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Derntl B, Eber CH, Kogler L, Rehbein E, Sundstöm-Poromaa I, Morawetz C. Estradiol modulates changes in effective connectivity in emotion regulation networks. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 167:107103. [PMID: 38924828 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Hormonal changes in ovarian hormones like estradiol (E2) during the menstrual cycle affect emotional processes, including emotion recognition, memory, and regulation. So far, the neural underpinnings of the effect of E2 on emotional experience have been investigated using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional connectivity. In the present study, we examined whether the intrinsic network dynamics at rest (i.e., directed effective connectivity) related to emotion regulation are (1) modulated by E2 levels and (2) linked to behavioral emotion regulation ability. Hence, 29 naturally cycling women participated in two resting-state fMRI scans in their early follicular phase after being administered a placebo or an E2 valerate, respectively. Emotion regulation ability was assessed using a standard emotion regulation task in which participants were asked to down-regulate their emotions in response to negative images. The regions of two functionally predefined neural networks related to emotional down-regulation and reactivity were used to investigate effective connectivity at rest using spectral dynamic causal modelling. We found that E2, compared to placebo, resulted in changes in effective connectivity in both networks. In the regulation network, prefrontal regions showed distinct connectivity in the E2 compared to the placebo condition, while mixed results evolved in the emotional reactivity network. Stepwise regressions revealed that in the E2 condition a connection from the parietal to the prefrontal cortex predicted regulation ability. Our results demonstrate that E2 levels influence effective connectivity in networks underlying emotion regulation and emotional reactivity. Thus, E2 and its potential modification via hormonal administration may play a supporting role in the treatment of mental disorders that show a dysregulation of emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Women's Mental Health & Brain Function, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner site Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Corinna H Eber
- Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Lydia Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Women's Mental Health & Brain Function, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner site Tübingen, Germany
| | - Elisa Rehbein
- Department of Decision Neuroscience and Nutrition, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Nuthetal, Germany; Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Neuroscience Research Center, Berlin, Germany; German Center for Diabetes Research, München-Neuherberg, Germany
| | | | - Carmen Morawetz
- Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
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Pletzer B, Noachtar I. Emotion recognition and mood along the menstrual cycle. Horm Behav 2023; 154:105406. [PMID: 37478677 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated menstrual cycle dependent changes in the recognition of facial emotional expressions, specifically the expression of fear, anger, sadness or disgust. While some studies demonstrate an improvement of emotion recognition performance during the peri-ovulatory phase, when estradiol levels peak, other studies demonstrate a deterioration of emotion recognition performance during the mid-luteal phase, when progesterone levels peak. It has been hypothesized, that these changes in emotion recognition performance mirror mood changes along the menstrual cycle. In the present study, we investigate, whether changes in emotion recognition performance along the menstrual cycle are mediated by mood changes along the menstrual cycle. In a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal study design, two large samples of women completed an emotion recognition task, as well as several mood questionnaires during their menses, peri-ovulatory or mid-luteal cycle phase. 65 women completed the task thrice, once during each cycle phase, order counterbalanced. In order to control for potential learning effects, a sample of 153 women completed the task only once in one of the three cycle phases. In both samples, results demonstrated no significant changes in emotion recognition performance along the menstrual cycle, irrespective of the performance measure investigated (accuracy, reaction time, frequency of emotion classifications) and irrespective of the emotion displayed. Bayesian statistics provided very strong evidence for the null hypothesis, that emotion recognition does not change along the menstrual cycle. There was also no moderation of emotion recognition changes along the menstrual cycle by mood changes along the menstrual cycle. Mood changes along the menstrual cycle followed the expected pattern with highest positive affect and least premenstrual symptoms around ovulation and lowest positive affect, but strongest premenstrual symptoms during menses. Interestingly, premenstrual symptoms were negatively related to estradiol, suggesting a protective effect of estrogen during the luteal cycle phase against mood worsening during the premenstrual phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belinda Pletzer
- Department of Psychology & Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
| | - Isabel Noachtar
- Department of Psychology & Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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Schag K, Sandler L, Zipfel S, Derntl B, Giel KE. Inhibitory control towards angry stimuli in patients with binge eating disorder: a pilot study. J Eat Disord 2023; 11:125. [PMID: 37525245 PMCID: PMC10388460 DOI: 10.1186/s40337-023-00848-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Emotion regulation theories and the negative urgency concept assume that negative mood increases binge eating. Negative emotions are considered as a trigger for binge eating, while binge eating itself is regarded as an impulsive behavior and should thus be increased within the negative urgency concept. Anger might be a specific negative emotion triggering binge eating in patients with binge eating disorder (BED). We investigated how inhibitory control as one main factor of impulsivity is influenced by anger stimuli in patients with BED and two control groups. METHODS We compared patients with BED (N = 20) with normal-weight healthy control participants (NW-CG, N = 20) and BMI-matched overweight and obese control participants (BMI-CG, N = 18). We used the emotional Stop Signal task (eSST) to investigate inhibitory control, where we presented angry facial expressions in comparison with neutral facial expressions as emotional stimuli. RESULTS All participants showed decreased inhibitory control in the angry versus neutral condition, i.e., a faster Stop Signal Reaction Time and a lower percentage of correct reactions. However, no significant group differences emerged in terms of performance. Performance in the eSST did not correlate with negative urgency, disorder- or emotion-related characteristics. CONCLUSIONS The current pilot study does not deliver evidence for decreased inhibitory control towards angry stimuli in patients with BED, as we detected a general and not disorder-related effect in all participants that might represent the conjunction of inhibitory control and anger. A direct mood induction technique might have led to different results. Further research in healthy and clinical groups is needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathrin Schag
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital Tübingen, Osianderstraße 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Centre of Excellence for Eating Disorders Tübingen (KOMET), Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Lea Sandler
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital Tübingen, Osianderstraße 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Stephan Zipfel
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital Tübingen, Osianderstraße 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre of Excellence for Eating Disorders Tübingen (KOMET), Tübingen, Germany
- DZPG (German Center for Mental Health), Tübingen, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- DZPG (German Center for Mental Health), Tübingen, Germany
- Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Katrin Elisabeth Giel
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical University Hospital Tübingen, Osianderstraße 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Centre of Excellence for Eating Disorders Tübingen (KOMET), Tübingen, Germany
- DZPG (German Center for Mental Health), Tübingen, Germany
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4
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Jeung-Maarse H, Schmitgen MM, Schmitt R, Bertsch K, Herpertz SC. Oxytocin effects on amygdala reactivity to angry faces in males and females with antisocial personality disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:946-953. [PMID: 36941365 PMCID: PMC10156793 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01549-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Revised: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a key region in current neurocircuitry models of reactive aggression as it is crucially involved in detecting social threat and provocation. An increased amygdala reactivity to angry faces has been reported in aggression-prone individuals and the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) could dampen anger-related amygdala reactivity in a number of mental disorders. One example is the antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) which has so far only been studied in limited numbers. To address the question whether OT can normalize amygdala hyperreactivity to emotional faces, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment with 20 men and 18 women with ASPD and 20 male and 20 female healthy control (HC) participants in a double-blind, randomized, placebo (PLC)-controlled within-subject design. Participants were exposed to an emotion classification task (fearful, angry, and happy faces) after receiving an intranasal dose (24 IU) of synthetic OT or PLC. We found OT to attenuate right amygdala hyperactivity to angry faces in participants with ASPD to such an extent that the intensity of amygdala activity in the ASPD group in the OT condition decreased to the level of amygdala activity in the PLC condition in the HC group. There was also a trend that OT effects were generally larger in women than in men. These findings suggest that OT differentially modulates the amygdala following social threatening or provoking cues in dependence of psychopathology (ASPD vs. HC) and sex (male vs. female). Particularly female ASPD patients could benefit from OT in the treatment of reactive aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haang Jeung-Maarse
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel (EvKB), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
- Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Mike M Schmitgen
- Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Ruth Schmitt
- Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
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Rafiee Y, Stern J, Ostner J, Penke L, Schacht A. Does emotion recognition change across phases of the ovulatory cycle? Psychoneuroendocrinology 2023; 148:105977. [PMID: 36481576 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Recognizing emotions is an essential ability for successful interpersonal interaction. Prior research indicates some links between the endocrine system and emotion recognition ability, but only a few studies focused on within-subject differences across distinct ovulatory cycle phases and this ability. These studies have demonstrated mixed results that might be potentially due to heterogeneity in experimental tasks, methodologies, and lacking ecological validity. In the current study, we investigated associations between within-subject differences in ovarian hormones levels and emotion recognition from auditory, visual, and audiovisual modalities in N = 131 naturally cycling participants across the late follicular and mid-luteal phase of the ovulatory cycle. We applied a within-subject design with sessions in the late follicular and mid-luteal cycle phase, and also assessed salivary progesterone and estradiol in these sessions. Our findings did not reveal any significant difference in emotion recognition ability across two cycle phases. Thus, they emphasize the necessity of employing large-scale replication studies with well-established study designs along with proper statistical analyses. Moreover, our findings indicate that the potential link between ovulatory cycle phases (late follicular and mid-luteal) and emotion recognition ability might have been overestimated in previous studies, and may contribute to theoretical and practical implications of socio-cognitive neuroendocrinology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasaman Rafiee
