1
|
Fujihara Y, Guo K, Liu CH. Relationship between types of anxiety and the ability to recognize facial expressions. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 241:104100. [PMID: 38041913 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104100] [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: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 12/04/2023] Open
Abstract
This study examined whether three subtypes of anxiety (trait anxiety, state anxiety, and social anxiety) have different effects on recognition of facial expressions. One hundred and thirty-eight participants matched facial expressions of three intensity levels (20 %, 40 %, 100 %) with one of the six emotion labels ("happy", "sad", "fear", "angry", "disgust", and "surprise"). While using a conventional method of analysis we were able to replicate some significant correlations between each anxiety type and recognition performance found in the literature. However, when we used partial correlation to isolate the effect of each anxiety type, most of these correlations were no longer significant, apart from the negative correlations between Beck Anxiety Inventory and reaction time to fearful faces displayed at 40 % intensity level, and the correlations between anxiety and categorisation errors. Specifically, social anxiety was positively correlated with misidentifying a happy face as a disgust face at 40 % intensity level, and state anxiety negatively correlated with misidentifying a happy face as a sad face at 20 % intensity level. However, these partial correlation analyses became non-significant after p value adjustment for multiple comparisons. Our eye tracking data also showed that state anxiety may be associated with reduced fixations on the eye regions of low-intensity sad or fearful faces. These analyses cast doubts on some effects reported in the previous studies because they are likely to reflect a mixture of influences from highly correlated anxiety subtypes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuya Fujihara
- Department of Psychology, Yasuda Women's University, Japan.
| | - Kun Guo
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN6 7TS, United Kingdom.
| | - Chang Hong Liu
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Gordillo F, Arana JM, Lamas B, Pérez MÁ. Analysis of attentional biases in anxiety using 24 facial priming sequences. Cogn Process 2023; 24:339-351. [PMID: 36934379 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01132-6] [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: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/20/2023]
Abstract
The processing of emotional facial expressions helps people to adjust to the physical and social environment. Furthermore, mental disorders such as anxiety have been linked to attentional biases in the processing of this type of information. Nevertheless, there are still contradictory results that might be due to the methodology used and to individual differences in the manifestation of anxiety. Our research goal was to use 24 facial priming sequences to analyse attentional biases in the detection of facial expressions of fear, considering the levels and the ways in which individuals express anxiety. With higher levels of cognitive anxiety and general trait anxiety, those sequences that began in the upper half (vs. lower half) elicited a speedier response in the detection of fear. The results are discussed within the context of other techniques and disorders that prompt a deficit in the processing of facial information.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Gordillo
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. de La Merced, 109-131, 37005, Salamanca, Spain.
| | - José M Arana
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. de La Merced, 109-131, 37005, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Beatriz Lamas
- Departmento de Psicología, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Castillo de Alarcón nº 49, 28692-Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid, Spain
| | - Miguel Ángel Pérez
- Departmento de Psicología, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Castillo de Alarcón nº 49, 28692-Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Non-conscious processing of fear faces: a function of the implicit self-concept of anxiety. BMC Neurosci 2023; 24:12. [PMID: 36740677 PMCID: PMC9901098 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-023-00781-9] [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: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Trait anxiety refers to a stable tendency to experience fears and worries across many situations. High trait anxiety is a vulnerability factor for the development of psychopathologies. Self-reported trait anxiety appears to be associated with an automatic processing advantage for threat-related information. Self-report measures assess aspects of the explicit self-concept of anxiety. Indirect measures can tap into the implicit self-concept of anxiety. METHODS We examined automatic brain responsiveness to non-conscious threat as a function of trait anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Besides a self-report instrument, we administered the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess anxiety. We used a gender-decision paradigm presenting brief (17 ms) and backward-masked facial expressions depicting disgust and fear. RESULTS Explicit trait anxiety was not associated with brain responsiveness to non-conscious threat. However, a relation of the implicit self-concept of anxiety with masked fear processing in the thalamus, precentral gyrus, and lateral prefrontal cortex was observed. CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence that a measure of the implicit self-concept of anxiety is a valuable predictor of automatic neural responses to threat in cortical and subcortical areas. Hence, implicit anxiety measures could be a useful addition to explicit instruments. Our data support the notion that the thalamus may constitute an important neural substrate in biased non-conscious processing in anxiety.
