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Schäfer L, Köppel C, Kreßner-Kiel D, Schwerdtfeger S, Michael M, Weidner K, Croy I. The scent of cuteness-neural signatures of infant body odors. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae038. [PMID: 38850226 PMCID: PMC11192622 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae038] [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: 01/12/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024] Open
Abstract
The smell of the own baby is a salient cue for human kin recognition and bonding. We hypothesized that infant body odors function like other cues of the Kindchenschema by recruiting neural circuits of pleasure and reward. In two functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, we presented infantile and post-pubertal body odors to nulliparae and mothers (N = 78). All body odors increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response and functional connectivity in circuits related to olfactory perception, pleasure and reward. Neural activation strength in pleasure and reward areas positively correlated with perceptual ratings across all participants. Compared to body odor of post-pubertal children, infant body odors specifically enhanced BOLD signal and functional connectivity in reward and pleasure circuits, suggesting that infantile body odors prime the brain for prosocial interaction. This supports the idea that infant body odors are part of the Kindchenschema. The additional observation of functional connectivity being related to maternal and kin state speaks for experience-dependent priming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Schäfer
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
| | - Carina Köppel
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12203, Germany
| | - Denise Kreßner-Kiel
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
| | - Sarah Schwerdtfeger
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
| | - Marie Michael
- Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig 04103, Germany
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Kerstin Weidner
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
| | - Ilona Croy
- Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Fetscherstraße 74, Dresden 01307, Germany
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena 07737, Germany
- German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Site Jena-Magdeburg-Halle 07737, Germany
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2
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Tiihonen M, Haumann NT, Shtyrov Y, Vuust P, Jacobsen T, Brattico E. The impact of crossmodal predictions on the neural processing of aesthetic stimuli. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220418. [PMID: 38104610 PMCID: PMC10725772 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0418] [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: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuroaesthetic research has focused on neural predictive processes involved in the encounter with art stimuli or the related evaluative judgements, and it has been mainly conducted unimodally. Here, with electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography and an affective priming protocol, we investigated whether and how the neural responses to non-representational aesthetic stimuli are top-down modulated by affective representational (i.e. semantically meaningful) predictions between audition and vision. Also, the neural chronometry of affect processing of these aesthetic stimuli was investigated. We hypothesized that the early affective components of crossmodal aesthetic responses are dependent on the affective and representational predictions formed in another sensory modality resulting in differentiated brain responses, and that audition and vision indicate different processing latencies for affect. The target stimuli were aesthetic visual patterns and musical chords, and they were preceded by a prime from the opposing sensory modality. We found that early auditory-cortex responses to chords were more affected by valence than the corresponding visual-cortex ones. Furthermore, the assessments of visual targets were more facilitated by affective congruency of crossmodal primes than the acoustic targets. These results indicate, first, that the brain uses early affective information for predictively guiding aesthetic responses; second, that an affective transfer of information takes place crossmodally, mainly from audition to vision, impacting the aesthetic assessment. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Tiihonen
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Midtjylland, 8200, Denmark
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medial Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, 40225, Germany
| | - Niels Trusbak Haumann
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Midtjylland, 8200, Denmark
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Midtjylland, 8200, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Midtjylland, 8200, Denmark
| | - Thomas Jacobsen
- Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Hamburg, 22043, Germany
| | - Elvira Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Midtjylland, 8200, Denmark
- Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Puglia, 70121, Italy
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3
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Hoegholt NF, Bonetti L, Stevner ABA, Andersen CE, Hughes M, Fernandes HM, Vuust P, Kringelbach ML. A magnetoencephalography study of first-time mothers listening to infant cries. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:5896-5905. [PMID: 36460612 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Studies using magnetoencephalography (MEG) have identified the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to be an important early hub for a “parental instinct” in the brain. This complements the finding from functional magnetic resonance imaging studies linking reward, emotion regulation, empathy, and mentalization networks to the “parental brain.” Here, we used MEG in 43 first-time mothers listening to infant and adult cry vocalizations to investigate the link with mother–infant postpartum bonding scores and their level of sleep deprivation (assessed using both actigraphy and sleep logs). When comparing brain responses to infant versus adult cry vocalizations, we found significant differences at around 800–1,000 ms after stimuli onset in the primary auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus, hippocampal areas, insula, precuneus supramarginal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and posterior cingulate gyrus. Importantly, mothers with weaker bonding scores showed decreased brain responses to infant cries in the auditory cortex, middle and superior temporal gyrus, OFC, hippocampal areas, supramarginal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus at around 100–300 ms after the stimulus onset. In contrast, we did not find correlations with sleep deprivation scores. The significant decreases in brain processing of an infant’s distress signals could potentially be a novel signature of weaker infant bonding in new mothers and should be investigated in vulnerable populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- N F Hoegholt
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
- Linacre College, University of Oxford Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
- Emergency Department at Randers Regional Hospital , 8930 , Denmark
| | - L Bonetti
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
- Linacre College, University of Oxford Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
- University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
| | - A B A Stevner
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
- Linacre College, University of Oxford Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
| | - C E Andersen
