1
|
Edwards M, Denniston D, Bariesheff C, Wyche NJ, Goodhew SC. Individual differences in emotion-induced blindness: Are they reliable and what do they measure? Atten Percept Psychophys 2024:10.3758/s13414-024-02900-y. [PMID: 38760639 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02900-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
The emotion-induced-blindness (EIB) paradigm has been extensively used to investigate attentional biases to emotionally salient stimuli. However, the low reliability of EIB scores (the difference in performance between the neutral and emotionally salient condition) limits the effectiveness of the paradigm for investigating individual differences. Here, across two studies, we investigated whether we could improve the reliability of EIB scores. In Experiment 1, we introduced a mid-intensity emotionally salient stimuli condition, with the goal of obtaining a wider range of EIB magnitudes to promote reliability. In Experiment 2, we sought to reduce the attentional oddball effect, so we created a modified EIB paradigm by removing the filler images. Neither of these approaches improved the reliability of the EIB scores. Reliability for the high- and mid-intensity EIB difference scores were low, while reliability of the scores for absolute performance (neutral, high-, and mid-intensity) were high and the scores were also highly correlated, even though overall performance in the emotionally salient conditions were significantly worse than in the neutral conditions. Given these results, we can conclude that while emotionally salient stimuli impair performance in the EIB task compared with the neutral condition, the strong correlation between the emotionally salient and neutral conditions means that while EIB can be used to investigate individual differences in attentional control, it is not selective to individual differences in attentional biases to emotionally salient stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Edwards
- School of Medicine and Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia.
| | - David Denniston
- School of Medicine and Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Camryn Bariesheff
- School of Medicine and Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Nicholas J Wyche
- School of Medicine and Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Stephanie C Goodhew
- School of Medicine and Psychology (Building 39), The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Poyo Solanas M, Zhan M, de Gelder B. Ultrahigh Field fMRI Reveals Different Roles of the Temporal and Frontoparietal Cortices in Subjective Awareness. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0425232023. [PMID: 38531633 PMCID: PMC11097282 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0425-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
A central question in consciousness theories is whether one is dealing with a dichotomous ("all-or-none") or a gradual phenomenon. In this 7T fMRI study, we investigated whether dichotomy or gradualness in fact depends on the brain region associated with perceptual awareness reports. Both male and female human subjects performed an emotion discrimination task (fear vs neutral bodies) presented under continuous flash suppression with trial-based perceptual awareness measures. Behaviorally, recognition sensitivity increased linearly with increased stimuli awareness and was at chance level during perceptual unawareness. Physiologically, threat stimuli triggered a slower heart rate than neutral ones during "almost clear" stimulus experience, indicating freezing behavior. Brain results showed that activity in the occipitotemporal, parietal, and frontal regions as well as in the amygdala increased with increased stimulus awareness while early visual areas showed the opposite pattern. The relationship between temporal area activity and perceptual awareness best fitted a gradual model while the activity in frontoparietal areas fitted a dichotomous model. Furthermore, our findings illustrate that specific experimental decisions, such as stimulus type or the approach used to evaluate awareness, play pivotal roles in consciousness studies and warrant careful consideration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Poyo Solanas
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6229 EV, The Netherlands
| | - Minye Zhan
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6229 EV, The Netherlands
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6229 EV, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Agarwal K, Joseph PV, Zhang R, Schwandt ML, Ramchandani VA, Diazgranados N, Goldman D, Momenan R. Early life stress and body-mass-index modulate brain connectivity in alcohol use disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2024; 14:43. [PMID: 38245501 PMCID: PMC10799859 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-024-02756-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Early life stress (ELS) significantly increases susceptibility to alcohol use disorder (AUD) by affecting the interplay between the executive and the salience networks (SNs). The link between AUD and higher body-mass index (BMI) is known, but we lack understanding of how BMI impacts the relationship between ELS and brain connectivity in individuals with AUD. To bridge this gap, we investigated the main and interaction effects of ELS and BMI on brain connectivity in individuals with AUD compared to non-AUD participants (n = 77 sex-matched individuals per group). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, revealing intriguing positive functional connectivity between SN seeds and brain regions involved in somatosensory processing, motor coordination and executive control. Examining the relationship of brain connectivity with ELS and BMI, we observed positive associations with the correlations of SN seeds, right anterior insula (RAIns) and supramarginal gyrus (SMG) with clusters in motor [occipital cortex, supplementary motor cortex]; anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with clusters in frontal, or executive, control regions (middle frontal gyrus; MFG, precentral gyrus) that reportedly are involved in processing of emotionally salient stimuli (all |β | > 0.001, |p | < 0.05). Interestingly, a negative association of the interaction effect of ELS events and BMI measures with the functional connectivity of SN seeds ACC with decision-making (MFG, precentral gyrus), RAIns and RSMG with visuo-motor control regions (occipital cortex and supplementary motor cortex) (all |β | = -0.001, |p | < 0.05). These findings emphasize the moderating effect of BMI on ELS-associated SN seed brain connectivity in AUD. Understanding the neural mechanisms linking BMI, ELS and AUD can guide targeted interventions for this population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Khushbu Agarwal
- Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
- National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Paule V Joseph
- Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
- National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Rui Zhang
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Melanie L Schwandt
- Office of the Clinical Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Vijay A Ramchandani
- Human Psychopharmacology Laboratory, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Nancy Diazgranados
- Office of the Clinical Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - David Goldman
- Office of the Clinical Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD, 20892, USA
| | - Reza Momenan
- Clinical NeuroImaging Research Core, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Oldrati V, Bardoni A, Poggi G, Urgesi C. Development of implicit and explicit attentional modulation of the processing of social cues conveyed by faces and bodies in children and adolescents. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1320923. [PMID: 38222848 PMCID: PMC10784122 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1320923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Emotions and sex of other people shape the way we interact in social environments. The influence of these dimensions on cognitive processing is recognized as a highly conditional phenomenon. While much of researches on the topic focused on adults, less evidence is available for the pediatric population. This study aimed at examining the development of the modulation of attention control on emotion and sex processing using facial and body expressions in children and adolescents (8–16 years old). In Experiment 1a, participants performed a Flanker task (probing space-based attention) in which they had to indicate either the emotion (happy/fearful) or the sex of the target stimulus while ignoring the distracting stimuli at the side. We found evidence for intrusion of the sex, but not emotion, of the stimuli during both sex and emotion recognition tasks, thus both at an explicit (i.e., task relevant) and implicit (i.e., task irrelevant) level. A control experiment consisting of an emotional Flanker task confirmed that, in contrast with previous findings in adults, emotion did not modulate attention control in children and adolescents even when task relevant (Experiment 1b). In Experiment 2 participants performed a same-or-different judgment task (probing feature-based attention) in which they indicated whether the central stimulus matched the lateral ones for emotion or sex. Results showed that emotional features exerted an implicit influence during sex judgements; likewise, sex features intruded on the processing of both faces and bodies during emotion judgments. Finally, Experiment 3 explored the development of the explicit attention modulation exerted by the sex dimension on the processing of faces and bodies. To this aim, participants performed a Flanker task in which they were asked to recognize the sex of faces and bodies. The results indicated that, while younger participants showed a task-relevant influence of sexual features when processing faces, older participants showed such influence when processing bodies. These findings point to a greater attentional modulation exerted by sex, as compared to emotion, during social processing in children and adolescents and suggest a developmental trend of the saliency of facial and bodily cues for the perception of others’ sex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viola Oldrati
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | | | - Geraldina Poggi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Qiu Z, Becker SI, Xia H, Hamblin-Frohman Z, Pegna AJ. Fixation-related electrical potentials during a free visual search task reveal the timing of visual awareness. iScience 2023; 26:107148. [PMID: 37408689 PMCID: PMC10319232 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been repeatedly claimed that emotional faces readily capture attention, and that they may be processed without awareness. Yet some observations cast doubt on these assertions. Part of the problem may lie in the experimental paradigms employed. Here, we used a free viewing visual search task during electroencephalographic recordings, where participants searched for either fearful or neutral facial expressions among distractor expressions. Fixation-related potentials were computed for fearful and neutral targets and the response compared for stimuli consciously reported or not. We showed that awareness was associated with an electrophysiological negativity starting at around 110 ms, while emotional expressions were distinguished on the N170 and early posterior negativity only when stimuli were consciously reported. These results suggest that during unconstrained visual search, the earliest electrical correlate of awareness may emerge as early as 110 ms, and fixating at an emotional face without reporting it may not produce any unconscious processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zeguo Qiu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Stefanie I. Becker
