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Song J, Jeronimus BF, Fisher AJ. Sleep, event appraisal, and affect: An ecological momentary assessment study. J Affect Disord 2024; 361:376-382. [PMID: 38885846 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.06.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Appraisal theory posits that emotions result from cognitive appraisals of events and situations. Experimental work suggests that sleep influences cognitive processes and event appraisal, which the present study examines in real life. Poor sleep influences brain regions involved in the appraisal-to-emotion process, and tired participants showed more conservative appraisal and reported less positive and more negative affect. In the present study, we tested whether sleep duration and/or quality predicted more pleasant event appraisal and whether sleep moderated the association between event appraisal and affect. METHODS Participants (N = 892) from the general Dutch population reported thrice daily on event appraisal and various emotions for 30 days and once daily on sleep duration and quality. We constructed multilevel models to account for the nested structure of our data (observations within participants). RESULTS Multilevel regression analyses showed that on days when participants reported having slept longer and better than their average, their event appraisal was more positive. Subjective sleep duration and quality did not influence the relationship between event appraisal and affect. Hence, poor sleep predicted changes in cognitive functioning, as people appraised situations as more unpleasant. LIMITATIONS We measured subjective sleep duration and quality with two single items and focused on only pleasantness dimension of event appraisal. CONCLUSIONS Results match perspectives on emotions as multicomponent systems involving appraisal processes. Understanding the elements of event appraisal may help unravel the detrimental effects of poor sleep on mental health and well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiyoung Song
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America.
| | - Bertus F Jeronimus
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Aaron J Fisher
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
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Taschereau-Dumouchel V, Côté M, Manuel S, Valevicius D, Cushing CA, Cortese A, Kawato M, Lau H. Interaction between the prefrontal and visual cortices supports subjective fear. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230245. [PMID: 39005034 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024] Open
Abstract
It has been reported that threatening and non-threatening visual stimuli can be distinguished based on the multi-voxel patterns of haemodynamic activity in the human ventral visual stream. Do these findings mean that there may be evolutionarily hardwired mechanisms within early perception, for the fast and automatic detection of threat, and maybe even for the generation of the subjective experience of fear? In this human neuroimaging study, we presented participants ('fear' group: N = 30; 'no fear' group: N = 30) with 2700 images of animals that could trigger subjective fear or not as a function of the individual's idiosyncratic 'fear profiles' (i.e. fear ratings of animals reported by a given participant). We provide evidence that the ventral visual stream may represent affectively neutral visual features that are statistically associated with fear ratings of participants, without representing the subjective experience of fear itself. More specifically, we show that patterns of haemodynamic activity predictive of a specific 'fear profile' can be observed in the ventral visual stream whether a participant reports being afraid of the stimuli or not. Further, we found that the multivariate information synchronization between ventral visual areas and prefrontal regions distinguished participants who reported being subjectively afraid of the stimuli from those who did not. Together, these findings support the view that the subjective experience of fear may depend on the relevant visual information triggering implicit metacognitive mechanisms in the prefrontal cortex. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
- Québec, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Québec, Montréal, Québec, Québec, Canada H1N 3M5
| | - Marjorie Côté
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
- Québec, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Québec, Montréal, Québec, Québec, Canada H1N 3M5
| | - Shawn Manuel
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
- Québec, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Québec, Montréal, Québec, Québec, Canada H1N 3M5
| | - Darius Valevicius
- Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7
- Québec, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Québec, Montréal, Québec, Québec, Canada H1N 3M5
| | - Cody A Cushing
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Aurelio Cortese
- ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Mitsuo Kawato
- ATR Brain Information Communication Research Laboratory, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
- XNef, Inc., Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Hakwan Lau
- RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
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3
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Wang J, Liang X, Lu J, Zhang W, Chen Q, Li X, Chen J, Zhang X, Zhang B. Cortical and Subcortical Gray Matter Abnormalities in Mild Cognitive Impairment. Neuroscience 2024:S0306-4522(24)00349-X. [PMID: 39067683 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.07.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2024] [Revised: 07/06/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024]
Abstract
Gray matter changes are thought to be closely related to cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. The study aimed to explore cortical and subcortical structural alterations in MCI and their association with cognitive assessment. 24 MCI patients and 22 normal controls (NCs) were included. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), vertex-based shape analysis and surface-based morphometry (SBM) analysis were applied to explore subcortical nuclei volume, shape and cortical morphology. Correlations between structural changes and cognition were explored using spearman correlation analysis. Support vector machine (SVM) classification evaluated MCI identification accuracy. MCI patients showed significant atrophy in the left thalamus, left hippocampus, left amygdala, right pallidum, right hippocampus, along with inward deformation in the left amygdala. SBM analysis revealed that MCI group exhibited shallower sulci depth in the left hemisphere and increased cortical gyrification index (GI) in the right frontal gyrus. Correlation analysis showed the positive correlation between right hippocampus volume and episodic memory, while negative correlation between the altered GI and memory performance in MCI group. SVM analysis demonstrated superior performance of sulci depth and GI derived from SBM in MCI identification. When combined with cortical and subcortical metrics, SVM achieved a peak accuracy of 89% in distinguishing MCI from NC. The study reveals significant gray matter structural changes in MCI, suggesting their potential role in underlying functional differences and neural mechanisms behind memory impairment in MCI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junxia Wang
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Xue Liang
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Jiaming Lu
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Wen Zhang
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Qian Chen
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Xin Li
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Jiu Chen
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Xin Zhang
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Bing Zhang
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China; Institute of Medical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China.
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4
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Kral TRA, Williams CY, Wylie AC, McLaughlin K, Stephens RL, Mills-Koonce WR, Birn RB, Propper CB, Short SJ. Intergenerational effects of racism on amygdala and hippocampus resting state functional connectivity. Sci Rep 2024; 14:17034. [PMID: 39043776 PMCID: PMC11266580 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66830-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 07/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Racism is an insidious problem with far-reaching effects on the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The pervasive negative impact of racism on mental health is well documented. However, less is known about the potential downstream impacts of maternal experiences of racism on offspring neurodevelopment. This study sought to examine evidence for a biological pathway of intergenerational transmission of racism-related trauma. This study examined the effects of self-reported maternal experiences of racism on resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in n = 25 neonates (13 female, 12 male) birthed by BIPOC mothers. Amygdala and hippocampus are brain regions involved in fear, memory, and anxiety, and are central nodes in brain networks associated with trauma-related change. We used average scores on the Experiences of Racism Scale as a continuous, voxel-wise regressor in seed-based, whole-brain connectivity analysis of anatomically defined amygdala and hippocampus seed regions of interest. All analyses controlled for infant sex and gestational age at the 2-week scanning session. More maternal racism-related experiences were associated with (1) stronger right amygdala rsFC with visual cortex and thalamus; and (2) stronger hippocampus rsFC with visual cortex and a temporo-parietal network, in neonates. The results of this research have implications for understanding how maternal experiences of racism may alter neurodevelopment, and for related social policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- T R A Kral
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, USA
| | - C Y Williams
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, USA
| | - A C Wylie
- Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - K McLaughlin
- Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - R L Stephens
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - W R Mills-Koonce
- School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - R B Birn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, USA
| | - C B Propper
- School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - S J Short
- Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, USA.
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5
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Díaz DE, Russman Block SR, Becker HC, Phan KL, Monk CS, Fitzgerald KD. Neural Substrates of Emotion Processing and Cognitive Control Over Emotion In Youth Anxiety: An RDoc-Informed Study Across the Clinical to Non-Clinical Continuum of Severity. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2024:S0890-8567(24)00363-0. [PMID: 39059719 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2024.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 06/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Clinically anxious youth are hypervigilant to emotional stimuli and display difficulty shifting attention from emotional to non-emotional stimuli, suggesting impairments in cognitive control over emotion. However, it is unknown whether the neural substrates of such biases vary across the clinical-to-nonclinical range of anxiety or by age. METHOD Youth aged 7-17 years with clinical anxiety (N = 119) or without an anxiety diagnosis (N = 41) matched emotional faces or matched shapes flanked by emotional face distractors during magnetic resonance imaging, probing emotion processing and cognitive control over emotion, respectively. Building from the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria framework, clinically anxious youth were sampled across diagnostic categories, and non-clinically affected youth were sampled across minimal-to-subclinical severity. RESULTS Across both conditions, anxiety severity associated with hyperactivation in the right inferior parietal lobe, a substrate of hypervigilance. Brain-anxiety associations were also differentiated by attentional state; anxiety severity associated with greater left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation during emotion processing (face-matching) and greater activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus and temporoparietal junction (and slower responses) during cognitive control over emotion (shape-matching). Age also moderated associations between anxiety and cognitive control over emotion, such that anxiety associated with greater right thalamus and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex activation for children at younger and mean ages, but not for older youth. CONCLUSION Aberrant function in brain regions implicated in stimulus-driven attention to emotional distractors may contribute to youth anxiety. Results support the potential utility of attention modulation interventions for anxiety that are tailored to developmental stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana E Díaz
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York.
| | | | | | | | | | - Kate Dimond Fitzgerald
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York
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6
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Schräder J, Herzberg L, Jo HG, Hernandez-Pena L, Koch J, Habel U, Wagels L. Neurophysiological Pathways of Unconscious Emotion Processing in Depression: Insights from a simultaneous EEG-fMRI Measurement. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024:S2451-9022(24)00193-9. [PMID: 39038607 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2024] [Revised: 05/29/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by strong emotional dysregulation. Mechanisms driving the negative affect in depression may be fast processes existing on an unconscious level. METHODS A priming task was conducted using simultaneous EEG-fMRI measurement involving presentation of facial expressions (happy, sad, neutral) to examine the neurophysiological pathway of biased unconscious emotion processing in MDD. Priming prior to a target emotion created unconscious (16.7 ms primer) and conscious (150 ms primer) trials. A large sample of N = 126 was recruited, containing healthy controls (HC; n = 66; 37 women) and MDD (n = 60; 31 women). RESULTS HC showed a shorter reaction time in happy, but not in sad or neutral trials compared to MDD. N170 amplitudes were lower in trials with unconscious compared to conscious primer presentation. N170 amplitudes correlated with cortical (right fusiform gyrus (FFG), right middle temporal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, left supplementary motor area, right middle frontal gyrus) and subcortical brain regions (right amygdala). The strength of N170 and brain activity correlation increased when the stimulus was consciously presented. Presented emotions did not affect the correlation of N170 values and brain activity. CONCLUSIONS Our findings show that MDD may exhibit biased emotion regulation abilities at a behavioral and neurophysiological level. Face-sensitive event-related potentials demonstrate a correlation with heightened brain activity in regions associated with both face recognition (FFG) and emotion processing (amygdala). These findings are evident in both MDD and HC, with lower effect sizes in MDD indicating reduced emotion recognition and processing abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Schräder
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Lennard Herzberg
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany
| | - Han-Gue Jo
- School of Software, Kunsan National University, 588 Daehak-ro Gunsan, South Korea
| | - Lucia Hernandez-Pena
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Julia Koch
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Lisa Wagels
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, [Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen], Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
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7
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Gao Y, Lin W, Liu J, Chen Y, Xiao C, Chen J, Mo L. Emotional contextual effects of face perception: a test of the affective realism hypothesis. THE JOURNAL OF GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024:1-28. [PMID: 39023941 DOI: 10.1080/00221309.2024.2378326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Affective feelings naturally infuse individuals' perceptions, serving as valid windows onto the real world. The affective realism hypothesis further explains how these feelings work: as properties of individuals' perceptual experiences, these feelings influence perception. Notably, this hypothesis based on affective feelings with different valences has been substantiated, whereas the existing evidence is not compelling enough. Moreover, whether specific affective feelings can be experienced as properties of target perception remains unclear. Addressing these two issues deepens our understanding of the nature of emotional representation. Hence, we investigated the affective realism hypothesis based on affective feelings with different valences and specific emotions, comparing it with the affective misattribution hypothesis. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of affective feelings with various valences on targets' perception through the AM (1a) and CFS paradigms (1b). In Experiment 2, we investigated the effects of affective feelings with anger, sadness, and disgust using similar methods. Results from Experiments 1a and 1b consistently indicated significant differences in valence ratings of neutral faces under emotional contexts with varying valences. Experiment 2a revealed significant differences in specific emotion ratings of neutral faces under different specific emotional contexts in the AM paradigm, whereas such differences were not observed in the CFS paradigm in Experiment 2b. We concluded that affective feelings with different valences, rather than specific emotions, can be experienced as inherent properties of target perception, validating the affective realism hypothesis. These findings supported the view that the nature of emotional representation should be described as affective dimensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Gao
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wuji Lin
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiaxi Liu
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yujie Chen
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chunqian Xiao
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiexin Chen
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lei Mo
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Guangzhou, China
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8
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Harnett NG, Fleming LL, Clancy KJ, Ressler KJ, Rosso IM. Affective visual circuit dysfunction in trauma and stress-related disorders. Biol Psychiatry 2024:S0006-3223(24)01433-1. [PMID: 38996901 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024]
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is widely recognized as involving disruption of core neurocircuitry that underlies processing, regulation, and response to threat. In particular, the prefrontal cortex - hippocampal - amygdala circuit is a major contributor to posttraumatic dysfunction. However, the functioning of core threat neurocircuitry is partially dependent on sensorial inputs and previous research demonstrates that dense, reciprocal connections exist between threat circuits and the ventral visual stream. Further, emergent evidence suggests that trauma exposure and resultant PTSD symptoms are associated with altered structure and function of the ventral visual stream. The present review discusses evidence that both threat and visual circuitry together are an integral part of PTSD pathogenesis. An overview of the relevance of visual processing to PTSD is discussed in the context of both basic and translational research, highlighting the impact of stress on affective-visual circuitry. This review further synthesizes emergent literature to suggest potential timing-dependent effects of traumatic stress on threat and visual circuits that may contribute to PTSD development. We conclude with recommendations for future research to accelerate the field towards a more complete understanding of PTSD neurobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel G Harnett
- Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA.
