four neutral faces (CS+) were paired four times each with aversive electric stimulation (unconditioned stimulus) during acquisition, while four different neutral faces (CS−) remained unpaired. When comparing after relative to before learning measurements, EEG revealed an enhanced centro-posterior positivity to CS+ vs. CS− during 368–600 ms, and subjective ratings indicated CS+ to be less pleasant and more arousing than CS−. Furthermore, changes in CS valence and arousal were strong enough to bias subjective ratings when faces of CS+/CS− identity were displayed with different emotional expression (happy, angry) in a post-experimental behavioral task. In contrast to a persistent neural and evaluative CS+/CS− differentiation that sustained multiple unreinforced CS presentations, electrodermal differentiation was rapidly extinguished. Current results suggest that MultiCS conditioning provides a promising paradigm for investigating pre–post-learning changes under minimal influences of extinction and overlearning of simple stimulus features. Our data also revealed methodological pitfalls, such as the possibility of occurring artifacts when combining different acquisition systems for central and peripheral psychophysiological measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Carmen Pastor
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I , Castellón , Spain
| | - Maimu Alissa Rehbein
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster , Münster , Germany ; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster , Münster , Germany
| | - Markus Junghöfer
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster , Münster , Germany ; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster , Münster , Germany
| | - Rosario Poy
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I , Castellón , Spain
| | - Raul López
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I , Castellón , Spain
| | - Javier Moltó
- Department of Basic and Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I , Castellón , Spain
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Inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates early affective processing. Neuroimage 2014; 101:193-203. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Revised: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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Wieser MJ, Miskovic V, Rausch S, Keil A. Different time course of visuocortical signal changes to fear-conditioned faces with direct or averted gaze: A ssVEP study with single-trial analysis. Neuropsychologia 2014; 62:101-10. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2013] [Revised: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/10/2014] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
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Balderston NL, Schultz DH, Baillet S, Helmstetter FJ. Rapid amygdala responses during trace fear conditioning without awareness. PLoS One 2014; 9:e96803. [PMID: 24823365 PMCID: PMC4019542 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2014] [Accepted: 04/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of consciousness in learning has been debated for nearly 50 years. Recent studies suggest that conscious awareness is needed to bridge the gap when learning about two events that are separated in time, as is true for trace fear conditioning. This has been repeatedly shown and seems to apply to other forms of classical conditioning as well. In contrast to these findings, we show that individuals can learn to associate a face with the later occurrence of a shock, even if they are unable to perceive the face. We used a novel application of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to non-invasively record neural activity from the amygdala, which is known to be important for fear learning. We demonstrate rapid (∼170–200 ms) amygdala responses during the stimulus free period between the face and the shock. These results suggest that unperceived faces can serve as signals for impending threat, and that rapid, automatic activation of the amygdala contributes to this process. In addition, we describe a methodology that can be applied in the future to study neural activity with MEG in other subcortical structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas L. Balderston
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Douglas H. Schultz
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Sylvain Baillet
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Qc, Canada
| | - Fred J. Helmstetter
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Redlich R, Grotegerd D, Opel N, Kaufmann C, Zwitserlood P, Kugel H, Heindel W, Donges US, Suslow T, Arolt V, Dannlowski U. Are you gonna leave me? Separation anxiety is associated with increased amygdala responsiveness and volume. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:278-84. [PMID: 24752071 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The core feature of separation anxiety is excessive distress when faced with actual or perceived separation from people to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment. So far little is known about the neurobiological underpinnings of separation anxiety. Therefore, we investigated functional (amygdala responsiveness and functional connectivity during threat-related emotion processing) and structural (grey matter volume) imaging markers associated with separation anxiety as measured with the Relationship Scale Questionnaire in a large sample of healthy adults from the Münster Neuroimaging Cohort (N = 320). We used a robust emotional face-matching task and acquired high-resolution structural images for morphometric analyses using voxel-based morphometry. The main results were positive associations of separation anxiety scores with amygdala reactivity to emotional faces as well as increased amygdala grey matter volumes. A functional connectivity analysis revealed positive associations between separation anxiety and functional coupling of the amygdala with areas involved in visual processes and attention, including several occipital and somatosensory areas. Taken together, the results suggest a higher emotional involvement in subjects with separation anxiety while watching negative facial expressions, and potentially secondary neuro-structural adaptive processes. These results could help to understand and treat (adult) separation anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronny Redlich
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Dominik Grotegerd
