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Positive hysteresis in emotion recognition: Face processing visual regions are involved in perceptual persistence, which mediates interactions between anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1275-1289. [PMID: 35857280 PMCID: PMC9622546 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01024-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Facial emotion perception can be studied from the point of view of dynamic systems whose output may depend not only on current input but also on prior history - a phenomenon known as hysteresis. In cognitive neuroscience, hysteresis has been described as positive (perceptual persistence) or negative (fatigue of current percept) depending on whether perceptual switching occurs later or earlier than actual physical stimulus changes. However, its neural correlates remain elusive. We used dynamic transitions between emotional expressions and combined behavioral assessment with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the underlying circuitry of perceptual hysteresis in facial emotion recognition. Our findings revealed the involvement of face-selective visual areas - fusiform face area (FFA) and superior temporal sulcus (STS) - in perceptual persistence as well as the right anterior insula. Moreover, functional connectivity analyses revealed an interplay between the right anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex, which showed to be dependent on the presence of positive hysteresis. Our results support the hypothesis that high-order regions are involved in perceptual stabilization and decision during perceptual persistence (positive hysteresis) and add evidence to the role of the anterior insula as a hub of sensory information in perceptual decision-making.
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Tarasi L, Trajkovic J, Diciotti S, di Pellegrino G, Ferri F, Ursino M, Romei V. Predictive waves in the autism-schizophrenia continuum: A novel biobehavioral model. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:1-22. [PMID: 34774901 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The brain is a predictive machine. Converging data suggests a diametric predictive strategy from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to schizophrenic spectrum disorders (SSD). Whereas perceptual inference in ASD is rigidly shaped by incoming sensory information, the SSD population is prone to overestimate the precision of their priors' models. Growing evidence considers brain oscillations pivotal biomarkers to understand how top-down predictions integrate bottom-up input. Starting from the conceptualization of ASD and SSD as oscillopathies, we introduce an integrated perspective that ascribes the maladjustments of the predictive mechanism to dysregulation of neural synchronization. According to this proposal, disturbances in the oscillatory profile do not allow the appropriate trade-off between descending predictive signal, overweighted in SSD, and ascending prediction errors, overweighted in ASD. These opposing imbalances both result in an ill-adapted reaction to external challenges. This approach offers a neuro-computational model capable of linking predictive coding theories with electrophysiological findings, aiming to increase knowledge on the neuronal foundations of the two spectra features and stimulate hypothesis-driven rehabilitation/research perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Tarasi
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy.
| | - Jelena Trajkovic
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Stefano Diciotti
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy; Alma Mater Research Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy
| | - Francesca Ferri
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Mauro Ursino
- Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521 Cesena, Italy; IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00179 Rome, Italy.
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Verdade A, Castelhano J, Sousa T, Castelo-Branco M. How positive emotional content overrules perceptual history effects: Hysteresis in emotion recognition. J Vis 2020; 20:19. [PMID: 32805042 PMCID: PMC7438663 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.8.19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The human visual system is constantly processing multiple and often conflicting sensory cues to make perceptual decisions. Given the nonlinear nature of emotion recognition, this often leads to different percepts of the same physical facial expression. Moreover, the state of the emotion recognition system might depend on the trajectory of temporal context, potentially leading to a phenomenon known as perceptual hysteresis. Here, we aimed to explore temporal context-related mechanisms underlying perceptual hysteresis during emotion recognition. We hypothesized that dependence on recent perceptual experience might reveal important clues about the role of short-term memory on the perception of emotional stimuli. Behavioral data were acquired using reality-based, changing emotion expressions morphed from a source to a target emotion with different valences, always passing through a neutral expression. Participants identified the onset and offset of what they perceived as the neutral expression interval. Our results showed that current perception of emotional expression is affected by recent temporal context, thus revealing perceptual hysteresis. We also found a relation between recent perceptual history effects and stimulus emotional Content: The positive valence of the stimulus emotional content appeared to abolish perceptual history effects, whereas negatively loaded stimuli induced clear short-term memory effects and positive hysteresis. Our findings show direct competition between recent perceptual experience and stimulus emotional content during decision making, which affects the formation of current percepts in emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreia Verdade
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - João Castelhano
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Teresa Sousa
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.,ICNAS - Produção, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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Ran G, Li R, Zhang Q. Emotional face prediction in rejection sensitive individuals: Evidence from event-related potentials. Conscious Cogn 2020; 78:102880. [PMID: 31954983 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2019] [Revised: 11/29/2019] [Accepted: 01/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Human beings live in an uncertain world, but they continuously generate top-down predictions about emotional face information of other people around them. Although the prediction processing has repeatedly been investigated in the literature of prediction, little is known about the impact of rejection sensitive (RS) on individuals' emotional face prediction. To this end, high and low RS participants were asked to perform an identification task of emotional faces in which target faces were shown in either an angry or happy expression while their brain responses were recorded using an event-related potential (ERP) technique. The behavioral results suggested an effect of emotional face prediction. For the P100 component, low RS participants showed longer P100 peak latencies in the left than right hemisphere when they viewed predictable emotional faces. In addition, low RS participants showed larger N170 mean amplitudes for angry compared to happy faces when they perceived unpredictable faces, but not when these faces were predictable. This presumably reflected a sensibility to angry faces in the unpredictable trails. Interestingly, high RS participants did not demonstrate such a N170 difference, suggesting that high RS participants showed a reduced sensitivity to unpredictable angry faces. Furthermore, angry faces triggered increased LPP mean amplitudes compared to happy faces, which was consistent with the results of other ERP studies examining the processing of emotional faces. Finally, we observed significant negative correlations between behavioral and ERP prediction effect, indicating one consistency between the behavioral and electrophysiological data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangming Ran
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China.