| | - Leland L Fleming
- Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA
| | - Kevin J Clancy
- Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA
| | - Kerry J Ressler
- Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA
| | - Isabelle M Rosso
- Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA
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9
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Abdel-Ghaffar SA, Huth AG, Lescroart MD, Stansbury D, Gallant JL, Bishop SJ. Occipital-temporal cortical tuning to semantic and affective features of natural images predicts associated behavioral responses. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5531. [PMID: 38982092 PMCID: PMC11233618 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49073-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/11/2024] Open
Abstract
In everyday life, people need to respond appropriately to many types of emotional stimuli. Here, we investigate whether human occipital-temporal cortex (OTC) shows co-representation of the semantic category and affective content of visual stimuli. We also explore whether OTC transformation of semantic and affective features extracts information of value for guiding behavior. Participants viewed 1620 emotional natural images while functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired. Using voxel-wise modeling we show widespread tuning to semantic and affective image features across OTC. The top three principal components underlying OTC voxel-wise responses to image features encoded stimulus animacy, stimulus arousal and interactions of animacy with stimulus valence and arousal. At low to moderate dimensionality, OTC tuning patterns predicted behavioral responses linked to each image better than regressors directly based on image features. This is consistent with OTC representing stimulus semantic category and affective content in a manner suited to guiding behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samy A Abdel-Ghaffar
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Google LLC, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alexander G Huth
- Centre for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, UT Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Mark D Lescroart
- Department of Psychology University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Dustin Stansbury
- Program in Vision Sciences, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jack L Gallant
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Program in Vision Sciences, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Sonia J Bishop
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, D02 PX31, Ireland.
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10
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Zheng Y, Tang R, Xue L, Wang Z, Shi P. Attention modulates facial expression processing in subsyndromal depression: A behavioral and ERP study. Int J Psychophysiol 2024; 201:112359. [PMID: 38714215 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112359] [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: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024]
Abstract
Impaired facial expression perception is a core element in depression, but the underlying mechanism remains controversial. This event-related potential study investigated how attention modulates facial expression perception in depression using a nonclinical sample. A group of healthy controls (HC, N = 39) and a group of individuals with subsyndromal depression (SD, N = 39) categorized faces based on either facial expression (happy vs. sad) or gender (male vs. female). Behaviorally, the SD group was less sensitive to the emotional valence of facial expression than the HC group when their attention was directed to facial expression, as revealed by comparable subjective ratings and accuracy rates in response to facial expressions. When attention was directed towards facial gender, the SD group versus the HC group showed a negative bias, as revealed by a faster N170 for sad faces than happy faces. Together, our findings suggest that attention plays a role in understanding the relationship between depression and facial expression perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya Zheng
- Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Rumeng Tang
- Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Linkai Xue
- Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Zhaoyi Wang
- Department of Sleeping Disorder, Dalian Seventh People's Hospital, Dalian, China
| | - Puyu Shi
- Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
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11
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Li Z, Jiang K, Zhu Y, Du H, Im H, Zhu Y, Feng L, Zhu W, Zhao G, Jia X, Hu Y, Zhu H, Yao Q, Wang H, Wang Q. Happy people are always similar: The evidence from brain morphological and functional inter-subject correlations. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120690. [PMID: 38880309 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Revised: 06/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/18/2024] Open
Abstract
A fundamental question in the study of happiness is whether there is neural evidence to support a well-known hypothesis that happy people are always similar while unfortunate people have their own misfortunes. To investigate this, we employed several happiness-related questionnaires to identify potential components of happiness, and further investigated and confirmed their associations with personality, mood, aggressive behaviors, and amygdala reactivity to fearful faces within a substantial sample size of college students (n = 570). Additionally, we examined the functional and morphological similarities and differences among happy individuals using the inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA). IS-RSA emphasizes the geometric properties in a high-dimensional space constructed by brain or behavioral patterns and focuses on individual subjects. Our behavioral findings unveiled two factors of happiness: individual and social, both of which mediated the effect of personality traits on individual aggression. Subsequently, mood mediated the impact of happiness on aggressive behaviors across two subgroup splits. Functional imaging data revealed that individuals with higher levels of happiness exhibited reduced amygdala reactivity to fearful faces, as evidenced by a conventional face-matching task (n = 104). Moreover, IS-RSA demonstrated that these participants manifested similar neural activation patterns when processing fearful faces within the visual pathway, but not within the emotional network (e.g., amygdala). Morphological observations (n = 425) indicated that individuals with similar high happiness levels exhibited comparable gray matter volume patterns within several networks, including the default mode network, fronto-parietal network, visual network, and attention network. Collectively, these findings offer early neural evidence supporting the proposition that happy individuals may share common neural characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zixi Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Keying Jiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Ye Zhu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Hanxiao Du
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | | | - Yingying Zhu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Lei Feng
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Wenwei Zhu
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Guang Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Xuji Jia
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Ying Hu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Haidong Zhu
- Normal College of Shihezi University, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, China
| | - Qiong Yao
- Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei 230601, China; School of Educational and Psychological Science, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 230601, China
| | - He Wang
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Science & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China.
| | - Qiang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei 230601, China.
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12
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Benda MS, DeSerisy M, Levitch C, Roy AK. An investigation of the neural basis of anger attributions in irritable youth. Emotion 2024; 24:1068-1077. [PMID: 38127534 PMCID: PMC11116073 DOI: 10.1037/emo0001337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Neurocognitive models of pediatric irritability suggest a prominent role of anger; however, few studies have investigated anger-related biases and their neural correlates. Resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the amygdala was examined in relation to anger attribution bias (AAB) in a sample of young children (5-9 years old; N = 60; 55% White, 26.7% Hispanic) with clinically significant irritability characterized by impairing emotional outbursts (IEOs). Children completed a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan as well as the assessment of children's emotional skills (ACES), which yields three measures of AAB in the context of social situations, social behaviors, and facial expressions. ACES scores were entered into a general linear model to examine associations with rsFC of the bilateral amygdalae. Children with IEOs exhibited significant biases in attributing anger to others across all three ACES domains. Greater biases toward attributing anger in social situations were associated with reduced rsFC of the bilateral amygdalae with the fusiform/lingual gyri and lateral occipital cortex. Alternatively, greater biases toward attributing anger to facial expressions positively predicted right amygdala-precuneus rsFC. Greater bias toward attributing anger to others based on their behaviors was associated with heightened rsFC of the right amygdala with the left middle frontal gyrus. Findings extend previous work implicating functional connections among regions of default mode and frontoparietal networks in pediatric irritability. Longitudinal studies are needed to further investigate the putative role of AAB in the etiology and long-term outcomes of pediatric irritability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mariah DeSerisy
- Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
| | - Cara Levitch
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
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13
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Gong M, Pan C, Pan R, Wang X, Wang J, Xu H, Hu Y, Wang J, Jia K, Chen Q. Distinct patterns of monocular advantage for facial emotions in social anxiety. J Anxiety Disord 2024; 104:102871. [PMID: 38723406 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Individuals with social anxiety often exhibit atypical processing of facial expressions. Previous research in social anxiety has primarily emphasized cognitive bias associated with face processing and the corresponding abnormalities in cortico-limbic circuitry, yet whether social anxiety influences early perceptual processing of emotional faces remains largely unknown. We used a psychophysical method to investigate the monocular advantage for face perception (i.e., face stimuli are better recognized when presented to the same eye compared to different eyes), an effect that is indicative of early, subcortical processing of face stimuli. We compared the monocular advantage for different emotional expressions (neutral, angry and sad) in three groups (N = 24 per group): individuals clinically diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD), individuals with high social anxiety in subclinical populations (SSA), and a healthy control (HC) group of individuals matched for age and gender. Compared to SSA and HC groups, we found that individuals with SAD exhibited a greater monocular advantage when processing neutral and sad faces. While the magnitudes of monocular advantages were similar across three groups when processing angry faces, individuals with SAD performed better in this condition when the faces were presented to different eye. The former findings suggest that social anxiety leads to an enhanced role of subcortical structures in processing nonthreatening expressions. The latter findings, on the other hand, likely reflect an enhanced cortical processing of threatening expressions in SAD group. These distinct patterns of monocular advantage indicate that social anxiety altered representation of emotional faces at various stages of information processing, starting at an early stage of the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengyuan Gong
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chaoya Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ruibo Pan
- Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaohua Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jiafeng Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Han Xu
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuzheng Hu
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Wang
- Department of Neurobiology and Department of Psychiatry of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ke Jia
- Department of Neurobiology, Affiliated Mental Health Center & Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Qiaozhen Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China; Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China.