- Aarhus University Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
| | - M Hughes
- Linacre College, University of Oxford Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
| | - H M Fernandes
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
- Linacre College, University of Oxford Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
| | - P Vuust
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
| | - M L Kringelbach
- Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, , 8000 Aarhus , Denmark
- Linacre College Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, , University of Oxford, Oxford OX37JX, United Kingdom
- University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, , Oxford OX37JX , United Kingdom
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4
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Keltner D, Sauter D, Tracy JL, Wetchler E, Cowen AS. How emotions, relationships, and culture constitute each other: advances in social functionalist theory. Cogn Emot 2022; 36:388-401. [PMID: 35639090 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2022.2047009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Social Functionalist Theory (SFT) emerged 20 years ago to orient emotion science to the social nature of emotion. Here we expand upon SFT and make the case for how emotions, relationships, and culture constitute one another. First, we posit that emotions enable the individual to meet six "relational needs" within social interactions: security, commitment, status, trust, fairness, and belongingness. Building upon this new theorising, we detail four principles concerning emotional experience, cognition, expression, and the cultural archiving of emotion. We conclude by considering the bidirectional influences between culture, relationships, and emotion, outlining areas of future inquiry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dacher Keltner
- Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Disa Sauter
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Everett Wetchler
- Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Alan S Cowen
- Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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5
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Semantic Space Theory: A Computational Approach to Emotion. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 25:124-136. [PMID: 33349547 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2020] [Revised: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Within affective science, the central line of inquiry, animated by basic emotion theory and constructivist accounts, has been the search for one-to-one mappings between six emotions and their subjective experiences, prototypical expressions, and underlying brain states. We offer an alternative perspective: semantic space theory. This computational approach uses wide-ranging naturalistic stimuli and open-ended statistical techniques to capture systematic variation in emotion-related behaviors. Upwards of 25 distinct varieties of emotional experience have distinct profiles of associated antecedents and expressions. These emotions are high-dimensional, categorical, and often blended. This approach also reveals that specific emotions, more than valence, organize emotional experience, expression, and neural processing. Overall, moving beyond traditional models to study broader semantic spaces of emotion can enrich our understanding of human experience.
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6
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Nonverbal auditory communication - Evidence for integrated neural systems for voice signal production and perception. Prog Neurobiol 2020; 199:101948. [PMID: 33189782 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
While humans have developed a sophisticated and unique system of verbal auditory communication, they also share a more common and evolutionarily important nonverbal channel of voice signaling with many other mammalian and vertebrate species. This nonverbal communication is mediated and modulated by the acoustic properties of a voice signal, and is a powerful - yet often neglected - means of sending and perceiving socially relevant information. From the viewpoint of dyadic (involving a sender and a signal receiver) voice signal communication, we discuss the integrated neural dynamics in primate nonverbal voice signal production and perception. Most previous neurobiological models of voice communication modelled these neural dynamics from the limited perspective of either voice production or perception, largely disregarding the neural and cognitive commonalities of both functions. Taking a dyadic perspective on nonverbal communication, however, it turns out that the neural systems for voice production and perception are surprisingly similar. Based on the interdependence of both production and perception functions in communication, we first propose a re-grouping of the neural mechanisms of communication into auditory, limbic, and paramotor systems, with special consideration for a subsidiary basal-ganglia-centered system. Second, we propose that the similarity in the neural systems involved in voice signal production and perception is the result of the co-evolution of nonverbal voice production and perception systems promoted by their strong interdependence in dyadic interactions.
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7
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Manohar S, Adler HJ, Radziwon K, Salvi R. Interaction of auditory and pain pathways: Effects of stimulus intensity, hearing loss and opioid signaling. Hear Res 2020; 393:108012. [PMID: 32554129 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2020.108012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2020] [Revised: 04/24/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Moderate intensity sounds can reduce pain sensitivity (i.e., audio-analgesia) whereas intense sounds can induce aural pain, evidence of multisensory interaction between auditory and pain pathways. To explore auditory-pain pathway interactions, we used the tail-flick (TF) test to assess thermal tail-pain sensitivity by measuring the latency of a rat to remove its tail from 52 °C water. In Experiment 1, TF latencies were measured in ambient noise and broadband noise (BBN) presented from 80 to 120 dB SPL. TF latencies gradually increased from ambient to 90 dB SPL (audio-analgesia), but then declined. At 120 dB, TF latencies were significantly shorter than normal, evidence for audio-hyperalgesia near the aural threshold for pain. In Experiment II, the opioid pain pathway was modified by treating rats with a high dose of fentanyl known to induce post-treatment hyperalgesia. TF latencies in ambient noise were normal 10-days post-fentanyl. However, TF latencies became shorter than normal from 90 to 110 dB indicating that fentanyl pre-treatment had converted audio-analgesia to audio-hyperalgesia. In Experiment III, we tested the hypothesis that hearing loss could alter pain sensitivity by unilaterally exposing rats to an intense noise that induced a significant hearing loss. TF latencies in ambient noise gradually declined from 1- to 4-weeks post-exposure indicating that noise-induced hearing loss had increased pain sensitivity. Our results suggest that auditory and pain pathways interact in ways that depend on intensity, hearing loss and opioid pain signaling, results potentially relevant to pain hyperacusis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Senthilvelan Manohar
- Center for Hearing and Deafness, 137 Cary Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA
| | - Henry J Adler
- Center for Hearing and Deafness, 137 Cary Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA
| | - Kelly Radziwon
- Center for Hearing and Deafness, 137 Cary Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA
| | - Richard Salvi
- Center for Hearing and Deafness, 137 Cary Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA.
