Gyurak A, Goodkind MS, Madan A, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Levenson RW.
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, 144-152
Behavioral regulation is a hallmark feature of executive functioning (EF). The present study investigated whether commonly used neuropsychological test measures of EF (i.e., working memory, Stroop, trail making, and verbal fluency) were related to ability to downregulate emotion both spontaneously and when instructed to suppress emotional expressions. To ensure a wide range of EF, 24 frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients, 7 Alzheimer's patients, and 17 neurologically normal controls participated. Participants were exposed to an acoustic startle stimulus (single aversive noise burst) under three conditions: (1) unwarned, (2) warned with no instructions (to measure spontaneous emotion downregulation), and (3) warned with instructions to suppress (to measure instructed emotion downregulation). Results indicated that higher verbal fluency scores were related to greater emotion regulation (operationalized as reduction in body movement and emotional facial behavior when warned of the impending startle) in both regulation conditions. No relationships were found between emotion regulation in these conditions and the other EF measures. We conclude that, of four commonly used measures of EF, verbal fluency best indexes the complex processes of monitoring, evaluation, and control necessary for successful emotion regulation, both spontaneously and following instructions to suppress.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Contingency learning in human fear conditioning involves the ventral striatum.
Klucken T, Tabbert K, Schweckendiek J, Merz CJ, Kagerer S, Vaitl D, Stark R.
Human Brain Mapping, in press
The ability to detect and learn contingencies between fearful stimuli and their predictive cues is an important capacity to cope with the environment. Contingency awareness refers to the ability to verbalize the relationships between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Although there is a heated debate about the influence of contingency awareness on conditioned fear responses, neural correlates behind the formation process of contingency awareness have gained only little attention in human fear conditioning. Recent animal studies indicate that the ventral striatum (VS) could be involved in this process, but in human studies the VS is mostly associated with positive emotions. To examine this question, we reanalyzed four recently published classical fear conditioning studies (n = 117) with respect to the VS at three distinct levels of contingency awareness: subjects, who did not learn the contingencies (unaware), subjects, who learned the contingencies during the experiment (learned aware) and subjects, who were informed about the contingencies in advance (instructed aware). The results showed significantly increased activations in the left and right VS in learned aware compared to unaware subjects. Interestingly, this activation pattern was only found in learned but not in instructed aware subjects. We assume that the VS is not involved when contingency awareness does not develop during conditioning or when contingency awareness is unambiguously induced already prior to conditioning. VS involvement seems to be important for the transition from a contingency unaware to a contingency aware state. Implications for fear conditioning models as well as for the contingency awareness debate are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009.
Human Brain Mapping, in press
The ability to detect and learn contingencies between fearful stimuli and their predictive cues is an important capacity to cope with the environment. Contingency awareness refers to the ability to verbalize the relationships between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Although there is a heated debate about the influence of contingency awareness on conditioned fear responses, neural correlates behind the formation process of contingency awareness have gained only little attention in human fear conditioning. Recent animal studies indicate that the ventral striatum (VS) could be involved in this process, but in human studies the VS is mostly associated with positive emotions. To examine this question, we reanalyzed four recently published classical fear conditioning studies (n = 117) with respect to the VS at three distinct levels of contingency awareness: subjects, who did not learn the contingencies (unaware), subjects, who learned the contingencies during the experiment (learned aware) and subjects, who were informed about the contingencies in advance (instructed aware). The results showed significantly increased activations in the left and right VS in learned aware compared to unaware subjects. Interestingly, this activation pattern was only found in learned but not in instructed aware subjects. We assume that the VS is not involved when contingency awareness does not develop during conditioning or when contingency awareness is unambiguously induced already prior to conditioning. VS involvement seems to be important for the transition from a contingency unaware to a contingency aware state. Implications for fear conditioning models as well as for the contingency awareness debate are discussed. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Unmasking emotion: Exposure duration and emotional engagement.
Codispoti M, Mazzetti M, Bradley MM.
Psychophysiology, in press
Effects of exposure duration on emotional reactivity were investigated in two experiments that parametrically varied the duration of exposure to affective pictures from 25-6000 ms in the presence or absence of a visual mask. Evaluative, facial, autonomic, and cortical responses were measured. Results demonstrated that, in the absence of a visual mask (Experiment 1), emotional content modulated evaluative ratings, cortical, autonomic, and facial changes even with very brief exposures, and there was little evidence that emotional engagement increased with longer exposure. When information persistence was reduced by a visual mask (Experiment 2), differences as a function of hedonic content were absent for all measures when exposure duration was 25 ms but statistically reliable when exposure duration was 80 ms. Between 25-80 ms, individual differences in discriminability were critical in observing affective reactions to masked pictures.