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14
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Wang X, Lee HK, Tong SX. Temporal dynamics and neural variabilities underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Brain Res 2024; 1840:149030. [PMID: 38821334 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated the neural dynamics underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 50 autistic and 46 non-autistic children during an emotional Go/Nogo task. Based on single-trial ERP analyses, autistic children, compared to their non-autistic peers, showed a larger Nogo-N170 for angry faces and an increased Nogo-N170 amplitude variation for happy faces during early visual perception. They also displayed a smaller N200 for all faces and a diminished Nogo-N200 amplitude variation for happy and neutral faces during inhibition monitoring and preparation. During the late stage, autistic children showed a larger posterior-Go-P300 for angry faces and an augmented posterior-Nogo-P300 for happy and neutral faces. These findings clarify the differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli and inhibition between Chinese autistic and non-autistic children, highlighting the importance of considering these dynamics when designing intervention to improve emotion regulation in autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Hyun Kyung Lee
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shelley Xiuli Tong
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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15
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Hoshi H, Ishii A, Shigihara Y, Yoshikawa T. Binocularly suppressed stimuli induce brain activities related to aesthetic emotions. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1339479. [PMID: 38855441 PMCID: PMC11159128 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1339479] [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: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Aesthetic emotions are a class of emotions aroused by evaluating aesthetically appealing objects or events. While evolutionary aesthetics suggests the adaptive roles of these emotions, empirical assessments are lacking. Previous neuroscientific studies have demonstrated that visual stimuli carrying evolutionarily important information induce neural responses even when presented non-consciously. To examine the evolutionary importance of aesthetic emotions, we conducted a neuroscientific study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure induced neural responses to non-consciously presented portrait paintings categorised as biological and non-biological and examined associations between the induced responses and aesthetic ratings. Methods MEG and pre-rating data were collected from 23 participants. The pre-rating included visual analogue scales for object saliency, facial saliency, liking, and beauty scores, in addition to 'biologi-ness,' which was used for subcategorising stimuli into biological and non-biological. The stimuli were presented non-consciously using a continuous flash suppression paradigm or consciously using binocular presentation without flashing masks, while dichotomic behavioural responses were obtained (beauty or non-beauty). Time-frequency decomposed MEG data were used for correlation analysis with pre-rating scores for each category. Results Behavioural data revealed that saliency scores of non-consciously presented stimuli influenced dichotomic responses (beauty or non-beauty). MEG data showed that non-consciously presented portrait paintings induced spatiotemporally distributed low-frequency brain activities associated with aesthetic ratings, which were distinct between the biological and non-biological categories and conscious and non-conscious conditions. Conclusion Aesthetic emotion holds evolutionary significance for humans. Neural pathways are sensitive to visual images that arouse aesthetic emotion in distinct ways for biological and non-biological categories, which are further influenced by consciousness. These differences likely reflect the diversity in mechanisms of aesthetic processing, such as processing fluency, active elaboration, and predictive processing. The aesthetic processing of non-conscious stimuli appears to be characterised by fluency-driven affective processing, while top-down regulatory processes are suppressed. This study provides the first empirical evidence supporting the evolutionary significance of aesthetic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hideyuki Hoshi
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
- Precision Medicine Centre, Hokuto Hospital, Obihiro, Japan
| | - Akira Ishii
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
| | | | - Takahiro Yoshikawa
- Department of Sports Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
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16
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Fennema D, Barker GJ, O'Daly O, Duan S, Godlewska BR, Goldsmith K, Young AH, Moll J, Zahn R. Neural responses to facial emotions and subsequent clinical outcomes in difficult-to-treat depression. Psychol Med 2024:1-9. [PMID: 38757184 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291724001144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex responses to facial emotions have shown promise in predicting treatment response in medication-free major depressive disorder (MDD). Here, we examined their role in the pathophysiology of clinical outcomes in more chronic, difficult-to-treat forms of MDD. METHODS Forty-five people with current MDD who had not responded to ⩾2 serotonergic antidepressants (n = 42, meeting pre-defined fMRI minimum quality thresholds) were enrolled and followed up over four months of standard primary care. Prior to medication review, subliminal facial emotion fMRI was used to extract blood-oxygen level-dependent effects for sad v. happy faces from two pre-registered a priori defined regions: bilateral amygdala and dorsal/pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Clinical outcome was the percentage change on the self-reported Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (16-item). RESULTS We corroborated our pre-registered hypothesis (NCT04342299) that lower bilateral amygdala activation for sad v. happy faces predicted favorable clinical outcomes (rs[38] = 0.40, p = 0.01). In contrast, there was no effect for dorsal/pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation (rs[38] = 0.18, p = 0.29), nor when using voxel-based whole-brain analyses (voxel-based Family-Wise Error-corrected p < 0.05). Predictive effects were mainly driven by the right amygdala whose response to happy faces was reduced in patients with higher anxiety levels. CONCLUSIONS We confirmed the prediction that a lower amygdala response to negative v. positive facial expressions might be an adaptive neural signature, which predicts subsequent symptom improvement also in difficult-to-treat MDD. Anxiety reduced adaptive amygdala responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diede Fennema
- Centre of Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Centre for Affective Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Gareth J Barker
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Owen O'Daly
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Suqian Duan
- Centre of Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Centre for Affective Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Beata R Godlewska
- Psychopharmacology Research Unit, University Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Kimberley Goldsmith
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Allan H Young
- Centre of Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Centre for Affective Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
- National Service for Affective Disorders, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Jorge Moll
- Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Pioneer Science Program, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Roland Zahn
- Centre of Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Centre for Affective Disorders, King's College London, London, UK
- National Service for Affective Disorders, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
- Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Unit, D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Pioneer Science Program, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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17
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Shang W, Xie S, Feng W, Li Z, Jia J, Cao X, Shen Y, Li J, Shi H, Gu Y, Weng SJ, Lin L, Pan YH, Yuan XB. A non-image-forming visual circuit mediates the innate fear of heights in male mice. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3746. [PMID: 38702319 PMCID: PMC11068790 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48147-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024] Open
Abstract
The neural basis of fear of heights remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the fear response to heights in male mice and observed characteristic aversive behaviors resembling human height vertigo. We identified visual input as a critical factor in mouse reactions to heights, while peripheral vestibular input was found to be nonessential for fear of heights. Unexpectedly, we found that fear of heights in naïve mice does not rely on image-forming visual processing by the primary visual cortex. Instead, a subset of neurons in the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN), which connects to the lateral/ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (l/vlPAG), drives the expression of fear associated with heights. Additionally, we observed that a subcortical visual pathway linking the superior colliculus to the lateral posterior thalamic nucleus inhibits the defensive response to height threats. These findings highlight a rapid fear response to height threats through a subcortical visual and defensive pathway from the vLGN to the l/vlPAG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Shang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Shuangyi Xie
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Wenbo Feng
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Zhuangzhuang Li
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Otolaryngology Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Jingyan Jia
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Xiaoxiao Cao
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Yanting Shen
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Jing Li
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Haibo Shi
- Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Otolaryngology Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200233, China
| | - Yiran Gu
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Shi-Jun Weng
- State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Longnian Lin
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Yi-Hsuan Pan
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
| | - Xiao-Bing Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Shanghai and Ministry of Education, Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Science and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
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18
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Sheng F, Wang Y, Li R, Li X, Chen X, Zhang Z, Liu R, Zhang L, Zhou Y, Wang G. Altered effective connectivity among face-processing systems in major depressive disorder. J Psychiatry Neurosci 2024; 49:E145-E156. [PMID: 38692692 PMCID: PMC11068425 DOI: 10.1503/jpn.230123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal functional interaction during the processing of emotional faces in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), thereby enhancing our comprehension of the pathophysiology of MDD. However, it is unclear whether there is abnormal directional interaction among face-processing systems in patients with MDD. METHODS A group of patients with MDD and a healthy control group underwent a face-matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) analysis was used to investigate effective connectivity between 7 regions in the face-processing systems. We used a Parametric Empirical Bayes model to compare effective connectivity between patients with MDD and controls. RESULTS We included 48 patients and 44 healthy controls in our analyses. Both groups showed higher accuracy and faster reaction time in the shape-matching condition than in the face-matching condition. However, no significant behavioural or brain activation differences were found between the groups. Using DCM, we found that, compared with controls, patients with MDD showed decreased self-connection in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), amygdala, and fusiform face area (FFA) across task conditions; increased intrinsic connectivity from the right amygdala to the bilateral DLPFC, right FFA, and left amygdala, suggesting an increased intrinsic connectivity centred in the amygdala in the right side of the face-processing systems; both increased and decreased positive intrinsic connectivity in the left side of the face-processing systems; and comparable task modulation effect on connectivity. LIMITATIONS Our study did not include longitudinal neuroimaging data, and there was limited region of interest selection in the DCM analysis. CONCLUSION Our findings provide evidence for a complex pattern of alterations in the face-processing systems in patients with MDD, potentially involving the right amygdala to a greater extent. The results confirm some previous findings and highlight the crucial role of the regions on both sides of face-processing systems in the pathophysiology of MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangrui Sheng
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Yun Wang
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Ruinan Li
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Xiaoya Li
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Xiongying Chen
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Zhifang Zhang
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Rui Liu
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Ling Zhang
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Yuan Zhou
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
| | - Gang Wang
- From the Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (Sheng, Wang, R. Li, X. Li, Chen, Z. Zhang, Liu, L. Zhang, Zhou, Wang); the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China (L. Zhang, Wang); the CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China (Zhou); and the Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (Zhou)
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Weidner EM, Moratti S, Schindler S, Grewe P, Bien CG, Kissler J. Amygdala and cortical gamma-band responses to emotional faces are modulated by attention to valence. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14512. [PMID: 38174584 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
The amygdala might support an attentional bias for emotional faces. However, whether and how selective attention toward a specific valence modulates this bias is not fully understood. Likewise, it is unclear whether amygdala and cortical signals respond to emotion and attention in a similar way. We recorded gamma-band activity (GBA, > 30 Hz) intracranially in the amygdalae of 11 patients with epilepsy and collected scalp recordings from 19 healthy participants. We presented angry, neutral, and happy faces randomly, and we denoted one valence as the target. Participants detected happy targets most quickly and accurately. In the amygdala, during attention to negative faces, low gamma-band activity (LGBA, < 90 Hz) increased for angry compared with happy faces from 160 ms. From 220 ms onward, amygdala high gamma-band activity (HGBA, > 90 Hz) was higher for angry and neutral faces than for happy ones. Monitoring neutral faces increased amygdala HGBA for emotions compared with neutral faces from 40 ms. Expressions were not differentiated in GBA while monitoring positive faces. On the scalp, only threat monitoring resulted in expression differentiation. Here, posterior LGBA was increased selectively for angry targets from 60 ms. The data show that GBA differentiation of emotional expressions is modulated by attention to valence: Top-down-controlled threat vigilance coordinates widespread GBA in favor of angry faces. Stimulus-driven emotion differentiation in amygdala GBA occurs during a neutral attentional focus. These findings align with a multi-pathway model of emotion processing and specify the role of GBA in this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enya M Weidner
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Stephan Moratti
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Philip Grewe
- Deptartment of Epileptology, Krankenhaus Mara, Bethel Epilepsy Center, Medical School OWL, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- Clinical Neuropsychology and Epilepsy Research, Medical School OWL, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Christian G Bien
- Deptartment of Epileptology, Krankenhaus Mara, Bethel Epilepsy Center, Medical School OWL, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Johanna Kissler
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
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Lu Y, Chen QM, An L. SPADE: spatial deconvolution for domain specific cell-type estimation. Commun Biol 2024; 7:469. [PMID: 38632414 PMCID: PMC11024133 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06172-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding gene expression in different cell types within their spatial context is a key goal in genomics research. SPADE (SPAtial DEconvolution), our proposed method, addresses this by integrating spatial patterns into the analysis of cell type composition. This approach uses a combination of single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, and histological data to accurately estimate the proportions of cell types in various locations. Our analyses of synthetic data have demonstrated SPADE's capability to discern cell type-specific spatial patterns effectively. When applied to real-life datasets, SPADE provides insights into cellular dynamics and the composition of tumor tissues. This enhances our comprehension of complex biological systems and aids in exploring cellular diversity. SPADE represents a significant advancement in deciphering spatial gene expression patterns, offering a powerful tool for the detailed investigation of cell types in spatial transcriptomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Lu
- Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics and Data Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Qin M Chen
- College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Lingling An
- Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics and Data Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
- Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
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21
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Stolicyn A, Harris MA, de Nooij L, Shen X, Macfarlane JA, Campbell A, McNeil CJ, Sandu AL, Murray AD, Waiter GD, Lawrie SM, Steele JD, McIntosh AM, Romaniuk L, Whalley HC. Disrupted limbic-prefrontal effective connectivity in response to fearful faces in lifetime depression. J Affect Disord 2024; 351:983-993. [PMID: 38220104 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Multiple brain imaging studies of negative emotional bias in major depressive disorder (MDD) have used images of fearful facial expressions and focused on the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. The results have, however, been inconsistent, potentially due to small sample sizes (typically N<50). It remains unclear if any alterations are a characteristic of current depression or of past experience of depression, and whether there are MDD-related changes in effective connectivity between the two brain regions. METHODS Activations and effective connectivity between the amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in response to fearful face stimuli were studied in a large population-based sample from Generation Scotland. Participants either had no history of MDD (N=664 in activation analyses, N=474 in connectivity analyses) or had a diagnosis of MDD during their lifetime (LMDD, N=290 in activation analyses, N=214 in connectivity analyses). The within-scanner task involved implicit facial emotion processing of neutral and fearful faces. RESULTS Compared to controls, LMDD was associated with increased activations in left amygdala (PFWE=0.031,kE=4) and left DLPFC (PFWE=0.002,kE=33), increased mean bilateral amygdala activation (β=0.0715,P=0.0314), and increased inhibition from left amygdala to left DLPFC, all in response to fearful faces contrasted to baseline. Results did not appear to be attributable to depressive illness severity or antidepressant medication status at scan time. LIMITATIONS Most studied participants had past rather than current depression, average severity of ongoing depression symptoms was low, and a substantial proportion of participants were receiving medication. The study was not longitudinal and the participants were only assessed a single time. CONCLUSIONS LMDD is associated with hyperactivity of the amygdala and DLPFC, and with stronger amygdala to DLPFC inhibitory connectivity, all in response to fearful faces, unrelated to depression severity at scan time. These results help reduce inconsistency in past literature and suggest disruption of 'bottom-up' limbic-prefrontal effective connectivity in depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleks Stolicyn
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom.