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Hongfeng Xia
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | | | - Alan J. Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Agarwal K, Joseph P, Zhang R, Schwandt M, Ramchandani V, Diazgranados N, Goldman D, Momenan R. Early Life Stress and Body-Mass Index Modulate Brain Connectivity in Alcohol Use Disorder. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3150110. [PMID: 37502837 PMCID: PMC10371145 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3150110/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Early life stress (ELS) significantly increases susceptibility to alcohol use disorder (AUD) by affecting the interplay between executive and salience networks (SN). The link between AUD and higher body-mass index (BMI) is known, but we lack understanding of how BMI impacts the relationship between ELS and brain connectivity in individuals with AUD. To bridge this gap, we investigated the effects of ELS on brain connectivity in AUD participants, taking into account differences in BMI. The cohort included 401 individuals with AUD, with approximately 60% having a BMI ≥ 25. Within the overall cohort, 123 participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, revealing intriguing anticorrelations between SN seeds and brain regions involved in somatosensory processing, motor coordination, and executive control as an effect of ELS. Examining the relationship between ELS-driven brain connectivity and BMI, we observed negative correlations in connectivity among low BMI (≤ 24.9) vs. high BMI (≥ 25) individuals. For example, the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) seed exhibited decreased connectivity with emotion regulation and decision-making regions, including the right occipital cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus clusters (all |β| < -0.03, |p| < 0.05). Additionally, the right SMG seed showed reduced connectivity with impulse control and executive function regions, such as the left postcentral/middle frontal gyrus cluster (β = 0.04, p = 0.02). These findings highlight the role of ELS-induced alterations in SN seed connectivity, influenced by BMI, in the neurobiology of AUD. Understanding the neural mechanisms linking obesity, AUD, and ELS can guide targeted interventions for this population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Rui Zhang
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
| | - Melanie Schwandt
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism / National Institutes of Health
| | | | | | | | - Reza Momenan
- National Institute On Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Detecting valence from unidentified images: A link between familiarity and positivity in recognition without identification. Mem Cognit 2023; 51:473-485. [PMID: 35915330 PMCID: PMC9342598 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-022-01352-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Research using the Recognition Without Identification paradigm (Cleary & Greene, 2000, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26[4], 1063-1069; Peynircioǧlu, 1990, Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 493-500) has found that participants can discriminate between old and new stimuli even when the stimuli are obscured to a degree that they are unidentifiable. This methodology has been adapted in the past by using heavily obscured threatening and nonthreatening images and asking participants to try to identify each image followed by a familiarity rating of the image. Past results showed that threatening images that were not able to be identified were rated as more familiar than nonthreatening images that were not able to be identified (Cleary et al., 2013, Memory & Cognition, 41, 989-999). The current study used a similar methodology to explore the possibility that a sense of familiarity can serve to guide our attention toward potential threats in the environment. However, contrary to earlier results, we found that positive images were rated as more familiar than negative images. This pattern was found with both identified and unidentified images and was replicated across five experiments. The current findings are consistent with the view that feelings of positivity and familiarity are closely linked (e.g., de Vries et al., 2010, Psychological Science, 21[3], 321-328; Garcia-Marques et al., 2004, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 585-593; Monin, 2003, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85[6], 1035-1048).
Collapse
|
8
|
Cushing CA, Dawes AJ, Hofmann SG, Lau H, LeDoux JE, Taschereau-Dumouchel V. A generative adversarial model of intrusive imagery in the human brain. PNAS NEXUS 2023; 2:pgac265. [PMID: 36733294 PMCID: PMC9887942 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying the subjective experiences of mental disorders remain poorly understood. This is partly due to long-standing over-emphasis on behavioral and physiological symptoms and a de-emphasis of the patient's subjective experiences when searching for treatments. Here, we provide a new perspective on the subjective experience of mental disorders based on findings in neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, we propose the subjective experience that occurs in visual imagination depends on mechanisms similar to generative adversarial networks that have recently been developed in AI. The basic idea is that a generator network fabricates a prediction of the world, and a discriminator network determines whether it is likely real or not. Given that similar adversarial interactions occur in the two major visual pathways of perception in people, we explored whether we could leverage this AI-inspired approach to better understand the intrusive imagery experiences of patients suffering from mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder. In our model, a nonconscious visual pathway generates predictions of the environment that influence the parallel but interacting conscious pathway. We propose that in some patients, an imbalance in these adversarial interactions leads to an overrepresentation of disturbing content relative to current reality, and results in debilitating flashbacks. By situating the subjective experience of intrusive visual imagery in the adversarial interaction of these visual pathways, we propose testable hypotheses on novel mechanisms and clinical applications for controlling and possibly preventing symptoms resulting from intrusive imagery.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cody A Cushing
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Alexei J Dawes
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0106, Japan
| | - Stefan G Hofmann
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, 35037 Marburg, Germany
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Hakwan Lau
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0106, Japan
| | - Joseph E LeDoux
- Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, 10012, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone Medical School, New York, NY, 10016, USA
| | - Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec H1N 3M5, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Altered recognition of fearful and angry facial expressions in women with fibromyalgia syndrome: an experimental case-control study. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21498. [PMID: 36513716 PMCID: PMC9747799 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25824-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence relative to facial emotion recognition and the role played by alexithymia in fibromyalgia syndrome is rare and heterogeneous. In this work, we investigated this ability in fibromyalgia investigating the implicit behaviour in the facial emotion recognition task, focusing on fear and anger. Twenty women with fibromyalgia and twenty healthy women as controls performed a facial emotion recognition of fearful and angry expressions. Their implicit behaviour was scored in accordance with the redundant target effect. The level of alexithymic traits through a standard psychological questionnaire and its effect on behavioral performance were also assessed. Participants affected by fibromyalgia reported a lower level of accuracy in recognizing fearful and angry expressions, in comparison with the controls. Crucially, such a difference was not explained by the different levels of alexithymic traits between groups. Our results agreed with some previous evidence suggesting an altered recognition of others' emotional facial expressions in fibromyalgia syndrome. Considering the role of emotion recognition on social cognition and psychological well-being in fibromyalgia, we underlined the crucial role of emotional difficulties in the onset and maintenance of the symptoms life-span.
Collapse
|
10
|
Scarpina F, Turroni S, Mambrini S, Barone M, Cattaldo S, Mai S, Prina E, Bastoni I, Cappelli S, Castelnuovo G, Brigidi P, Scacchi M, Mauro A. Gut Microbiota and Fear Processing in Women Affected by Obesity: An Exploratory Pilot Study. Nutrients 2022; 14:nu14183788. [PMID: 36145169 PMCID: PMC9505791 DOI: 10.3390/nu14183788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The microbiota–gut–brain axis extends beyond visceral perception, influencing higher-order brain structures, and ultimately psychological functions, such as fear processing. In this exploratory pilot study, we attempted to provide novel experimental evidence of a relationship between gut microbiota composition and diversity, and fear-processing in obesity, through a behavioral approach. Women affected by obesity were enrolled and profiled for gut microbiota, through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Moreover, we tested their ability to recognize facial fearful expressions through an implicit-facial-emotion-recognition task. Finally, a traditional self-report questionnaire was used to assess their temperamental traits. The participants exhibited an unbalanced gut microbiota profile, along with impaired recognition of fearful expressions. Interestingly, dysbiosis was more severe in those participants with altered behavioral performance, with a decrease in typically health-associated microbes, and an increase in the potential pathobiont, Collinsella. Moreover, Collinsella was related to a lower expression of the persistence temperamental trait, while a higher expression of the harm-avoidance temperament, related to fear-driven anxiety symptoms, was linked to Lactobacillus. Once confirmed, our findings could pave the way for the design of innovative microbiome-based strategies for the treatment of psychological and emotional difficulties by mitigating obesity-related consequences and behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Scarpina
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Via Cherasco 15, 10126 Turin, Italy
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
- Correspondence: (F.S.); (S.T.)
| | - Silvia Turroni
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- Correspondence: (F.S.); (S.T.)