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8
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Gaebler AJ, Zweerings J, Koten JW, König AA, Turetsky BI, Zvyagintsev M, Mathiak K. Impaired Subcortical Detection of Auditory Changes in Schizophrenia but Not in Major Depression. Schizophr Bull 2020; 46:193-201. [PMID: 31220318 PMCID: PMC6942154 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The mismatch negativity is a cortical response to auditory changes and its reduction is a consistent finding in schizophrenia. Recent evidence revealed that the human brain detects auditory changes already at subcortical stages of the auditory pathway. This finding, however, raises the question where in the auditory hierarchy the schizophrenic deficit first evolves and whether the well-known cortical deficit may be a consequence of dysfunction at lower hierarchical levels. Finally, it should be resolved whether mismatch profiles differ between schizophrenia and affective disorders which exhibit auditory processing deficits as well. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess auditory mismatch processing in 29 patients with schizophrenia, 27 patients with major depression, and 31 healthy control subjects. Analysis included whole-brain activation, region of interest, path and connectivity analysis. In schizophrenia, mismatch deficits emerged at all stages of the auditory pathway including the inferior colliculus, thalamus, auditory, and prefrontal cortex. In depression, deficits were observed in the prefrontal cortex only. Path analysis revealed that activation deficits propagated from subcortical to cortical nodes in a feed-forward mechanism. Finally, both patient groups exhibited reduced connectivity along this processing stream. Auditory mismatch impairments in schizophrenia already manifest at the subcortical level. Moreover, subcortical deficits contribute to the well-known cortical deficits and show specificity for schizophrenia. In contrast, depression is associated with cortical dysfunction only. Hence, schizophrenia and major depression exhibit different neural profiles of sensory processing deficits. Our findings add to a converging body of evidence for brainstem and thalamic dysfunction as a hallmark of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnim Johannes Gaebler
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
- JARA (Translational Brain Medicine), Aachen, Germany
- To whom correspondence should be addressed; Pauwels str. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; tel: +49-241-8088650, fax: +49-241-8082401: e-mail:
| | - Jana Zweerings
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
- JARA (Translational Brain Medicine), Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Andrea Anna König
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
- JARA (Translational Brain Medicine), Aachen, Germany
| | - Bruce I Turetsky
- Neuropsychiatry Section, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Mikhail Zvyagintsev
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
- JARA (Translational Brain Medicine), Aachen, Germany
- Brain Imaging Facility, Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Studies (IZKF), Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Klaus Mathiak
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
- JARA (Translational Brain Medicine), Aachen, Germany
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9
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Rosenbaum S, Gettler LT. With a little help from her friends (and family) part I: the ecology and evolution of non-maternal care in mammals. Physiol Behav 2019; 193:1-11. [PMID: 29933836 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.12.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2017] [Revised: 11/27/2017] [Accepted: 12/20/2017] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
In the class Mammalia, most young are cared for exclusively by their mothers. In species where mothers receive help, however, non-maternal caregivers may play a crucial role in development and life history trajectories. In turn, recipients of such care may have important impacts on caregivers of all types. In Part I of this overview, we briefly review the evolutionary barriers to widespread non-maternal care in mammals, and explain why the exceptions are of particular theoretical importance. We also summarize the current understanding of the selective forces leading to non-maternal care, and the taxa and types of caretakers amongst which it occurs. Finally, we argue for a fresh look at the categorization schemes that have traditionally been used to separate various types of mammalian non-maternal caregivers. This two-part introduction is aimed at scientists from multiple disciplines who study diverse organismal systems. It draws from the social and biological sciences literatures to provide an overview of this special issue of Physiology and Behavior's suite of methodological offerings and theoretical underpinnings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stacy Rosenbaum
- Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Davee Center for Epidemiology and Endocrinology, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, United States.
