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Seitz KI, Leitenstorfer J, Krauch M, Hillmann K, Boll S, Ueltzhoeffer K, Neukel C, Kleindienst N, Herpertz SC, Bertsch K. An eye-tracking study of interpersonal threat sensitivity and adverse childhood experiences in borderline personality disorder. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul 2021; 8:2. [PMID: 33397512 PMCID: PMC7784013 DOI: 10.1186/s40479-020-00141-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous eye-tracking studies provide preliminary evidence for a hypersensitivity to negative, potentially threatening interpersonal cues in borderline personality disorder (BPD). From an etiological point of view, such interpersonal threat hypersensitivity might be explained by a biological vulnerability along with a history of early life adversities. The objective of the current study was to investigate interpersonal threat hypersensitivity and its association with adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in patients with BPD employing eye-tracking technology. METHODS We examined a sample of 46 unmedicated, adult female patients with BPD and 25 healthy female volunteers, matched on age and intelligence, with a well-established emotion classification paradigm with angry, fearful, happy, and neutral facial expressions. ACE were assessed retrospectively with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. RESULTS Patients as compared to healthy volunteers reflexively directed their gaze more quickly towards the eyes of emotional and neutral faces and did not adapt their fixation patterns according to the facial expression presented. Misclassifying emotional and neutral faces as angry correlated positively with the patients' self-reported ACE. CONCLUSIONS Building on and extending earlier findings, our results are likely to suggest a visual hypervigilance towards the eyes of emotional and neutral facial expressions and a childhood trauma-related anger bias in patients with BPD. Given the lack of a clinical control group, the question whether these findings are specific for BPD has to remain open. Thus, further research is needed to elucidate the specificity of altered visual attention allocation and the role of ACE in anger recognition in patients with BPD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katja I Seitz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Johanna Leitenstorfer
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Marlene Krauch
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Karen Hillmann
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Kai Ueltzhoeffer
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Corinne Neukel
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nikolaus Kleindienst
- Institute for Psychiatric and Psychosomatic Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
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Schneider I, Schmitgen MM, Boll S, Roth C, Nees F, Usai K, Herpertz SC, Wolf RC. Oxytocin modulates intrinsic neural activity in patients with chronic low back pain. Eur J Pain 2020; 24:945-955. [PMID: 32061140 DOI: 10.1002/ejp.1543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Modulation of pain perception by oxytocin (OXT) has attracted increased scientific and clinical interest. Neural mechanisms underlying these effects are poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of intranasally applied OXT on intrinsic neural activity in patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP). METHODS Twenty-four male patients with cLBP and 23 healthy males were examined using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were scanned twice and received either intranasally applied OXT (24 international units) or placebo 40 min before scanning. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) was computed to investigate regionally specific effects of OXT on intrinsic neural activity. In addition a multivariate statistical data analysis strategy was employed to explore OXT-effects on functional network strength. RESULTS Differential effects of OXT were observed in cLBP and healthy controls. FALFF decreased in left nucleus accumbens and right thalamus in cLBP and increased in right thalamus in healthy controls after OXT application compared to placebo. OXT also induced activity changes in bilateral thalamus, left caudate nucleus and right amygdala in cLBP. OXT was associated with increased medial frontal, parietal and occipital functional network strength, though this effect was not group-specific. Regression analyses revealed significant associations between left nucleus accumbens, left caudate nucleus and right amygdala with pain-specific psychometric scores in cLBP. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest OXT-related modulation of regional activity and neural network strength in patients with cLBP and healthy controls. In patients, distinct regions of the pain matrix may be responsive to modulation by OXT. SIGNIFICANCE Our data suggest significant oxytocin-related modulation of intrinsic regional activity and neural network strength in patients with chronic low back pain and healthy controls. In patients, distinct regions of the pain matrix may be responsive to modulation by oxytocin. Therapeutic effects of oxytocin for improved pain treatment need to be further investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabella Schneider
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mike M Schmitgen
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Corinna Roth
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katrin Usai
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Robert C Wolf