Collapse
|
4
|
Qiu Z, Lei X, Becker SI, Pegna AJ. Neural activities during the Processing of unattended and unseen emotional faces: a voxel-wise Meta-analysis. Brain Imaging Behav 2022; 16:2426-2443. [PMID: 35739373 PMCID: PMC9581832 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-022-00697-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Voxel-wise meta-analyses of task-evoked regional activity were conducted for healthy individuals during the unconscious processing of emotional and neutral faces with an aim to examine whether and how different experimental paradigms influenced brain activation patterns. Studies were categorized into sensory and attentional unawareness paradigms. Thirty-four fMRI studies including 883 healthy participants were identified. Across experimental paradigms, unaware emotional faces elicited stronger activation of the limbic system, striatum, inferior frontal gyrus, insula and the temporal lobe, compared to unaware neutral faces. Crucially, in attentional unawareness paradigms, unattended emotional faces elicited a right-lateralized increased activation (i.e., right amygdala, right temporal pole), suggesting a right hemisphere dominance for processing emotional faces during inattention. By contrast, in sensory unawareness paradigms, unseen emotional faces elicited increased activation of the left striatum, the left amygdala and the right middle temporal gyrus. Additionally, across paradigms, unconsciously processed positive emotions were found associated with more activation in temporal and parietal cortices whereas unconsciously processed negative emotions elicited stronger activation in subcortical regions, compared to neutral faces.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zeguo Qiu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia.
| | - Xue Lei
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| | - Stefanie I Becker
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Katsampouris E, Turner-Cobb JM, Arnold R, Barnett JC. Unconscious associations between stressor type and ability to cope: An experimental approach using ancient and modern sources of stress. Br J Health Psychol 2022; 27:1011-1025. [PMID: 35187762 PMCID: PMC9544975 DOI: 10.1111/bjhp.12587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Objectives Work has emerged that suggests it is salient and feasible to include a chronological approach to the taxonomy of stress. The ability to make an explicit distinction between ancient stressors (AS) and modern stressors (MS) has been reported in young and older adults; AS have been associated with greater ability to cope and MS with poorer health outcomes. Whether these explicit distinctions exist at an implicit, unconscious level, has yet to be determined. Design A quantitative design employed a computer‐based Implicit Association Test (IAT) to examine implicit associations between AS/MS and coping appraisal. Methods One hundred adults (75 females) aged 18–58 years (M = 28.27 years, SD = 10.02) completed the AS/MS IAT, to compare reaction time (RT) and accuracy between consistent pairs (AS/ability to cope; MS/inability to cope) and inconsistent pair responses (AS/inability to cope; MS/ability to cope); followed by an explicit self‐report questionnaire. Results Repeated measures ANCOVAs, controlling for sex and age, revealed significant main effects of faster RT and higher accuracy in responses for consistent than inconsistent pairs. Adult participants made implicit associations indicating an unconscious AS and MS distinction. Using the D algorithm, a univariate ANCOVA and independent t‐tests found that males, compared to females, showed a stronger implicit preference for consistent than inconsistent pairs. Conclusions Findings suggest an implicit association between ancient and modern stressors and perceived coping ability. Utilizing a chronological taxonomy for understanding evolutionary origins that drive individual’s responses to stress has implications for developing effective coping strategies to improve health outcomes.