- Department of Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology, Institute of Psychology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", 37077 Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Julia Stern
- Department of Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Institute of Psychology, University of Bremen, 28259 Bremen, Germany
| | - Julia Ostner
- Department of Behavioral Ecology, Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, University of Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", 37077 Goettingen, Germany; Primate Social Evolution Group, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Lars Penke
- Department of Biological Personality Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", 37077 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Anne Schacht
- Department of Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology, Institute of Psychology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus "Primate Cognition", 37077 Goettingen, Germany
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6
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Álvarez F, Fernández-Folgueiras U, Méndez-Bértolo C, Kessel D, Carretié L. Menstrual cycle and exogenous attention toward emotional expressions. Horm Behav 2022; 146:105259. [PMID: 36116197 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Several studies suggest that the menstrual cycle affects emotional processing. However, these results may be biased by including women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in the samples. PMS is characterized by negative emotional symptomatology, such as depression and/or anxiety, during the luteal phase. This study aimed to explore the modulation of exogenous attention to emotional facial expressions as a function of the menstrual cycle in women without PMS. For this purpose, 55 women were selected (from an original volunteer sample of 790) according to rigorous exclusion criteria. Happy, angry, and neutral faces were presented as distractors, while both behavioral performance in a perceptual task and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. This task was applied during both phases of the menstrual cycle (luteal and follicular, counterbalanced), and premenstrual symptomatology was monitored daily. Traditional and Bayesian ANOVAs on behavioral data (reaction times and errors in the task) and ERP indices (P1, N170, N2, and LPP amplitudes) confirmed the expected lack of an interaction of phase and emotion. Taken together, these results indicate that women free of PMS present steady exogenous attention levels to emotionally positive and negative stimuli regardless of the menstrual phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fátima Álvarez
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
| | | | | | - Dominique Kessel
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
| | - Luis Carretié
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
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7
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Li D, Zhang L, Wang X. The Effect of Menstrual Cycle Phases on Approach-Avoidance Behaviors in Women: Evidence from Conscious and Unconscious Processes. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12101417. [PMID: 36291350 PMCID: PMC9599574 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12101417] [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] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The menstrual cycle affects women’s emotional states, with estrogen and progesterone having predominant roles. However, it remains unclear whether the phases of the menstrual cycle also affect women’s motivational behaviors. In this study, the main aim was to investigate how the menstrual cycle influences approach–avoidance behavior under conditions of conscious versus unconscious processing of emotions. Briefly, after recruitment by advertisement and screening with a menstrual cycle survey questionnaire, 27 naturally cycling, healthy women participated in an improved “manikin task” and were presented both positive and negative emotional stimuli during early follicular, late follicular, and mid-luteal phases. Estrogen and progesterone levels were measured. Women in the late follicular phase exhibited the shortest response times for approaching positive stimuli, while women in the mid-luteal phase exhibited the shortest response times for avoiding negative stimuli. Estrogen and progesterone levels significantly correlated with the speed of the approach–avoidance responses observed for the women, indicating the important role that sex hormones have in mediating emotionally motivated behavior. Overall, these findings suggest that the menstrual cycle has strong and specific influences on women’s approach–avoidance behaviors that are in part mediated by estrogen and progesterone. By identifying characteristics of these behaviors in the late follicular and mid-luteal phases, greater insight can be provided to women regarding the physiological influences of the menstrual cycle on their personal growth and security.
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8
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Beinhölzl N, Molloy EN, Zsido RG, Richter T, Piecha FA, Zheleva G, Scharrer U, Regenthal R, Villringer A, Okon-Singer H, Sacher J. The attention-emotion interaction in healthy female participants on oral contraceptives during 1-week escitalopram intake. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:809269. [PMID: 36161146 PMCID: PMC9500523 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.809269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous findings in healthy humans suggest that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) modulate emotional processing via earlier changes in attention. However, many previous studies have provided inconsistent findings. One possible reason for such inconsistencies is that these studies did not control for the influence of either sex or sex hormone fluctuations. To address this inconsistency, we administered 20 mg escitalopram or placebo for seven consecutive days in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design to sixty healthy female participants with a minimum of 3 months oral contraceptive (OC) intake. Participants performed a modified version of an emotional flanker task before drug administration, after a single dose, after 1 week of SSRI intake, and after a 1-month wash-out period. Supported by Bayesian analyses, our results do not suggest a modulatory effect of escitalopram on behavioral measures of early attentional-emotional interaction in female individuals with regular OC use. While the specific conditions of our task may be a contributing factor, it is also possible that a practice effect in a healthy sample may mask the effects of escitalopram on the attentional-emotional interplay. Consequently, 1 week of escitalopram administration may not modulate attention toward negative emotional distractors outside the focus of attention in healthy female participants taking OCs. While further research in naturally cycling females and patient samples is needed, our results represent a valuable contribution toward the preclinical investigation of antidepressant treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Beinhölzl
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- *Correspondence: Nathalie Beinhölzl,
| | - Eóin N. Molloy
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- University Clinic for Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Otto Von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Rachel G. Zsido
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Thalia Richter
- Department of Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Fabian A. Piecha
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Gergana Zheleva
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ulrike Scharrer
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ralf Regenthal
- Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Rudolf Boehm Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, MindBrainBody Institute, Charité—Berlin University of Medicine and Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hadas Okon-Singer
- Department of Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Julia Sacher
- Emotion and Neuroimaging Lab, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Helios Park Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Julia Sacher,
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9
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Li J, Deng SW. Social attention, memory, and memory-guided orienting change across the menstrual cycle. Physiol Behav 2022; 251:113808. [PMID: 35421422 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Numerous studies have shown that perception of emotion and emotional memory vary across the menstrual cycle. However, most of these studies used stimuli that contained not only emotional but also social elements. Importantly, the social cognitive abilities of individuals are as crucial as emotional abilities for danger avoidance and recruitment of allies. Therefore, the issue that natural hormonal fluctuations may affect emotion processing should be revisited. To investigate whether the effects of the menstrual cycle are emotion-specific or can also be attributed to social information processing, the present study examined social attention across the menstrual cycle in three tasks-visual search, memory, and memory-guided orienting-with a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking measures. We used images of people standing upright with neutral emotion as social distractors and everyday objects with physical properties matched as non-social distractors. Thirty-six healthy women without hormone use and with stable menstrual cycles of 26 - 30 days participated in the three tasks in the late follicular phase (FP) and mid-luteal phase (LP), respectively. During visual search, participants were asked to search for targets accompanied by social or non-social distractors in complex scenes. Social attentional bias, as evidenced by longer search times and shorter gaze behaviors for targets with social distractors, was found in the FP but not in the LP. In the following memory task, memory accuracy for targets was higher in the FP than in the LP, and the memory for targets with social distractors was more precise in both phases. Finally, in the orienting task, targets in social scenes were detected more slowly than in non-social scenes in LP. Taken together, these findings point to the interplay between social attention, memory, and memory-oriented attention and reveal the distinct processing pathways for social information in the FP and LP. The underlying mechanisms from an evolutionary perspective and from behavioral and neural basis were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianhua Li
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao, China; Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China
| | - Sophia W Deng
- Department of Psychology, University of Macau, Macao, China; Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
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10
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Sarauskyte L, Monciunskaite R, Griksiene R. The role of sex and emotion on emotion perception in artificial faces: An ERP study. Brain Cogn 2022; 159:105860. [PMID: 35339916 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Sex has a significant impact on the perception of emotional expressions. However, it remains unclear whether sex influences the perception of emotions in artificial faces, which are becoming popular in emotion research. We used an emotion recognition task with FaceGen faces portraying six basic emotions aiming to investigate the effect of sex and emotion on behavioural and electrophysiological parameters. 71 participants performed the task while EEG was recorded. The recognition of sadness was the poorest, however, females recognized sadness better than males. ERP results indicated that fear, disgust, and anger evoked higher amplitudes of late positive potential over the left parietal region compared to neutral expression. Females demonstrated higher values of global field power as compared to males. The interaction between sex and emotion on ERPs was not significant. The results of our study may be valuable for future therapies and research, as it emphasizes possibly distinct processing of emotions and potential sex differences in the recognition of emotional expressions in FaceGen faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Livija Sarauskyte
- Vilnius University, Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius, Lithuania.