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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Schneider I, Boll S, Volman I, Roelofs K, Spohn A, Herpertz SC, Bertsch K. Oxytocin Normalizes Approach-Avoidance Behavior in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:120. [PMID: 32218744 PMCID: PMC7078372 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Interpersonal deficits are a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which could be related to increased social threat sensitivity and a tendency to approach rather than avoid interpersonal threats. The neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to reduce threat sensitivity in patients with BPD and to modify approach-avoidance behavior in healthy volunteers. Methods: In a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled between-subject design, 53 unmedicated women with BPD and 61 healthy women participated in an approach-avoidance task 75 min after intranasal substance administration (24 IU of oxytocin or placebo). The task assesses automatic approach-avoidance tendencies in reaction to facial expressions of happiness and anger. Results: While healthy participants responded faster to happy than angry faces, the opposite response pattern, that is, faster reactions to angry than happy faces, was found in patients with BPD. In the oxytocin condition, the "congruency effect" (i.e., faster avoidance of facial anger and approach of facial happiness vice versa) was increased in both groups. Notably, patients with BPD exhibited a congruency effect toward angry faces in the oxytocin but not in the placebo condition. Conclusions: This is the second report of deficient fast, automatic avoidance responses in terms of approach behavior toward interpersonal threat cues in patients with BPD. Intranasally administered oxytocin was found to strengthen avoidance behavior to social threat cues and, thus, to normalize fast action tendencies in BPD. Together with the previously reported oxytocinergic reduction of social threat hypersensitivity, these results suggest beneficial effects of oxytocin on interpersonal dysfunctioning in BPD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabella Schneider
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Inge Volman
- FMRIB Centre University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Angelika Spohn
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department of General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
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Herpertz SC, Schmitgen MM, Fuchs C, Roth C, Wolf RC, Bertsch K, Flor H, Grinevich V, Boll S. Oxytocin Effects on Pain Perception and Pain Anticipation. J Pain 2019; 20:1187-1198. [PMID: 31009765 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2018] [Revised: 02/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
There is an ongoing debate whether the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) modulates pain processing in humans. This study differentiates behavioral and neuronal OT effects on pain perception and pain anticipation by using a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Forty-six males received intranasally administered OT in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled group design. Although OT exerted no direct effect on perceived pain, OT was found to modulate the blood oxygen level-dependent response in the ventral striatum for painful versus warm unconditioned stimuli and to decrease activity in the anterior insula (IS) with repeated thermal pain stimuli. Regarding pain anticipation, OT increased responses to CSpain versus CSminus in the nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, in the OT condition increased correct expectations, particularly for the most certain conditioned stimuli (CS)-unconditioned stimuli associations (CSminus and CSpain) were found, as well as greatest deactivations in the right posterior IS in response to the least certain condition (CSwarm) with posterior IS activity and correct expectancies being positively correlated. In conclusion, OT seems to have both a direct effect on pain processing via the ventral striatum and by inducing habituation in the anterior IS as well as on pain anticipation by boostering associative learning in general and the neuronal conditioned fear of pain response in particular. PERSPECTIVE: The neuropeptide OT has recently raised the hope to offer a novel avenue for modulating pain experience. This study found OT to modulate pain processing and to facilitate the anticipation of pain, inspiring further research on OT effects on the affective dimension of the pain experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Mike M Schmitgen
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christine Fuchs
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Corinna Roth
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Robert Christian Wolf
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Herta Flor
- Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Valery Grinevich
- Schaller Research Group on Neuropeptides, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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Boll S, Almeida de Minas A, Raftogianni A, Herpertz S, Grinevich V. Oxytocin and Pain Perception: From Animal Models to Human Research. Neuroscience 2018; 387:149-161. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.09.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2017] [Revised: 09/14/2017] [Accepted: 09/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Timmermann M, Jeung H, Schmitt R, Boll S, Freitag CM, Bertsch K, Herpertz SC. Oxytocin improves facial emotion recognition in young adults with antisocial personality disorder. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2017; 85:158-164. [PMID: 28865940 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.07.483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2017] [Revised: 06/21/2017] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Deficient facial emotion recognition has been suggested to underlie aggression in individuals with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). As the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been shown to improve facial emotion recognition, it might also exert beneficial effects in individuals providing so much harm to the society. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 22 individuals with ASPD and 29 healthy control (HC) subjects (matched for age, sex, intelligence, and education) were intranasally administered either OT (24 IU) or a placebo 45min before participating in an emotion classification paradigm with fearful, angry, and happy faces. We assessed the number of correct classifications and reaction times as indicators of emotion recognition ability. Significant group×substance×emotion interactions were found in correct classifications and reaction times. Compared to HC, individuals with ASPD showed deficits in recognizing fearful and happy faces; these group differences were no longer observable under OT. Additionally, reaction times for angry faces differed significantly between the ASPD and HC group in the placebo condition. This effect was mainly driven by longer reaction times in HC subjects after placebo administration compared to OT administration while individuals with ASPD revealed descriptively the contrary response pattern. Our data indicate an improvement of the recognition of fearful and happy facial expressions by OT in young adults with ASPD. Particularly the increased recognition of facial fear is of high importance since the correct perception of distress signals in others is thought to inhibit aggression. Beneficial effects of OT might be further mediated by improved recognition of facial happiness probably reflecting increased social reward responsiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Timmermann