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Nils Opel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Carolin Kaufmann
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Pienie Zwitserlood
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Harald Kugel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Walter Heindel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Uta-Susan Donges
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Volker Arolt
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
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Levita L, Howsley P, Jordan J, Johnston P. Potentiation of the early visual response to learned danger signals in adults and adolescents. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:269-77. [PMID: 24652856 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The reinforcing effects of aversive outcomes on avoidance behaviour are well established. However, their influence on perceptual processes is less well explored, especially during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Using electroencephalography, we examined whether learning to actively or passively avoid harm can modulate early visual responses in adolescents and adults. The task included two avoidance conditions, active and passive, where two different warning stimuli predicted the imminent, but avoidable, presentation of an aversive tone. To avoid the aversive outcome, participants had to learn to emit an action (active avoidance) for one of the warning stimuli and omit an action for the other (passive avoidance). Both adults and adolescents performed the task with a high degree of accuracy. For both adolescents and adults, increased N170 event-related potential amplitudes were found for both the active and the passive warning stimuli compared with control conditions. Moreover, the potentiation of the N170 to the warning stimuli was stable and long lasting. Developmental differences were also observed; adolescents showed greater potentiation of the N170 component to danger signals. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that learned danger signals in an instrumental avoidance task can influence early visual sensory processes in both adults and adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liat Levita
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Philippa Howsley
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeff Jordan
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Pat Johnston
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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Miskovic V, Keil A. Visuocortical changes during delay and trace aversive conditioning: evidence from steady-state visual evoked potentials. Emotion 2013; 13:554-61. [PMID: 23398582 PMCID: PMC4300096 DOI: 10.1037/a0031323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The visual system is biased toward sensory cues that have been associated with danger or harm through temporal co-occurrence. An outstanding question about conditioning-induced changes in visuocortical processing is the extent to which they are driven primarily by top-down factors such as expectancy or by low-level factors such as the temporal proximity between conditioned stimuli and aversive outcomes. Here, the authors examined this question using 2 different differential aversive conditioning experiments: participants learned to associate a particular grating stimulus with an aversive noise that was presented either in close temporal proximity (delay conditioning experiment) or after a prolonged stimulus-free interval (trace conditioning experiment). In both experiments, the authors probed cue-related cortical responses by recording steady-state visual evoked potentials. Although behavioral ratings indicated that all participants successfully learned to discriminate between the grating patterns that predicted the presence versus absence of the aversive noise, selective amplification of population-level responses in visual cortex for the conditioned danger signal was observed only when the grating and the noise were temporally contiguous. Our findings are in line with notions purporting that changes in the electrocortical response of visual neurons induced by aversive conditioning are a product of Hebbian associations among sensory cell assemblies rather than being driven entirely by expectancy-based, declarative processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladimir Miskovic
- Center for the Study of Emotion & Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
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22
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Steinberg C, Bröckelmann AK, Rehbein M, Dobel C, Junghöfer M. Rapid and highly resolving associative affective learning: Convergent electro- and magnetoencephalographic evidence from vision and audition. Biol Psychol 2013; 92:526-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2011] [Revised: 01/20/2012] [Accepted: 02/14/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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23
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Steinberg C, Bröckelmann AK, Dobel C, Elling L, Zwanzger P, Pantev C, Junghöfer M. Preferential responses to extinguished face stimuli are preserved in frontal and occipito-temporal cortex at initial but not later stages of processing. Psychophysiology 2013; 50:230-9. [PMID: 23350923 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2012] [Accepted: 10/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Magnetoencephalographic correlates of rapid emotional responses (50-80 ms) in frontal and occipito-temporal regions have recently been reported using a novel MultiCS Conditioning paradigm with odor-conditioned faces. As those short-latency responses were supposed to partially reflect initial access to nonextinguished emotional memories, it could be predicted that they outlast the extinction phase. To test this hypothesis, appetitively and aversively odor-conditioned faces were frequently presented during extinction while event-related magnetic fields were recorded. Affect-specific responses in frontal and occipito-temporal areas were found in the early (50-80 ms) but not in the later (130-190 ms) time interval following extinction learning. These results suggest that previously acquired emotional memories can be accessed at initial processing stages but become ineffective in modulating processing at later stages as extinction proceeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Steinberg
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, 48149, Muenster, Germany.