| | - Lee T Gettler
- Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, United States; The Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, United States
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10
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Witteman J, Van IJzendoorn MH, Rilling JK, Bos PA, Schiller NO, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ. Towards a neural model of infant cry perception. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 99:23-32. [PMID: 30710581 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.01.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Previous work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the reward pathway and the medial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, gender and parenthood have been proposed to modulate processing of infant cries. The present meta-analysis (N = 350) confirmed involvement of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the dorsal anterior insula, the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus in infant cry perception, but not of the reward pathway. Structures related to motoric processing, possibly supporting the preparation of a parenting response, were also involved. Finally, females (more than males) and parents (more than non-parents) recruited a cortico-limbic sensorimotor integration network, offering a neural explanation for previously observed enhanced processing of infant cries in these sub-groups. Based on the results, an updated neural model of infant cry perception is presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Witteman
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition / Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Van Wijkplaats 2, r2.02b, 2311 BV Leiden, the Netherlands.
| | - M H Van IJzendoorn
- Capital Normal University, Beijing, China, No. 83 Xi San Huan Bei Lu, Haidian, Beijing Beijing Municipality, 100089, China; Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Mandeville Building, Room T15-10, P.O. Box 1738
- 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - J K Rilling
- Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology, 1462 Clifton Rd, GA 30329, Atlanta, United States of America
| | - P A Bos
- Utrecht University, Faculty of Social Science, Martinus J. Langeveldgebouw, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - N O Schiller
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition / Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Van Wijkplaats 2, r2.02b, 2311 BV Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - M J Bakermans-Kranenburg
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition / Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Van Wijkplaats 2, r2.02b, 2311 BV Leiden, the Netherlands; Clinical Child & Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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11
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Brudzynski SM. Emission of 22 kHz vocalizations in rats as an evolutionary equivalent of human crying: Relationship to depression. Behav Brain Res 2019; 363:1-12. [PMID: 30677449 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Revised: 01/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
There is no clear relationship between crying and depression based on human neuropsychiatric observations. This situation originates from lack of suitable animal models of human crying. In the present article, an attempt will be made to answer the question whether emission of rat aversive vocalizations (22 kHz calls) may be regarded as an evolutionary equivalent of adult human crying. Using this comparison, the symptom of crying in depressed human patients will be reanalyzed. Numerous features and characteristics of rat 22 kHz aversive vocalizations and human crying vocalizations are equivalent. Comparing evolutionary, biological, physiological, neurophysiological, social, pharmacological, and pathological aspects have shown vast majority of common features. It is concluded that emission of rat 22 kHz vocalizations may be treated as an evolutionary vocal homolog of human crying, although emission of 22 kHz calls is not exactly the same phenomenon because of significant differences in cognitive processes between these species. It is further concluded that rat 22 kHz vocalizations and human crying vocalizations are both expressing anxiety and not depression. Analysis of the relationship between anxiety and depression reported in clinical studies supports this conclusion regardless of the nature and extent of comorbidity between these pathological states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan M Brudzynski
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada.
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12
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Cowen AS, Elfenbein HA, Laukka P, Keltner D. Mapping 24 emotions conveyed by brief human vocalization. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 74:698-712. [PMID: 30570267 DOI: 10.1037/amp0000399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Emotional vocalizations are central to human social life. Recent studies have documented that people recognize at least 13 emotions in brief vocalizations. This capacity emerges early in development, is preserved in some form across cultures, and informs how people respond emotionally to music. What is poorly understood is how emotion recognition from vocalization is structured within what we call a semantic space, the study of which addresses questions critical to the field: How many distinct kinds of emotions can be expressed? Do expressions convey emotion categories or affective appraisals (e.g., valence, arousal)? Is the recognition of emotion expressions discrete or continuous? Guided by a new theoretical approach to emotion taxonomies, we apply large-scale data collection and analysis techniques to judgments of 2,032 emotional vocal bursts produced in laboratory settings (Study 1) and 48 found in the real world (Study 2) by U.S. English speakers (N = 1,105). We find that vocal bursts convey at least 24 distinct kinds of emotion. Emotion categories (sympathy, awe), more so than affective appraisals (including valence and arousal), organize emotion recognition. In contrast to discrete emotion theories, the emotion categories conveyed by vocal bursts are bridged by smooth gradients with continuously varying meaning. We visualize the complex, high-dimensional space of emotion conveyed by brief human vocalization within an online interactive map. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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13
