Viewing loved faces inhibits defense reactions: a health-promotion mechanism?

Positive imagery in depressive suicidal patients: A randomized controlled trial of the effect of viewing loved ones' photos on mood states and suicidal ideation

According to research, it has been suggested that individuals who are affected by depression could potentially engage in the creation and experience emotional advantages relating to positive events directed towards the past or future, with the condition that they are provided with suitable mental imagery techniques. The main aim of this study was to assess the impact of utilizing positive imagery, specifically through the utilization of photographs featuring loved ones, on mood states and suicidal ideation among individuals diagnosed with depression and exhibiting suicidal tendencies. This randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover trial was conducted among 78 hospitalized depressive patients at three psychiatric services between April and August 2019. The patients participated in four individual picture-viewing sessions on four consecutive days. The four categories of pictures were included: loved ones, neutral faces of strangers, natural landscapes, and optical illusions. Directly prior to and immediately following the observation of the visual stimuli (photographs), the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSSI) were completed by the patients. Repeated measures ANOVAs conducted in this study revealed a significant main effect of time on ratings of tension, depression, fatigue, vigor, calmness, and happiness (P values < 0.001). Additionally, statistically significant interactions were identified between picture category and time in relation to the variables of tension, depression, fatigue, vigor, calmness, and happiness (P values < 0.001). The analysis did not reveal a significant main effect of time on ratings of anger, confusion, and suicidal ideation (P values > 0.05). Likewise, the interaction between picture category and time did not yield significant results for the variables of anger, confusion, and suicidal ideation (P values > 0.05). The positive imagery procedure using the presentation of loved ones' photos showed beneficial effects on the mood states of depressed patients. The findings of this study suggest that incorporating a greater emphasis on positive imagery within the context of clinical depression may offer potential advantages. This highlights the potential for novel opportunities in the treatment of depression.

Trial registration

The study has been registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (registration number: IRCT20180808040744N1; first registration date: December 22, 2018; website: https://en.irct.ir/trial/33186).

A partner's smile is not per se a safety signal: Psychophysiological response patterns to instructed threat and safety

Recent studies on fear conditioning and pain perception suggest that pictures of loved ones (e.g., a romantic partner) may serve as a prepared safety cue that is less likely to signal aversive events. Challenging this view, we examined whether pictures of smiling or angry loved ones are better safety or threat cues. To this end, 47 healthy participants were verbally instructed that specific facial expressions (e.g., happy faces) cue threat of electric shocks and others cue safety (e.g., angry faces). When facial images served as threat cues, they elicited distinct psychophysiological defensive responses (e.g., increased threat ratings, startle reflex, and skin conductance responses) compared to viewing safety cues. Interestingly, instructed threat effects occurred regardless of the person who cued shock threat (partner vs. unknown) and their facial expression (happy vs. angry). Taken together, these results demonstrate the flexible nature of facial information (i.e., facial expression and facial identity) to be easily learned as signals for threat or safety, even when showing loved ones.

New insights on the correspondence between subjective affective experience and physiological responses from representational similarity analysis

Classical views suggest that experienced affect is related to a specific bodily response, whereas recent perspectives challenge this view postulating that similar affective experiences rather evoke different physiological responses. To further advance this debate in the field, we used representational similarity analysis to investigate the correspondence between subjective affect (arousal and valence ratings) and physiological reactions (skin conductance response [SCR], startle blink response, heart rate, and corrugator activity) across various emotion induction contexts (picture viewing task, sound listening task, and imagery task). Significant similarities were exclusively observed between SCR and arousal in the picture viewing task. However, none of the other physiological measures showed a significant relation with valence and arousal ratings in any of the tasks. These findings are discussed within the framework of the Populations hypothesis, suggesting that physiological responses do not depend on the experienced affect but are directly associated with the context in which they are evoked.

Self-efficacy beliefs in managing positive emotions: Associations with positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction across gender and ages

Two studies were carried out on a Spanish population to explore the extent to which different self-efficacy beliefs in managing positive emotions are associated with common indicators of wellbeing, such as positive and negative affect or life satisfaction. The first study was conducted on 483 participants and attested to the factorial structure of three different self-efficacy beliefs: (a) perceived self-efficacy in expressing positive emotions; (b) perceived self-efficacy in retrieving memories of positive emotional experiences; and (c) perceived self-efficacy in using humor. The second study was carried out on 1,087 individuals between 19 and 80 years of age, and it provided evidence of the factorial invariance of the scales across age and gender. Furthermore, this latter study showed the association of self-efficacy in managing positive affect (SEMPA) with high chronic positive and low negative affect, and with high life satisfaction, controlling for gender and age. In younger participants, stronger associations were found between perceived self-efficacy in using humor and life satisfaction compared to older subjects. These findings may guide the design of interventions aimed at enhancing the potential benefits that could be drawn from the proper management of positive emotions.