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Bröckelmann AK, Steinberg C, Dobel C, Elling L, Zwanzger P, Pantev C, Junghöfer M. Affect-specific modulation of the N1m to shock-conditioned tones: magnetoencephalographic correlates. Eur J Neurosci 2012; 37:303-15. [PMID: 23167712 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2012] [Accepted: 09/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Despite its fundamental relevance for representing the emotional world surrounding us, human affective neuroscience research has widely neglected the auditory system, at least in comparison to the visual domain. Here, we have investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of human affective auditory processing using time-sensitive whole-head magnetoencephalography. A novel and highly challenging affective associative learning procedure, 'MultiCS conditioning', involving multiple conditioned stimuli (CS) per affective category, was adopted to test whether previous findings from intramodal conditioning of multiple click-tones with an equal number of auditory emotional scenes (Bröckelmann et al., 2011 J. Neurosci., 31, 7801) would generalise to crossmodal conditioning of multiple click-tones with an electric shock as single aversive somatosensory unconditioned stimulus (UCS). Event-related magnetic fields were recorded in response to 40 click-tones before and after four contingent pairings of 20 CS with a shock and the other half remaining unpaired. In line with previous findings from intramodal MultiCS conditioning we found an affect-specific modulation of the auditory N1m component 100-150 ms post-stimulus within a distributed frontal-temporal-parietal neural network. Increased activation for shock-associated tones was lateralised to right-hemispheric regions, whereas unpaired safety-signalling tones were preferentially processed in the left hemisphere. Participants did not show explicit awareness of the contingent CS-UCS relationship, yet behavioural conditioning effects were indicated on an indirect measure of stimulus valence. Our findings imply converging evidence for a rapid and highly differentiating affect-specific modulation of the auditory N1m after intramodal as well crossmodal MultiCS conditioning and a correspondence of the modulating impact of emotional attention on early affective processing in vision and audition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Kathrin Bröckelmann
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, D-48149 Münster, Germany
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Miskovic V, Keil A. Acquired fears reflected in cortical sensory processing: a review of electrophysiological studies of human classical conditioning. Psychophysiology 2012; 49:1230-41. [PMID: 22891639 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01398.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2012] [Accepted: 05/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The capacity to associate neutral stimuli with affective value is an important survival strategy that can be accomplished by cell assemblies obeying Hebbian learning principles. In the neuroscience laboratory, classical fear conditioning has been extensively used as a model to study learning-related changes in neural structure and function. Here, we review the effects of classical fear conditioning on electromagnetic brain activity in humans, focusing on how sensory systems adapt to changing fear-related contingencies. By considering spatiotemporal patterns of mass neuronal activity, we illustrate a range of cortical changes related to a retuning of neuronal sensitivity to amplify signals consistent with fear-associated stimuli at the cost of other sensory information. Putative mechanisms that may underlie fear-associated plasticity at the level of the sensory cortices are briefly considered, and several avenues for future work are outlined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladimir Miskovic
- Center for the Study of Emotion & Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
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Steinberg C, Dobel C, Schupp HT, Kissler J, Elling L, Pantev C, Junghöfer M. Rapid and Highly Resolving: Affective Evaluation of Olfactorily Conditioned Faces. J Cogn Neurosci 2012; 24:17-27. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Evidence from hemodynamic and electrophysiological measures suggests that the processing of emotionally relevant information occurs in a spatially and temporally distributed affective network. ERP studies of emotional stimulus processing frequently report differential responses to emotional stimuli starting around 120 msec. However, the involvement of structures that seem to become activated at earlier latencies (i.e., amygdala and OFC) would allow for more rapid modulations, even in distant cortical areas. Consistent with this notion, recent ERP studies investigating associative learning have provided evidence for rapid modulations in sensory areas earlier than 120 msec, but these studies either used simple and/or very few stimuli. The present study used high-density whole-head magneto-encephalography to measure brain responses to a multitude of neutral facial stimuli, which were associated with an aversive or neutral odor. Significant emotional modulations were observed at intervals of 50–80 and 130–190 msec in frontal and occipito-temporal regions, respectively. In the absence of contingency awareness and with only two learning instances, a remarkable capacity for emotional learning is observed.
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Emotion-associated tones attract enhanced attention at early auditory processing: magnetoencephalographic correlates. J Neurosci 2011; 31:7801-10. [PMID: 21613493 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.6236-10.2011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotionally significant objects and events in our environment attract attention based on their motivational relevance for survival. Such kind of emotional attention is thought to lead to affect-specific amplified processing that closely resembles effects of directed attention. Although there has been extensive research on prioritized processing of visual emotional stimuli, the spatio-temporal dynamics of motivated attention mechanisms in auditory processing are less clearly understood. We investigated modulatory effects of emotional attention at early auditory processing stages using time-sensitive whole-head magnetoencephalography. A novel associative learning procedure involving multiple conditioned stimuli (CSs) per affective category was introduced to specifically test whether affect-specific modulation can proceed in a rapid and highly differentiating fashion in humans. Auditory evoked fields (AEFs) were recorded in response to 42 different ultrashort, click-like sounds before and after affective conditioning with pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral auditory scenes. As hypothesized, emotional attention affected neural click tone processing at time intervals of the P20-50m (20-50 ms) and the N1m (100-130 ms), two early AEF components sensitive to directed selective attention (Woldorff et al., 1993). Distributed source localization revealed amplified processing of tones associated with aversive or pleasant compared with neutral auditory scenes at auditory sensory, frontal and parietal cortex regions. Behavioral tests did not indicate any awareness for the contingent CS-UCS (unconditioned stimulus) relationships in the participants, suggesting affective associative learning in absence of contingency awareness. Our findings imply early and highly differentiating affect-specific modulation of auditory stimulus processing supported by neural mechanisms and circuitry comparable with those reported for directed auditory attention.