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Yin L, Fan M, Lin L, Sun D, Wang Z. Attractiveness Modulates Neural Processing of Infant Faces Differently in Males and Females. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:551. [PMID: 29184490 PMCID: PMC5694469 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 10/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Consistent attention and proper processing of infant faces by adults are essential for infant survival. Previous behavioral studies showed gender differences in processing infant cues (e.g., crying, laughing or facial attractiveness) and more importantly, the efforts invested in nurturing offspring. The underlying neural mechanisms of processing unknown infant faces provide hints for understanding behavioral differences. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study recruited 32 unmarried adult (16 females and 16 males) participants to view unfamiliar infant faces and rate the attractiveness. Adult faces were also included. Behaviorally, despite that females and males showed no differences in attractiveness ratings of infant faces, a positive correlation was found between female's (but not male's) subjective liking for infants and attractiveness ratings of the infant faces. Functionally, brain activations to infant faces were modulated by attractiveness differently in males and females. Specifically, in female participants, activities in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum/Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc) were positively modulated by infant facial attractiveness, and the modulation coefficients of these two regions were positively correlated. In male participants, infant facial attractiveness negatively modulated the activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Our findings reveal that different neural mechanisms are involved in the processing of infant faces, which might lead to observed behavioral differences between males and females towards the baby.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijun Yin
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Mingxia Fan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of MR, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Lijia Lin
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Delin Sun
- Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Zhaoxin Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of MR, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
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14
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Young KS, Parsons CE, LeBeau RT, Tabak BA, Sewart AR, Stein A, Kringelbach ML, Craske MG. Sensing emotion in voices: Negativity bias and gender differences in a validation study of the Oxford Vocal ('OxVoc') sounds database. Psychol Assess 2017; 29:967-977. [PMID: 27656902 PMCID: PMC5362357 DOI: 10.1037/pas0000382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 06/28/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Emotional expressions are an essential element of human interactions. Recent work has increasingly recognized that emotional vocalizations can color and shape interactions between individuals. Here we present data on the psychometric properties of a recently developed database of authentic nonlinguistic emotional vocalizations from human adults and infants (the Oxford Vocal 'OxVoc' Sounds Database; Parsons, Young, Craske, Stein, & Kringelbach, 2014). In a large sample (n = 562), we demonstrate that adults can reliably categorize these sounds (as 'positive,' 'negative,' or 'sounds with no emotion'), and rate valence in these sounds consistently over time. In an extended sample (n = 945, including the initial n = 562), we also investigated a number of individual difference factors in relation to valence ratings of these vocalizations. Results demonstrated small but significant effects of (a) symptoms of depression and anxiety with more negative ratings of adult neutral vocalizations (R2 = .011 and R2 = .008, respectively) and (b) gender differences in perceived valence such that female listeners rated adult neutral vocalizations more positively and infant cry vocalizations more negatively than male listeners (R2 = .021, R2 = .010, respectively). Of note, we did not find evidence of negativity bias among other affective vocalizations or gender differences in perceived valence of adult laughter, adult cries, infant laughter, or infant neutral vocalizations. Together, these findings largely converge with factors previously shown to impact processing of emotional facial expressions, suggesting a modality-independent impact of depression, anxiety, and listener gender, particularly among vocalizations with more ambiguous valence. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Amy R Sewart
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
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15
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Kringelbach ML, Berridge KC. The Affective Core of Emotion: Linking Pleasure, Subjective Well-Being, and Optimal Metastability in the Brain. EMOTION REVIEW 2017; 9:191-199. [PMID: 28943891 DOI: 10.1177/1754073916684558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Arguably, emotion is always valenced-either pleasant or unpleasant-and dependent on the pleasure system. This system serves adaptive evolutionary functions; relying on separable wanting, liking, and learning neural mechanisms mediated by mesocorticolimbic networks driving pleasure cycles with appetitive, consummatory, and satiation phases. Liking is generated in a small set of discrete hedonic hotspots and coldspots, while wanting is linked to dopamine and to larger distributed brain networks. Breakdown of the pleasure system can lead to anhedonia and other features of affective disorders. Eudaimonia and well-being are difficult to study empirically, yet whole-brain computational models could offer novel insights (e.g., routes to eudaimonia such as caregiving of infants or music) potentially linking eudaimonia to optimal metastability in the pleasure system.