| | - Mathew A Harris
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom
| | - Laura de Nooij
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen 6525 EN, Netherlands
| | - Xueyi Shen
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer A Macfarlane
- Division of Imaging Science and Technology, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom; Department of Medical Physics, NHS Tayside, Dundee DD2 1UB, United Kingdom; SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom
| | - Archie Campbell
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher J McNeil
- SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, United Kingdom
| | - Anca-Larisa Sandu
- SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, United Kingdom
| | - Alison D Murray
- SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, United Kingdom
| | - Gordon D Waiter
- SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen M Lawrie
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom
| | - J Douglas Steele
- Division of Imaging Science and Technology, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 9SY, United Kingdom; SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom
| | - Andrew M McIntosh
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom; SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Liana Romaniuk
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom; SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom
| | - Heather C Whalley
- Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, United Kingdom; SINAPSE Consortium(2), United Kingdom; Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
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22
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Salsano I, Tain R, Giulietti G, Williams DP, Ottaviani C, Antonucci G, Thayer JF, Santangelo V. Negative emotions enhance memory-guided attention in a visual search task by increasing frontoparietal, insular, and parahippocampal cortical activity. Cortex 2024; 173:16-33. [PMID: 38354670 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.12.014] [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: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 08/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
Previous literature demonstrated that long-term memory representations guide spatial attention during visual search in real-world pictures. However, it is currently unknown whether memory-guided visual search is affected by the emotional content of the picture. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants were asked to encode the position of high-contrast targets embedded in emotional (negative or positive) or neutral pictures. At retrieval, they performed a visual search for targets presented at the same location as during encoding, but at a much lower contrast. Behaviorally, participants detected more accurately targets presented in negative pictures compared to those in positive or neutral pictures. They were also faster in detecting targets presented at encoding in emotional (negative or positive) pictures than in neutral pictures, or targets not presented during encoding (i.e., memory-guided attention effect). At the neural level, we found increased activation in a large circuit of regions involving the dorsal and ventral frontoparietal cortex, insular and parahippocampal cortex, selectively during the detection of targets presented in negative pictures during encoding. We propose that these regions might form an integrated neural circuit recruited to select and process previously encoded target locations (i.e., memory-guided attention sustained by the frontoparietal cortex) embedded in emotional contexts (i.e., emotional contexts recollection supported by the parahippocampal cortex and emotional monitoring supported by the insular cortex). Ultimately, these findings reveal that negative emotions can enhance memory-guided visual search performance by increasing neural activity in a large-scale brain circuit, contributing to disentangle the complex relationship between emotion, attention, and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilenia Salsano
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy; PhD Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
| | - Rongwen Tain
- Campus Center of Neuroimaging, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Giovanni Giulietti
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy; SAIMLAL Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - DeWayne P Williams
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | | | - Gabriella Antonucci
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Julian F Thayer
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | - Valerio Santangelo
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy; Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences & Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
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23
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Zhang N, Chen S, Jiang K, Ge W, Im H, Guan S, Li Z, Wei C, Wang P, Zhu Y, Zhao G, Liu L, Chen C, Chang H, Wang Q. Individualized prediction of anxiety and depressive symptoms using gray matter volume in a non-clinical population. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae121. [PMID: 38584086 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 03/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Machine learning is an emerging tool in clinical psychology and neuroscience for the individualized prediction of psychiatric symptoms. However, its application in non-clinical populations is still in its infancy. Given the widespread morphological changes observed in psychiatric disorders, our study applies five supervised machine learning regression algorithms-ridge regression, support vector regression, partial least squares regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, and Elastic-Net regression-to predict anxiety and depressive symptom scores. We base these predictions on the whole-brain gray matter volume in a large non-clinical sample (n = 425). Our results demonstrate that machine learning algorithms can effectively predict individual variability in anxiety and depressive symptoms, as measured by the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire. The most discriminative features contributing to the prediction models were primarily located in the prefrontal-parietal, temporal, visual, and sub-cortical regions (e.g. amygdala, hippocampus, and putamen). These regions showed distinct patterns for anxious arousal and high positive affect in three of the five models (partial least squares regression, support vector regression, and ridge regression). Importantly, these predictions were consistent across genders and robust to demographic variability (e.g. age, parental education, etc.). Our findings offer critical insights into the distinct brain morphological patterns underlying specific components of anxiety and depressive symptoms, supporting the existing tripartite theory from a neuroimaging perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ning Zhang
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Shuning Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Keying Jiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Wei Ge
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Hohjin Im
- Independent Researcher, United States
| | - Shunping Guan
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Zixi Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Chuqiao Wei
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Pinchun Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Ye Zhu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Guang Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Liqing Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Chunhui Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Huibin Chang
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Qiang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, 230061, China
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24
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McKenna BS, Anthenelli RM, Schuckit MA. Sex differences in alcohol's effects on fronto-amygdalar functional connectivity during processing of emotional stimuli. ALCOHOL, CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 48:612-622. [PMID: 38379361 PMCID: PMC11015979 DOI: 10.1111/acer.15279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Revised: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/28/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Amygdala function underlying emotion processing has been shown to vary with an individuals' biological sex. Expanding upon functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings reported previously where a low level of response was the focus, we examined alcohol and sex effects on functional connectivity between the amygdala and other brain regions. The central hypothesis predicted that sex would influence alcohol's effects on frontal-limbic functional circuits underlying the processing of negative and positive facial emotions. METHODS Secondary analyses were conducted on data from a double-blind, placebo controlled, within-subjects, cross-over study in 54 sex-matched pairs (N = 108) of 18- to 25-year-old individuals without an alcohol use disorder at baseline. Participants performed an emotional faces fMRI processing task after placebo or approximately 0.7 mL/kg of ethanol. Psychophysiological interaction analyses examined functional connectivity between the amygdala with other brain regions. RESULTS There were significant alcohol-by-sex interactions when processing negatively valenced faces. Whereas intoxicated men exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the amygdala and ventral and dorsal anterior cingulate, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus connectivity was increased in intoxicated women. There was also a main sex effect where women exhibited less functional connectivity in the middle insula than men regardless of whether they received alcohol or placebo. For happy faces, main effects of both sex and alcohol were observed. Women exhibited less amygdala functional connectivity in the right inferior frontal gyrus than men. Both men and women exhibited greater functional connectivity in the superior frontal gyrus in response to alcohol than placebo. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol's effects on amygdala functional circuits that underlying emotional processing vary by sex. Women had higher functional connectivity than men following exposure to a moderate dose of alcohol which could indicate that women are better than men at processing affectively laden stimuli when intoxicated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin S McKenna
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, La Jolla, California, USA
- VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California, USA
| | - Robert M Anthenelli
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - Marc A Schuckit
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences, La Jolla, California, USA
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25
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Lawrence AJ, Lawrence-Wood E, Aidman EV, Spencer-Merris PL, Felmingham KL, McFarlane AC. Reduced pre-attentive threat versus nonthreat signal discrimination in clinically healthy military personnel with recurrent combat exposure history: A preliminary event-related potential (ERP) study. J Psychiatr Res 2024; 172:266-273. [PMID: 38417322 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.02.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024]
Abstract
Evidence now suggests that traumatic-stress impacts brain functions even in the absence of acute-onset post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. These neurophysiological changes have also been suggested to account for increased risks of PTSD symptoms later developing in the aftermath of subsequent trauma. However, surprisingly few studies have explicitly examined brain function dynamics in high-risk populations, such as combat exposed military personnel without diagnosable PTSD. To extend available research, facial expression sensitive N170 event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes were examined in a clinically healthy sample of active service military personnel with recurrent combat exposure history. Consistent with several established theories of delayed-onset PTSD vulnerability, higher N170 amplitudes to backward-masked fearful and neutral facial expressions correlated with higher levels of past combat exposure. Significantly elevated amplitudes to nonthreatening neutral facial expressions also resulted in an absence of normal threat-versus-nonthreat signal processing specificity. While a modest sample size and cross-sectional design are key limitations here, ongoing prospective-longitudinal follow-ups may shed further light on the precise aetiology and prognostic utility of these preliminary findings in the near future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J Lawrence
- Discipline of Psychiatry, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
| | - Ellie Lawrence-Wood
- Discipline of Psychiatry, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Eugene V Aidman
- Human and Decision Sciences Division, Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), Adelaide, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia
| | | | - Kim L Felmingham
- School of Psychological Science, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Alexander C McFarlane
- Discipline of Psychiatry, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
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26
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George GC, Heyn SA, Russell JD, Keding TJ, Herringa RJ. Parent Psychopathology and Behavioral Effects on Child Brain-Symptom Networks in the ABCD Study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2024:S0890-8567(24)00138-2. [PMID: 38522613 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Parents play a notable role in the development of child psychopathology. In this study, we investigated the role of parent psychopathology and behaviors on child brain-symptom networks to understand the role of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. Few studies have documented the interaction of child psychopathology, parent psychopathology, and child neuroimaging. METHOD We used the baseline cohort of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 7,151, female-at-birth = 3,619, aged 9-11 years) to derive brain-symptom networks using sparse canonical correlation analysis with the Child Behavior Checklist and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We then correlated parent psychopathology symptoms and parental behaviors with child brain-symptom networks. Finally, we used the significant correlations to understand, using the mediation R package, whether parent behaviors mediated the effect of parent psychopathology on child brain connectivity. RESULTS We observed 3 brain-symptom networks correlated with externalizing (r = 0.19, internalizing (r = 0.17), and neurodevelopmental symptoms (r = 0.18). These corresponded to differences in connectivity between the default mode-default mode, default mode-control, and visual-visual canonical networks. We further detected aspects of parental psychopathology, including personal strength, thought problems, and rule-breaking symptoms to be associated with child brain connectivity. Finally, we found that parental behaviors and symptoms mediate each other's relationship to child brain connectivity. CONCLUSION The current study suggests that positive parental behaviors can relieve potentially detrimental effects of parental psychopathology, and vice versa, on symptom-correlated child brain connectivity. Altogether, these results provide a framework for future research and potential targets for parents who experience mental health symptoms to help mitigate potential intergenerational transmission of mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace C George