| | - Rui Li
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China
| | - Qi Zhang
- College of Preschool and Primary Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China
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Dzafic I, Oestreich L, Martin AK, Mowry B, Burianová H. Stria terminalis, amygdala, and temporoparietal junction networks facilitate efficient emotion processing under expectations. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 40:5382-5396. [PMID: 31460690 PMCID: PMC6864902 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Revised: 08/11/2019] [Accepted: 08/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Rapid emotion processing is an ecologically essential ability for survival in social environments in which threatening or advantageous encounters dynamically and rapidly occur. Efficient emotion recognition is subserved by different processes, depending on one's expectations; however, the underlying functional and structural circuitry is still poorly understood. In this study, we delineate brain networks that subserve fast recognition of emotion in situations either congruent or incongruent with prior expectations. For this purpose, we used multimodal neuroimaging and investigated performance on a dynamic emotion perception task. We show that the extended amygdala structural and functional networks relate to speed of emotion processing under threatening conditions. Specifically, increased microstructure of the right stria terminalis, an amygdala white-matter pathway, was related to faster detection of emotion during actual presentation of anger or after cueing anger. Moreover, functional connectivity of right amygdala with limbic regions was related to faster detection of anger congruent with cue, suggesting selective attention to threat. On the contrary, we found that faster detection of anger incongruent with cue engaged the ventral attention "reorienting" network. Faster detection of happiness, in either expectancy context, engaged a widespread frontotemporal-subcortical functional network. These findings shed light on the functional and structural circuitries that facilitate speed of emotion recognition and, for the first time, elucidate a role for the stria terminalis in human emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilvana Dzafic
- Queensland Brain InstituteUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
- Centre for Advanced ImagingUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain FunctionAustralia
| | - Lena Oestreich
- Centre for Advanced ImagingUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical ResearchBrisbaneAustralia
| | - Andrew K. Martin
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical ResearchBrisbaneAustralia
- Department of PsychologyDurham UniversityDurhamUK
| | - Bryan Mowry
- Queensland Brain InstituteUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
- Queensland Centre for Mental Health ResearchBrisbaneAustralia
| | - Hana Burianová
- Centre for Advanced ImagingUniversity of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia
- Department of PsychologySwansea UniversitySwanseaUnited Kingdom
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Kaliuzhna M, Stein T, Rusch T, Sekutowicz M, Sterzer P, Seymour KJ. No evidence for abnormal priors in early vision in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2019; 210:245-254. [PMID: 30587425 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.12.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2018] [Revised: 12/18/2018] [Accepted: 12/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The predictive coding account of psychosis postulates the abnormal formation of prior beliefs in schizophrenia, resulting in psychotic symptoms. One domain in which priors play a crucial role is visual perception. For instance, our perception of brightness, line length, and motion direction are not merely based on a veridical extraction of sensory input but are also determined by expectation (or prior) of the stimulus. Formation of such priors is thought to be governed by the statistical regularities within natural scenes. Recently, the use of such priors has been attributed to a specific set of well-documented visual illusions, supporting the idea that perception is biased toward what is statistically more probable within the environment. The Predictive Coding account of psychosis proposes that patients form abnormal representations of statistical regularities in natural scenes, leading to altered perceptual experiences. Here we use classical vision experiments involving a specific set of visual illusions to directly test this hypothesis. We find that perceptual judgments for both patients and control participants are biased in accordance with reported probability distributions of natural scenes. Thus, despite there being a suggested link between visual abnormalities and psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia, our results provide no support for the notion that altered formation of priors is a general feature of the disorder. These data call for a refinement in the predictions of quantitative models of psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariia Kaliuzhna
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology Group, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Timo Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Tessa Rusch
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maria Sekutowicz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
| | - Philipp Sterzer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
| | - Kiley J Seymour
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia.