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16
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Parsons CE, Young KS, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. Intuitive parenting: understanding the neural mechanisms of parents’ adaptive responses to infants. Curr Opin Psychol 2017; 15:40-44. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2017] [Accepted: 02/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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17
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Young KS, Parsons CE, Stein A, Vuust P, Craske MG, Kringelbach ML. The neural basis of responsive caregiving behaviour: Investigating temporal dynamics within the parental brain. Behav Brain Res 2017; 325:105-116. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Revised: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 09/05/2016] [Indexed: 02/09/2023]
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18
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Gonzalez-Castillo J, Panwar P, Buchanan LC, Caballero-Gaudes C, Handwerker DA, Jangraw DC, Zachariou V, Inati S, Roopchansingh V, Derbyshire JA, Bandettini PA. Evaluation of multi-echo ICA denoising for task based fMRI studies: Block designs, rapid event-related designs, and cardiac-gated fMRI. Neuroimage 2016; 141:452-468. [PMID: 27475290 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.07.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2016] [Revised: 07/21/2016] [Accepted: 07/25/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Multi-echo fMRI, particularly the multi-echo independent component analysis (ME-ICA) algorithm, has previously proven useful for increasing the sensitivity and reducing false positives for functional MRI (fMRI) based resting state connectivity studies. Less is known about its efficacy for task-based fMRI, especially at the single subject level. This work, which focuses exclusively on individual subject results, compares ME-ICA to single-echo fMRI and a voxel-wise T2(⁎) weighted combination of multi-echo data for task-based fMRI under the following scenarios: cardiac-gated block designs, constant repetition time (TR) block designs, and constant TR rapid event-related designs. Performance is evaluated primarily in terms of sensitivity (i.e., activation extent, activation magnitude, percent detected trials and effect size estimates) using five different tasks expected to evoke neuronal activity in a distributed set of regions. The ME-ICA algorithm significantly outperformed all other evaluated processing alternatives in all scenarios. Largest improvements were observed for the cardiac-gated dataset, where ME-ICA was able to reliably detect and remove non-neural T1 signal fluctuations caused by non-constant repetition times. Although ME-ICA also outperformed the other options in terms of percent detection of individual trials for rapid event-related experiments, only 46% of all events were detected after ME-ICA; suggesting additional improvements in sensitivity are required to reliably detect individual short event occurrences. We conclude the manuscript with a detailed evaluation of ME-ICA outcomes and a discussion of how the ME-ICA algorithm could be further improved. Overall, our results suggest that ME-ICA constitutes a versatile, powerful approach for advanced denoising of task-based fMRI, not just resting-state data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Gonzalez-Castillo
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
| | - Puja Panwar
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Laura C Buchanan
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | | | - Daniel A Handwerker
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - David C Jangraw
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Valentinos Zachariou
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Souheil Inati
- Functional MRI Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Vinai Roopchansingh
- Functional MRI Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - John A Derbyshire
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Peter A Bandettini
- Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States; Functional MRI Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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19
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Hopkins J. Free Energy and Virtual Reality in Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis: A Complexity Theory of Dreaming and Mental Disorder. Front Psychol 2016; 7:922. [PMID: 27471478 PMCID: PMC4946392 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The main concepts of the free energy (FE) neuroscience developed by Karl Friston and colleagues parallel those of Freud's Project for a Scientific Psychology. In Hobson et al. (2014) these include an innate virtual reality generator that produces the fictive prior beliefs that Freud described as the primary process. This enables Friston's account to encompass a unified treatment-a complexity theory-of the role of virtual reality in both dreaming and mental disorder. In both accounts the brain operates to minimize FE aroused by sensory impingements-including interoceptive impingements that report compliance with biological imperatives-and constructs a representation/model of the causes of impingement that enables this minimization. In Friston's account (variational) FE equals complexity minus accuracy, and is minimized by increasing accuracy and decreasing complexity. Roughly the brain (or model) increases accuracy together with complexity in waking. This is mediated by consciousness-creating active inference-by which it explains sensory impingements in terms of perceptual experiences of their causes. In sleep it reduces complexity by processes that include both synaptic pruning and consciousness/virtual reality/dreaming in REM. The consciousness-creating active inference that effects complexity-reduction in REM dreaming must operate on FE-arousing data distinct from sensory impingement. The most relevant source is remembered arousals of emotion, both recent and remote, as processed in SWS and REM on "active systems" accounts of memory consolidation/reconsolidation. Freud describes these remembered arousals as condensed in the dreamwork for use in the conscious contents of dreams, and similar condensation can be seen in symptoms. Complexity partly reflects emotional conflict and trauma. This indicates that dreams and symptoms are both produced to reduce complexity in the form of potentially adverse (traumatic or conflicting) arousals of amygdala-related emotions. Mental disorder is thus caused by computational complexity together with mechanisms like synaptic pruning that have evolved for complexity-reduction; and important features of disorder can be understood in these terms. Details of the consilience among Freudian, systems consolidation, and complexity-reduction accounts appear clearly in the analysis of a single fragment of a dream, indicating also how complexity reduction proceeds by a process resembling Bayesian model selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim Hopkins
- Research Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College LondonLondon, UK
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20
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Kringelbach ML, McIntosh AR, Ritter P, Jirsa VK, Deco G. The Rediscovery of Slowness: Exploring the Timing of Cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2016; 19:616-628. [PMID: 26412099 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2015] [Revised: 07/24/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Slowness of thought is not necessarily a handicap but could be a signature of optimal brain function. Emerging evidence shows that neuroanatomical and dynamical constraints of the human brain shape its functionality in optimal ways, characterized by slowness during task-based cognition in the context of spontaneous resting-state activity. This activity can be described mechanistically by whole-brain computational modeling that relates directly to optimality in the context of theories arguing for metastability in the brain. We discuss the role for optimal processing of information in the context of cognitive, task-related activity, and propose that combining multi-modal neuroimaging and explicit whole-brain models focused on the timing of functional dynamics can help to uncover fundamental rules of brain function in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morten L Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK; Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - Anthony R McIntosh
- Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Center, University of Toronto, Toronto M6A 2E1, Canada
| | - Petra Ritter
- Max-Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Neurology, Charité, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Viktor K Jirsa
- Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 1106, Aix-Marseille Université, Faculté de Médecine, 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat 138, Barcelona 08018, Spain; Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain.