| | - Rasa Monciunskaite
- Vilnius University, Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Ramune Griksiene
- Vilnius University, Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius, Lithuania
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11
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Menting-Henry S, Hidalgo-Lopez E, Aichhorn M, Kronbichler M, Kerschbaum H, Pletzer B. Oral Contraceptives Modulate the Relationship Between Resting Brain Activity, Amygdala Connectivity and Emotion Recognition – A Resting State fMRI Study. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:775796. [PMID: 35368304 PMCID: PMC8967165 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.775796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research into the effects of hormonal contraceptives on emotion processing and brain function suggests that hormonal contraceptive users show (a) reduced accuracy in recognizing emotions compared to naturally cycling women, and (b) alterations in amygdala volume and connectivity at rest. To date, these observations have not been linked, although the amygdala has certainly been identified as core region activated during emotion recognition. To assess, whether volume, oscillatory activity and connectivity of emotion-related brain areas at rest are predictive of participant’s ability to recognize facial emotional expressions, 72 participants (20 men, 20 naturally cycling women, 16 users of androgenic contraceptives, 16 users of anti-androgenic contraceptives) completed a brain structural and resting state fMRI scan, as well as an emotion recognition task. Our results showed that resting brain characteristics did not mediate oral contraceptive effects on emotion recognition performance. However, sex and oral contraceptive use emerged as a moderator of brain-behavior associations. Sex differences did emerge in the prediction of emotion recognition performance by the left amygdala amplitude of low frequency oscillations (ALFF) for anger, as well as left and right amygdala connectivity for fear. Anti-androgenic oral contraceptive users (OC) users stood out in that they showed strong brain-behavior associations, usually in the opposite direction as naturally cycling women, while androgenic OC-users showed a pattern similar to, but weaker, than naturally cycling women. This result suggests that amygdala ALFF and connectivity have predictive values for facial emotion recognition. The importance of the different connections depends heavily on sex hormones and oral contraceptive use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shanice Menting-Henry
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Esmeralda Hidalgo-Lopez
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Markus Aichhorn
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Martin Kronbichler
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Hubert Kerschbaum
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Biosciences, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Belinda Pletzer
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- *Correspondence: Belinda Pletzer,
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12
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Wu Y, Zheng L, Niu C. Androstadienone influences women's perception of happiness and anger on same-sex faces: Preliminary findings. Biol Psychol 2022; 170:108293. [PMID: 35240247 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 02/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether androstadienone (AND) influences women's emotional perception of potential mates and rivals in a manner that promotes women's reproductive success. Sixty participants (29 in the fertile phase and 31 in the luteal phase) rated their perception of happiness, sadness, anger and sexual arousal from male and female neutral faces during exposure to AND or control solution on two consecutive days. The results showed that AND led women to perceive neutral female faces as unhappier, regardless of their menstrual cycle phase. In addition, AND led women in the fertile phase (i.e., periovulatory phase) to perceive more anger from neutral female faces. Further, no AND-effects were found on the emotional perception of male faces, nor were there perceptions of the sadness or sexual arousal in female faces. These findings may suggest that AND influences women's cognitive processing that can benefit women from staying away from potential threats or preparing to reduce the costs of intrasexual competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Lijun Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
| | - Caoyuan Niu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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13
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Zareian B, Anderl C, LeMoult J, Galea LAM, Prior JC, Rights JD, Ross CJ, Ge S, Hayward AC, Chen FS. Assessing the role of adolescent hormonal contraceptive use on risk for depression: a 3-year longitudinal study protocol. BMC Womens Health 2022; 22:48. [PMID: 35197045 PMCID: PMC8864455 DOI: 10.1186/s12905-022-01623-2] [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: 11/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 09/02/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The incidence of depression in human females rises steadily throughout adolescence, a critical period of pubertal maturation marked by increasing levels of gonadal hormones including estrogens and progesterone. These gonadal hormones play a central role in social and emotional development and may also contribute to the increased occurrence of depression in females that begins in early adolescence. In this study, we examine whether and how introducing synthetic estrogen and progestin derivatives through the use of combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC), affects adolescent females' risk for developing depression. We further assess potential links between CHC use and alterations in stress responses and social-emotional functioning. METHODS Using a longitudinal cohort design, we will follow a sample of adolescent females over the span of three years. Participants will be assessed at three time points: once when they are between 13 and 15 years of age, and at approximately 18 and 36 months after their initial assessment. Each time point will consist of two online sessions during which participants will complete a clinical interview that screens for key symptoms of mental health disorders, along with a series of questionnaires assessing their level of depressive symptoms and history of contraceptive use. They will also complete a standardized social-evaluative stress test and an emotion recognition task, as well as provide saliva samples to allow for assessment of their circulating free cortisol levels. DISCUSSION In this study we will assess the effect of CHC use during adolescence on development of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). We will control for variables previously found to or proposed to partially account for the observed relationship between CHC use and MDD, including socioeconomic status, age of sexual debut, and CHC-related variables including age of first use, reasons for use, and its duration. In particular, we will discover whether CHC use increases depressive symptoms and/or MDD, whether elevated depressive symptoms and/or MDD predict a higher likelihood of starting CHC, or both. Furthermore, this study will allow us to clarify whether alterations in stress reactivity and social-emotional functioning serve as pathways through which CHC use may result in increased risk of depressive symptoms and/or MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bita Zareian
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Christine Anderl
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.,Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Joelle LeMoult
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Liisa A M Galea
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.,Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jerilynn C Prior
- Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.,BC Women's Health Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada.,School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.,Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jason D Rights
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Colin J Ross
- BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada.,Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Sabrina Ge
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Annie C Hayward
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Frances S Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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14
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Kimmig ACS, Bischofberger JA, Birrenbach AD, Drotleff B, Lämmerhofer M, Sundström-Poromaa I, Derntl B. No Evidence for a Role of Oral Contraceptive-Use in Emotion Recognition But Higher Negativity Bias in Early Follicular Women. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 15:773961. [PMID: 35126066 PMCID: PMC8814336 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.773961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Accuracy in facial emotion recognition has shown to vary with ovarian hormones, both in naturally cycling women, as well as in women taking oral contraceptives. It remains uncertain however, if specific – endogenous and exogenous – hormonal levels selectively impact recognition of certain basic emotions (or neutral faces) and if this relationship coincides with certain affective states. Therefore, we investigated 86 women under different hormonal conditions and compared their performance in an emotion recognition task as well as self-reported measures of affective states. Based on self-reported cycle days and ovulation testing, the participants have been split into groups of naturally cycling women during their early follicular phase (fNC, n = 30), naturally cycling women during their peri-ovulatory phase (oNC, n = 26), and women taking oral contraceptives (OC, n = 30). Participants were matched for age and did not differ in education or neuropsychological abilities. Self-reported anxiety and depressive affective state scores were similar across groups, but current affective state turned out to be significantly more negative in fNC women. Independent of negative affective state, fNC women showed a significantly higher negativity bias in recognizing neutral faces, resulting in a lower recognition accuracy of neutral faces compared to oNC and OC women. In the OC group only, negative affective state was associated with lower recognition accuracy and longer response times for neutral faces. Furthermore, there was a significant, positive association between disgust recognition accuracy and negative affective state in the fNC group. Low progesterone levels during the early follicular phase were linked to higher negative affective state, whereas in the peri-ovulatory phase they were linked to elevated positive affective state. Overall, previous findings regarding impaired emotion recognition during OC-use were not confirmed. Synthetic hormones did not show a correlation with emotion recognition performance and affective state. Considering the important role of emotion recognition in social communication, the elevated negativity bias in neutral face recognition found for fNC women may adversely impact social interactions in this hormonal phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Christin Sophie Kimmig
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Ann-Christin Sophie Kimmig,
| | - Jasper Amadeus Bischofberger
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Annika Dorothea Birrenbach
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Bernhard Drotleff
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Michael Lämmerhofer
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Tübingen Neuro Campus, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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15
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Goerlich KS, Votinov M. Hormonal abnormalities in alexithymia. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:1070066. [PMID: 36699481 PMCID: PMC9868825 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1070066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by difficulties in emotion recognition and regulation that is associated with deficits in social cognition. High alexithymia levels are considered a transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychiatric and medical conditions, including depression, anxiety, and autism. Hormones are known to affect social-emotional cognition and behavior in humans, including the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin, the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol, the stress hormone cortisol as well as thyroid hormones. However, few studies have investigated hormonal effects on alexithymia and on alexithymia-related impairments in emotion regulation and reactivity, stress response, and social cognition. Here, we provide a brief overview of the evidence linking alexithymia to abnormalities in hormone levels, particularly with regard to cortisol and oxytocin, for which most evidence exists, and to thyroid hormones. We address the current lack of research on the influence of sex hormones on alexithymia and alexithymia-related deficits, and lastly provide future directions for research on associations between hormonal abnormalities and deficits in emotion regulation and social cognition associated with alexithymia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina S Goerlich
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Mikhail Votinov
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine 10, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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16
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Rehbein E, Kogler L, Hornung J, Morawetz C, Bayer J, Krylova M, Sundström-Poromaa I, Derntl B. Estradiol administration modulates neural emotion regulation. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 134:105425. [PMID: 34607175 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Variations of sex hormones during the menstrual cycle can lead to changes in emotion processing. The ability to successfully regulate one's emotions is associated with better social abilities and mental health. While women show better performance in fear extinction learning under high estradiol (E2) compared to women under low E2 levels, little is known about the effect of E2 on emotion regulation. We explored whether E2 modulates emotion regulation in a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm and administered E2 valerate to 32 young naturally cycling women during their early follicular phase in a double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subject design. This standardized experimental control allowed us to explore the specific effect of E2 on emotion regulation while controlling for other hormones varying throughout the menstrual cycle. Behaviorally, no difference between conditions appeared. However, on the neural level, E2 administration was associated with lower activation in the right lingual- and left calcarine gyrus, right orbitofrontal cortex and left hippocampus relative to placebo. With respect to the main effect of down-regulation higher activation of the right superior frontal gyrus and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was seen; which is in accordance to previous literature. An interaction between drug condition and emotion regulation appeared for the left inferior frontal gyrus extending into the middle frontal gyrus indicating lower activation during down-regulation in the E2 condition than the placebo condition. On the behavioral level, women reported less negative affect in the E2 condition. The results fit well to a previously described psychoneuroendocrinological model in which E2 plays an important modulatory role on emotional processes and risk factors of mental health in women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Rehbein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Lydia Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Jonas Hornung