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Saygin ZM, Osher DE, Augustinack J, Fischl B, Gabrieli JDE. Connectivity-based segmentation of human amygdala nuclei using probabilistic tractography. Neuroimage 2011; 56:1353-61. [PMID: 21396459 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2010] [Revised: 02/25/2011] [Accepted: 03/02/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala plays an important role in emotional and social functions, and amygdala dysfunction has been associated with multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism, anxiety, and depression. Although the amygdala is composed of multiple anatomically and functionally distinct nuclei, typical structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences are unable to discern them. Thus, functional MRI (fMRI) studies typically average the BOLD response over the entire structure, which reveals some aspects of amygdala function as a whole but does not distinguish the separate roles of specific nuclei in humans. We developed a method to segment the human amygdala into its four major nuclei using only diffusion-weighted imaging and connectivity patterns derived mainly from animal studies. We refer to this new method as Tractography-based Segmentation, or TractSeg. The segmentations derived from TractSeg were topographically similar to their corresponding amygdaloid nuclei, and were validated against a high-resolution scan in which the nucleic boundaries were visible. In addition, nuclei topography was consistent across subjects. TractSeg relies on short scan acquisitions and widely accessible software packages, making it attractive for use in healthy populations to explore normal amygdala nucleus function, as well as in clinical and pediatric populations. Finally, it paves the way for implementing this method in other anatomical regions which are also composed of functional subunits that are difficult to distinguish with standard structural MRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeynep M Saygin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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Moses SN, Bardouille T, Brown TM, Ross B, McIntosh AR. Learning related activation of somatosensory cortex by an auditory stimulus recorded with magnetoencephalography. Neuroimage 2010; 53:275-82. [PMID: 20541017 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2010] [Revised: 05/13/2010] [Accepted: 06/02/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in non-invasive neuroimaging technology now provide a means of directly observing learning within the brain. Classical conditioning serves as an ideal starting point for examining the dynamic expression of learning within the human brain, since this paradigm is well characterized using multiple levels of analysis in a broad range of species. We used MEG to expand the characterization of conditioned responses (CR) recorded from the human brain with a simultaneous examination of their spatial, temporal and spectral properties. We paired an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS+) with a somatosensory unconditioned stimulus (US). We found that when the US was randomly omitted, presentations of CS+ alone, elicited greater desynchronization of beta-band activity in contralateral somatosensory cortex compared to presentations of an auditory stimulus that was never paired with the US (CS-), and compared the CS+ following a non-reinforced extinction session. This differentiation was largest between 150 and 350ms following US omission. We show that cross-modal CRs in the primary sensorimotor system are predominantly characterized by modulation of ongoing cortical oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra N Moses
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
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Peyk P, Schupp HT, Elbert T, Junghöfer M. Emotion processing in the visual brain: a MEG analysis. Brain Topogr 2008; 20:205-15. [PMID: 18340522 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-008-0052-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2007] [Accepted: 02/14/2008] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related brain potential (ERP) studies provide empirical support for the notion that emotional cues guide selective attention. Extending this line of research, whole head magneto-encephalogram (MEG) was measured while participants viewed in separate experimental blocks a continuous stream of either pleasant and neutral or unpleasant and neutral pictures, presented for 330 ms each. Event-related magnetic fields (ERF) were analyzed after intersubject sensor coregistration, complemented by minimum norm estimates (MNE) to explore neural generator sources. Both streams of analysis converge by demonstrating the selective emotion processing in an early (120-170 ms) and a late time interval (220-310 ms). ERF analysis revealed that the polarity of the emotion difference fields was reversed across early and late intervals suggesting distinct patterns of activation in the visual processing stream. Source analysis revealed the amplified processing of emotional pictures in visual processing areas with more pronounced occipito-parieto-temporal activation in the early time interval, and a stronger engagement of more anterior, temporal, regions in the later interval. Confirming previous ERP studies showing facilitated emotion processing, the present data suggest that MEG provides a complementary look at the spread of activation in the visual processing stream.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Peyk
- Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 60/62, 4055 Basel, Switzerland.
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