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Haang Jeung
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Ruth Schmitt
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Christine M Freitag
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Sabine C Herpertz
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Voßstr. 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
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Geuter S, Boll S, Eippert F, Büchel C. Functional dissociation of stimulus intensity encoding and predictive coding of pain in the insula. eLife 2017; 6:e24770. [PMID: 28524817 PMCID: PMC5470871 DOI: 10.7554/elife.24770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The computational principles by which the brain creates a painful experience from nociception are still unknown. Classic theories suggest that cortical regions either reflect stimulus intensity or additive effects of intensity and expectations, respectively. By contrast, predictive coding theories provide a unified framework explaining how perception is shaped by the integration of beliefs about the world with mismatches resulting from the comparison of these beliefs against sensory input. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a probabilistic heat pain paradigm, we investigated which computations underlie pain perception. Skin conductance, pupil dilation, and anterior insula responses to cued pain stimuli strictly followed the response patterns hypothesized by the predictive coding model, whereas posterior insula encoded stimulus intensity. This novel functional dissociation of pain processing within the insula together with previously observed alterations in chronic pain offer a novel interpretation of aberrant pain processing as disturbed weighting of predictions and prediction errors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan Geuter
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, United States
| | - Sabrina Boll
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of General Psychiatry, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Falk Eippert
- Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Christian Büchel
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Toborg M, Schnauber J, Meyer J, Boll S, Koppelin F. Mittels Nutzereinbeziehung zu mehr Akzeptanz einer technikgestützten Präventionsmaßnahme zur Bewegungsförderung Älterer. Gesundheitswesen 2016. [DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1586706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Boll S, Bartholomaeus M, Peter U, Lupke U, Gamer M. Attentional mechanisms of social perception are biased in social phobia. J Anxiety Disord 2016; 40:83-93. [PMID: 27131909 PMCID: PMC4877390 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.04.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2015] [Revised: 02/11/2016] [Accepted: 04/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies of social phobia have reported an increased vigilance to social threat cues but also an avoidance of socially relevant stimuli such as eye gaze. The primary aim of this study was to examine attentional mechanisms relevant for perceiving social cues by means of abnormalities in scanning of facial features in patients with social phobia. In two novel experimental paradigms, patients with social phobia and healthy controls matched on age, gender and education were compared regarding their gazing behavior towards facial cues. The first experiment was an emotion classification paradigm which allowed for differentiating reflexive attentional shifts from sustained attention towards diagnostically relevant facial features. In the second experiment, attentional orienting by gaze direction was assessed in a gaze-cueing paradigm in which non-predictive gaze cues shifted attention towards or away from subsequently presented targets. We found that patients as compared to controls reflexively oriented their attention more frequently towards the eyes of emotional faces in the emotion classification paradigm. This initial hypervigilance for the eye region was observed at very early attentional stages when faces were presented for 150ms, and persisted when facial stimuli were shown for 3s. Moreover, a delayed attentional orienting into the direction of eye gaze was observed in individuals with social phobia suggesting a differential time course of eye gaze processing in patients and controls. Our findings suggest that basic mechanisms of early attentional exploration of social cues are biased in social phobia and might contribute to the development and maintenance of the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Boll
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany; Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Marie Bartholomaeus
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
| | | | | | - Matthias Gamer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany,Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Germany