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Carmen Morawetz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Janine Bayer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Marina Krylova
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Jena, Jena, Germany; Medical Physics Group, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Jena University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
| | | | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Lead Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
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17
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Chuang YC, Chiu MJ, Chen TF, Chang YL, Lai YM, Cheng TW, Hua MS. An Exploration of the Own-Age Effect on Facial Emotion Recognition in Normal Elderly People and Individuals with the Preclinical and Demented Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2021; 80:259-269. [PMID: 33522998 DOI: 10.3233/jad-200916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The issue of whether there exists an own-effect on facial recognition in the elderly remains equivocal. Moreover, currently the literature of this issue in pathological aging is little. OBJECTIVE Our study was thus to explore the issue in both of healthy older people and patients with ADMethods:In study 1, 27 older and 31 younger healthy adults were recruited; in study 2, 27 healthy older adults and 80 patients (including subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) groups) were recruited. Participants received the Taiwan Facial Emotion Recognition Task (FER Task), and a clinical neuropsychological assessment. RESULTS No significant differences on the FER test were found among our groups, except for sadness recognition in which our MCI and AD patients' scores were remarkably lower than their healthy counterparts. The own-age effect was not significantly evident in healthy younger and older adults, except for recognizing neutral photos. Our patients with MCI and AD tended to have the effect, particularly for the sad recognition in which the effect was significantly evident in terms of error features (mislabeling it as anger in younger-face and neutral in older-face photos). CONCLUSION Our results displayed no remarkable own-age effect on facial emotional recognition in the healthy elderly (including SCD). However, it did not appear the case for MCI and AD patients, especially their recognizing those sadness items, suggesting that an inclusion of the FER task particularly involving those items of low-intensity emotion in clinical neuropsychological assessment might be contributory to the early detection of AD-related pathological individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Chen Chuang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - Ming-Jang Chiu
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.,Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - Ta-Fu Chen
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ling Chang
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.,Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ya-Mei Lai
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ting-Wen Cheng
- Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | - Mau-Sun Hua
- Department of Psychology, College of Science, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.,Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Psychology, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
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18
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Strojny J, Domes G, Fischbacher U, von Dawans B. The modulation of social behavior and empathy via oral contraceptives and female sex hormones. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 131:105250. [PMID: 34126313 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 04/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Oral contraceptives (OC) and endogenous female sex hormones in naturally cycling women (NC) are related to a wide range of psychological variables (eg, cognition and affect). Little research on social behavior has been done. One study documented a tendency towards more prosocial behavior in NC than OC women, but the underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms remain unknown. The sex hormones progesterone and estradiol are potential candidates. We analyzed social decision-making and social behavior in 83 healthy women (38 OC and 45 NC) via the Social Value Orientation (SVO) and in real social interactions within a paradigm adapted from behavioral economics. We also measured empathy, and collected saliva samples to quantify the basal levels of estradiol and progesterone. Our analyses revealed higher levels of prosocial behavior and emotional empathy in NC than in OC women, a finding supported by higher levels of prosocial decisions in NC than OC women in the SVO. Regarding the underlying biological mechanisms, we detected lower progesterone levels in OC than NC women. Exploratory analyses revealed a negative correlation between progesterone and trust on the trend level. We found no correlations between estradiol and behavior. Our findings provide evidence that OC modulate social behavior and initial indications of a possible modulation by progesterone. Further research is needed to replicate our findings and extend them to other social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Strojny
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, D54290 Trier, Germany
| | - Gregor Domes
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, D54290 Trier, Germany
| | - Urs Fischbacher
- Department of Economics, Applied Research in Economics, University of Konstanz, D78457 Konstanz, Germany; Thurgau Institute of Economics, Hafenstrasse 6, CH-8280 Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
| | - Bernadette von Dawans
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Trier, D54290 Trier, Germany.
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19
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Gamsakhurdashvili D, Antov MI, Stockhorst U. Sex-hormone status and emotional processing in healthy women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021; 130:105258. [PMID: 34058558 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2020] [Revised: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Fluctuations of sex hormones across the menstrual cycle allow investigating the role of 17-β estradiol and progesterone in emotional processing. We examined emotional memory, empathy-related measures, as well as mimic and skin-conductance responses to affective stimuli in 72 women either in the mid-cycle (MC-group: moderate to high estradiol, low progesterone), the later cycle (LC-group: high progesterone, moderate estradiol), or during oral contraceptive use (OC-group: low endogenous ovarian-hormone levels). In the first session, affective pictures were presented (memory encoding) while recording mimic and skin-conductance responses. Additionally, participants were exposed to a post-encoding stressor (cold pressor test). After 24 h, we tested surprise recall as well as empathy-related performance. Emotional memory was not affected by the hormone-status group, stressor, or salivary hormone levels. For the cognitive empathy-related measure, hormone status interacted with the protagonist gender. Women in the LC- and OC-groups identified emotions more accurately if depicted by female protagonists, yet the MC-group identified emotions depicted by men and women equally well. Correspondingly, the number of correctly identified emotions from male protagonists correlated positively with estradiol levels. In the affective empathy-related ratings, the OC-group showed a negativity bias, rating negative (vs. positive) emotions higher, although not associated with hormone levels. Mimic responses were not modulated by hormone-status group or related to hormone levels. Skin-conductance responses to negative pictures were heightened in the LC-group and correlated positively with progesterone levels. These data suggest a differential impact of female sex hormones on emotional processing, i.e., empathy-related performance and affective sympathetic reactivity, but not in emotional memory or affective mimic reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dali Gamsakhurdashvili
- Institute of Psychology, Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Seminarstrasse 20, D-49074 Osnabrück, Germany.
| | - Martin I Antov
- Institute of Psychology, Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Seminarstrasse 20, D-49074 Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Ursula Stockhorst
- Institute of Psychology, Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Seminarstrasse 20, D-49074 Osnabrück, Germany
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20
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Gamsakhurdashvili D, Antov MI, Stockhorst U. Facial Emotion Recognition and Emotional Memory From the Ovarian-Hormone Perspective: A Systematic Review. Front Psychol 2021; 12:641250. [PMID: 34093322 PMCID: PMC8174660 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.641250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Background We review original papers on ovarian-hormone status in two areas of emotional processing: facial emotion recognition and emotional memory. Ovarian-hormone status is operationalized by the levels of the steroid sex hormones 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4), fluctuating over the natural menstrual cycle and suppressed under oral contraceptive (OCs) use. We extend previous reviews addressing single areas of emotional processing. Moreover, we systematically examine the role of stimulus features such as emotion type or stimulus valence and aim at elucidating factors that reconcile the inconsistent results. Methods We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and included papers published until September 2020 indexed in PubMed and Web of Science databases. Search terms were MeSH terms (emotional OR emotion) AND (X) AND (estrogen OR progesterone OR menstrual cycle OR oral contraceptives) with (X) representing our separately searched areas, resulting in (processing OR recognition OR empathy), and (memory OR recall). To be included, articles had to (1) be written and published in English, (2) examine healthy, non-pregnant adult women in their reproductive age, and (3) measure or at least estimate levels of E2 and P4. In PubMed, the search was (4) limited to humans and (5) to the search term present in the title or abstract. Results Features of the provided stimulus material (emotion type and/or valence) constitute a relevant influence that interacts with E2- and P4-related ovarian-hormone status. For instance, recognition of basic emotions appears to be more related to P4- than E2-levels. Quite consistent, OC intake (vs. natural menstrual cycling) was accompanied by impaired recognition accuracy of basic and also complex emotions, although not in a recent large-sample study assessing complex emotions. Memory recall of negative content was mainly enhanced by P4, especially after having been stressed. Discussion and Conclusion We document the methodological diversity in the field, presumably contributing to the heterogeneity of results. More studies explicitly contrasting the early follicular phase, mid-cycle phase, mid-luteal, and OC intake while standardizing tasks are needed. Research would take advantage of using within-subject designs and accounting for the recognition of complex emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dali Gamsakhurdashvili
- Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Martin I Antov
- Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Ursula Stockhorst
- Experimental Psychology II and Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
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21
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The regulatory roles of progesterone and estradiol on emotion processing in women. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 21:1026-1038. [PMID: 33982247 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00908-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Emotion processing is known to interact with memory. Ovarian steroid hormones, such as progesterone and estradiol, modulate emotion processing and memory. However, it is unclear how these hormones influence brain activity when emotion processing is integrated with working memory (WM). Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between endogenous hormonal concentration and brain activity during emotion processing in the context of a WM n-back task in 74 young women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results show that positive emotion processing activates reward-related areas, such as the caudate and putamen, whereas negative emotion processing activates a corticolimbic network, including the amygdala and hippocampus. Furthermore, our findings provide evidence that progesterone modulates more bottom-up brain activation during both positive and negative emotion processing, whereas estradiol activates lateralized, top-down regulation. These findings provide insight on the neural correlates of emotion processing during an n-back task in young women and highlight how important it is to consider women's endogenous hormonal concentration in neurobiological and cognition research.
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22
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Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) has modulatory effects in both human behavior and in the brain, which is not limited in the specific brain area but also with the potential effect on connectivity with other brain regions. Evidence indicates that OT effects on human behavior are multifaceted, such as trust behavior, decrease anxiety, empathy and bonding behavior. For the vital role of mentalizing in understanding others, here we examine whether OT has a general effect on mentalizing brain network which is associated to the effect of related social behavioral and personality traits. Using a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled group design, we investigate the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging after intranasal OT or placebo. The functional connectivity (FC) maps with seed in left/right temporoparietal junction (lTPJ/rTPJ) showed that OT significantly increased connectivity between rTPJ and default attention network (DAN), but decreased the FC between lTPJ and medial prefrontal network (MPN). With machine learning approach, we report that identified altered FCs of TPJ can classify OT and placebo (PL) group. Moreover, individual's empathy trait can modulate the FC between left TPJ and right rectus (RECT), which shows a positive correlation with empathic concern in PL group but a negative correlation in OT group. These results demonstrate that OT has significant effect on FC with lTPJ and rTPJ, brain regions where are critical for mentalizing, and the empathy concern can modulate the FC. These findings advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms by which OT modulates social behaviors, especially in social interaction involving mentalizing.