The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened

Looking at pictures of loved ones, such as one's romantic partner or good friends, has been shown to alleviate the experience of pain and reduce defensive reactions. However, little is known about such modulatory effects on threat and safety learning and the psychophysiological processes involved. Here, we explored the hypothesis that beloved faces serve as implicit safety cues and attenuate the expression of fear responses and/or accelerate extinction learning in a threatening context. Thirty-two participants viewed pictures of their loved ones (romantic partner, parents, and best friend) as well as of unknown individuals within contextual background colors indicating threat-of-shock or safety. Focusing on the extinction of non-reinforced threat associations (no shocks were given), the experiment was repeated on two more test days while the defensive startle-EMG, SCR, and threat ratings were obtained. Results confirmed pronounced defensive responding to instructed threat-of-shock relative to safety context (e.g., threat-enhanced startle reflex and SCR). Moreover, threat-potentiated startle response slowly declined across test days indicating passive extinction learning in the absence of shocks. Importantly, neither a main effect of face category (loved vs. unknown) nor a significant interaction with threat/safety instructions was observed. Thus, a long-term learning history of beneficial relations (e.g., with supportive parents) did not interfere with verbal threat learning and aversive apprehensions. These findings reflect the effects of worries and apprehensions that persist despite the repeated experience of safety and the pictorial presence of loved ones. How to counter such aversive expectations is key to changing mal-adaptive behaviors (e.g., avoidance or stockpiling), biased risk perceptions, and stereotypes.

Social Support and Longevity: Meta-Analysis-Based Evidence and Psychobiological Mechanisms

Over the past 60 years, evidence has accumulated on the fundamental role of supportive social relationships in individual health and longevity. This paper first summarizes the results of 23 meta-analyses published between 1994 and 2021, which include 1,187 longitudinal and cross-sectional studies with more than 1,458 million participants. The effect sizes reported in these meta-analyses are highly consistent with regard to the predicted link between social support and reduced disease and mortality; the meta-analyses also highlight various theoretical and methodological issues concerning the multi-dimensionality of the social support concept and its measurements, and the need to control potential confounding and moderator variables. This is followed by an analysis of the experimental evidence from laboratory studies on psychobiological mechanisms that may explain the effect of social support on health and longevity. The stress-buffering hypothesis is examined and extended to incorporate recent findings on the inhibitory effect of social support figures (e.g., the face of loved ones) on fear learning and defensive reactions alongside evidence on the effect of social support on brain networks that down-regulate the autonomic nervous system, HPA axis, and immune system. Finally, the paper discusses the findings in the context of three emerging research areas that are helping to advance and consolidate the relevance of social factors for human health and longevity: (a) convergent evidence on the effects of social support and adversity in other social mammals, (b) longitudinal studies on the impact of social support and adversity across each stage of the human lifespan, and (c) studies that extend the social support framework from individual to community and societal levels, drawing implications for large-scale intervention policies to promote the culture of social support.

Pain modulation by your partner: An experimental investigation from a social-affective perspective

Background

Social context such as the relationship between a person experiencing pain and a caregiver has been shown to affect the experience of pain, yet, results are not consistent. Possibly, differential effects of interpersonal relationships are modulated by affective states expressed by social partners. Viewing partner pictures in experimental designs is not only associated with lowered perceived pain intensity, but also affects neural responses. However, the role of affective modulation is not clear. The present study aimed to systematically examine the pain modulating effects of stimuli varying in affect and social content including personal relevance using subjective report and psychophysiological measures of facial and autonomic activity.

Methods

Twenty-nine women underwent a tonic heat pain paradigm with simultaneous picture viewing to investigate the influence of their partners’ faces with a neutral facial expression compared to strangers’ happy, angry and neutral facial expressions on pain intensity and accompanying psychophysiological parameters (facial activity: corrugator muscle activity, autonomic activity: skin conductance level, heart rate). In addition to perceived partner support and relationship characteristics, the contribution of the affective value (valence, arousal) of the partner faces to the observed pain modulation was examined.