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21
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On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond. Trends Cogn Sci 2016; 20:545-558. [PMID: 27211583 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2016] [Revised: 05/03/2016] [Accepted: 05/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a 'Kindchenschema' (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as 'innate releasing mechanisms' for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple 'instinctual' behaviours and to caregiving, protection, and complex emotions. We review how cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.
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22
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Young KS, Parsons CE, Jegindoe Elmholdt EM, Woolrich MW, van Hartevelt TJ, Stevner ABA, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. Evidence for a Caregiving Instinct: Rapid Differentiation of Infant from Adult Vocalizations Using Magnetoencephalography. Cereb Cortex 2016; 26:1309-1321. [PMID: 26656998 PMCID: PMC4737615 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Crying is the most salient vocal signal of distress. The cries of a newborn infant alert adult listeners and often elicit caregiving behavior. For the parent, rapid responding to an infant in distress is an adaptive behavior, functioning to ensure offspring survival. The ability to react rapidly requires quick recognition and evaluation of stimuli followed by a co-ordinated motor response. Previous neuroimaging research has demonstrated early specialized activity in response to infant faces. Using magnetoencephalography, we found similarly early (100-200 ms) differences in neural responses to infant and adult cry vocalizations in auditory, emotional, and motor cortical brain regions. We propose that this early differential activity may help to rapidly identify infant cries and engage affective and motor neural circuitry to promote adaptive behavioral responding, before conscious awareness. These differences were observed in adults who were not parents, perhaps indicative of a universal brain-based "caregiving instinct."
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine S Young
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Psychology
| | - Christine E Parsons
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Else-Marie Jegindoe Elmholdt
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Mark W Woolrich
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Tim J van Hartevelt
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Angus B A Stevner
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Alan Stein
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Wits/MRC Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Morten L Kringelbach
- Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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23
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Messina I, Cattaneo L, Venuti P, de Pisapia N, Serra M, Esposito G, Rigo P, Farneti A, Bornstein MH. Sex-Specific Automatic Responses to Infant Cries: TMS Reveals Greater Excitability in Females than Males in Motor Evoked Potentials. Front Psychol 2016; 6:1909. [PMID: 26779061 PMCID: PMC4703787 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2015] [Accepted: 11/26/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging reveals that infant cries activate parts of the premotor cortical system. To validate this effect in a more direct way, we used event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Here, we investigated the presence and the time course of modulation of motor cortex excitability in young adults who listened to infant cries. Specifically, we recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the biceps brachii (BB) and interosseus dorsalis primus (ID1) muscles as produced by TMS delivered from 0 to 250 ms after sound onset in six steps of 50 ms in 10 females and 10 males. We observed an excitatory modulation of MEPs at 100 ms from the onset of infant cry specific to females and to the ID1 muscle. We regard this modulation as a response to natural cry sounds because it was attenuated to stimuli increasingly different from natural cry and absent in a separate group of females who listened to non-cry stimuli physically matched to natural infant cries. Furthermore, the 100-ms latency of this response is not compatible with a voluntary reaction to the stimulus but suggests an automatic, bottom-up audiomotor association. The brains of adult females appear to be tuned to respond to infant cries with automatic motor excitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Messina
- Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of PaduaPadua, Italy
| | - Luigi Cattaneo
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | - Paola Venuti
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | - Nicola de Pisapia
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | - Mauro Serra
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
- Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore, Singapore
| | - Paola Rigo
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | | | - Marc H. Bornstein
- Child and Family Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentBethesda, MD, USA
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Hahn AC, Symons LA, Kredel T, Hanson K, Hodgson L, Schiavone L, Jantzen KJ. Early and late event-related potentials are modulated by infant and adult faces of high and low attractiveness. Soc Neurosci 2015; 11:207-20. [PMID: 26160142 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2015.1059361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The processing of infant faces may be somewhat distinct from that of adult faces. Indeed, recent neuroimaging studies have provided evidence of an early, "baby-specific" neural response whereby infant faces are perceived more rapidly than adult faces. Using event-related potentials, the present study aimed to determine whether the preferential response to infant faces is present at both early and late stages of face processing, and to investigate the effects of esthetic appearance on the processing of adult and infant faces by directly manipulating the perceived attractiveness or cuteness within a given face identity. Here, we find evidence for enhanced processing of infant faces, relative to adult faces, at both early (N170, P2) and late (LPC) stages of face processing. We also find that the esthetic appearance of both infant and adult faces modulates early neural responses, with enhanced responses to less attractive/cute faces as compared to more attractive/cute faces. Overall, our results provide additional evidence for a preferential response to infant faces at early stages of processing, and provide new evidence that this preferential response occurs at later stages of face processing as well, independent of the esthetic quality of the face or observer sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda C Hahn