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23
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Kimmig ACS, Wildgruber D, Wendel SMU, Sundström-Poromaa I, Derntl B. Friend vs. Foe: Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Women With Different Hormonal States. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:608768. [PMID: 33762905 PMCID: PMC7982725 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.608768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Empathy is crucial for social functioning as well as social coherence. It can be influenced by modulatory factors such as familiarity and liking (i.e., emotional closeness). Furthermore, there are first hints that hormonal status may modulate affective but not cognitive empathy in women. The aim of this study was to investigate potential separate as well as combined modulatory effects of emotional closeness and hormonal status on female cognitive and affective empathy. Three hormonal status groups of women (n = 62) were studied: (1) naturally-cycling (NC) women in the early follicular phase (fNC), (2) NC women during periovulatory phase (oNC), and (3) oral contraceptive (OC) users. All women underwent a newly developed empathy task (i.e., Tübinger Empathy Test, TET) presenting textual descriptions of positive and negative emotional scenes relating to three different perspectives (i.e., self vs. friend vs. enemy/disliked person). Regardless of hormonal status, empathic responses were higher for the friend compared to the enemy perspective for both empathy components. However, cognitive empathy was less affected by varying emotional closeness toward the target person than affective empathy. Hormonal status modulated only affective empathy. OC users showed significantly less affective empathy toward the enemy compared to the fNC women. Overall, affective empathy seems more sensitive to modulatory effects of emotional closeness and hormonal status than cognitive empathy. Possible implications of this current investigation for future research on empathy and OC use, contraceptive education as well as for other clinical applications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Christin Sophie Kimmig
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,International Max Planck Research School for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Dirk Wildgruber
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sina-Maria Ute Wendel
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Tübingen Neuro Campus, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Fruzzetti F, Fidecicchi T. Hormonal Contraception and Depression: Updated Evidence and Implications in Clinical Practice. Clin Drug Investig 2021; 40:1097-1106. [PMID: 32980990 DOI: 10.1007/s40261-020-00966-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Hormonal contraceptives are used worldwide by more than 100 million women. Some studies have been published about the possible appearance of depressive symptoms when using hormonal contraceptives, but this link is still a matter of debate. The purpose of this review is to provide an update of the literature on this issue, and to investigate the possible explanations of this problem based on animal and human studies. The main pathway responsible for menstrual cycle-related mood changes is the γ-aminobutyric acid pathway, which is sensitive to changes in the levels of progesterone and of its metabolites, the neurosteroids. In particular, allopregnanolone is a potentiating neurosteroid with anxiolytic and anti-convulsant effects whose levels change during a normal menstrual cycle together with progesterone levels. Progestins have different effects on allopregnanolone, mainly owing to their diverse androgenicity. Moreover, they might affect brain structure and function, even though the meaning of these changes has yet to be clarified. It is important to define the groups of women in which negative mood disorders are more likely to occur. Adolescence is a critical period and this age-specific vulnerability is complex and likely bidirectional. Moreover, women with a history of mood affective disorders or premenstrual dysphoric syndrome are at a higher risk when taking contraceptives. In this review, we aim to provide clinicians with advice on how to approach these difficult situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franca Fruzzetti
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pisa University Hospital of S. Chiara, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, Via Roma 65, 56126, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Tiziana Fidecicchi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pisa University Hospital of S. Chiara, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria, Via Roma 65, 56126, Pisa, Italy
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de Figueiredo BGD, Rezende MTC, dos Santos NA, de Andrade MJO. Mapping changes in women's visual functions during the menstrual cycle: narrative review. SAO PAULO MED J 2021; 139:662-674. [PMID: 34787299 PMCID: PMC9634831 DOI: 10.1590/1516-3180.2020.0474.r2.03052021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND This article systematically updates the literature on changes in visual functions during the phases of the normal menstrual cycle in women. OBJECTIVES To update Guttridge's 1994 review of visual structures and functions associated with the menstrual cycle and broaden the search through psychophysical, neuroimaging and neurobehavioral measurements covering 1994-2020. DESIGN AND SETTING Narrative review conducted in a neurosciences and behavior laboratory in Brazil. METHODS The PubMed, Cochrane Clinical Answers and Google Scholar databases were searched. After screening and applying the eligibility criteria, 32 articles were examined. Through this analysis, the following information was extracted: (1) geographical distribution of the study; (2) sample size (according to age and phase of the menstrual cycle); (3) type of measurements according to psychophysical, neuroimaging and neurobehavioral instruments; (4) vision testing model; (5) visual subcategory evaluated; (6) categories of processed visual stimuli; and (7) main findings. RESULTS The menstrual phases give rise to significant changes in visual functions, including in relation to orientation and spatial attention, visual campimetry and visual sensitivity. These relate specifically to the follicular and luteal phases. CONCLUSIONS These findings theoretically expand the effects of menstrual cycles on visual functions found by Guttridge (1994). Despite some inconsistencies in the studies analyzed, it was found that visual processing during the follicular and luteal phases of the normal menstrual cycle of healthy women can explain physiological, cognitive, behavioral and social modulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruna Gabrielli Damascena de Figueiredo
- Psychology Student, Neurosciences and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology Perception, Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), João Pessoa (PB), Brazil.
| | - Maria Thalita Cardoso Rezende
- Psychology Student, Neurosciences and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology Perception, Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), João Pessoa (PB), Brazil.
| | - Natanael Antonio dos Santos
- PhD. Full Professor, Neurosciences and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology Perception, Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), João Pessoa (PB), Brazil.
| | - Michael Jackson Oliveira de Andrade
- PhD. Associate Professor, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chronobiology and Sleep Psychology, Department of Psychology, Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais (UEMG), Divinópolis (MG), Brazil.
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Rehbein E, Hornung J, Sundström Poromaa I, Derntl B. Shaping of the Female Human Brain by Sex Hormones: A Review. Neuroendocrinology 2021; 111:183-206. [PMID: 32155633 DOI: 10.1159/000507083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Traditionally sex hormones have been associated with reproductive and developmental processes only. Since the 1950s we know that hormones can have organizational effects on the developing brain and initiate hormonal transition periods such as puberty. However, recent evidence shows that sex hormones additionally structure the brain during important hormonal transition periods across a woman's life including short-term fluctuations during the menstrual cycle. However, a comprehensive review focusing on structural changes during all hormonal transition phases of women is still missing. Therefore, in this review structural changes across hormonal transition periods (i.e., puberty, menstrual cycle, oral contraceptive intake, pregnancy and menopause) were investigated in a structured way and correlations with sex hormones evaluated. Results show an overall reduction in grey matter and region-specific decreases in prefrontal, parietal and middle temporal areas during puberty. Across the menstrual cycle grey matter plasticity in the hippocampus, the amygdala as well as temporal and parietal regions were most consistently reported. Studies reporting on pre- and post-pregnancy measurements revealed volume reductions in midline structures as well as prefrontal and temporal cortices. During perimenopause, the decline in sex hormones was paralleled with a reduction in hippocampal and parietal cortex volume. Brain volume changes were significantly correlated with estradiol, testosterone and progesterone levels in some studies, but directionality remains inconclusive between studies. These results indicate that sex hormones play an important role in shaping women's brain structure during different transition periods and are not restricted to specific developmental periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Rehbein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany,
| | - Jonas Hornung
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innovative Neuroimaging, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Lead Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Nabergoj D, Janeš D, Fatur K, Glavač NK, Kreft S. Influence of the Human Menstrual Cycle
on the Perception of Musks and Substances Responsible for Body Odour. J EVOL BIOCHEM PHYS+ 2020. [DOI: 10.1134/s0022093020060095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Wang J, Chen A. High progesterone levels facilitate women's social information processing by optimizing attention allocation. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2020; 122:104882. [PMID: 33068952 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Revised: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Ovarian hormones exert an influence on social information processing, in which, however, the exact roles of estradiol and progesterone remain unclear. This study examines the specific influences of these two ovarian hormones on social information processing across the menstrual cycle using the emotional face flanker task and attentional network test (ANT). Twenty-six naturally cycling, healthy women were tested thrice: during menses, in the follicular phase, and in the luteal phase. In the emotional face flanker task, a significant positive relation was found between progesterone levels and reaction times (RTs) for sad faces, suggesting that high progesterone levels may activate the social monitoring system and allocate more attention to the social stimulus, which benefits individuals' survival and adaptation. In the ANT, a significant increase was found in RTs and accuracy during the luteal phase, suggesting that luteal women increase this accuracy by exerting a relatively conservative strategy of allocating more attention to the targets. Taken together, these findings indicate that high levels of progesterone may facilitate social information processing by optimizing attention allocation. Moreover, overactivation of the social monitoring system may make women more susceptible to stressors and promote affective disturbances, which may provide underlying pathophysiology of the premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Wang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Antao Chen
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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29
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Compère L, Charron S, Gallarda T, Rari E, Lion S, Nys M, Anssens A, Coussinoux S, Machefaux S, Oppenheim C, Piolino P. Gender identity better than sex explains individual differences in episodic and semantic components of autobiographical memory: An fMRI study. Neuroimage 2020; 225:117507. [PMID: 33127480 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Revised: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in the literature of sex-related differences in autobiographical memory increasingly tend to highlight the importance of psychosocial factors such as gender identity, which may explain these differences better than sex as a biological factor. To date, however, none of these behavioral studies have investigated this hypothesis using neuroimaging. The purpose of this fMRI study is to examine for the first time sex and gender identity-related differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in healthy participants (M=19, W=18). No sex-related differences were found; however, sex-related effects of masculine and feminine gender identity were identified in men and women independently. These results confirm the hypothesis that differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory are best explained by gender but are an interaction between biological sex and gender identity and extend these findings to the field of neuroimaging. We discuss the importance of hormonal factors to be taken into consideration in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurie Compère
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States.