Results

Partner and happy faces reduced self-reported pain intensity and corrugator activity, the latter being lowest when viewing partner faces as compared to all other picture categories. As corrugator activity is indexing stimulus unpleasantness and a core feature of the facial pain expression, this physiological pattern matches well with the subjective ratings. Neutral objects, neutral and angry faces had no effect on pain self-report, although angry faces were rated as highly negative. Partner faces also led to increased skin conductance, being an index of motivational activation, and heart rate deceleration, possibly reflecting increased sensory intake. Partner-related pain modulation was primarily related to perceived arousal of the partner’s picture, i.e., the intensity of the activation of approach motivation, and pain-related catastrophizing.

Discussion

Our results are partially consistent with emotional pain control models, especially regarding the modulatory influence of valence. Within the context of socially adaptive behavior, they particularly underline the social signal value of emotion and attachment figures. Clinically, our results imply that just looking at pictures of one’s partner when undergoing acute painful procedures can have a robust hypoalgesic effect.

Physiological and affective responses to emoji faces: Effects on facial muscle activity, skin conductance, heart rate, and self-reported affect

The objective of the present study was to evaluate emotional responses to emoji faces through physiological and self-report measures, and evaluate possible differences between men and women. One hundred participants (50 women) observed pictures of happy, neutral, and angry emoji faces, while activity of the zygomatic and corrugator muscles, skin conductance, and heart rate were measured. Self-report measures of emotional experience were also recorded. The results showed an increase in zygomatic muscle activity toward happy emoji faces. An increasing trend in corrugator muscle activity toward angry emoji faces was observed; however, this trend was only marginally significant. Happy emoji faces generated an increase in the skin conductance response. The emotional experience of the participants was also consistent with the emotions that were expressed by the emoji faces. No differences were found between sexes. Overall, the results suggest that emoji faces can especially induce pleasant affective states.

Verbal threat learning does not spare loved ones

Significant others provide individuals with a sense of safety and security. However, the mechanisms that underlie attachment-induced safety are hardly understood. Recent research has shown beneficial effects when viewing pictures of the romantic partner, leading to reduced pain experience and defensive responding. Building upon this, we examined the inhibitory capacity of loved face pictures on fear learning in an instructed threat paradigm. Pictures of loved familiar or unknown individuals served as signals for either threat of electric shocks or safety, while a broad set of psychophysiological measures was recorded. We assumed that a long-term learning history of beneficial relations interferes with social threat learning. Nevertheless, results yielded a typical pattern of physiological defense activation towards threat cues, regardless of whether threat was signaled by an unknown or a loved face. These findings call into question the notion that pictures of loved individuals are shielded against becoming threat cues, with implications for attachment and trauma research.

Induced Positive Affect Reduces the Magnitude of the Startle Response and Prepulse Inhibition

Abstract. The startle response is a reflex that represents a form of adaptation to environmental changes potentially relevant to survival. Startle magnitude can change depending on a number of factors such as the affective state of the organism during the presentation of the startle-inducing stimulus, or the so-called Prepulse Inhibition (PPI) that occurs when the startling stimulus (or Pulse) is preceded by a low-intensity stimulus (or Prepulse). This paper describes an experiment designed to analyze the impact of an induced positive affect on the magnitude of the startle response and PPI in adult humans. Specifically, each participant received alternating exposures to a picture of a face of a loved person (positive affect condition) or to a picture of a face of an unknown person (control condition) while the startle response and PPI were recorded. The results showed a decrease in both the magnitude of the startle response and percent PPI on the positive affect trials when compared with the control trials. These results are interpreted from psychophysiological and psychological perspectives considering the role of emotions in adaptive behavior.

Reversing Threat to Safety: Incongruence of Facial Emotions and Instructed Threat Modulates Conscious Perception but Not Physiological Responding

Facial expressions inform about other peoples' emotion and motivation and thus are central for social communication. However, the meaning of facial expressions may change depending on what we have learned about the related consequences. For instance, a smile might easily become threatening when displayed by a person who is known to be dangerous. The present study examined the malleability of emotional facial valence by means of social learning. To this end, facial expressions served as cues for verbally instructed threat-of-shock or safety (e.g., "happy faces cue shocks"). Moreover, reversal instructions tested the flexibility of threat/safety associations (e.g., "now happy faces cue safety"). Throughout the experiment, happy, neutral, and angry facial expressions were presented and auditory startle probes elicited defensive reflex activity. Results show that self-reported ratings and physiological reactions to threat/safety cues dissociate. Regarding threat and valence ratings, happy facial expressions tended to be more resistant becoming a threat cue, and angry faces remain threatening even when instructed as safety cue. For physiological response systems, however, we observed threat-potentiated startle reflex and enhanced skin conductance responses for threat compared to safety cues regardless of whether threat was cued by happy or angry faces. Thus, the incongruity of visual and verbal threat/safety information modulates conscious perception, but not the activation of physiological response systems. These results show that verbal instructions can readily overwrite the intrinsic meaning of facial emotions, with clear benefits for social communication as learning and anticipation of threat and safety readjusted to accurately track environmental changes.