| | - Sara Mambrini
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Ricerca Metabolica, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
- International Center for the Assessment of Nutritional Status (ICANS), Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan, Via G. Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Monica Barone
- Unit of Microbiome Science and Biotechnology, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Microbiomics, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti 11, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Stefania Cattaldo
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Neurobiologia Clinica, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Stefania Mai
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Ricerca Metabolica, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Elisa Prina
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Ricerca Metabolica, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Ilaria Bastoni
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Simone Cappelli
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Gianluca Castelnuovo
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Largo Agostino Gemelli 1, 20123 Milan, Italy
| | - Patrizia Brigidi
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Unit of Microbiomics, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti 11, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Massimo Scacchi
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Divisione di Medicina Generale ad indirizzo Endocrino-Metabolico, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
- Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122 Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Mauro
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Via Cherasco 15, 10126 Turin, Italy
- I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, Str. L Cadorna 90, 28824 Piancavallo, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Abstract
The extent to which we are affected by perceptual input of which we are unaware is widely debated. By measuring neural responses to sensory stimulation, neuroscientific data could complement behavioral results with valuable evidence. Here we review neuroscientific findings of processing of high-level information, as well as interactions with attention and memory. Although the results are mixed, we find initial support for processing object categories and words, possibly to the semantic level, as well as emotional expressions. Robust neural evidence for face individuation and integration of sentences or scenes is lacking. Attention affects the processing of stimuli that are not consciously perceived, and such stimuli may exogenously but not endogenously capture attention when relevant, and be maintained in memory over time. Sources of inconsistency in the literature include variability in control for awareness as well as individual differences, calling for future studies that adopt stricter measures of awareness and probe multiple processes within subjects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Liad Mudrik
- School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel;
| | - Leon Y Deouell
- Department of Psychology and The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel;
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Abstract
This article argues that consciousness has a logically sound, explanatory framework, different from typical accounts that suffer from hidden mysticism. The article has three main parts. The first describes background principles concerning information processing in the brain, from which one can deduce a general, rational framework for explaining consciousness. The second part describes a specific theory that embodies those background principles, the Attention Schema Theory. In the past several years, a growing body of experimental evidence-behavioral evidence, brain imaging evidence, and computational modeling-has addressed aspects of the theory. The final part discusses the evolution of consciousness. By emphasizing the specific role of consciousness in cognition and behavior, the present approach leads to a proposed account of how consciousness may have evolved over millions of years, from fish to humans. The goal of this article is to present a comprehensive, overarching framework in which we can understand scientifically what consciousness is and what key adaptive roles it plays in brain function.
Collapse
|
13
|
ADV at the Time of COVID-19 Brain Effect between Emotional Engagement and Purchase Intention. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12050593. [PMID: 35624980 PMCID: PMC9139764 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12050593] [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: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
In pandemic times, taking advantage of COVID-19-elicited emotions in commercials has been a popular tactic employed by corporations to build successful consumer engagement and, hopefully, increase sales. The present study investigates whether COVID-19-related emotional communication affects the consumer’s emotional response and the approach/avoidance motivation toward the brand—measured as a function of brain hemodynamic changes—as well as the purchase intentions. The functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was employed to record neural correlates from the prefrontal cortex while the experimental and control groups were observing respectively COVID-19-related and unrelated advertisements (ads). The hemodynamic patterns suggest that COVID-19-related ads may promote deeper emotional elaboration, shifting consumers’ attention from the semantic meaning to the affective features and perhaps supporting a more favorable brand evaluation. Conversely, purchase intentions were only related to the pre-existing level of brand engagement. The findings suggest that leveraging the negative emotional potential of COVID-19 may not shift the explicit purchase intentions but could nonetheless boost emotional engagement, benefitting the final evaluation of the brand at an implicit level.
Collapse
|
14
|
The prioritisation of motivationally salient stimuli in hemi-spatial neglect may be underpinned by goal-relevance: a meta-analytic review. Cortex 2022; 150:85-107. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
|
15
|
Domínguez-Borràs J, Vuilleumier P. Amygdala function in emotion, cognition, and behavior. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2022; 187:359-380. [PMID: 35964983 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823493-8.00015-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a core structure in the anterior medial temporal lobe, with an important role in several brain functions involving memory, emotion, perception, social cognition, and even awareness. As a key brain structure for saliency detection, it triggers and controls widespread modulatory signals onto multiple areas of the brain, with a great impact on numerous aspects of adaptive behavior. Here we discuss the neural mechanisms underlying these functions, as established by animal and human research, including insights provided in both healthy and pathological conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology & Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
The relationship between early and recent life stress and emotional expression processing: A functional connectivity study. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 20:588-603. [PMID: 32342272 PMCID: PMC7266792 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-020-00789-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals characterized by two factors: the levels of stress experienced in early life and in adulthood. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing. Hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. The interaction between early and recent stress was related to alterations during the processing of emotional expressions mainly in to the cerebellum, middle temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. For cumulative stress levels, such alterations were observed in functional connectivity to the middle temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, precuneus, precentral and postcentral gyri, anterior and posterior cingulate gyri, and Heschl's gyrus. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress.
Collapse
|
17
|
Scarpina F, Godi M, Corna S, Seitanidis I, Capodaglio P, Mauro A. Psychological functioning in survivors of COVID-19: Evidence from recognition of fearful facial expressions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254438. [PMID: 34292994 PMCID: PMC8297857 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence about the psychological functioning in individuals who survived the COVID-19 infectious is still rare in the literature. In this paper, we investigated fearful facial expressions recognition, as a behavioural means to assess psychological functioning. From May 15th, 2020 to January 30th, 2021, we enrolled sixty Italian individuals admitted in multiple Italian COVID-19 post-intensive care units. The detection and recognition of fearful facial expressions were assessed through an experimental task grounded on an attentional mechanism (i.e., the redundant target effect). According to the results, our participants showed an altered behaviour in detecting and recognizing fearful expressions. Specifically, their performance was in disagreement with the expected behavioural effect. Our study suggested altered processing of fearful expressions in individuals who survived the COVID-19 infectious. Such a difficulty might represent a crucial sign of psychological distress and it should be addressed in tailored psychological interventions in rehabilitative settings and after discharge.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Scarpina
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
- * E-mail: ,
| | - Marco Godi
- Institute of Veruno, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Gattico-Veruno, Italy
| | - Stefano Corna
- Institute of Veruno, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Gattico-Veruno, Italy
| | - Ionathan Seitanidis
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di U.O. Riabilitazione Osteoarticolare, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Paolo Capodaglio
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di U.O. Riabilitazione Osteoarticolare, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- Department of Surgical Sciences, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Alessandro Mauro
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Doulatova M. Emotion’s role in the unity of consciousness. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2021.1915971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Doulatova
- Department of Philosophy, Washington University in St. Louis
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Scarpina F, Varallo G, Castelnuovo G, Capodaglio P, Molinari E, Mauro A. Implicit facial emotion recognition of fear and anger in obesity. Eat Weight Disord 2021; 26:1243-1251. [PMID: 32948997 DOI: 10.1007/s40519-020-01010-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous evidence about facial emotion recognition capability in obesity is few and not conclusive. OBJECTIVE We investigated the capability of female individuals affected by obesity to recognize the emotions of fear and anger through a facial emotion recognition task grounded on the implicit redundant target effect. METHODS 20 women affected by obesity and 20 healthy-weight women were enrolled. We administered an implicit facial emotion recognition task. Both reaction time and level of accuracy were computed. Moreover, the level of alexithymia was measured through the standard questionnaire. RESULTS Selective difficulties in recognizing the emotion of fear were observed in participants with obesity, when their performance was contrasted with healthy-weight controls. Instead, they showed the implicit redundant target effect when anger was the target. However, the two groups reported globally similar scores at the standard questionnaire relative to the level of alexithymia. CONCLUSIONS Our result might agree with the hypothesis about affected individuals' difficulties in being attentive to negative facial emotions, and specifically in the case of fearful expression. This study might encourage future research in which emotional processing will be investigated through subjective judgments and implicit/objective measurements. LEVEL I Experimental study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Scarpina
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, VCO, Italy.