| | | | - Thierry Gallarda
- «Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
| | - Eirini Rari
- «Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
| | - Stéphanie Lion
- Université de Paris, IPNP, INSERM, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Marion Nys
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
| | - Adèle Anssens
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
| | - Sandrine Coussinoux
- «Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
| | - Sébastien Machefaux
- «Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
| | | | - Pascale Piolino
- Université de Paris, MC(2)Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
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30
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Sundström-Poromaa I, Comasco E, Sumner R, Luders E. Progesterone - Friend or foe? Front Neuroendocrinol 2020; 59:100856. [PMID: 32730861 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2020.100856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Revised: 07/05/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Estradiol is the "prototypic" sex hormone of women. Yet, women have another sex hormone, which is often disregarded: Progesterone. The goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive review on progesterone, and its metabolite allopregnanolone, emphasizing three key areas: biological properties, main functions, and effects on mood in women. Recent years of intensive research on progesterone and allopregnanolone have paved the way for new treatment of postpartum depression. However, treatment for premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder as well as contraception that women can use without risking mental health problems are still needed. As far as progesterone is concerned, we might be dealing with a two-edged sword: while its metabolite allopregnanolone has been proven useful for treatment of PPD, it may trigger negative symptoms in women with PMS and PMDD. Overall, our current knowledge on the beneficial and harmful effects of progesterone is limited and further research is imperative.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erika Comasco
- Department of Neuroscience, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Eileen Luders
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
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32
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Lieberz J, Scheele D, Spengler FB, Matheisen T, Schneider L, Stoffel-Wagner B, Kinfe TM, Hurlemann R. Kinetics of oxytocin effects on amygdala and striatal reactivity vary between women and men. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:1134-1140. [PMID: 31785587 PMCID: PMC7235226 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0582-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that intranasal oxytocin (OXT; 24 IU) reduces amygdala responses to fear-related stimuli in men, while exerting inverse effects in women. However, OXT enhances activity of the brain reward system in both sexes. Importantly, a crucial and still open question is whether there are sex-specific dose-response relationships for the amygdala and striatal regions. To address this question, a total of 90 healthy women participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study and the results were compared with our previous findings from men. Participants were randomly assigned to three doses of OXT (6 IU, 12 IU, and 24 IU) and completed an emotional face recognition task including fearful and happy faces of varying emotional intensities. Across doses, OXT enhanced amygdala reactivity to low fearful faces compared to placebo and increased responses to happy faces in the dorsal striatum in women. While treatment effects on amygdala reactivity were evident at each given dose, the OXT effect on striatal responses to social stimuli was more pronounced with higher doses, but this dose-dependent effect did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Importantly, OXT effects on amygdala and striatal activation significantly differed between sexes and striatal baseline sexual-dimorphic response patterns were diminished after administration of OXT. Our findings suggest that OXT increases the salience of social signals by strengthening the sensitivity for these signals in the amygdala and in the striatum in women, while OXT may primarily induce anxiolysis by reducing amygdala responses in men.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Lieberz
- 0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Dirk Scheele
- Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105, Bonn, Germany.
| | - Franny B. Spengler
- grid.5963.9Institute for Psychology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Tatjana Matheisen
- 0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Lìa Schneider
- 0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Birgit Stoffel-Wagner
- 0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany
| | - Thomas M. Kinfe
- 0000 0001 2107 3311grid.5330.5Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Functional Neurosurgery and Stereotaxy, Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- 0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany ,0000 0001 2240 3300grid.10388.32Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, 53105 Bonn, Germany ,0000 0001 1009 3608grid.5560.6Department of Psychiatry, University of Oldenburg Medical Campus, 26160 Bad Zwischenahn, Germany
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33
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Gurvich C, Warren AM, Worsley R, Hudaib AR, Thomas N, Kulkarni J. Effects of Oral Contraceptive Androgenicity on Visuospatial and Social-Emotional Cognition: A Prospective Observational Trial. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10040194. [PMID: 32218215 PMCID: PMC7226060 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10040194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Revised: 03/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Oral contraceptives (OCs) containing estrogen and progesterone analogues are widely used amongst reproductive-aged women, but their neurocognitive impact is poorly understood. Preliminary studies suggest that OCs improve verbal memory and that OCs with greater androgenic activity may improve visuospatial ability. We sought to explore the cognitive impact of OCs by assessing performance of OC users at different stages of the OC cycle, and comparing this performance between users of different OC formulations according to known androgenic activity. We conducted a prospective, observational trial of OC users, evaluating cognitive performance with CogState software on two occasions: days 7-10 of active hormonal pill phase, and days 3-5 of the inactive pill phase (coinciding with the withdrawal bleed resembling menstruation). Thirty-five OC users (18 taking androgenic formulations, 17 taking anti-androgenic) were assessed. Analysis by androgenic activity showed superior performance by users of androgenic OCs, as compared to anti-androgenic OCs, in visuospatial ability and facial affect discrimination tasks. A growing understanding of cognitive effects of OC progestin androgenicity may have implications in choice of OC formulation for individuals and in future OC development.
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Shirazi TN, Rosenfield KA, Cárdenas RA, Breedlove SM, Puts DA. No evidence that hormonal contraceptive use or circulating sex steroids predict complex emotion recognition. Horm Behav 2020; 119:104647. [PMID: 31778719 PMCID: PMC8496674 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Revised: 11/17/2019] [Accepted: 11/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Relatively little is known about the effects of endogenous and exogenous steroid hormones on ecologically relevant behavioral and cognitive phenotypes in women, such as emotion recognition, despite the widespread use of steroid hormone-altering hormonal contraceptives (HCs). Though some previous studies have examined the effect of HC use, estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone on emotion recognition in women, they have been limited by cross-sectional designs, small sample sizes (total n < 100), and compromised statistical power to detect significant effects. Using data from two test sessions in a large sample of naturally cycling women (NC; n = 192) and women on HCs (n = 203), we found no group differences in emotion recognition; further, the lack of group differences in emotion recognition was not modulated by item difficulty or emotional valence. Among NC women who provided saliva samples across two sessions that were assayed for estradiol and progesterone concentrations, we found no compelling evidence across models that between-subject differences and within-subject fluctuations in these ovarian hormones predicted emotion recognition accuracy, with the exception that between-subjects estradiol negatively predicted emotion recognition for emotions of neutral valence (p = .042). Among HC women who provided saliva samples across two sessions that were assayed for testosterone, we found no compelling evidence that between-subjects differences and within-subject fluctuations in testosterone predicted emotion recognition accuracy. Overall, our analyses provide little support for the idea that circulating endogenous or exogenous ovarian hormones influence emotion recognition in women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia N Shirazi
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, United States of America
| | - Kevin A Rosenfield
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, United States of America
| | - Rodrigo A Cárdenas
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, United States of America
| | - S Marc Breedlove
- Department of Neuroscience, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States of America
| | - David A Puts
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, United States of America.
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Peveretou F, Radke S, Derntl B, Habel U. A Short Empathy Paradigm to Assess Empathic Deficits in Schizophrenia. Behav Sci (Basel) 2020; 10:bs10020041. [PMID: 31991547 PMCID: PMC7071360 DOI: 10.3390/bs10020041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy is important for successful social interaction and maintaining relationships. Several studies detected impairments in empathic abilities in schizophrenia, with some even indicating a broader deficit in several components, including emotion recognition, perspective taking, and affective responsiveness. The aim of our study was to validate a short version of the previous empathy paradigm as a reliable and easily applicable method to assess empathic deficits in patients with schizophrenia potentially within clinical routine. To do so, we applied the short version to 30 patients (14 females) diagnosed with schizophrenia meeting the DSM-5 criteria and 30 well-matched healthy controls (14 females). The data analysis indicates a significant empathic deficit in patients due to worse performance in all three domains. We managed to replicate most of the findings of our previous study. In contrary to the previous study, significant correlations between performance in the empathy tasks and psychopathology occurred: the severity of negative symptoms was negatively associated with performance in the emotion recognition task and the affective responsiveness task. Gender did not significantly affect performance in the empathy tasks. Regarding the results, our short empathy paradigm appears to be a valid method in assessing empathic impairments in schizophrenia that may be useful in clinical routine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Foteini Peveretou
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; (S.R.); (U.H.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-241-80-80368; Fax: +49-241-80-82401
| | - Sina Radke
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; (S.R.); (U.H.)
- Jülich Aachen Research Alliance—BRAIN Institute I: Brain Structure–Function Relationships: Decoding the Human Brain at Systemic Levels, Research Center Jülich GmbH and RWTH Aachen University, Wilhelm-Johnen-Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Calwerstrasse 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; (S.R.); (U.H.)