- a Institute of Neuroscience & Psychology , University of Glasgow , Glasgow , UK
| | - Lawrence A Symons
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
| | - Taylor Kredel
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
| | - Kevin Hanson
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
| | - Lianne Hodgson
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
| | - Lori Schiavone
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
| | - K J Jantzen
- b Department of Psychology , Western Washington University , Bellingham , WA , USA
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25
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Young KS, Parsons CE, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. Motion and emotion: depression reduces psychomotor performance and alters affective movements in caregiving interactions. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:26. [PMID: 25741255 PMCID: PMC4330887 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Accepted: 01/27/2015] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impaired social functioning is a well-established feature of depression. Evidence to date suggests that disrupted processing of emotional cues may constitute part of this impairment. Beyond processing of emotional cues, fluent social interactions require that people physically move in synchronized, contingent ways. Disruptions to physical movements are a diagnostic feature of depression (psychomotor disturbance) but have not previously been assessed in the context of social functioning. Here we investigated the impact of psychomotor disturbance in depression on physical responsive behavior in both an experimental and observational setting. METHODS In Experiment 1, we examined motor disturbance in depression in response to salient emotional sounds, using a laboratory-based effortful motor task. In Experiment 2, we explored whether psychomotor disturbance was apparent in real-life social interactions. Using mother-infant interactions as a model affective social situation, we compared physical behaviors of mothers with and without postnatal depression (PND). RESULTS We found impairments in precise, controlled psychomotor performance in adults with depression relative to healthy adults (Experiment 1). Despite this disruption, all adults showed enhanced performance following exposure to highly salient emotional cues (infant cries). Examining real-life interactions, we found differences in physical movements, namely reduced affective touching, in mothers with PND responding to their infants, compared to healthy mothers (Experiment 2). CONCLUSIONS Together, these findings suggest that psychomotor disturbance may be an important feature of depression that can impair social functioning. Future work investigating whether improvements in physical movement in depression could have a positive impact on social interactions would be of much interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine S. Young
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford HospitalOxford, UK
- MindLab/Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus UniversityAarhus, Denmark
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)Los Angeles, USA
| | - Christine E. Parsons
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford HospitalOxford, UK
- MindLab/Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus UniversityAarhus, Denmark
| | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford HospitalOxford, UK
| | - Morten L. Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford HospitalOxford, UK
- MindLab/Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Aarhus UniversityAarhus, Denmark
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Parsons CE, Young KS, Jegindø EME, Vuust P, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. Music training and empathy positively impact adults' sensitivity to infant distress. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1440. [PMID: 25566122 PMCID: PMC4271597 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2014] [Accepted: 11/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Crying is the most powerful auditory signal of infant need. Adults' ability to perceive and respond to crying is important for infant survival and in the provision of care. This study investigated a number of listener variables that might impact on adults' perception of infant cry distress, namely parental status, musical training, and empathy. Sensitivity to infant distress was tested using a previously validated task, which experimentally manipulated distress by varying the pitch of infant cries. This task required that participants discriminate between pitch differences and interpret these as differences in infant distress. Parents with musical training showed a significant advantage on this task when compared with parents without. The extent of the advantage was correlated with the amount of self-reported musical training. For non-parents, individual differences in empathy were associated with task performance, with higher empathy scores corresponding to greater sensitivity to infant distress. We suggest that sensitivity to infant distress can be impacted by a number of listener variables, and may be amenable to training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine E. Parsons
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Katherine S. Young
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - Peter Vuust
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Morten L. Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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27
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Parsons CE, Young KS, Bhandari R, van Ijzendoorn MH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Stein A, Kringelbach ML. The bonnie baby: experimentally manipulated temperament affects perceived cuteness and motivation to view infant faces. Dev Sci 2013; 17:257-69. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.12112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2012] [Accepted: 07/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christine E. Parsons
- Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford; UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience; Aarhus University; DK
| | - Katherine S. Young
- Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford; UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience; Aarhus University; DK
| | - Ritu Bhandari
- Centre for Child and Family Studies Leiden University, Leiden; The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Alan Stein
- Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford; UK
| | - Morten L. Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry; University of Oxford; UK
- Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience; Aarhus University; DK
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