- "Rita Levi Montalcini", Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy.
| | - Giorgia Varallo
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, Italy
- Psychology Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123, Milan, Italy
| | - Gianluca Castelnuovo
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, Italy
- Psychology Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123, Milan, Italy
| | - Paolo Capodaglio
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di. Riabilitazione Osteoarticolare, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, Italy
| | - Enrico Molinari
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Laboratorio di Psicologia, Ospedale San Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, Italy
- Psychology Department, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Mauro
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale San Giuseppe, 28824, Piancavallo, VCO, Italy
- "Rita Levi Montalcini", Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, 10124, Turin, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Tanaka M, Yamada E, Maekawa T, Ogata K, Takamiya N, Nakazono H, Tobimatsu S. Gender differences in subliminal affective face priming: A high-density ERP study. Brain Behav 2021; 11:e02060. [PMID: 33528111 PMCID: PMC8035456 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Subliminal affective priming effects (SAPEs) refer to the phenomenon by which the presentation of an affective prime stimulus influences the subsequent affective evaluation of a target stimulus. Previous studies have reported that unconsciously processed stimuli affect behavioral performance more than consciously processed stimuli. However, the impact of SAPEs on the face-specific N170 component is unclear. We studied how SAPEs for fearful faces affected the N170 for subsequent supraliminal target faces using event-related potentials (ERPs). METHODS Japanese adults (n = 44, 20 females) participated in this study. Subliminal prime faces (neutral or fearful) were presented for 17 ms, followed by a backward mask for 283 ms and 800 ms target faces (neutral, emotionally ambiguous, or fearful). 128-channel ERPs were recorded while participants judged the expression of target faces as neutral or fearful. Response rates and response times were also measured for assessing behavioral alterations. RESULTS Although the behavioral results revealed no evidence of SAPEs, we found gender-related SAPEs in right N170 amplitude. Specifically, female participants exhibited enhanced right N170 amplitude for emotionally neutral faces primed by fearful faces, while male participants exhibited decreased N170 amplitude in fearful prime trials with fearful target faces. Male participants exhibited significant correlations between N170 amplitude and behavioral response time in the fearful prime-neutral target condition. CONCLUSIONS Our ERP results suggest the existence of a gender difference in target-face processing preceded by subliminally presented face stimuli in the right occipito-temporal region.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mutsuhide Tanaka
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health Science, Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, Nobeoka, Japan
| | - Emi Yamada
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Toshihiko Maekawa
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Katsuya Ogata
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Naomi Takamiya
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Hisato Nakazono
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Shozo Tobimatsu
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Abstract
Consciousness has evolved and is a feature of all animals with sufficiently complex nervous systems. It is, therefore, primarily a problem for biology, rather than physics. In this review, I will consider three aspects of consciousness: level of consciousness, whether we are awake or in a coma; the contents of consciousness, what determines how a small amount of sensory information is associated with subjective experience, while the rest is not; and meta-consciousness, the ability to reflect upon our subjective experiences and, importantly, to share them with others. I will discuss and compare current theories of the neural and cognitive mechanisms involved in producing these three aspects of consciousness and conclude that the research in this area is flourishing and has already succeeded to delineate these mechanisms in surprising detail.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chris D Frith
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging at University College London, UK
- Institute of Philosophy, Institute of Advanced Study, University of London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Mazzi C, Massironi G, Sanchez-Lopez J, De Togni L, Savazzi S. Face Recognition Deficits in a Patient With Alzheimer's Disease: Amnesia or Agnosia? The Importance of Electrophysiological Markers for Differential Diagnosis. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 12:580609. [PMID: 33408626 PMCID: PMC7779478 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.580609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Face recognition deficits are frequently reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and often attributed to memory impairment. However, it has been hypothesized that failure in identifying familiar people could also be due to deficits in higher-level perceptual processes, since there is evidence showing a reduced inversion effect for faces but not for cars in AD. To address the involvement of these higher processes, we investigated event-related potential (ERP) neural correlates of faces in a patient with AD showing a face recognition deficit. Eight healthy participants were tested as a control group. Participants performed different tasks following the stimulus presentation. In experiment 1, they should indicate whether the stimulus was either a face or a house or a scrambled image. In experiments 2 and 3, they should discriminate between upright and inverted faces (in experiment 2, stimuli were faces with neutral or fearful expressions, while in experiment 3, stimuli were famous or unfamiliar faces). Electrophysiological results reveal that the typical face-specific modulation of the N170 component, which is thought to reflect the structural encoding of faces, was not present in patient MCG, despite being affected by the emotional content of the face implicitly processed by MCG. Conversely, the N400 component, which is thought to reflect the recruitment of the memory trace of the face identity, was found to be implicitly modulated in MCG. These results may identify a possible role for gnosic processes in face recognition deficits in AD and suggest the importance of adopting an integrated approach to the AD diagnosis while considering electrophysiological markers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Mazzi
- Perception and Awareness (PandA) Lab, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Gloria Massironi
- Center for Cognitive Decline and Dementia, ULSS 9 Scaligera, Verona, Italy
| | - Javier Sanchez-Lopez
- Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias Cognitivas, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Laura De Togni
- Center for Cognitive Decline and Dementia, ULSS 9 Scaligera, Verona, Italy
| | - Silvia Savazzi
- Perception and Awareness (PandA) Lab, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Fear-related signals are prioritised in visual, somatosensory and spatial systems. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107698. [PMID: 33253690 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The human brain has evolved a multifaceted fear system, allowing threat detection to enable rapid adaptive responses crucial for survival. Although many cortical and subcortical brain areas are believed to be involved in the survival circuits detecting and responding to threat, the amygdala has reportedly a crucial role in the fear system. Here, we review evidence demonstrating that fearful faces, a specific category of salient stimuli indicating the presence of threat in the surrounding, are preferentially processed in the fear system and in the connected sensory cortices, even when they are presented outside of awareness or are irrelevant to the task. In the visual domain, we discuss evidence showing in hemianopic patients that fearful faces, via a subcortical colliculo-pulvinar-amygdala pathway, have a privileged visual processing even in the absence of awareness and facilitate responses towards visual stimuli in the intact visual field. Moreover, evidence showing that somatosensory cortices prioritise fearful-related signals, to the extent that tactile processing is enhanced in the presence of fearful faces, will be also reported. Finally, we will review evidence revealing that fearful faces have a pivotal role in modulating responses in peripersonal space, in line with the defensive functional definition of PPS.