- Jülich Aachen Research Alliance—BRAIN Institute I: Brain Structure–Function Relationships: Decoding the Human Brain at Systemic Levels, Research Center Jülich GmbH and RWTH Aachen University, Wilhelm-Johnen-Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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Gasbarri A, D'Amico M, Arnone B, Iorio C, Pacitti F, Ciotti S, Iorio P, Pompili A. Electrophysiological and Behavioral Indices of the Role of Estrogens on Memory Processes for Emotional Faces in Healthy Young Women. Front Behav Neurosci 2019; 13:234. [PMID: 31632252 PMCID: PMC6779715 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 09/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well known that estrogens influence cognitive activities, such as memory, and emotional states. The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of estrogens in the short-term memory processing of basic emotional face expressions, by means of event-related potentials (ERPs) and a recognition memory (RM) behavioral task. Healthy young women were divided into a periovulatory (PO) group, characterized by high levels of estrogens and low levels of progesterone, and an early follicular (EF) group, characterized by low levels of both estrogens and progesterone. During the RM task, all subjects viewed images of faces expressing six basic emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, sadness, surprise, fear) and one neutral expression while their electrophysiological activity was recorded. We considered P300 components, amplitude, and latency in response to each stimulus. Soon after the presentation of each stimulus face, a target image was presented, consisting of two faces, one of which was the same, while the other was a chimerical face, obtained by mixing the upper or lower halves of the faces of the stimulus image with a different emotion. The subjects had to choose between the two alternatives, and the reaction time (RT) and accuracy of response (RM errors) were measured. The main findings of this study showed that P300 amplitudes are significantly higher in response to the expressions of happiness, but significantly lower for sadness, in PO compared to EF. The P300 data are consistent with performance in the RM task and with the measures of RT. The interest in the emotion of happiness, unlike sadness, during the PO phase may reflect the evolutionary significance of female sex hormones linked to mating behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonella Gasbarri
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Mario D'Amico
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Benedetto Arnone
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Carla Iorio
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Francesca Pacitti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Sabatino Ciotti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Paola Iorio
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Assunta Pompili
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.,Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Boudesseul J, Gildersleeve KA, Haselton MG, Bègue L. Do women expose themselves to more health-related risks in certain phases of the menstrual cycle? A meta-analytic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:505-524. [PMID: 31513819 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Researchers have increasingly examined the menstrual cycle as a potential source of day-to-day variation in women's cognitions, motivations, and behavior. Within this literature, several lines of research have examined the impact of the menstrual cycle on women's engagement in activities that could negatively affect their health (alcohol and tobacco consumption, sexual behavior, risk recognition). However, findings have been mixed, leaving it unclear whether women may expose themselves to more health-related risks during certain phases of the cycle. We conducted a meta-analysis of 22 published and four unpublished studies (N = 7529, https://osf.io/xr37j/). The meta-analysis revealed shifts across the menstrual cycle in women's sexual behavior with others and risk recognition (higher in ovulatory phase), whereas there was no consistent pattern of difference for alcohol and cigarette consumption. These findings help to clarify the proximate physiological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying women's health-related risk-taking and may inform new interventions.
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Monciunskaite R, Malden L, Lukstaite I, Ruksenas O, Griksiene R. Do oral contraceptives modulate an ERP response to affective pictures? Biol Psychol 2019; 148:107767. [PMID: 31509765 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Indications exist that use of oral contraceptives affects women's socio-emotional behaviour, brain function and, cognitive abilities, but the information is still scarce and ambiguous. We aimed to examine affective processing of visual stimuli between oral contraceptive users (OC, n = 33) and naturally cycling women (NC, n = 37) using the event-related potential (ERP) method. The main findings are: (i) emotionally arousing stimuli elicited significantly enlarged late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes compared to neutral stimuli, (ii) anti-androgenic OC users demonstrated diminished brain reactivity to visual stimuli, and (iii) significantly blunted reaction to highly unpleasant images. In addition, a positive relationship between GFP evoked by the highly unpleasant and highly pleasant visual emotional stimuli and progesterone was observed in NC women, while OC users demonstrated a trend of negative relationship between GFP and progesterone level. These findings suggest possible modulations of affective processing of visual stimuli when hormonal contraceptives are used.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Monciunskaite
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
| | - L Malden
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - I Lukstaite
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - O Ruksenas
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - R Griksiene
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Differential trait and state frontal alpha asymmetry in women with premenstrual syndrome. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-019-09797-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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40
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Abstract
Facial emotion recognition is an important prerequisite for social cognition. There is, however, limited evidence on how the ability to detect facial emotions is influenced by acute stress and the associated physiological reactions. In this study, two groups of healthy male participants were either exposed to a psychosocial stressor - an adaptation of the Trier Social Stress Test in virtual reality (n = 23) - or a non-stressful control task in the virtual environment (n = 20). Afterwards, both groups completed a computerized facial recognition task based on the signal detection theory presenting happy vs. angry faces with three different expression intensities. Saliva samples were taken at seven time points over the course of the experiment and used to analyze concentrations of free salivary cortisol and alpha amylase. Analyses using repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed a significant increase in emotion detection performance and significantly shorter response latencies in the stress group independent of emotional valence or emotion intensity. However, increased task performance in the stress group could not be predicted by stress-induced cortisol or alpha amylase secretion. The results suggest that enhanced detection of emotional cues after stress might be an adaptive response as an increased sensitivity to social cues might help individuals to detect potential threats or sources of social support in their social environment. Lay Summary Socially evaluative stress facilitates the subsequent recognition of emotions. After having performed a task in a virtual environment, two groups of participants were asked to detect emotion expressions on pictures of faces that were presented to them on a computer screen. Statistical comparison of groups indicates that the group that had previously been subjected to a stressful job interview showed better results and became faster in detecting displayed emotions than the control group that had previously performed a non-stressful task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregor Domes
- a Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology , University of Trier , Trier , Germany
| | - Patrick Zimmer
- a Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology , University of Trier , Trier , Germany
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Pilarczyk J, Schwertner E, Wołoszyn K, Kuniecki M. Phase of the menstrual cycle affects engagement of attention with emotional images. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 104:25-32. [PMID: 30784902 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Changes that occur during the menstrual cycle affect various aspects of behavior, cognition, and emotion. Here, we focused on potential differences between early follicular and midluteal phases in the way women process images of behaviorally relevant content categories: children, threat, disgust, erotic scenes, low- and high-calorie food. Using eye-tracking, we examined women's engagement of attention in the key region of each image in a free-viewing condition. Specifically, we tested how quickly attention was attracted to these regions and for how long it was held there. Participants took part in two experimental sessions, one in the early follicular and one in the midluteal phase. The results showed that in the midluteal phase attention was attracted to the key region earlier than in the early follicular phase: the first fixation more often fell within the key region and there were fewer fixations preceding it. While the effect of the phase in terms of the capture of attention did not depend on the image category, the effect regarding the hold of attention was category-specific, concerning the disgust category only. Specifically, in the midluteal phase the duration of the exploration of the key region between reaching it for the first time and first exiting it was shorter, which might be due to heightened sensitivity to disgusting stimuli in this period. Overall, our results indicate the occurrence of changes in attentional processing of emotional scenes related to the menstrual cycle, which seem to differ depending on the aspect of attention deployment: in the midluteal phase the effect of enhancing orienting was general and concerned any important visual information, whereas the effect of the shortened hold of attention appeared to be limited to specific content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Pilarczyk
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Psychophysiology Lab, Poland.
| | - Emilia Schwertner
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Psychophysiology Lab, Poland.
| | - Kinga Wołoszyn
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Psychophysiology Lab, Poland.
| | - Michał Kuniecki
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Psychophysiology Lab, Poland.
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Dan R, Canetti L, Keadan T, Segman R, Weinstock M, Bonne O, Reuveni I, Goelman G. Sex differences during emotion processing are dependent on the menstrual cycle phase. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 100:85-95. [PMID: 30296706 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.09.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2018] [Revised: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/24/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Sex differences in the neural processing of emotion are of special interest considering that mood and anxiety disorders predominant in females. However, these sex-related differences were typically studied without considering the hormonal status of female subjects, although emotion processing in the brain was shown to differ between phases of the menstrual cycle. In this functional MRI study, we demonstrated the influence of the menstrual cycle phase on sex differences in brain activity and functional connectivity during negative and positive emotions, using two different paradigms: emotion perception and emotion experience. Twenty naturally cycling healthy women without premenstrual symptoms were scanned twice: during the mid-follicular and late-luteal menstrual phases, and compared to a matched group of twenty healthy men. During negative emotion perception, men showed increased neural activity in the right hippocampal formation relative to women in the mid-follicular phase, and increased activity in the right cerebellum relative to women in the late-luteal phase. During experience of amusement, reduced putamen-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and putamen-dorsomedial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity were observed for women in the late-luteal phase relative to men and associated with levels of sex hormones. These neural and hormonal findings were complemented by behavioral reports of reduced amusement and increased sadness in late-luteal women. Our results demonstrate menstrual phase-dependent sex differences in emotion perception and experience and may suggest a biological tendency for a deficient experience of pleasure and reward during the late-luteal phase. These findings may further shed light on the underlying pathophysiology of premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rotem Dan
- Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Laura Canetti
- Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Tarek Keadan
- Department of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Ronen Segman
- Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Marta Weinstock
- Institute of drug research, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Omer Bonne
- Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Inbal Reuveni
- Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Gadi Goelman
- Department of Neurology, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
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Hornung J, Noack H, Kogler L, Derntl B. Exploring the fMRI based neural correlates of the dot probe task and its modulation by sex and body odor. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 99:87-96. [PMID: 30216766 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.08.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Revised: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The dot probe task implicitly cues attention via emotional information, an effect which is especially pronounced for threat-related cues. However, several questions remain unexplored. The first one is whether chemosignals like the androgen-derivative androstadienone can influence such attentional biases. Second, few studies have addressed sex differences regarding attentional biases. Finally, the neural correlates of these potential behavioral effects based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are not known. In two experiments we aimed to answer these questions. A total of 159 healthy individuals (58 oral-contraceptive-users, 42 luteal women, 59 men) were tested. In experiment 1 (behavioral study) we examined attentional biases behaviorally, while in experiment 2 (fMRI study) the dot probe task was complemented by fMRI. Our results provide robust evidence that in healthy participants fearful but not angry or happy faces lead to a strong general attentional bias. Elucidating the neural basis of this effects points to an early processing advantage in bilateral thalamus for valid compared to invalid cued fear. However, this finding was limited to those participants with the strongest attentional biases and was not linked to behavioral measures. Furthermore, no consistent sex or group differences existed neither did the putative human chemosignal androstadienone reliably modulate attentional biases or change neural processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Hornung
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Hannes Noack
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Lead Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Lydia Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Lead Graduate School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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44
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Facial Sadness Recognition is Modulated by Estrogen Receptor Gene Polymorphisms in Healthy Females. Brain Sci 2018; 8:brainsci8120219. [PMID: 30544539 PMCID: PMC6315436 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci8120219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2018] [Revised: 11/26/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor ESR1 and ESR2 genes have been linked with cognitive deficits and affective disorders. The effects of these genetic variants on emotional processing in females with low estrogen levels are not well known. The aim was to explore the impact of the ESR1 and ESR2 genes on the responses to the facial emotion recognition task in females. Postmenopausal healthy female volunteers were genotyped for the polymorphisms Xbal and PvuII of ESR1 and the polymorphism rs1256030 of ESR2. The effect of these polymorphisms on the response to the facial emotion recognition of the emotions happiness, sadness, disgust, anger, surprise, and fear was analyzed. Females carrying the P allele of the PvuII polymorphism or the X allele of the Xbal polymorphism of ESR1 easily recognized facial expressions of sadness that were more difficult for the women carrying the p allele or the x allele. They displayed higher accuracy, fast response time, more correct responses, and fewer omissions to complete the task, with a large effect size. Women carrying the ESR2 C allele of ESR2 showed a faster response time for recognizing facial expressions of anger. These findings link ESR1 and ESR2 polymorphisms in facial emotion recognition of negative emotions.