- University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin; McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
| | - Sara A Heyn
- University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Justin D Russell
- University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Taylor J Keding
- Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Ryan J Herringa
- University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin
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27
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Yuan M, Jin S, Tan G, Song S, Liu Y, Wang H, Shen Y. A Non-canonical Excitatory PV RGC-PV SC Visual Pathway for Mediating the Looming-evoked Innate Defensive Response. Neurosci Bull 2024; 40:310-324. [PMID: 37302108 PMCID: PMC10912393 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-023-01076-z] [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: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Parvalbumin-positive retinal ganglion cells (PV+ RGCs) are an essential subset of RGCs found in various species. However, their role in transmitting visual information remains unclear. Here, we characterized PV+ RGCs in the retina and explored the functions of the PV+ RGC-mediated visual pathway. By applying multiple viral tracing strategies, we investigated the downstream of PV+ RGCs across the whole brain. Interestingly, we found that the PV+ RGCs provided direct monosynaptic input to PV+ excitatory neurons in the superficial layers of the superior colliculus (SC). Ablation or suppression of SC-projecting PV+ RGCs abolished or severely impaired the flight response to looming visual stimuli in mice without affecting visual acuity. Furthermore, using transcriptome expression profiling of individual cells and immunofluorescence colocalization for RGCs, we found that PV+ RGCs are predominant glutamatergic neurons. Thus, our findings indicate the critical role of PV+ RGCs in an innate defensive response and suggest a non-canonical subcortical visual pathway from excitatory PV+ RGCs to PV+ SC neurons that regulates looming visual stimuli. These results provide a potential target for intervening and treating diseases related to this circuit, such as schizophrenia and autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Man Yuan
- Eye Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, China
| | - Sen Jin
- The Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Viral Vectors for Biomedicine, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, National Medical Products Administration Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Viral Vector Technology in Cell and Gene Therapy Medicinal Products, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Quality Control Technology for Virus-Based Therapeutics, Guangdong Provincial Medical Products Administration, Shenzhen, 518055, China
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, Wuhan Center for Magnetic Resonance, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, CAS, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Gao Tan
- Eye Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, China
| | - Siyuan Song
- Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, 77030, USA
| | - Yizong Liu
- Eye Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, China
| | - Huadong Wang
- The Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Viral Vectors for Biomedicine, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, National Medical Products Administration Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Viral Vector Technology in Cell and Gene Therapy Medicinal Products, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Quality Control Technology for Virus-Based Therapeutics, Guangdong Provincial Medical Products Administration, Shenzhen, 518055, China
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, Wuhan Center for Magnetic Resonance, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, CAS, Wuhan, 430071, China
| | - Yin Shen
- Eye Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, China.
- Frontier Science Center of Immunology and Metabolism, Medical Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China.
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28
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Koob JL, Gorski M, Krick S, Mustin M, Fink GR, Grefkes C, Rehme AK. Behavioral and neuroanatomical correlates of facial emotion processing in post-stroke depression. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 41:103586. [PMID: 38428325 PMCID: PMC10944179 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2024] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Emotion processing deficits are known to accompany depressive symptoms and are often seen in stroke patients. Little is known about the influence of post-stroke depressive (PSD) symptoms and specific brain lesions on altered emotion processing abilities and how these phenomena develop over time. This potential relationship may impact post-stroke rehabilitation of neurological and psychosocial function. To address this scientific gap, we investigated the relationship between PSD symptoms and emotion processing abilities in a longitudinal study design from the first days post-stroke into the early chronic phase. METHODS Twenty-six ischemic stroke patients performed an emotion processing task on videos with emotional faces ('happy,' 'sad,' 'anger,' 'fear,' and 'neutral') at different intensity levels (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%). Recognition accuracies and response times were measured, as well as scores of depressive symptoms (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale). Twenty-eight healthy participants matched in age and sex were included as a control group. Whole-brain support-vector regression lesion-symptom mapping (SVR-LSM) analyses were performed to investigate whether specific lesion locations were associated with the recognition accuracy of specific emotion categories. RESULTS Stroke patients performed worse in overall recognition accuracy compared to controls, specifically in the recognition of happy, sad, and fearful faces. Notably, more depressed stroke patients showed an increased processing towards specific negative emotions, as they responded significantly faster to angry faces and recognized sad faces of low intensities significantly more accurately. These effects obtained for the first days after stroke partly persisted to follow-up assessment several months later. SVR-LSM analyses revealed that inferior and middle frontal regions (IFG/MFG) and insula and putamen were associated with emotion-recognition deficits in stroke. Specifically, recognizing happy facial expressions was influenced by lesions affecting the anterior insula, putamen, IFG, MFG, orbitofrontal cortex, and rolandic operculum. Lesions in the posterior insula, rolandic operculum, and MFG were also related to reduced recognition accuracy of fearful facial expressions, whereas recognition deficits of sad faces were associated with frontal pole, IFG, and MFG damage. CONCLUSION PSD symptoms facilitate processing negative emotional stimuli, specifically angry and sad facial expressions. The recognition accuracy of different emotional categories was linked to brain lesions in emotion-related processing circuits, including insula, basal ganglia, IFG, and MFG. In summary, our study provides support for psychosocial and neural factors underlying emotional processing after stroke, contributing to the pathophysiology of PSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janusz L Koob
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany
| | - Maximilian Gorski
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany
| | - Sebastian Krick
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany
| | - Maike Mustin
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany
| | - Gereon R Fink
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Cognitive Neuroscience (INM-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich 52428, Germany
| | - Christian Grefkes
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Cognitive Neuroscience (INM-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich 52428, Germany; Goethe University Frankfurt and University Hospital Frankfurt, Department of Neurology, Frankfurt am Main 60596, Germany.
| | - Anne K Rehme
- University Hospital Cologne, Department of Neurology, Cologne 50937, Germany
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Sato W, Usui N, Kondo A, Kubota Y, Toichi M, Inoue Y. Impairment of unconscious emotional processing after unilateral medial temporal structure resection. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4269. [PMID: 38383855 PMCID: PMC10881984 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54868-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The role of the amygdala in unconscious emotional processing remains a topic of debate. Past lesion studies have indicated that amygdala damage leads to impaired electrodermal activity in response to subliminally presented emotional stimuli. However, electrodermal activity can reflect both emotional and nonemotional processes. To provide behavioral evidence highlighting the critical role of the amygdala in unconscious emotional processing, we examined patients (n = 16) who had undergone unilateral resection of medial temporal lobe structures, including the amygdala. We utilized the subliminal affective priming paradigm in conjunction with unilateral visual presentation. Fearful or happy dynamic facial expressions were presented in unilateral visual fields for 30 ms, serving as negative or positive primes. Subsequently, neutral target faces were displayed, and participants were tasked with rating the valence of these targets. Positive primes, compared to negative ones, enhanced valence ratings of the target to a greater extent when they stimulated the intact hemisphere (i.e., were presented in the contralateral visual field of the intact hemisphere) than when they stimulated the resected hemisphere (i.e., were presented in the contralateral visual field of the resected hemisphere). These results suggest that the amygdala is causally involved in unconscious emotional processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Sato
- Psychological Process Research Team, Guardian Robot Project, RIKEN, 2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, 619-0288, Japan.
| | - Naotaka Usui
- National Epilepsy Center, Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan.
| | - Akihiko Kondo
- National Epilepsy Center, Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan
| | - Yasutaka Kubota
- Health and Medical Services Center, Shiga University, 1-1-1 Baba, Hikone, Shiga, 522-8522, Japan
| | - Motomi Toichi
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan
| | - Yushi Inoue
- National Epilepsy Center, Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama 886, Shizuoka, 420-8688, Japan
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Gorrino I, Rossetti MG, Girelli F, Bellani M, Perlini C, Mattavelli G. A critical overview of emotion processing assessment in non-affective and affective psychoses. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2024; 33:e8. [PMID: 38356360 PMCID: PMC10894699 DOI: 10.1017/s204579602400009x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
AIMS Patients with affective and non-affective psychoses show impairments in both the identification and discrimination of facial affect, which can significantly reduce their quality of life. The aim of this commentary is to present the strengths and weaknesses of the available instruments for a more careful evaluation of different stages of emotion processing in clinical and experimental studies on patients with non-affective and affective psychoses. METHODS We reviewed the existing literature to identify different tests used to assess the ability to recognise (e.g. Ekman 60-Faces Test, Facial Emotion Identification Test and Penn Emotion Recognition Test) and to discriminate emotions (e.g. Face Emotion Discrimination Test and Emotion Differentiation Task). RESULTS The current literature revealed that few studies combine instruments to differentiate between different levels of emotion processing disorders. The lack of comprehensive instruments that integrate emotion recognition and discrimination assessments prevents a full understanding of patients' conditions. CONCLUSIONS This commentary underlines the need for a detailed evaluation of emotion processing ability in patients with non-affective and affective psychoses, to characterise the disorder at early phases from the onset of the disease and to design rehabilitation treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Gorrino
- IUSS Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS, Pavia, Italy
| | - Maria Gloria Rossetti
- Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
- UOC Psychiatry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI), Verona, Italy
| | - Francesca Girelli
- UOC Psychiatry, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata (AOUI), Verona, Italy
| | - Marcella Bellani
- Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Cinzia Perlini
- Section of Clinical Psychology, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Giulia Mattavelli
- IUSS Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS, Pavia, Italy
- Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of Pavia Institute, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Pavia, Italy
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Zsidó AN. The effect of emotional arousal on visual attentional performance: a systematic review. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1-24. [PMID: 37417982 PMCID: PMC10805986 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01852-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Although the arousal elicited by emotional stimuli, similarly to valence, is an integrative part of emotion theories, previous studies and reviews mostly focused on the valence of a stimulus and rarely investigated the role of arousal. Here, I systematically searched for articles that used visual attentional paradigms, manipulated emotional arousal by auditory or visual, task-relevant or task-irrelevant stimuli, measured behavioral responses, ocular behavior, or neural correlates. I found that task-relevant arousing stimuli draw and hold attention regardless of the modality. In contrast, task-irrelevant arousing stimuli impaired task performance. However, when the emotional content precedes the task or it is presented for a longer duration, arousal increased performance. Future directions on how research could address the remaining questions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andras N Zsidó
- Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, 6 Ifjusag Str., Pécs, 7624, Hungary.