Collapse
|
24
|
Scarpina F. Detection and Recognition of Fearful Facial Expressions During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in an Italian Sample: An Online Experiment. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2252. [PMID: 33013588 PMCID: PMC7516084 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In this observational study, the psychological ability to recognize the others' fearful expressions in Italian individuals during the pandemic COVID-19 lockdown was explored through a behavioral task performed online. An implicit version of the traditional facial emotion recognition task, grounded on the attentional and unconscious mechanism of the redundant target effect, was used. The experiment was scripted through the free software OpenSesame (Mathôt et al., 2012) and published on the Internet through the free software Jatos (Lange et al., 2015). The Reaction Time and level of Accuracy in detecting fearful expressions were computed. Overall, the data of 86 Italian individuals were collected. When their performance was scored in terms of Reaction Time, the redundant target effect did not emerge; instead, the expected effect was observed when the level of Accuracy was considered. Overall, the performance registered in this Italian sample in terms of accuracy was in line with previous results reported in Scarpina et al. (2018), in which a long extended version of the same behavioral task was used in a traditional experimental setting. This study might offer some considerations regarding the adoption of online experiments - together with self-report surveys - to assess the psychological and behavioral functioning during social restriction measures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Scarpina
- “Rita Levi Montalcini” Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
- Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, U.O. di Neurologia e Neuroriabilitazione, Ospedale S. Giuseppe, Piancavallo, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Picó A, Espert R, Gadea M. How Our Gaze Reacts to Another Person's Tears? Experimental Insights Into Eye Tracking Technology. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2134. [PMID: 32982872 PMCID: PMC7492655 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Crying is an ubiquitous human behavior through which an emotion is expressed on the face together with visible tears and constitutes a slippery riddle for researchers. To provide an answer to the question "How our gaze reacts to another person's tears?," we made use of eye tracking technology to study a series of visual stimuli. By presenting an illustrative example through an experimental setting specifically designed to study the "tearing effect," the present work aims to offer methodological insight on how to use eye-tracking technology to study non-verbal cues. A sample of 30 healthy young women with normal visual acuity performed a within-subjects task in which they evaluated images of real faces with and without tears while their eye movements were tracked. Tears were found to be a magnet for visual attention in the task of facial attribution, facilitating a greater perception of emotional intensity. Moreover, the inspection pattern changed qualitatively and quantitatively, with our participants becoming fully focused on the tears when they were visible. The mere presence of a single tear running down a cheek was associated with an increased emotional inference and greater perception of sincerity. Using normalized and validated tools (Reading the Eyes in the Mind Test and the SALAMANCA screening test for personality disorders), we measured the influence of certain characteristics of the participants on their performance of the experimental task. On the one hand, a higher level of cognitive empathy helped to classify tearful faces with higher emotional intensity and tearless faces with less emotional intensity. On the other hand, we observed that less sincerity was attributed to the tearful faces as the SALAMANCA test scores rose in clusters A (strange and extravagant) and B (immature and emotionally unstable) of our sample. The present findings highlight the advantages of using eye tracking technology to study non-verbal cues and draw attention to methodological issues that should be taken into account. Further exploration of the relationship between empathy and tear perception could be a fruitful avenue of future research using eye tracking.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alfonso Picó
- Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - Raul Espert
- Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - Marien Gadea
- Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM)-Mental Health, Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Elorette C, Aguilar BL, Novak V, Forcelli PA, Malkova L. Dysregulation of behavioral and autonomic responses to emotional and social stimuli following bidirectional pharmacological manipulation of the basolateral amygdala in macaques. Neuropharmacology 2020; 179:108275. [PMID: 32835765 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2020.108275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The amygdala is a key component of the neural circuits mediating the processing and response to emotionally salient stimuli. Amygdala lesions dysregulate social interactions, responses to fearful stimuli, and autonomic functions. In rodents, the basolateral and central nuclei of the amygdala have divergent roles in behavioral control. However, few studies have selectively examined these nuclei in the primate brain. Moreover, the majority of non-human primate studies have employed lesions, which only allow for unidirectional manipulation of amygdala activity. Thus, the effects of amygdala disinhibition on behavior in the primate are unknown. To address this gap, we pharmacologically inhibited by muscimol or disinhibited by bicuculline methiodide the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA; lateral, basal, and accessory basal) in nine awake, behaving male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). We examined the effects of amygdala manipulation on: (1) behavioral responses to taxidermy snakes and social stimuli, (2) food competition and social interaction in dyads, (3) autonomic arousal as measured by cardiovascular response, and (4) prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle (PPI) response. All modalities were impacted by pharmacological inhibition and/or disinhibition. Amygdala inhibition decreased fear responses to snake stimuli, increased examination of social stimuli, reduced competitive reward-seeking in dominant animals, decreased heart rate, and increased PPI response. Amygdala disinhibition restored fearful response after habituation to snakes, reduced competitive reward-seeking behavior in dominant animals, and lowered heart rate. Thus, both hypoactivity and hyperactivity of the basolateral amygdala can lead to dysregulated behavior, suggesting that a narrow range of activity is necessary for normal functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Elorette
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA
| | - Brittany L Aguilar
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA
| | - Vera Novak
- Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, USA
| | - Patrick A Forcelli
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA.
| | - Ludise Malkova
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA; Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Bernard F, Lemee JM, Mazerand E, Leiber LM, Menei P, Ter Minassian A. The ventral attention network: the mirror of the language network in the right brain hemisphere. J Anat 2020; 237:632-642. [PMID: 32579719 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Revised: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Resting-state functional MRI (RfMRI) analyses have identified two anatomically separable fronto-parietal attention networks in the human brain: a bilateral dorsal attention network and a right-lateralised ventral attention network (VAN). The VAN has been implicated in visuospatial cognition and, thus, potentially in the unilateral spatial neglect associated with right hemisphere lesions. Its parietal, frontal and temporal endpoints are thought to be structurally supported by undefined white matter tracts. We investigated the white matter tract connecting the VAN. We used three approaches to study the structural anatomy of the VAN: (a) independent component analysis on RfMRI (50 subjects), defining the endpoints of the VAN, (b) tractography in the same 50 healthy volunteers, with regions of interest defined by the MNI coordinates of cortical areas involved in the VAN used in a seed-based approach and (c) dissection, by Klingler's method, of 20 right hemispheres, for ex vivo studies of the fibre tracts connecting VAN endpoints. The VAN includes the temporoparietal junction and the ventral frontal cortex. The endpoints of the superior longitudinal fasciculus in its third portion (SLF III) and the arcuate fasciculus (AF) overlap with the VAN endpoints. The SLF III connects the supramarginal gyrus to the ventral portion of the precentral gyrus and the pars opercularis. The AF connects the middle and inferior temporal gyrus and the middle and inferior frontal gyrus. We reconstructed the structural connectivity of the VAN and considered it in the context if the pathophysiology of unilateral neglect and right hemisphere awake brain surgery.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Florian Bernard
- Laboratory of Anatomy, Faculté de Médecine, Angers, France.,Department of Neurosurgery, Angers Teaching Hospital, Angers, France.,UMR 1232 INSERM/CNRS and EA7315 Team, CRCINA, Angers, France
| | - Jean-Michel Lemee
- Department of Neurosurgery, Angers Teaching Hospital, Angers, France.,UMR 1232 INSERM/CNRS and EA7315 Team, CRCINA, Angers, France
| | - Edouard Mazerand
- Department of Neurosurgery, Angers Teaching Hospital, Angers, France
| | | | - Philippe Menei
- Department of Neurosurgery, Angers Teaching Hospital, Angers, France.,UMR 1232 INSERM/CNRS and EA7315 Team, CRCINA, Angers, France
| | - Aram Ter Minassian
- Department of Reanimation, Angers Teaching Hospital, Angers, France.,EA7315 Team, INSERM 1066, Angers, France
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Oldrati V, Bardoni A, Poggi G, Urgesi C. Influence of Attention Control on Implicit and Explicit Emotion Processing of Face and Body: Evidence From Flanker and Same-or-Different Paradigms. Front Psychol 2020; 10:2971. [PMID: 32038372 PMCID: PMC6985560 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Many existing findings indicate that processing of emotional information is pre-attentive, largely immune from attentional control. Nevertheless, inconsistent evidence on the interference of emotional cues on cognitive processing suggests that this influence may be a highly conditional phenomenon. The aim of the present study was twofold: (1) to examine the modulation of attention control on emotion processing using facial expressions (2) explore the very same effect for emotional body expressions. In Experiment 1, participants performed a Flanker task in which they had to indicate either the emotion (happy/fearful) or the gender of the target stimulus while ignoring the distracting stimuli at the side. We found evidence for intrusion of the emotional dimension of a stimulus in both the emotion and gender discrimination performance, thus when either task-relevant or task-irrelevant. To further explore the influence of attention control mechanisms, in Experiment 2 participants performed a same-or-different judgment task in which they were asked to pay attention to both the central and lateral stimuli and indicated whether the central stimulus matched the lateral for emotion or gender. Results showed that emotional features exerted an influence at an implicit level (i.e., during gender judgments) for bodies only. Gender features did not affect emotional processing in either experiments. To rule out the possibility that this effect was driven by postural rather than emotional features of fearful vs. happy stimuli, a control experiment was conducted. In Experiment 3, bodies with an opening/up-ward or closing/down-ward posture but with no emotional valence were presented. Results revealed that the body posture did not influence gender discrimination. Findings suggest that the emotional valence of a face or body stimulus can overpass attention filtering mechanisms, independently from the level of attentional modulation (Experiment 1). However, broadening the focus of attention to include the lateral stimuli led emotional information to intrude on the main task, exerting an implicit, bottom–up influence on gender processing, only when conveyed by bodies (Experiment 2). Results point to different mechanisms for the implicit processing of face and body emotional expressions, with the latter likely having role on action preparation processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Viola Oldrati
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- *Correspondence: Viola Oldrati,
| | | | - Geraldina Poggi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
| | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Neural correlates of emotion-attention interactions: From perception, learning, and memory to social cognition, individual differences, and training interventions. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 108:559-601. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2019] [Revised: 07/02/2019] [Accepted: 08/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
|
30
|
Abstract
During stress, attentional capture by threatening stimuli may be particularly adaptive. Individuals are more efficient at identifying threatening faces in a crowd than identifying nonthreatening faces (e.g., Öhman et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(3): 466-478, 2001a, Öhman et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(3): 381-396, 2001b). However, under conditions of stress, when attention to threat may be most critical, cognitive processes are generally disrupted. The present study explored the attentional advantage of threatening stimuli under stressful conditions. We exposed participants to either high or low stress conditions during a visual search task displaying threatening and nonthreatening facial targets among distractors. Participants' accuracy, reaction times, and self-reported stress were measured. Stress introduced a speed-accuracy trade-off: participants in the high-stress condition were faster, but less accurate, than participants in the low-stress condition. Although both groups of participants showed relative performance advantages in detecting threatening compared with nonthreatening stimuli, this advantage was markedly larger for participants in the high-stress condition. This suggests that the established stress-mediated increase in the activity of the ventral neural network responsible for the reorienting of attention may have enhanced the ability to detect threatening stimuli or buffered the disruptive effects of stress on this process. Our findings highlight the potentially adaptive nature of stress disruption on attentional processes and align research on the anger superiority effect and automated attentional processes under stress.