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Dzafic I, Burianová H, Martin AK, Mowry B. Neural correlates of dynamic emotion perception in schizophrenia and the influence of prior expectations. Schizophr Res 2018; 202:129-137. [PMID: 29910121 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2017] [Revised: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 06/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Impaired emotion perception is a well-established and stable deficit in schizophrenia; however, there is limited knowledge about the underlying aberrant cognitive and brain processes that result in emotion perception deficits. Recent influential work has shown that perceptual deficits in schizophrenia may result from aberrant precision in prior expectations, associated with disrupted activity in frontal regions. In the present study, we investigated the perception of dynamic, multisensory emotion, the influence of prior expectations and the underlying aberrant brain processes in schizophrenia. During a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan, participants completed the Dynamic Emotion Perception task, which induces prior expectations with emotion instruction cues. We delineated neural responses and functional connectivity in whole-brain large-scale networks underlying emotion perception. Compared to healthy individuals, schizophrenia patients had lower accuracy specifically for emotions that were congruent with prior expectations. At the neural level, schizophrenia patients had less engagement of right inferior frontal and parietal regions, as well as right amygdala dysconnectivity during discrimination of emotions congruent with prior expectations. The results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia may have aberrant prior expectations about emotional expressions, associated with under-activity in inferior frontoparietal regions and right amygdala dysconnectivity, which results in impaired perception of emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilvana Dzafic
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - Hana Burianová
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew K Martin
- University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Bryan Mowry
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Brisbane, Australia
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Dzafic I, Martin AK, Hocking J, Mowry B, Burianová H. Dynamic emotion perception and prior expectancy. Neuropsychologia 2016; 86:131-40. [PMID: 27126841 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.04.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2015] [Revised: 04/22/2016] [Accepted: 04/25/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Social interactions require the ability to rapidly perceive emotion from various incoming dynamic, multisensory cues. Prior expectations reduce incoming emotional information and direct attention to cues that are aligned with what is expected. Studies to date have investigated the prior expectancy effect using static emotional images, despite the fact that dynamic stimuli would represent greater ecological validity. The objective of the study was to create a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm to examine the influence of prior expectations on naturalistic emotion perception. For this purpose, we developed a dynamic emotion perception task, which consisted of audio-visual videos that carry emotional information congruent or incongruent with prior expectations. The results show that emotional congruency was associated with activity in prefrontal regions, amygdala, and putamen, whereas emotional incongruency was associated with activity in temporoparietal junction and mid-cingulate gyrus. Supported by the behavioural results, our findings suggest that prior expectations are reinforced after repeated experience and learning, whereas unexpected emotions may rely on fast change detection processes. The results from the current study are compatible with the notion that the ability to automatically detect unexpected changes in complex dynamic environments allows for adaptive behaviours in potentially advantageous or threatening situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilvana Dzafic
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - Andrew K Martin
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Julia Hocking
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Bryan Mowry
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Hana Burianová
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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Cook J, Barbalat G, Blakemore SJ. Top-down modulation of the perception of other people in schizophrenia and autism. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:175. [PMID: 22715325 PMCID: PMC3375615 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2012] [Accepted: 05/29/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Accurately and efficiently perceiving social cues such as body movements and facial expressions is important in social interaction. Accurate social perception of this kind does not solely rely on “bottom-up” visual processing but is also subject to modulation by “top-down” signals. For example, if instructed to look for signs of happiness rather than fear, participants are more likely to categorize facial expressions as happy—this prior expectation biases subsequent perception. Top-down modulation is also important in our reactions to others. For example, top-down control over imitation plays an important role in the development of smooth and harmonious social interactions. This paper highlights the importance of top-down modulation in our perception of, and reactions to, others. We discuss evidence that top-down modulation of social perception and imitation is atypical in Autism Spectrum Conditions and in schizophrenia, and we consider the effect this may have on the development of social interactions for individuals with these developmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Cook
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge London, UK
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