Collapse
|
6
|
Zhornitsky S, Le TM, Wang W, Dhingra I, Chen Y, Li CSR, Zhang S. Midcingulate Cortical Activations Interrelate Chronic Craving and Physiological Responses to Negative Emotions in Cocaine Addiction. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 1:37-47. [PMID: 35664438 PMCID: PMC9164547 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
|
7
|
Li S, Wang BA, Li C, Feng Y, Li M, Wang T, Nie L, Li C, Hua W, Lin C, Liu M, Ma X, Fang J, Jiang G. Progressive gray matter hypertrophy with severity stages of insomnia disorder and its relevance for mood symptoms. Eur Radiol 2021; 31:6312-6322. [PMID: 33533988 DOI: 10.1007/s00330-021-07701-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Revised: 11/24/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the gray matter (GM) alterations in patients with insomnia disorder (ID) at different severity stages and the relationship between GM alterations and sleep, mood, and cognitive measures. METHODS One hundred one ID patients and 63 healthy controls (HC) were included. Each patient underwent structural MRI and completed sleep-, mood-, and cognitive-related questionnaires. The ID patients were further grouped into subthreshold insomnia (SI) group and clinical insomnia (CI) group. We investigated changes in GM volumes in ID patients via diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated lie algebra voxel-based morphometry (DARTEL-VBM). We first compared voxel-wise differences in GM volumes between the HC group and the ID group. Analysis of variance was performed on individual GM maps in the SI, CI, and HC groups to further investigate the effects of different stages of ID severity on GM volumes. Multiple regression was used to model the relationship between altered GM volumes in SI and CI groups and clinical measures. RESULTS GM hypertrophies in the left anterior and middle cingulate gyrus, right middle and inferior temporal gyrus, and right cerebellum Crus II were detected in ID. Increased GM volume in the right middle temporal gyrus was detected in the SI group, whereas all three regions in the CI group. Regression analysis showed that mood- and cognitive-related measures had a positive correlation with GM volumes, while sleep-related measures had a negative correlation with GM volumes in the CI group. CONCLUSIONS Our findings of the progressively increased GM volumes in ID suggest that a hypertrophic cortical morphological mechanism may underlie the altered neuroanatomy induced by insomnia. KEY POINTS • Insomnia-induced GM hypertrophies in the cingulate gyrus, temporal gyrus, and cerebellum Crus II. • The middle temporal gyrus was early detectable in the SI group. • The increased GM volumes in the CI group were correlated with clinical measures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shumei Li
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bin A Wang
- Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Cheng Li
- Guangdong Traditional Medical and Sports Injury Rehabilitation Research Institute, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ying Feng
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China.,The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Meng Li
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tianyue Wang
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Linghui Nie
- Guangdong Traditional Medical and Sports Injury Rehabilitation Research Institute, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Changhong Li
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wen Hua
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chulan Lin
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Mengchen Liu
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiaofen Ma
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jin Fang
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guihua Jiang
- Department of Medical Imaging, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Yoon KL, Hong SW. Behavioral inhibition system sensitivity moderates audio-visual neutral information processing. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2020; 69:101597. [PMID: 32738446 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Revised: 06/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Misperception of other people's intention and emotions could cause and worsen interpersonal problems, thereby increasing the likelihood of developing depression and anxiety disorders among individuals who are already at risk for those conditions. Although multisensory emotional information is ubiquitous in the real world, most previous research focused exclusively on processing facial expressions. Addressing this gap, the current study examined the association between behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity and audio-visual emotional information processing. Sensitive BIS suggests heightened sensitivity to anxiety provoking stimuli and is a known risk factor for developing emotional disorders. We hypothesized that higher BIS levels would be associated with inefficient multisensory emotional processing, which might be pronounced for neutral stimuli. METHODS Seventy-six undergraduates (40 women) completed a task while target faces (disgusted, happy, and neutral) were rendered invisible, and a voice (disgusted, happy, and neutral) or no voice was presented simultaneously. Participants' reaction times to indicate the location of the interocularly suppressed faces were measured. RESULTS Individuals with lower BIS levels detected neutral faces faster when accompanied by neutral voices than by no voice; individuals with higher BIS levels, however, did not benefit from congruent auditory information when processing neutral faces. LIMITATIONS The current study cannot address whether the finding is due to attentional biases, interpretation biases, or both in individuals who are prone to become anxious. CONCLUSION Multisensory processing of neutral information is modulated by individuals' propensity to become anxious.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- K Lira Yoon
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 390 Corbett Family Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA.