The affective processing of loved familiar faces and names: Integrating fMRI and heart rate

The neuroscientific study of love has been boosted by an extended corpus of research on face-identity recognition. However, few studies have compared the emotional mechanisms activated by loved faces and names and none have simultaneously examined fMRI and autonomic measures. The present study combined fMRI with the heart rate response when 21 participants (10 males) passively viewed the face or the written name of 4 loved people and 4 unknown people. The results showed accelerative patterns in heart rate, together with brain activations, which were significantly higher for loved people than for unknown people. Significant correlations were found between heart rate and brain activation in frontal areas, for faces, and in temporal areas, for names. The results are discussed in the context of previous studies using the same passive viewing procedure, highlighting the relevance of integrating peripheral and central measures in the scientific study of positive emotion and love.

Self-Resemblance Modulates Processing of Socio-Emotional Pictures in a Context-Sensitive Manner

Abstract. Relevance of emotional information varies with self-involvement. The current study was undertaken to test whether subtle facial self-resemblance is sufficient to affect attentional and affective processing of complex socio-emotional pictures. Faces digitally manipulated to resemble the participants’ (final sample: N = 21) own versus unfamiliar control faces (form and color morphs) were presented in pictures of emotionally evocative social interactions, that is, threat versus sex scenes. At stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of either 300 ms or 3,000 ms after picture onset, startle responses were elicited by acoustic white noise bursts (50 ms, 105 dB), and recorded at the orbicularis oculi via electromyography (EMG). The majority of participants remained unaware of the morphing manipulation, and awareness did not affect the principal results. As indexed by inhibition of startle at short lead intervals and by picture-evoked heart rate deceleration, facial self-resemblance modulates effects of motivational salience in a context-sensitive way, increasing prepulse inhibition with threat-related, but not erotic cues. Overall, the present study suggests that visual cues of general motivational significance and of self-relevance are integrated in a fast, presumably automatic manner.

Positive emotional reactions to loved names

Studies concerning personal attachment have successfully used loved familiar faces to prompt positive affective and physiological reactions. Moreover, the processing of emotional words shows similar physiological patterns to those found with affective pictures. The objective of this study was to assess whether the passive viewing of loved names would produce a pattern of subjective and physiological reactivity similar to that produced by the passive viewing of loved faces. The results showed that, compared to neutral (unknown) and famous names, loved names produced a biphasic pattern of heart rate deceleration-acceleration, heightened skin conductance and zygomaticus muscle activity, inhibition of corrugator muscle activity, and potentiation of the startle reflex response. This pattern of physiological responses was accompanied by subjective reports of higher positive affect and arousal for loved names than for neutral and famous ones. These findings highlight not only the similarity but also the differences between the affective processing of identity recognition by loved faces and names.

Using pupil dilation, eye-blink rate, and the value of mother to investigate reward learning mechanisms in infancy

The brain is adapted to learn from interactions with the environment that predict or enable the procurement of rewards (Schultz, 2010). For infants, the main caregiver (often the mother) is most associated with primary biological rewards such as food and warmth, as well as the most likely provider of emotional and social rewards such as comfort and responsiveness. In this study we capitalize on the reward value of mother to examine reward learning mechanisms in infancy using multiple eye-tracking measures. Converging lines of research have demonstrated links between reward-related striatal dopamine activity and measurable changes in spontaneous eye-blink rate (EBR) and pupil dilation (Eckstein et al., 2017). We presented 7-month-old infants with video stimuli that parametrically increased in social-emotional value (male stranger, female stranger, mother) or in visual attention value (static image, slowed silent cartoon, dynamic cartoon). After establishing infants’ baseline responses to these stimuli, we paired the videos with arbitrary shape cues in an associative learning task. Infants showed superior learning from their own mother’s video and a heightened anticipatory arousal response to the mother-associated cue following learning. Both learning measures were predicted by infants’ baseline EBR to their mother’s video, providing the first evidence of reward learning and transfer in human infants.