Collapse
|
31
|
Latinus M, Cléry H, Andersson F, Bonnet-Brilhault F, Fonlupt P, Gomot M. Inflexibility in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Need for certainty and atypical emotion processing share the blame. Brain Cogn 2019; 136:103599. [PMID: 31536931 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103599] [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: 08/21/2018] [Revised: 06/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Although ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis requires the co-occurrence of socio-emotional deficits and inflexible behaviors, the interaction between these two domains remains unexplored. We used an emotional Wisconsin Card Sorting Test adapted to fMRI to explore this question. ASD and control participants matched a central card (a face) with one of four surrounding cards according to one of three rules: frame color, facial identity or expression. Feedback informed participants on whether to change or maintain the current sorting rule. For each rule, we modeled feedback onsets to change, switch (confirming the newly found rule) and maintenance events. "Bias error", which measures participants' willingness to switch, was larger in ASD participants for the emotional sorting rule. Brain activity to change events showed no group differences. In response to switch events significantly larger activity was observed for ASD participants in bilateral Inferior Parietal Sulci. Inflexibility in ASD appears characterized by the unwillingness to switch toward processing socio-emotional information, rather than a major disruption in cognitive flexibility. However, a larger activity to switch events in ASD highlights the need for a higher level of certainty before setting into a stable processing stage, which may be particularly detrimental in the highly changeable socio-emotional environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Helen Cléry
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France
| | | | - Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France; Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Pierre Fonlupt
- INSERM U1028-CNRS UMR5292 'Brain Dynamics and Cognition', Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Marie Gomot
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Dinh HT, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Takamura Y, Le QV, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Tran AH, Ono T, Nishijo H. Superior Neuronal Detection of Snakes and Conspecific Faces in the Macaque Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:2131-2145. [PMID: 28498964 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 04/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Snakes and conspecific faces are quickly and efficiently detected in primates. Because the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in attentional allocation to biologically relevant stimuli, we hypothesized that it might also be highly responsive to snakes and conspecific faces. In this study, neuronal responses in the monkey mPFC were recorded, while monkeys discriminated 8 categories of visual stimuli. Here, we show that the monkey mPFC neuronal responses to snakes and conspecific faces were unique. First, the ratios of the neurons that responded strongly to snakes and monkey faces were greater than those of the neurons that responded strongly to the other stimuli. Second, mPFC neurons responded stronger and faster to snakes and monkey faces than the other categories of stimuli. Third, neuronal responses to snakes were unaffected by low-pass filtering of the images. Finally, activity patterns of responsive mPFC neurons discriminated snakes from the other stimuli in the second 50 ms period and monkey faces in the third period after stimulus onset. These response features indicate that the mPFC processes fast and coarse visual information of snakes and monkey faces, and support the hypothesis that snakes and social environments have shaped the primate visual system over evolutionary time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ha Trong Dinh
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Yusaku Takamura
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Vietnam Military Medical University, Ha noi 100000, Vietnam
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil.,Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Psychiatry Section, Karolinska Hospital, S-17176 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil.,Neuroscience Research Coordenation, University CEUMA, Campus Renascença, CEP 65.075-120 São Luis, MA, Brazil
| | - Anh Hai Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Vietnam Military Medical University, Ha noi 100000, Vietnam
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Amygdala activation during unconscious visual processing of food. Sci Rep 2019; 9:7277. [PMID: 31086241 PMCID: PMC6513994 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-43733-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Hedonic or emotional responses to food have important positive and negative effects on human life. Behavioral studies have shown that hedonic responses to food images are elicited rapidly, even in the absence of conscious awareness of food. Although a number of previous neuroimaging studies investigated neural activity during conscious processing of food images, the neural mechanisms underlying unconscious food processing remain unknown. To investigate this issue, we measured neural activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while participants viewed food and mosaic images presented subliminally and supraliminally. Conjunction analyses revealed that the bilateral amygdala was more strongly activated in response to food images than to mosaic images under both subliminal and supraliminal conditions. Interaction analyses revealed that the broad bilateral posterior regions, peaking at the posterior fusiform gyrus, were particularly active when participants viewed food versus mosaic images under the supraliminal compared with the subliminal condition. Dynamic causal modeling analyses supported the model in which the subcortical visual pathway from the pulvinar to the amygdala was modulated by food under the subliminal condition; in contrast, the model in which both subcortical and cortical (connecting the primary visual cortex, fusiform gyrus, and the amygdala) visual pathways were modulated by food received the most support under the supraliminal condition. These results suggest the possibility that unconscious hedonic responses to food may exert an effect through amygdala activation via the subcortical visual pathway.
Collapse
|
34
|
Unconscious fearful body perception enhances discrimination of conscious anger expressions under continuous flash suppression. Neuropsychologia 2019; 128:325-331. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Revised: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
|
35
|
Keefe JM, Sy JL, Tong F, Zald DH. The emotional attentional blink is robust to divided attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:205-216. [PMID: 30291553 PMCID: PMC7456179 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-018-1601-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The emotional attentional blink (EAB) refers to a temporary impairment in the ability to identify a target when it is preceded by an emotional distractor. It is thought to occur because the emotional salience of the distractor exogenously captures attention for a brief duration, rendering the target unattended and preventing it from reaching awareness. Here we tested the extent to which the EAB can be attenuated by inducing a diffuse top-down attentional state, which has been shown to improve target identification in an analogous attentional phenomenon, the attentional blink. Rapid sequences of landscape images were presented centrally, and participants reported the orientation of a ± 90° rotation of a landscape target. To induce a diffuse state of attention, participants were given a secondary task of monitoring for the appearance of a colored dot in the periphery. We found that emotional distractors impaired target recognition performance to comparable extents, regardless of whether or not participants concurrently performed the peripheral-monitoring task. Moreover, we found that performance of the secondary task led to an impaired ability to ignore neutral distractors. Subjective ratings of target vividness mirrored the behavioral accuracy, with frequent reports of intermediate levels of vividness suggesting that the EAB might impair target visibility in a graded manner. Our results demonstrate that the EAB is robust to manipulations of top-down attention, suggesting that the temporary capture of attention by emotionally salient stimuli involves processes that are distinct from those that produce the attentional blink.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M Keefe
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
| | - Jocelyn L Sy
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Frank Tong
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - David H Zald
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Elorette C, Forcelli PA, Saunders RC, Malkova L. Colocalization of Tectal Inputs With Amygdala-Projecting Neurons in the Macaque Pulvinar. Front Neural Circuits 2018; 12:91. [PMID: 30405362 PMCID: PMC6207581 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have suggested the presence of a fast, subcortical route for the processing of emotionally-salient visual information in the primate brain. This putative pathway consists of the superior colliculus (SC), pulvinar and amygdala. While the presence of such a pathway has been confirmed in sub-primate species, it has yet to be documented in the primate brain using conventional anatomical methods. We injected retrograde tracers into the amygdala and anterograde tracers into the colliculus, and examined regions of colocalization of these signals within the pulvinar of the macaque. Anterograde tracers injected into the SC labeled axonal projections within the pulvinar, primarily within the oral, lateral and medial subdivisions. These axonal projections from the colliculus colocalized with cell bodies within the pulvinar that were labeled by retrograde tracer injected into the lateral amygdala. This zone of overlap was most notable in the medial portions of the medial (PM), oral (PO) and inferior pulvinar (PI), and was often densely concentrated in the vicinity of the brachium of the SC. These data provide an anatomical basis for the previously suggested pathway mediating fast processing of emotionally salient information.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Elorette
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Patrick A. Forcelli
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Richard C. Saunders
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Bethesda, ML, United States
| | - Ludise Malkova