| | - Sang Wook Hong
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, BS 209, 777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Günther V, Hußlack A, Weil AS, Bujanow A, Henkelmann J, Kersting A, Quirin M, Hoffmann KT, Egloff B, Lobsien D, Suslow T. Individual differences in anxiety and automatic amygdala response to fearful faces: A replication and extension of Etkin et al. (2004). Neuroimage Clin 2020; 28:102441. [PMID: 32980596 PMCID: PMC7522800 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Revised: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Trait anxiety refers to the stable tendency to attend to threats and experience fears and worries across many situations. According to the widely noticed, pioneering investigation by Etkin et al. (2004) trait anxiety is strongly associated with reactivity in the right basolateral amygdala to non-conscious threat. Although this observation was based on a sample of only 17 individuals, no replication effort has been reported yet. We reexamined automatic amygdala responsiveness as a function of anxiety in a large sample of 107 participants. Besides self-report instruments, we administered an indirect test to assess implicit anxiety. To assess early, automatic stages of emotion processing, we used a color-decision paradigm presenting brief (33 ms) and backward-masked fearful facial expressions. N = 56 participants were unaware of the presence of masked faces. In this subset of unaware participants, the relationship between trait anxiety and basolateral amygdala activation by fearful faces was successfully replicated in region of interest analyses. Additionally, a relation of implicit anxiety with masked fear processing in the amygdala and temporal gyrus was observed. We provide evidence that implicit measures of affect can be valuable predictors of automatic brain responsiveness and may represent useful additions to explicit measures. Our findings support a central role of amygdala reactivity to non-consciously perceived threat in understanding and predicting dispositional anxiety, i.e. the frequency of spontaneously occurring anxiety in everyday life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vivien Günther
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anja Hußlack
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anna-Sophie Weil
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anna Bujanow
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Anette Kersting
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Markus Quirin
- Department of Psychology, Technical University München, 80333 München, Germany; PFH Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Boris Egloff
- Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 55122 Mainz, Germany
| | - Donald Lobsien
- Department of Neuroradiology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Li X, Zhang M, Li K, Zou F, Wang Y, Wu X, Zhang H. The Altered Somatic Brain Network in State Anxiety. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:465. [PMID: 31312147 PMCID: PMC6613038 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Highly anxious individuals often show excessive emotional arousal, somatic arousal, and characteristics of mental illness. Previous researches have extensively investigated the emotional and cognitive biases of individuals with high anxiety, but overlooked the spontaneous brain activity and functional connections associated with somatic arousal. In this study, we investigated the relationship between state anxiety and the spontaneous brain activity of the somatosensory cortex in a non-clinical healthy population with state anxiety. Furthermore, we also explored the functional connections of the somatosensory cortex. We found that state anxiety was positively correlated with the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) of somatic related brain regions, including the right postcentral gyrus (somatosensory cortex) and the right precentral gyrus (somatic motor cortex). Furthermore, we found that state anxiety was positively correlated with the connections between the postcentral gyrus and the left cerebellum gyrus, whereas state anxiety was negatively correlated with the connectivity between the postcentral gyrus and brain regions including the left inferior frontal cortex and left medial superior frontal cortex. These results revealed the association between the anxious individuals' body-loop and state anxiety in a healthy population, which revealed the importance of somatic brain regions in anxiety symptoms and provided a new perspective on anxiety for further study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xianrui Li
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Meng Zhang
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.,Department of Psychiatry, Henan Mental Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Kun Li
- Department of Psychiatry, Henan Mental Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Feng Zou
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Yufeng Wang
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Xin Wu
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
| | - Hongxing Zhang
- School of Psychology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.,Department of Psychiatry, Henan Mental Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.,Henan key Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry, Xinxiang, China
| |
Collapse
|