Self- or familiar-face recognition advantage? New insight using ambient images

Self-face recognition has been widely explored in the past few years. Nevertheless, the current literature relies on the use of standardized photographs which do not represent daily-life face recognition. Therefore, we aim for the first time to evaluate self-face processing in healthy individuals using natural/ambient images which contain variations in the environment and in the face itself. In total, 40 undergraduate and graduate students performed a forced delayed-matching task, including images of one's own face, friend, famous and unknown individuals. For both reaction time and accuracy, results showed that participants were faster and more accurate when matching different images of their own face compared to both famous and unfamiliar faces. Nevertheless, no significant differences were found between self-face and friend-face and between friend-face and famous-face. They were also faster and more accurate when matching friend and famous faces compared to unfamiliar faces. Our results suggest that faster and more accurate responses to self-face might be better explained by a familiarity effect - that is, (1) the result of frequent exposition to one's own image through mirror and photos, (2) a more robust mental representation of one's own face and (3) strong face recognition units as for other familiar faces.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology in People affected by Home Eviction in Spain

Despite the higher proportion of foreclosures and home evictions executed in Spain, compared to other countries, and the known link between social exclusion and mental health problems, studies exploring this association in Spain remain scarce. This study investigated the link between the process of home eviction and the appearance of symptomatology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and perceived stress. Two hundred and five people affected by the process of home eviction were assessed using a structured interview that included three validated assessment instruments for PTSD, perceived stress, anxiety and depression. Analysis involved comparison with the normative groups that formed the validation studies together with regression analysis to determine the major psychological and socio-demographic predictors of perceived stress. Of the participants, 95.1% reported that they were experiencing the process of home eviction with fear, helplessness, or horror. In PTSD symptomatology, they scored higher than the normative PTSD group in symptoms of avoidance (t = 5.01; p < .05), activation (t = 5.48; p < .01), and total score (t = 4.15; p < .05). Of this subgroup, 72.5% fulfilled the DSM-IV symptom criteria for PTSD. The major predictor of perceived stress was PTSD symptomatology (B = .09; p < .001). The process of home eviction in Spain is having an alarming impact on mental health of affected people calling for effective measures to provide psychological and social support.

Intensified emotion perception in depression: Differences in physiological arousal and subjective perceptions

People suffering from depression perceive themselves and their surroundings as more negative than healthy ones. An explanation might be that depressed individuals experience negative information as more stressful than non-depressed subjects and, consequently, respond in an amplified manner on a subjective and physiological level. To test this proposition, we presented 41 patients with recurrent depressive episodes and 42 controls with stimuli from the International Affective Picture System split into three valence categories while different parameters of physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate variability) and subjective perceptions of valence and arousal were assessed. Furthermore, we examined social skills and emotional competence. Results regarding physiological arousal revealed an elevated skin temperature and a more accentuated respiratory frequency in depressed subjects. Furthermore, depressed subjects rated the stimuli as more negative and arousing, which was associated with reduced social and emotional competence. Variation in antidepressant medication, menstrual cycle and other factors that have an impact on HRV are a potential bias. Our findings suggest an intensified perception of negative emotion in depressed individuals as compared to controls that manifests itself in an increased physiological arousal as well as on a subjective level. This intensified emotion perception is further associated with deficits in social and emotional competence.

Startle eye-blink modulation by facial self-resemblance and current mood

Although salient stimuli are known to modulate startle eye-blink responses, and one's own face is considered of particular salience, effects of facial self-resemblance on startle responsiveness have not been systematically investigated. For the present study, pictures from the FACES database (rated as neutral) were digitally morphed to resemble the participants' (N=37) faces to varying degrees (25-50-75%). Perceptually matched geometrical shapes served as a control condition. At SOAs of either 300ms or 3000ms after picture onset, startle responses were elicited by white noise (50ms, 105dB), and recorded at the orbicularis oculi via EMG. Prior to the experiment, self-reported mood was assessed by means of the PANAS. Relative to non-face stimuli, the presentation of faces reduced startle magnitude at short, but not long, lead intervals. Furthermore, for probes presented at a SOA of 300ms, a linear decrease in startle magnitude with higher levels of self-resemblance was observed, presumably reflecting higher salience of the self-face. The startle modulating effect of self-resembling faces during longer lead intervals was moderated by the participants' current mood: negative affect predicted stronger patterns of attenuation, which might be interpreted as an increase in self-focus resulting from more negative mood.