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Borgomaneri S, Vitale F, Battaglia S, de Vega M, Avenanti A. Task-related modulation of motor response to emotional bodies: A TMS motor-evoked potential study. Cortex 2024; 171:235-246. [PMID: 38096756 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.10.013] [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: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Exposure to emotional body postures during perceptual decision-making tasks has been linked to transient suppression of motor reactivity, supporting the monitoring of emotionally relevant information. However, it remains unclear whether this effect occurs implicitly, i.e., when emotional information is irrelevant to the task. To investigate this issue, we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess motor excitability while healthy participants were asked to categorize pictures of body expressions as emotional or neutral (emotion recognition task) or as belonging to a male or a female actor (gender recognition task) while receiving TMS over the motor cortex at 100 and 125 ms after picture onset. Results demonstrated that motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were reduced for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the emotion recognition task. Conversely, MEPs increased for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the gender recognition task. These findings indicate that motor inhibition, contingent upon observing emotional body postures, is selectively associated with actively monitoring emotional features. In contrast, observing emotional body postures prompts motor facilitation when task-relevant features are non-emotional. These findings contribute to embodied cognition models that link emotion perception and action tendencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Borgomaneri
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy.
| | - Francesca Vitale
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Simone Battaglia
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy
| | - Manuel de Vega
- Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena, Italy; Centro de Investigación en Neuropsicología y Neurosciencias Cognitivas, Universidad Católica Del Maule, Talca, Chile.
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Jamieson AJ, Leonards CA, Davey CG, Harrison BJ. Major depressive disorder associated alterations in the effective connectivity of the face processing network: a systematic review. Transl Psychiatry 2024; 14:62. [PMID: 38272868 PMCID: PMC10810788 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-024-02734-0] [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: 10/04/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is marked by altered processing of emotional stimuli, including facial expressions. Recent neuroimaging research has attempted to investigate how these stimuli alter the directional interactions between brain regions in those with MDD; however, methodological heterogeneity has made identifying consistent effects difficult. To address this, we systematically examined studies investigating MDD-associated differences present in effective connectivity during the processing of emotional facial expressions. We searched five databases: PsycINFO, EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, using a preregistered protocol (registration number: CRD42021271586). Of the 510 unique studies screened, 17 met our inclusion criteria. These studies identified that compared with healthy controls, participants with MDD demonstrated (1) reduced connectivity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the amygdala during the processing of negatively valenced expressions, and (2) increased inhibitory connectivity from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to amygdala during the processing of happy facial expressions. Most studies investigating the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex noted differences in their connectivity; however, the precise nature of these differences was inconsistent between studies. As such, commonalities observed across neuroimaging modalities warrant careful investigation to determine the specificity of these effects to particular subregions and emotional expressions. Future research examining longitudinal connectivity changes associated with treatment response may provide important insights into mechanisms underpinning therapeutic interventions, thus enabling more targeted treatment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec J Jamieson
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Christine A Leonards
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christopher G Davey
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ben J Harrison
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
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Yu Z, Moses E, Kritikos A, Pegna AJ. Looming Angry Faces: Preliminary Evidence of Differential Electrophysiological Dynamics for Filtered Stimuli via Low and High Spatial Frequencies. Brain Sci 2024; 14:98. [PMID: 38275518 PMCID: PMC10813450 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14010098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Looming motion interacts with threatening emotional cues in the initial stages of visual processing. However, the underlying neural networks are unclear. The current study investigated if the interactive effect of threat elicited by angry and looming faces is favoured by rapid, magnocellular neural pathways and if exogenous or endogenous attention influences such processing. Here, EEG/ERP techniques were used to explore the early ERP responses to moving emotional faces filtered for high spatial frequencies (HSF) and low spatial frequencies (LSF). Experiment 1 applied a passive-viewing paradigm, presenting filtered angry and neutral faces in static, approaching, or receding motions on a depth-cued background. In the second experiment, broadband faces (BSF) were included, and endogenous attention was directed to the expression of faces. Our main results showed that regardless of attentional control, P1 was enhanced by BSF angry faces, but neither HSF nor LSF faces drove the effect of facial expressions. Such findings indicate that looming motion and threatening expressions are integrated rapidly at the P1 level but that this processing relies neither on LSF nor on HSF information in isolation. The N170 was enhanced for BSF angry faces regardless of attention but was enhanced for LSF angry faces during passive viewing. These results suggest the involvement of a neural pathway reliant on LSF information at the N170 level. Taken together with previous reports from the literature, this may indicate the involvement of multiple parallel neural pathways during early visual processing of approaching emotional faces.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Alan J. Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; (Z.Y.); (E.M.); (A.K.)
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Allawala A, Bijanki KR, Oswalt D, Mathura RK, Adkinson J, Pirtle V, Shofty B, Robinson M, Harrison MT, Mathew SJ, Goodman WK, Pouratian N, Sheth SA, Borton DA. Prefrontal network engagement by deep brain stimulation in limbic hubs. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 17:1291315. [PMID: 38283094 PMCID: PMC10813208 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1291315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Prefrontal circuits in the human brain play an important role in cognitive and affective processing. Neuromodulation therapies delivered to certain key hubs within these circuits are being used with increasing frequency to treat a host of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the detailed neurophysiological effects of stimulation to these hubs are largely unknown. Here, we performed intracranial recordings across prefrontal networks while delivering electrical stimulation to two well-established white matter hubs involved in cognitive regulation and depression: the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) and ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS). We demonstrate a shared frontotemporal circuit consisting of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and lateral orbitofrontal cortex where gamma oscillations are differentially modulated by stimulation target. Additionally, we found participant-specific responses to stimulation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and demonstrate the capacity for further tuning of neural activity using current-steered stimulation. Our findings indicate a potential neurophysiological mechanism for the dissociable therapeutic effects seen across the SCC and VC/VS targets for psychiatric neuromodulation and our results lay the groundwork for personalized, network-guided neurostimulation therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anusha Allawala
- School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Kelly R. Bijanki
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Denise Oswalt
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Raissa K. Mathura
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Joshua Adkinson
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Victoria Pirtle
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Ben Shofty
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Meghan Robinson
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Matthew T. Harrison
- Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Sanjay J. Mathew
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Wayne K. Goodman
- Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Neurological Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Sameer A. Sheth
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - David A. Borton
- School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Providence, RI, United States
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Watve A, Haugg A, Frei N, Koush Y, Willinger D, Bruehl AB, Stämpfli P, Scharnowski F, Sladky R. Facing emotions: real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback using dynamic emotional faces to modulate amygdala activity. Front Neurosci 2024; 17:1286665. [PMID: 38274498 PMCID: PMC10808718 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1286665] [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: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Maladaptive functioning of the amygdala has been associated with impaired emotion regulation in affective disorders. Recent advances in real-time fMRI neurofeedback have successfully demonstrated the modulation of amygdala activity in healthy and psychiatric populations. In contrast to an abstract feedback representation applied in standard neurofeedback designs, we proposed a novel neurofeedback paradigm using naturalistic stimuli like human emotional faces as the feedback display where change in the facial expression intensity (from neutral to happy or from fearful to neutral) was coupled with the participant's ongoing bilateral amygdala activity. Methods The feasibility of this experimental approach was tested on 64 healthy participants who completed a single training session with four neurofeedback runs. Participants were assigned to one of the four experimental groups (n = 16 per group), i.e., happy-up, happy-down, fear-up, fear-down. Depending on the group assignment, they were either instructed to "try to make the face happier" by upregulating (happy-up) or downregulating (happy-down) the amygdala or to "try to make the face less fearful" by upregulating (fear-up) or downregulating (fear-down) the amygdala feedback signal. Results Linear mixed effect analyses revealed significant amygdala activity changes in the fear condition, specifically in the fear-down group with significant amygdala downregulation in the last two neurofeedback runs as compared to the first run. The happy-up and happy-down groups did not show significant amygdala activity changes over four runs. We did not observe significant improvement in the questionnaire scores and subsequent behavior. Furthermore, task-dependent effective connectivity changes between the amygdala, fusiform face area (FFA), and the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) were examined using dynamic causal modeling. The effective connectivity between FFA and the amygdala was significantly increased in the happy-up group (facilitatory effect) and decreased in the fear-down group. Notably, the amygdala was downregulated through an inhibitory mechanism mediated by mOFC during the first training run. Discussion In this feasibility study, we intended to address key neurofeedback processes like naturalistic facial stimuli, participant engagement in the task, bidirectional regulation, task congruence, and their influence on learning success. It demonstrated that such a versatile emotional face feedback paradigm can be tailored to target biased emotion processing in affective disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Apurva Watve
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Amelie Haugg
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Nada Frei
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Yury Koush
- Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC), Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - David Willinger
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Division of Psychodynamics, Department of Psychology and Psychodynamics, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Lower Austria, Austria
- Neuroscience Center Zürich, University of Zürich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Annette Beatrix Bruehl
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders, Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Philipp Stämpfli
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Frank Scharnowski
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zürich, University of Zürich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland
- Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ronald Sladky
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Spann MN, Alleyne K, Holland CM, Davids A, Pierre-Louis A, Bang C, Oyeneye V, Kiflom R, Shea E, Cheng B, Peterson BS, Monk C, Scheinost D. The effects of experience of discrimination and acculturation during pregnancy on the developing offspring brain. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024; 49:476-485. [PMID: 37968451 PMCID: PMC10724278 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01765-3] [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: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
The experience of ethnic, racial, and structural inequalities is increasingly recognized as detrimental to health, and early studies suggest that its experience in pregnant mothers may affect the developing fetus. We characterized discrimination and acculturation experiences in a predominantly Hispanic sample of pregnant adolescent women and assessed their association with functional connectivity in their neonate's brain. We collected self-report measures of acculturation, discrimination, maternal distress (i.e., perceived stress, childhood trauma, and depressive symptoms), and socioeconomic status in 165 women. Then, we performed a data-driven clustering of acculturation, discrimination, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, trauma, and socioeconomic status variables during pregnancy to determine whether discrimination or acculturation clustered into distinct factors. Discrimination and acculturation styles loaded onto different factors from perceived stress, depressive symptoms, trauma, and socioeconomic status, suggesting that they were distinct from other factors in our sample. We associated these data-driven maternal phenotypes (discrimination and acculturation styles) with measures of resting-state functional MRI connectivity of the infant amygdala (n = 38). Higher maternal report of assimilation was associated with weaker connectivity between their neonate's amygdala and bilateral fusiform gyrus. Maternal experience of discrimination was associated with weaker connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex and stronger connectivity between the amygdala and fusiform of their neonate. Cautiously, the results may suggest a similarity to self-contained studies with adults, noting that the experience of discrimination and acculturation may influence amygdala circuitry across generations. Further prospective studies are essential that consider a more diverse population of minoritized individuals and with a comprehensive assessment of ethnic, racial, and structural factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa N Spann
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Kiarra Alleyne
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Cristin M Holland
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Antonette Davids
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Arline Pierre-Louis
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Claire Bang
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Eileen Shea
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Bin Cheng
- Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Bradley S Peterson
- Institute for the Developing Mind, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Catherine Monk
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
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MacKay CE, Desroches AS, Smith SD. An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Examination of the Neural Responses to Emotional and Movement-Related Images. Cogn Neurosci 2024; 15:1-11. [PMID: 38362596 DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2024.2313597] [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: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Previous research has suggested that the perception of emotional images may also activate brain regions related to the preparation of motoric plans. However, little research has investigated whether these emotion-movement interactions occur at early or later stages of visual perception. In the current research, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to examine the time course of the independent - and combined - effects of perceiving emotions and implied movement. Twenty-five participants viewed images from four categories: 1) emotional with implied movement, 2) emotional with no implied movement, 3) neutral with implied movement, and 4) neutral with no implied movement. Both emotional stimuli and movement-related stimuli led to larger N200 (200-300 ms) waveforms. Furthermore, at frontal sites, there was a marginal interaction between emotion and implied movement, such that negative stimuli showed greater N200 amplitudes vs. neutral stimuli, but only for images with implied movement. At posterior sites, a similar effect was observed for images without implied movement. The late positive potential (LPP; 500-1000 ms) was significant for emotion (at frontal sites) and movement (at frontal, central, and posterior sites), as well as for their interaction (at parietal sites), with larger LPPs for negative vs. neutral images with movement only. Together, these results suggest that the perception of emotion and movement interact at later stages of visual perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine E MacKay
- Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
| | - Amy S Desroches
- Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | - Stephen D Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Kamenish K, Robinson ESJ. Neuropsychological Effects of Antidepressants: Translational Studies. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2024; 66:101-130. [PMID: 37955824 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2023_446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
Pharmacological treatments that improve mood were first identified serendipitously, but more than half a century later, how these drugs induce their antidepressant effects remains largely unknown. With the help of animal models, a detailed understanding of their pharmacological targets and acute and chronic effects on brain chemistry and neuronal function has been achieved, but it remains to be elucidated how these effects translate to clinical efficacy. Whilst the field has been dominated by the monoamine and neurotrophic hypotheses, the idea that the maladaptive cognitive process plays a critical role in the development and perpetuation of mood disorders has been discussed since the 1950s. Recently, studies using objective methods to quantify changes in emotional processing found acute effects with conventional antidepressants in both healthy volunteers and patients. These positive effects on emotional processing and cognition occur without a change in the subjective ratings of mood. Building from these studies, behavioural methods for animals that quantify similar cognitive affective processes have been developed. Integrating these behavioural approaches with pharmacology and targeted brain manipulations, a picture is beginning to emerge of the underlying mechanisms that may link the pharmacology of antidepressants, these neuropsychological constructs and clinical efficacy. In this chapter, we discuss findings from animal studies, experimental medicine and patients investigating the neuropsychological effects of antidepressant drugs. We discuss the possible neural circuits that contribute to these effects and discuss whether a neuropsychological model of antidepressant effects could explain the temporal differences in clinical benefits observed with conventional delayed-onset antidepressants versus rapid-acting antidepressants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie Kamenish
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol, UK
| | - Emma S J Robinson
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol, UK.