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Boll S, Gamer M. 5-HTTLPR modulates the recognition accuracy and exploration of emotional facial expressions. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:255. [PMID: 25100964 PMCID: PMC4107864 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual genetic differences in the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) have been associated with variations in the sensitivity to social and emotional cues as well as altered amygdala reactivity to facial expressions of emotion. Amygdala activation has further been shown to trigger gaze changes toward diagnostically relevant facial features. The current study examined whether altered socio-emotional reactivity in variants of the 5-HTTLPR promoter polymorphism reflects individual differences in attending to diagnostic features of facial expressions. For this purpose, visual exploration of emotional facial expressions was compared between a low (n = 39) and a high (n = 40) 5-HTT expressing group of healthy human volunteers in an eye tracking paradigm. Emotional faces were presented while manipulating the initial fixation such that saccadic changes toward the eyes and toward the mouth could be identified. We found that the low vs. the high 5-HTT group demonstrated greater accuracy with regard to emotion classifications, particularly when faces were presented for a longer duration. No group differences in gaze orientation toward diagnostic facial features could be observed. However, participants in the low 5-HTT group exhibited more and faster fixation changes for certain emotions when faces were presented for a longer duration and overall face fixation times were reduced for this genotype group. These results suggest that the 5-HTT gene influences social perception by modulating the general vigilance to social cues rather than selectively affecting the pre-attentive detection of diagnostic facial features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Boll
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Gamer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg, Germany
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Boll S, Gamer M, Gluth S, Finsterbusch J, Büchel C. Separate amygdala subregions signal surprise and predictiveness during associative fear learning in humans. Eur J Neurosci 2012; 37:758-67. [PMID: 23278978 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2012] [Revised: 10/31/2012] [Accepted: 11/16/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It has recently been suggested that learning signals in the amygdala might be best characterized by attentional theories of associative learning [such as Pearce-Hall (PH)] and more recent hybrid variants that combine Rescorla-Wagner and PH learning models. In these models, unsigned prediction errors (PEs) determine the associability of a cue, which is used in turn to control learning of outcome expectations dynamically and reflects a function of the reliability of prior outcome predictions. Here, we employed an aversive Pavlovian reversal-learning task to investigate computational signals derived from such a hybrid model. Unlike previous accounts, our paradigm allowed for the separate assessment of associability at the time of cue presentation and PEs at the time of outcome. We combined this approach with high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand how different subregions of the human amygdala contribute to associative learning. Signal changes in the corticomedial amygdala and in the midbrain represented unsigned PEs at the time of outcome showing increased responses irrespective of whether a shock was unexpectedly administered or omitted. In contrast, activity in basolateral amygdala regions correlated negatively with associability at the time of cue presentation. Thus, whereas the corticomedial amygdala and the midbrain reflected immediate surprise, the basolateral amygdala represented predictiveness and displayed increased responses when outcome predictions became more reliable. These results extend previous findings on PH-like mechanisms in the amygdala and provide unique insights into human amygdala circuits during associative learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Boll
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, Building W34, D-20246, Hamburg, Germany.
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Boll S, Gamer M, Kalisch R, Büchel C. Processing of facial expressions and their significance for the observer in subregions of the human amygdala. Neuroimage 2011; 56:299-306. [PMID: 21320610 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2010] [Revised: 12/22/2010] [Accepted: 02/04/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Amygdala responses to emotional faces can be influenced by concomitant gaze direction. As an explanation it has been suggested that the observer uses eye gaze as a cue to decipher the source of a potential threat in order to evaluate the significance of the situation. To test this assumption, we kept gaze direction ambiguous and replaced the information possibly provided by gaze direction with explicit, contextual information about intentions of angry and fearful faces. Using fMRI we show that this manipulation evokes a similar pattern of amygdala activation as prior gaze-related accounts: angry faces targeting at the observer elicited stronger amygdala responses than angry faces targeting at another person, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for fearful faces. We further combined our paradigm with high-resolution fMRI which enabled us to localize clusters of activation in amygdala subregions: purely facial-expression evoked signal changes were observed in the accessory basal nucleus, whereas our data suggest a critical role of the corticomedial amygdala in linking contextual information to emotional faces and in deciphering the significance of the faces for the observer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Boll
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
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Frederiksen J, Boll S. FP24-TU-06 Oligoclonal negative multiple sclerosis differ clinically and paraclinically from oligoclonal positive multiple sclerosis: a cross sectional, population-based study of 735 consecutive patients. J Neurol Sci 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/s0022-510x(09)70395-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Boll S, Berti S. Distraction of task-relevant information processing by irrelevant changes in auditory, visual, and bimodal stimulus features: A behavioral and event-related potential study. Psychophysiology 2009; 46:645-54. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00803.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Boll S. The first five years of life. West J Med 1982. [DOI: 10.1136/bmj.285.6354.1579-b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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