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Han S, Alais D. Battle of the Mondrians: Investigating the Role of Unpredictability in Continuous Flash Suppression. Iperception 2018; 9:2041669518792930. [PMID: 30151096 PMCID: PMC6108022 DOI: 10.1177/2041669518792930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 07/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In continuous flash suppression (CFS), a dynamic sequence of Mondrian patterns presented to one eye suppresses a static target in the other eye for several seconds at a time. Its effectiveness has been linked to low-level properties such as spatial frequency and orientation, but the role of higher order influences remains unstudied. Here, using a tracking paradigm, we asked if the spatial and temporal predictability of the Mondrian sequence affects CFS dynamics. Predictable temporal sequences were regularly updated every 100 ms or modulated sinusoidally in pixel luminance at 2 Hz. Unpredictable temporal sequences were irregularly updated or had stochastic pixel luminance changes across time. To vary spatial predictability, sequences were either updated with different Mondrian patterns or had a fixed spatial pattern. We found a modest effect of spatial uncertainty when the target modulation was low (0.125 Hz) but not temporal uncertainty, which had no significant effects regardless of target modulation. Similar results were obtained when we pitted the standard Mondrian sequence against sequences with a fixed spatial pattern and temporally low-pass filtered sequences in a binocular rivalry paradigm. Thus, not only was the effect of information predictability was modest and spatial, but it was also dependent on the presence of higher temporal frequencies. Together, the results demonstrate the significance of low-level properties in affecting CFS dynamics and the possible involvement of pattern structure masking in CFS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shui’Er Han
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - David Alais
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Abstract
In this study, we explore the automaticity of encoding for different facial characteristics and ask whether it is influenced by face familiarity. We used a matching task in which participants had to report whether the gender, identity, race, or expression of two briefly presented faces was the same or different. The task was made challenging by allowing nonrelevant dimensions to vary across trials. To test for automaticity, we compared performance on trials in which the task instruction was given at the beginning of the trial, with trials in which the task instruction was given at the end of the trial. As a strong criterion for automatic processing, we reasoned that if perception of a given characteristic (gender, race, identity, or emotion) is fully automatic, the timing of the instruction should not influence performance. We compared automaticity for the perception of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Performance with unfamiliar faces was higher for all tasks when the instruction was given at the beginning of the trial. However, we found a significant interaction between instruction and task with familiar faces. Accuracy of gender and identity judgments to familiar faces was the same regardless of whether the instruction was given before or after the trial, suggesting automatic processing of these properties. In contrast, there was an effect of instruction for judgments of expression and race to familiar faces. These results show that familiarity enhances the automatic processing of some types of facial information more than others.
Collapse
|
39
|
Xu S, Zhang S, Geng H. The Effect of Eye Contact Is Contingent on Visual Awareness. Front Psychol 2018; 9:93. [PMID: 29467703 PMCID: PMC5808343 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00093] [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: 09/21/2017] [Accepted: 01/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study explored how eye contact at different levels of visual awareness influences gaze-induced joint attention. We adopted a spatial-cueing paradigm, in which an averted gaze was used as an uninformative central cue for a joint-attention task. Prior to the onset of the averted-gaze cue, either supraliminal (Experiment 1) or subliminal (Experiment 2) eye contact was presented. The results revealed a larger subsequent gaze-cueing effect following supraliminal eye contact compared to a no-contact condition. In contrast, the gaze-cueing effect was smaller in the subliminal eye-contact condition than in the no-contact condition. These findings suggest that the facilitation effect of eye contact on coordinating social attention depends on visual awareness. Furthermore, subliminal eye contact might have an impact on subsequent social attention processes that differ from supraliminal eye contact. This study highlights the need to further investigate the role of eye contact in implicit social cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shan Xu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Shen Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Whitewater, WI, United States
| | - Haiyan Geng
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Graziano MSA. The Attention Schema Theory: A Foundation for Engineering Artificial Consciousness. Front Robot AI 2017. [DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2017.00060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
|
41
|
Koivisto M, Grassini S, Hurme M, Salminen-Vaparanta N, Railo H, Vorobyev V, Tallus J, Paavilainen T, Revonsuo A. TMS-EEG reveals hemispheric asymmetries in top-down influences of posterior intraparietal cortex on behavior and visual event-related potentials. Neuropsychologia 2017; 107:94-101. [PMID: 29137988 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2017] [Revised: 11/02/2017] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Clinical data and behavioral studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) suggest right-hemisphere dominance for top-down modulation of visual processing in humans. We used concurrent TMS-EEG to directly test for hemispheric differences in causal influences of the right and left intraparietal cortex on visual event-related potentials (ERPs). We stimulated the left and right posterior part of intraparietal sulcus (IPS1) while the participants were viewing and rating the visibility of bilaterally presented Gabor patches. Subjective visibility ratings showed that TMS of right IPS shifted the visibility toward the right hemifield, while TMS of left IPS did not have any behavioral effect. TMS of right IPS, but not left one, reduced the amplitude of posterior N1 potential, 180-220ms after stimulus-onset. The attenuation of N1 occurred bilaterally over the posterior areas of both hemispheres. Consistent with previous TMS-fMRI studies, this finding suggests that the right IPS has top-down control on the neural processing in visual cortex. As N1 most probably reflects reactivation of early visual areas, the current findings support the view that the posterior parietal cortex in the right hemisphere amplifies recurrent interactions in ventral visual areas during the time-window that is critical for conscious perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mika Koivisto
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland.
| | - Simone Grassini
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Mikko Hurme
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Niina Salminen-Vaparanta
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Henry Railo
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Victor Vorobyev
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Jussi Tallus
- Department of Radiology, Turku University Hospital, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Teemu Paavilainen
- Department of Radiology, Turku University Hospital, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| | - Antti Revonsuo
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland; School of Bioscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, University of Skövde, Sweden; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Sui J, Humphreys GW. The self survives extinction: Self-association biases attention in patients with visual extinction. Cortex 2017; 95:248-256. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2015] [Revised: 09/24/2015] [Accepted: 08/08/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
|
43
|
Celeghin A, Diano M, Bagnis A, Viola M, Tamietto M. Basic Emotions in Human Neuroscience: Neuroimaging and Beyond. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1432. [PMID: 28883803 PMCID: PMC5573709 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The existence of so-called ‘basic emotions’ and their defining attributes represents a long lasting and yet unsettled issue in psychology. Recently, neuroimaging evidence, especially related to the advent of neuroimaging meta-analytic methods, has revitalized this debate in the endeavor of systems and human neuroscience. The core theme focuses on the existence of unique neural bases that are specific and characteristic for each instance of basic emotion. Here we review this evidence, outlining contradictory findings, strengths and limits of different approaches. Constructionism dismisses the existence of dedicated neural structures for basic emotions, considering that the assumption of a one-to-one relationship between neural structures and their functions is central to basic emotion theories. While these critiques are useful to pinpoint current limitations of basic emotions theories, we argue that they do not always appear equally generative in fostering new testable accounts on how the brain relates to affective functions. We then consider evidence beyond PET and fMRI, including results concerning the relation between basic emotions and awareness and data from neuropsychology on patients with focal brain damage. Evidence from lesion studies are indeed particularly informative, as they are able to bring correlational evidence typical of neuroimaging studies to causation, thereby characterizing which brain structures are necessary for, rather than simply related to, basic emotion processing. These other studies shed light on attributes often ascribed to basic emotions, such as automaticity of perception, quick onset, and brief duration. Overall, we consider that evidence in favor of the neurobiological underpinnings of basic emotions outweighs dismissive approaches. In fact, the concept of basic emotions can still be fruitful, if updated to current neurobiological knowledge that overcomes traditional one-to-one localization of functions in the brain. In particular, we propose that the structure-function relationship between brain and emotions is better described in terms of pluripotentiality, which refers to the fact that one neural structure can fulfill multiple functions, depending on the functional network and pattern of co-activations displayed at any given moment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Celeghin
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Tilburg UniversityTilburg, Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, University of TurinTurin, Italy
| | - Matteo Diano
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Tilburg UniversityTilburg, Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, University of TurinTurin, Italy
| | - Arianna Bagnis
- Department of Psychology, University of TurinTurin, Italy
| | - Marco Viola
- Centre for Neurocognition, Epistemology and Theoretical Syntax, Scuola di Studi Superiori PaviaPavia, Italy.,Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele UniversityMilan, Italy
| | - Marco Tamietto
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Tilburg UniversityTilburg, Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, University of TurinTurin, Italy.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University of OxfordOxford, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Kim J, Kang MS, Cho YS, Lee SH. Prolonged Interruption of Cognitive Control of Conflict Processing Over Human Faces by Task-Irrelevant Emotion Expression. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1024. [PMID: 28676780 PMCID: PMC5476788 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 06/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