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Bufacchi RJ, Battaglia-Mayer A, Iannetti GD, Caminiti R. Cortico-spinal modularity in the parieto-frontal system: A new perspective on action control. Prog Neurobiol 2023; 231:102537. [PMID: 37832714 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102537] [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: 04/02/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023]
Abstract
Classical neurophysiology suggests that the motor cortex (MI) has a unique role in action control. In contrast, this review presents evidence for multiple parieto-frontal spinal command modules that can bypass MI. Five observations support this modular perspective: (i) the statistics of cortical connectivity demonstrate functionally-related clusters of cortical areas, defining functional modules in the premotor, cingulate, and parietal cortices; (ii) different corticospinal pathways originate from the above areas, each with a distinct range of conduction velocities; (iii) the activation time of each module varies depending on task, and different modules can be activated simultaneously; (iv) a modular architecture with direct motor output is faster and less metabolically expensive than an architecture that relies on MI, given the slow connections between MI and other cortical areas; (v) lesions of the areas composing parieto-frontal modules have different effects from lesions of MI. Here we provide examples of six cortico-spinal modules and functions they subserve: module 1) arm reaching, tool use and object construction; module 2) spatial navigation and locomotion; module 3) grasping and observation of hand and mouth actions; module 4) action initiation, motor sequences, time encoding; module 5) conditional motor association and learning, action plan switching and action inhibition; module 6) planning defensive actions. These modules can serve as a library of tools to be recombined when faced with novel tasks, and MI might serve as a recombinatory hub. In conclusion, the availability of locally-stored information and multiple outflow paths supports the physiological plausibility of the proposed modular perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J Bufacchi
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy; International Center for Primate Brain Research (ICPBR), Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China
| | - A Battaglia-Mayer
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome, Sapienza, Italy
| | - G D Iannetti
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College London (UCL), London, UK
| | - R Caminiti
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy.
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Deng K, Jin W, Jiang K, Li Z, Im H, Chen S, Du H, Guan S, Ge W, Wei C, Zhang B, Wang P, Zhao G, Chen C, Liu L, Wang Q. Reactivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but not the amygdala, to negative emotion faces predicts greed personality trait. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2023; 19:21. [PMID: 38041182 PMCID: PMC10690991 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-023-00223-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
This study explored whether amygdala reactivity predicted the greed personality trait (GPT) using both task-based and resting-state functional connectivity analyses (ntotal = 452). In Cohort 1 (n = 83), task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (t-fMRI) results from a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis revealed no direct correlation between amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry faces and GPT. Instead, whole-brain analyses revealed GPT to robustly negatively vary with activations in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus in the contrast of fearful + angry faces > shapes. Moreover, task-based psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses showed that the high GPT group showed weaker functional connectivity of the vmPFC seed with a top-down control network and visual pathways when processing fearful or angry faces compared to their lower GPT counterparts. In Cohort 2, resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses indicated stronger connectivity between the vmPFC seed and the top-down control network and visual pathways in individuals with higher GPT. Comparing the two cohorts, bilateral amygdala seeds showed weaker associations with the top-down control network in the high group via PPI analyses in Cohort 1. Yet, they exhibited distinct rs-FC patterns in Cohort 2 (e.g., positive associations of GPT with the left amygdala-top-down network FC but negative associations with the right amygdala-visual pathway FC). The study underscores the role of the vmPFC and its functional connectivity in understanding GPT, rather than amygdala reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Deng
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Weipeng Jin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, 300060, China
| | - Keying Jiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Zixi Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Hohjin Im
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA
| | - Shuning Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Hanxiao Du
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Shunping Guan
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Wei Ge
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Chuqiao Wei
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Bin Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Pinchun Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Guang Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Chunhui Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
| | - Liqing Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China.
| | - Qiang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China.
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Levitas DJ, Folco KL, James TW. Impact of aversive affect on neural mechanisms of categorization decisions. Brain Behav 2023; 13:e3312. [PMID: 37969052 PMCID: PMC10726818 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.3312] [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: 05/28/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Many theories contend that evidence accumulation is a critical component of decision-making. Cognitive accumulation models typically interpret two main parameters: a drift rate and decision threshold. The former is the rate of accumulation, based on the quality of evidence, and the latter is the amount of evidence required for a decision. Some studies have found neural signals that mimic evidence accumulators and can be described by the two parameters. However, few studies have related these neural parameters to experimental manipulations of sensory data or memory representations. Here, we investigated the influence of affective salience on neural accumulation parameters. High affective salience has been repeatedly shown to influence decision-making, yet its effect on neural evidence accumulation has been unexamined. METHODS The current study used a two-choice object categorization task of body images (feet or hands). Half the images in each category were high in affective salience because they contained highly aversive features (gore and mutilation). To study such quick categorization decisions with a relatively slow technique like functional magnetic resonance imaging, we used a gradual reveal paradigm to lengthen cognitive processing time through the gradual "unmasking" of stimuli. RESULTS Because the aversive features were task-irrelevant, high affective salience produced a distractor effect, slowing decision time. In visual accumulation regions of interest, high affective salience produced a longer time to peak activation. Unexpectedly, the later peak appeared to be the product of changes to both drift rate and decision threshold. The drift rate for high affective salience was shallower, and the decision threshold was greater. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an experimental manipulation of sensory data or memory representations that changed the neural decision threshold. CONCLUSION These findings advance our knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying affective responses in general and the influence of high affective salience on object representations and categorization decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J. Levitas
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesIndiana UniversityBloomingtonIndianaUSA
| | - Kess L. Folco
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesIndiana UniversityBloomingtonIndianaUSA
| | - Thomas W. James
- Department of Psychological and Brain SciencesIndiana UniversityBloomingtonIndianaUSA
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Railo H, Kraufvelin N, Santalahti J, Laine T. Rapid withdrawal from a threatening animal is movement-specific and mediated by reflex-like neural processing. Neuroimage 2023; 283:120441. [PMID: 37923282 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120441] [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: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Responses to potentially dangerous stimuli are among the most basic animal behaviors. While research has shown that threats automatically capture the attention of human participants, research has failed to demonstrate automatic behavioral responses to threats in humans. Using a novel naturalistic paradigm, we show that two species of animals humans often report fearing trigger rapid withdrawal responses: participants withdrew their arm from photos of snakes and spiders faster, and with higher acceleration when compared to bird and butterfly stimuli. The behavior was specific to withdrawal as approach movements or button-press/release tasks failed to detect a similar difference. Moreover, between-participant differences in how aversive they found the stimuli predicted the participant's withdrawal speed, indicating that the paradigm was also sensitive to trait-level differences between individuals. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we show that the fast withdrawal was mediated by two attentional processes. First, fast withdrawal responses were associated with early amplification of sensory signals (40-110 ms after stimulus). Second, a later correlate of feature-based attention (early posterior negativity, EPN, 200-240 ms after stimulus) revealed the opposite pattern: Stronger EPN was associated with slower behavioral responses, suggesting that the deployment of attention towards the threatening stimulus features, or failure to "disengage" attention from the stimulus, was detrimental for withdrawal speed. Altogether, the results suggest that rapid behavioral withdrawal from a threatening animal is mediated by reflex-like attentional processing, and later, conscious attention to stimulus features may hinder escaping the treat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henry Railo
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Assistentinkatu 7, 20014 Finland; Turku Brain and Mind Centre, University of Turku, Finland.