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45
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Effects of the experimental administration of oral estrogen on prefrontal functions in healthy young women. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2018; 235:3465-3477. [PMID: 30306229 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-018-5061-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2018] [Accepted: 10/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
17-Beta-estradiol (E2) stimulates neural plasticity and dopaminergic transmission in the prefrontal cortex, which is critically involved in attentional control, working memory, and other executive functions. Studies investigating E2's actions on prefrontally mediated behavior in the course of the menstrual cycle or during hormone replacement therapy are inconclusive, with numerous null findings as well as beneficial and detrimental effects. The current study focused on the effect of E2 on attentional performance, as animal studies indicate that supraphysiological doses (i.e., above estrous cycle levels) of E2 have beneficial effects on measures of attention in female rodents. To translate these findings to humans, we administered 12 mg E2-valerate or placebo orally to 34 naturally cycling women in the low-hormone early follicular phase using a randomized, double-blinded, pre-post design. Behavioral performance was tested twice during baseline and E2 peak, where E2 levels reached mildly supraphysiological levels in the E2 group. Aside from mainly prefrontally mediated tasks of attention, working memory, and other executive functions, we employed tasks of affectively modulated attention, emotion recognition, and verbal memory. E2 administration had a significant, but subtle negative impact on general processing speed and working memory performance. These effects could be related to an overstimulation of dopaminergic transmission. The negative effect of supraphysiological E2 on working memory connects well to animal literature. There were no effects on attentional performance or any other measure. This could be explained by different E2 levels being optimal for changing behavioral performance in specific tasks, which likely depends on the brain regions involved.
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46
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Armbruster D, Grage T, Kirschbaum C, Strobel A. Processing emotions: Effects of menstrual cycle phase and premenstrual symptoms on the startle reflex, facial EMG and heart rate. Behav Brain Res 2018; 351:178-187. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.05.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Revised: 05/25/2018] [Accepted: 05/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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47
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Chen X, Yuan H, Zheng T, Chang Y, Luo Y. Females Are More Sensitive to Opponent's Emotional Feedback: Evidence From Event-Related Potentials. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:275. [PMID: 30042666 PMCID: PMC6048193 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
It is widely believed that females outperformed males in emotional information processing. The present study tested whether the female superiority in emotional information processing exists in a naturalistic social-emotional context, if so, what the temporal dynamics underlies. The behavioral and electrophysiological responses were recorded while participants were performing an interpersonal gambling game with opponents' facial emotions given as feedback. The results yielded that emotional cues modulated the influence of monetary feedback on outcome valuation. Critically, this modulation was more conspicuous in females: opponents' angry expressions increased females' risky tendency and decreased the amplitude of reward positivity (RewP) and feedback P300. These findings indicate that females are more sensitive to emotional expressions in real interpersonal interactions, which is manifested in both early motivational salience detection and late conscious cognitive appraisal stages of feedback processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuhai Chen
- Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Psychology in Shaanxi Province, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Hang Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Psychology in Shaanxi Province, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Tingting Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Psychology in Shaanxi Province, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yingchao Chang
- Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Psychology in Shaanxi Province, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yangmei Luo
- Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Psychology in Shaanxi Province, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
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48
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Graham BM, Shin G. Estradiol moderates the relationship between state-trait anxiety and attentional bias to threat in women. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2018; 93:82-89. [PMID: 29705576 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2017] [Revised: 04/11/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are characterized by impaired fear extinction and heightened attentional allocation to threatening stimuli. The sex hormones estradiol and progesterone modulate fear extinction in female rats and women; whether these hormones are similarly related to attentional biases to threat has not been examined. In the present study 74 women (53 cycling, 21 using hormonal contraception), and a comparison group of 30 men, completed standard assessments of state-trait anxiety, as well symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, followed by a computerized assessment of attentional bias, the dot-probe task. Women's endogenous estradiol and progesterone levels were ascertained by a blood sample. No differences in attentional bias were found dependent on sex or hormonal contraceptive use. Estradiol was the only variable measured that was independently positively correlated with attentional bias to threat. Regression analyses revealed a bi-directional relationship between state-trait anxiety, symptoms of anxiety and stress, and attentional bias that was moderated by estradiol, such that a positive relationship was observed amongst women with higher estradiol, and a negative relationship was observed amongst women with lower estradiol. Together, these results indicate that under conditions of anxiety and stress, women may attend to threat differently depending on endogenous estradiol levels, being avoidant when estradiol is lower, and vigilant when estradiol is higher. A more nuanced understanding of the role for attention in anxiety disorders amongst women may be developed by taking hormonal status into consideration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bronwyn M Graham
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
| | - Geena Shin
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
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49
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Lustig K, Stoakley E, MacDonald K, Geniole S, McCormick C, Cote K. Sex hormones play a role in vulnerability to sleep loss on emotion processing tasks. Neurobiol Sleep Circadian Rhythms 2018; 5:94-104. [PMID: 31236516 PMCID: PMC6584637 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbscr.2017.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2017] [Revised: 10/04/2017] [Accepted: 10/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The central aim of this study was to investigate hormones as a predictor of individual vulnerability or resiliency on emotion processing tasks following one night of sleep restriction. The restriction group was instructed to sleep 3 a.m.-7 a.m. (13 men, 13 women in follicular phase, 10 women in luteal phase of menstrual cycle), and a control group slept 11 p.m.-7 a.m. (12 men, 12 follicular women, 12 luteal women). Sleep from home was verified with actigraphy. Saliva samples were collected on the evening prior to restriction, and in the morning and afternoon following restriction, to measure testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone. In the laboratory, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during presentation of images and faces to index neural processing of emotional stimuli. Compared to controls, sleep-restricted participants had a larger amplitude Late Positive Potential (LPP) ERP to positive vs neutral images, reflecting greater motivated attention towards positive stimuli. Sleep-restricted participants were also less accurate categorizing sad faces and exhibited a larger N170 to sad faces, reflecting greater neural reactivity. Sleep-restricted luteal women were less accurate categorizing all images compared to control luteal women, and progesterone was related to several outcomes. Morning testosterone in men was lower in the sleep-restricted group compared to controls; lower testosterone was associated with lower accuracy to positive images, a greater difference between positive vs neutral LPP amplitude, and lower accuracy to sad and fearful faces. In summary, women higher in progesterone and men lower in testosterone were more vulnerable to the effects of sleep restriction on emotion processing tasks. This study highlights a role for sex and sex hormones in understanding individual differences in vulnerability to sleep loss.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - K.A. Cote
- Psychology Department, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1
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50
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Jenkins LM, Skerrett KA, DelDonno SR, Patrón VG, Meyers KK, Peltier S, Zubieta JK, Langenecker SA, Starkman MN. Individuals with more severe depression fail to sustain nucleus accumbens activity to preferred music over time. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2018; 275:21-27. [PMID: 29555382 PMCID: PMC5899937 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2017] [Revised: 02/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/02/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the ability of preferred classical music to activate the nucleus accumbens in patients with Major depressive disorder (MDD). Twelve males with MDD and 10 never mentally ill male healthy controls (HC) completed measures of anhedonia and depression severity, and listened to 90-second segments of preferred classical music during fMRI. Compared to HCs, individuals with MDD showed less activation of the left nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Individuals with MDD showed attenuation of the left NAcc response in later compared to earlier parts of the experiment, supporting theories that MDD involves an inability to sustain reward network activation. Counter intuitively, we found that NAcc activity during early music listening was associated with greater depression severity. In whole-brain analyses, anhedonia scores predicted activity in regions within the default mode network, supporting previous findings. Our results support theories that MDD involves an inability to sustain reward network activation. It also highlights that pleasant classical music can engage critical neural reward circuitry in MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisanne M Jenkins
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Kristy A Skerrett
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Sophie R DelDonno
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Kortni K Meyers
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Scott Peltier
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Jon-Kar Zubieta
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Scott A Langenecker
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
| | - Monica N Starkman
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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