As documented by Darwin 150 years ago, emotion expressed in human faces readily draws our attention and promotes sympathetic emotional reactions. How do such reactions to the expression of emotion affect our goal-directed actions? Despite the substantial advance made in the neural mechanisms of both cognitive control and emotional processing, it is not yet known well how these two systems interact. Here, we studied how emotion expressed in human faces influences cognitive control of conflict processing, spatial selective attention and inhibitory control in particular, using the Eriksen flanker paradigm. In this task, participants viewed displays of a central target face flanked by peripheral faces and were asked to judge the gender of the target face; task-irrelevant emotion expressions were embedded in the target face, the flanking faces, or both. We also monitored how emotion expression affects gender judgment performance while varying the relative timing between the target and flanker faces. As previously reported, we found robust gender congruency effects, namely slower responses to the target faces whose gender was incongruent with that of the flanker faces, when the flankers preceded the target by 0.1 s. When the flankers further advanced the target by 0.3 s, however, the congruency effect vanished in most of the viewing conditions, except for when emotion was expressed only in the flanking faces or when congruent emotion was expressed in the target and flanking faces. These results suggest that emotional saliency can prolong a substantial degree of conflict by diverting bottom-up attention away from the target, and that inhibitory control on task-irrelevant information from flanking stimuli is deterred by the emotional congruency between target and flanking stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jinyoung Kim
- Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Lab, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National UniversitySeoul, South Korea
| | - Min-Suk Kang
- Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan UniversitySeoul, South Korea.,Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic ScienceSuwon, South Korea
| | - Yang Seok Cho
- Department of Psychology, Korea UniversitySeoul, South Korea
| | - Sang-Hun Lee
- Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Lab, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National UniversitySeoul, South Korea
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Modulating anosognosia for hemiplegia: The role of dangerous actions in emergent awareness. Cortex 2017; 92:187-203. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Revised: 03/14/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
|
46
|
Abstract
Perception of a facial expression can be altered or biased by a prolonged viewing of other facial expressions, known as the facial expression adaptation aftereffect (FEAA). Recent studies using antiexpressions have demonstrated a monotonic relation between the magnitude of the FEAA and adaptor extremity, suggesting that facial expressions are opponent coded and represented continuously from one expression to its antiexpression. However, it is unclear whether the opponent-coding scheme can account for the FEAA between two facial expressions. In the current study, we demonstrated that the magnitude of the FEAA between two facial expressions increased monotonically as a function of the intensity of adapting facial expressions, consistent with the predictions based on the opponent-coding model. Further, the monotonic increase in the FEAA occurred even when the intensity of an adapting face was too weak for its expression to be recognized. These results together suggest that multiple facial expressions are encoded and represented by balanced activity of neural populations tuned to different facial expressions.
Collapse
|
47
|
Moors A. Integration of Two Skeptical Emotion Theories: Dimensional Appraisal Theory and Russell's Psychological Construction Theory. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2017.1235900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Agnes Moors
- Research Group of Quantitative Psychology and Individual Differences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
Fu Q, Liu YJ, Dienes Z, Wu J, Chen W, Fu X. Neural Correlates of Subjective Awareness for Natural Scene Categorization of Color Photographs and Line-Drawings. Front Psychol 2017; 8:210. [PMID: 28261141 PMCID: PMC5309232 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2016] [Accepted: 02/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
It remains controversial whether visual awareness is correlated with early activation indicated by VAN (visual awareness negativity), as the recurrent process hypothesis theory proposes, or with later activation indicated by P3 or LP (late positive), as suggested by global workspace theories. To address this issue, a backward masking task was adopted, in which participants were first asked to categorize natural scenes of color photographs and line-drawings and then to rate the clarity of their visual experience on a Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS). The interstimulus interval between the scene and the mask was manipulated. The behavioral results showed that categorization accuracy increased with PAS ratings for both color photographs and line-drawings, with no difference in accuracy between the two types of images for each rating, indicating that the experience rating reflected visibility. Importantly, the event-related potential (ERP) results revealed that for correct trials, the early posterior N1 and anterior P2 components changed with the PAS ratings for color photographs, but did not vary with the PAS ratings for line-drawings, indicating that the N1 and P2 do not always correlate with subjective visual awareness. Moreover, for both types of images, the anterior N2 and posterior VAN changed with the PAS ratings in a linear way, while the LP changed with the PAS ratings in a non-linear way, suggesting that these components relate to different types of subjective awareness. The results reconcile the apparently contradictory predictions of different theories and help to resolve the current debate on neural correlates of visual awareness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qiufang Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
| | - Yong-Jin Liu
- Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Zoltan Dienes
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, School of Psychology, University of SussexBrighton, UK
| | - Jianhui Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
- College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen UniversityShenzhen, China
| | - Wenfeng Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
| | - Xiaolan Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Diano M, Celeghin A, Bagnis A, Tamietto M. Amygdala Response to Emotional Stimuli without Awareness: Facts and Interpretations. Front Psychol 2017; 7:2029. [PMID: 28119645 PMCID: PMC5222876 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2016] [Accepted: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the past two decades, evidence has accumulated that the human amygdala exerts some of its functions also when the observer is not aware of the content, or even presence, of the triggering emotional stimulus. Nevertheless, there is as of yet no consensus on the limits and conditions that affect the extent of amygdala’s response without focused attention or awareness. Here we review past and recent studies on this subject, examining neuroimaging literature on healthy participants as well as brain-damaged patients, and we comment on their strengths and limits. We propose a theoretical distinction between processes involved in attentional unawareness, wherein the stimulus is potentially accessible to enter visual awareness but fails to do so because attention is diverted, and in sensory unawareness, wherein the stimulus fails to enter awareness because its normal processing in the visual cortex is suppressed. We argue this distinction, along with data sampling amygdala responses with high temporal resolution, helps to appreciate the multiplicity of functional and anatomical mechanisms centered on the amygdala and supporting its role in non-conscious emotion processing. Separate, but interacting, networks relay visual information to the amygdala exploiting different computational properties of subcortical and cortical routes, thereby supporting amygdala functions at different stages of emotion processing. This view reconciles some apparent contradictions in the literature, as well as seemingly contrasting proposals, such as the dual stage and the dual route model. We conclude that evidence in favor of the amygdala response without awareness is solid, albeit this response originates from different functional mechanisms and is driven by more complex neural networks than commonly assumed. Acknowledging the complexity of such mechanisms can foster new insights on the varieties of amygdala functions without awareness and their impact on human behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Diano
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Tilburg University, TilburgNetherlands; Department of Psychology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Alessia Celeghin
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Tilburg University, TilburgNetherlands; Department of Psychology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Arianna Bagnis
- Department of Psychology, University of Torino Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Tamietto
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Tilburg University, TilburgNetherlands; Department of Psychology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of OxfordOxford, UK
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Christopoulos GI, Uy MA, Yap WJ. The Body and the Brain: Measuring Skin Conductance Responses to Understand the Emotional Experience. ORGANIZATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/1094428116681073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In this article, we introduce the method of measuring skin conductance responses (SCR) reflecting peripheral (bodily) signals associated with emotions, decisions, and eventually behavior. While measuring SCR is a well-established, robust, widely used, and relatively inexpensive method, it has been rarely utilized in organizational research. We introduce the basic aspects of SCR methodology and explain the behavioral significance of the signal, especially in connection with the emotional experience. Importantly, we describe in detail a specific research protocol (fear conditioning) that serves as an illustrative example to support the initial steps for organizational scholars who are new to the method. We also provide the related scripts for stimulus presentation and basic data analysis, as well as an instructional video, with the aim to facilitate the dissemination of SCR methodology to organizational research. We conclude by suggesting potential future research questions that can be addressed using SCR measurements.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- George I. Christopoulos
- Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Decision, Environmental and Organizational Neuroscience (DEON) Lab, Culture Science Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Marilyn A. Uy
- Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Wei Jie Yap
- Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Decision, Environmental and Organizational Neuroscience (DEON) Lab, Culture Science Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| |
Collapse
|