| | - Nelli Kraufvelin
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Assistentinkatu 7, 20014 Finland; Turku Brain and Mind Centre, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Jussi Santalahti
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Assistentinkatu 7, 20014 Finland
| | - Teemu Laine
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Assistentinkatu 7, 20014 Finland
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van Kleef RS, Müller A, van Velzen LS, Marie Bas-Hoogendam J, van der Wee NJA, Schmaal L, Veltman DJ, Rive MM, Ruhé HG, Marsman JBC, van Tol MJ. Functional MRI correlates of emotion regulation in major depressive disorder related to depressive disease load measured over nine years. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 40:103535. [PMID: 37984226 PMCID: PMC10696117 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103535] [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: 01/17/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) often is a recurrent and chronic disorder. We investigated the neurocognitive underpinnings of the incremental risk for poor disease course by exploring relations between enduring depression and brain functioning during regulation of negative and positive emotions using cognitive reappraisal. We used fMRI-data from the longitudinal Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety acquired during an emotion regulation task in 77 individuals with MDD. Task-related brain activity was related to disease load, calculated from presence and severity of depression in the preceding nine years. Additionally, we explored task related brain-connectivity. Brain functioning in individuals with MDD was further compared to 35 controls to explore overlap between load-effects and general effects related to MDD history/presence. Disease load was not associated with changes in affect or with brain activity, but with connectivity between areas essential for processing, integrating and regulating emotional information during downregulation of negative emotions. Results did not overlap with general MDD-effects. Instead, MDD was generally associated with lower parietal activity during downregulation of negative emotions. During upregulation of positive emotions, disease load was related to connectivity between limbic regions (although driven by symptomatic state), and connectivity between frontal, insular and thalamic regions was lower in MDD (vs controls). Results suggest that previous depressive load relates to brain connectivity in relevant networks during downregulation of negative emotions. These abnormalities do not overlap with disease-general abnormalities and could foster an incremental vulnerability to recurrence or chronicity of MDD. Therefore, optimizing emotion regulation is a promising therapeutic target for improving long-term MDD course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rozemarijn S van Kleef
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Amke Müller
- Department of Psychology, Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Laura S van Velzen
- Orygen Parkville, VIC, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Janna Marie Bas-Hoogendam
- Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Nic J A van der Wee
- Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Lianne Schmaal
- Orygen Parkville, VIC, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Dick J Veltman
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC location VUMC & Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Maria M Rive
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC location AMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Triversum, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, GGZ Noord-Holland Noord, Hoorn, the Netherlands
| | - Henricus G Ruhé
- Department of Psychiatry, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jan-Bernard C Marsman
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - Marie-José van Tol
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
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Talwar S, Barbero FM, Calce RP, Collignon O. Automatic Brain Categorization of Discrete Auditory Emotion Expressions. Brain Topogr 2023; 36:854-869. [PMID: 37639111 PMCID: PMC10522533 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-00983-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Seamlessly extracting emotional information from voices is crucial for efficient interpersonal communication. However, it remains unclear how the brain categorizes vocal expressions of emotion beyond the processing of their acoustic features. In our study, we developed a new approach combining electroencephalographic recordings (EEG) in humans with a frequency-tagging paradigm to 'tag' automatic neural responses to specific categories of emotion expressions. Participants were presented with a periodic stream of heterogeneous non-verbal emotional vocalizations belonging to five emotion categories: anger, disgust, fear, happiness and sadness at 2.5 Hz (stimuli length of 350 ms with a 50 ms silent gap between stimuli). Importantly, unknown to the participant, a specific emotion category appeared at a target presentation rate of 0.83 Hz that would elicit an additional response in the EEG spectrum only if the brain discriminates the target emotion category from other emotion categories and generalizes across heterogeneous exemplars of the target emotion category. Stimuli were matched across emotion categories for harmonicity-to-noise ratio, spectral center of gravity and pitch. Additionally, participants were presented with a scrambled version of the stimuli with identical spectral content and periodicity but disrupted intelligibility. Both types of sequences had comparable envelopes and early auditory peripheral processing computed via the simulation of the cochlear response. We observed that in addition to the responses at the general presentation frequency (2.5 Hz) in both intact and scrambled sequences, a greater peak in the EEG spectrum at the target emotion presentation rate (0.83 Hz) and its harmonics emerged in the intact sequence in comparison to the scrambled sequence. The greater response at the target frequency in the intact sequence, together with our stimuli matching procedure, suggest that the categorical brain response elicited by a specific emotion is at least partially independent from the low-level acoustic features of the sounds. Moreover, responses at the fearful and happy vocalizations presentation rates elicited different topographies and different temporal dynamics, suggesting that different discrete emotions are represented differently in the brain. Our paradigm revealed the brain's ability to automatically categorize non-verbal vocal emotion expressions objectively (at a predefined frequency of interest), behavior-free, rapidly (in few minutes of recording time) and robustly (with a high signal-to-noise ratio), making it a useful tool to study vocal emotion processing and auditory categorization in general and in populations where behavioral assessments are more challenging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siddharth Talwar
- Institute for Research in Psychology (IPSY) & Neuroscience (IoNS), Louvain Bionics, University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain, Belgium.
| | - Francesca M Barbero
- Institute for Research in Psychology (IPSY) & Neuroscience (IoNS), Louvain Bionics, University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain, Belgium
| | - Roberta P Calce
- Institute for Research in Psychology (IPSY) & Neuroscience (IoNS), Louvain Bionics, University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain, Belgium
| | - Olivier Collignon
- Institute for Research in Psychology (IPSY) & Neuroscience (IoNS), Louvain Bionics, University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain, Belgium.
- School of Health Sciences, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, The Sense Innovation and Research Center, Lausanne and Sion, Switzerland.
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Qiu Z, Li X, Pegna AJ. Decoding neural patterns for the processing of fearful faces under different visual awareness conditions: A multivariate pattern analysis. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14368. [PMID: 37326452 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have provided mixed findings regarding the nonconscious processing of fearful faces. Here, we used multivariate pattern analysis on electroencephalography data from three backward masking experiments to examine the processing of fearful faces under different visual awareness conditions. Three groups of participants were shown pairs of face images presented very briefly (for 16 ms) or for sufficiently long (for 266 ms), and completed tasks where the faces were either relevant to the experimental task (Experiment 1) or not (Experiments 2 and 3). Three main decoding analyses were performed. First, in the visual awareness decoding, the visibility of the faces, and hence participants' awareness of them, was maximally decodable in three time windows: 158-168 ms, 235-260 ms and 400-600 ms where the earlier neural patterns were generalized to the later stage activity. Second, we found that the spatial location of a fearful face in the face pairs was decodable, however only when the faces were consciously seen and task-relevant. Finally, we successfully decoded distinct neural patterns associated with the fearful-face-present conditions, compared to the fearful-face-absent conditions, and these patterns were decodable during both short and long presentations of the faces. Together, our results suggest that, while the processing of the spatial location of fearful faces requires awareness and task-relevancy, the mere presence of fearful faces can be processed even when visual awareness is highly restricted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeguo Qiu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Xuqian Li
- UQ Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Xi Y, Wang Z, Zhou H, Tan Y, Hu X, Wang Y. Correlation of event-related potentials N170 with dysfunctional attitudes in patients with major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord 2023; 340:228-236. [PMID: 37544482 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2023] [Revised: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cognitive impairment frequently accompanies first-episode major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients. Early detection and intervention for cognitive impairment can enhance the quality of life for individuals with depressive disorders. Impaired emotion recognition may serve as an initial manifestation of cognitive impairment in these patients. This study examines the characteristics of event-related potentials N170 and dysfunctional attitudinal questionnaire total scores, as well as each factor and their correlation, revealing characteristic electroencephalogram (EEG) changes associated with cognitive impairment in first-episode MDD patients. METHOD A total of 88 patients experiencing first-episode MDD and 29 healthy volunteers from the same period participated in the study. They underwent event-related potential N170 measures to assess mood recognition function, the 17-item Hamilton depression scale (HAMD-17) to evaluate the severity of depressive disorder, and the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scales(DAS) to appraise cognitive function. RESULT The dysfunctional attitude questionnaire's total score and each factor score were higher in the MDD group compared to the healthy control (HC) group. The MDD group exhibited lower amplitudes than the HC group at CZ, PZ, POZ, P7, PO7, P8, and PO8 electrode points. A correlation was identified between the P7 and PO7 electrode points of the event-related potential N170 and cognitive function. LIMITATION This study solely considered neutral face emotional stimuli and did not account for depressive disorder subtypes. CONCLUSION Differences were observed between the MDD and HC groups in cognitive function and N170 amplitude in the central brain region (CZ, PZ, POZ), left posterior temporal region (P7), left occipitotemporal region (PO7), right posterior temporal region (P8), and right occipitotemporal region (PO8). Additionally, a correlation was found between N170 latency in the left posterior temporal region of the brain (P7) and the left occipitotemporal region (PO7) with cognitive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanqing Xi
- School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
| | - Zongqi Wang
- First School of Clinical Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China; Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 031000, China
| | - Haiyu Zhou
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
| | - Yuting Tan
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China
| | - Xiaodong Hu
- Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 031000, China
| | - Yanfang Wang
- First School of Clinical Medicine, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, China; Department of Psychiatry, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 031000, China.
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Tsikandilakis M, Bali P. Learning emotional dialects: A British population study of cross-cultural communication. Perception 2023; 52:812-843. [PMID: 37796849 PMCID: PMC10634218 DOI: 10.1177/03010066231204180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
The aim of the current research was to explore whether we can improve the recognition of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional faces in British participants. We tested several methods for improving the recognition of freely-expressed emotional faces, such as different methods for presenting other-culture expressions of emotion from individuals from Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in two experimental stages. In the first experimental stage, in phase one, participants were asked to identify the emotion of cross-cultural freely-expressed faces. In the second phase, different cohorts were presented with interactive side-by-side, back-to-back and dynamic morphing of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional faces, and control conditions. In the final phase, we repeated phase one using novel stimuli. We found that all non-control conditions led to recognition improvements. Morphing was the most effective condition for improving the recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces. In the second experimental stage, we presented morphing to different cohorts including own-to-other and other-to-own freely-expressed cross-cultural emotional faces and neutral-to-emotional and emotional-to-neutral other-culture freely-expressed emotional faces. All conditions led to recognition improvements and the presentation of freely-expressed own-to-other cultural-emotional faces provided the most effective learning. These findings suggest that training can improve the recognition of cross-cultural freely-expressed emotional expressions.
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Frynta D, Elmi HSA, Janovcová M, Rudolfová V, Štolhoferová I, Rexová K, Král D, Sommer D, Berti DA, Landová E, Frýdlová P. Are vipers prototypic fear-evoking snakes? A cross-cultural comparison of Somalis and Czechs. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1233667. [PMID: 37928591 PMCID: PMC10620321 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1233667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Snakes are known as highly fear-evoking animals, eliciting preferential attention and fast detection in humans. We examined the human fear response to snakes in the context of both current and evolutionary experiences, conducting our research in the cradle of humankind, the Horn of Africa. This region is characterized by the frequent occurrence of various snake species, including deadly venomous viperids (adders) and elapids (cobras and mambas). We conducted experiments in Somaliland and compared the results with data from Czech respondents to address the still unresolved questions: To which extent is human fear of snakes affected by evolutionary or current experience and local culture? Can people of both nationalities recognize venomous snakes as a category, or are they only afraid of certain species that are most dangerous in a given area? Are respondents of both nationalities equally afraid of deadly snakes from both families (Viperidae, Elapidae)? We employed a well-established picture-sorting approach, consisting of 48 snake species belonging to four distinct groups. Our results revealed significant agreement among Somali as well as Czech respondents. We found a highly significant effect of the stimulus on perceived fear in both populations. Vipers appeared to be the most salient stimuli in both populations, as they occupied the highest positions according to the reported level of subjectively perceived fear. The position of vipers strongly contrasts with the fear ranking of deadly venomous elapids, which were in lower positions. Fear scores of vipers were significantly higher in both populations, and their best predictor was the body width of the snake. The evolutionary, cultural, and cognitive aspects of this phenomenon are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Frynta
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Hassan Sh Abdirahman Elmi
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Amoud University, Borama, Somalia
| | - Markéta Janovcová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Veronika Rudolfová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Iveta Štolhoferová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Kateřina Rexová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - David Král
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - David Sommer
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Daniel Alex Berti
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Eva Landová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Petra Frýdlová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
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Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Beyond facial expressions: A systematic review on effects of emotional relevance of faces on the N170. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105399. [PMID: 37734698 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
The N170 is the most prominent electrophysiological signature of face processing. While facial expressions reliably modulate the N170, there is considerable variance in N170 modulations by other sources of emotional relevance. Therefore, we systematically review and discuss this research area using different methods to manipulate the emotional relevance of inherently neutral faces. These methods were categorized into (1) existing pre-experimental affective person knowledge (e.g., negative attitudes towards outgroup faces), (2) experimentally instructed affective person knowledge (e.g., negative person information), (3) contingency-based affective learning (e.g., fear-conditioning), or (4) the immediate affective context (e.g., emotional information directly preceding the face presentation). For all categories except the immediate affective context category, the majority of studies reported significantly increased N170 amplitudes depending on the emotional relevance of faces. Furthermore, the potentiated N170 was observed across different attention conditions, supporting the role of the emotional relevance of faces on the early prioritized processing of configural facial information, regardless of low-level differences. However, we identified several open research questions and suggest venues for further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
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