Psychophysiology, in press
Effects of exposure duration on emotional reactivity were investigated in two experiments that parametrically varied the duration of exposure to affective pictures from 25-6000 ms in the presence or absence of a visual mask. Evaluative, facial, autonomic, and cortical responses were measured. Results demonstrated that, in the absence of a visual mask (Experiment 1), emotional content modulated evaluative ratings, cortical, autonomic, and facial changes even with very brief exposures, and there was little evidence that emotional engagement increased with longer exposure. When information persistence was reduced by a visual mask (Experiment 2), differences as a function of hedonic content were absent for all measures when exposure duration was 25 ms but statistically reliable when exposure duration was 80 ms. Between 25-80 ms, individual differences in discriminability were critical in observing affective reactions to masked pictures.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Sleep promotes the neural reorganization of remote emotional memory.
Sterpenich V, Albouy G, Darsaud A, Schmidt C, Vandewalle G, Dang Vu TT, Desseilles M, Phillips C, Degueldre C, Balteau E, Collette F, Luxen A, Maquet P.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 16, 5143-5152
Sleep promotes memory consolidation, a process by which fresh and labile memories are reorganized into stable memories. Emotional memories are usually better remembered than neutral ones, even at long retention delays. In this study, we assessed the influence of sleep during the night after encoding onto the neural correlates of recollection of emotional memories 6 months later. After incidental encoding of emotional and neutral pictures, one-half of the subjects were allowed to sleep, whereas the others were totally sleep deprived, on the first postencoding night. During subsequent retest, functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions taking place 3 d and 6 months later, subjects made recognition memory judgments about the previously studied and new pictures. Between these retest sessions, all participants slept as usual at home. At 6 month retest, recollection was associated with significantly larger responses in subjects allowed to sleep than in sleep-deprived subjects, in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) and the precuneus, two areas involved in memory retrieval, as well as in the extended amygdala and the occipital cortex, two regions the response of which was modulated by emotion at encoding. Moreover, the functional connectivity was enhanced between the vMPFC and the precuneus, as well as between the extended amygdala, the vMPFC, and the occipital cortex in the sleep group relative to the sleep-deprived group. These results suggest that sleep during the first postencoding night profoundly influences the long-term systems-level consolidation of emotional memory and modifies the functional segregation and integration associated with recollection in the long term.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 16, 5143-5152
Sleep promotes memory consolidation, a process by which fresh and labile memories are reorganized into stable memories. Emotional memories are usually better remembered than neutral ones, even at long retention delays. In this study, we assessed the influence of sleep during the night after encoding onto the neural correlates of recollection of emotional memories 6 months later. After incidental encoding of emotional and neutral pictures, one-half of the subjects were allowed to sleep, whereas the others were totally sleep deprived, on the first postencoding night. During subsequent retest, functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions taking place 3 d and 6 months later, subjects made recognition memory judgments about the previously studied and new pictures. Between these retest sessions, all participants slept as usual at home. At 6 month retest, recollection was associated with significantly larger responses in subjects allowed to sleep than in sleep-deprived subjects, in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) and the precuneus, two areas involved in memory retrieval, as well as in the extended amygdala and the occipital cortex, two regions the response of which was modulated by emotion at encoding. Moreover, the functional connectivity was enhanced between the vMPFC and the precuneus, as well as between the extended amygdala, the vMPFC, and the occipital cortex in the sleep group relative to the sleep-deprived group. These results suggest that sleep during the first postencoding night profoundly influences the long-term systems-level consolidation of emotional memory and modifies the functional segregation and integration associated with recollection in the long term.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Reason, emotion and decision-making: risk and reward computation with feeling.
Quartz SR.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, in press
Many models of judgment and decision-making posit distinct cognitive and emotional contributions to decision-making under uncertainty. Cognitive processes typically involve exact computations according to a cost-benefit calculus, whereas emotional processes typically involve approximate, heuristic processes that deliver rapid evaluations without mental effort. However, it remains largely unknown what specific parameters of uncertain decision the brain encodes, the extent to which these parameters correspond to various decision-making frameworks, and their correspondence to emotional and rational processes. Here, I review research suggesting that emotional processes encode in a precise quantitative manner the basic parameters of financial decision theory, indicating a reorientation of emotional and cognitive contributions to risky choice.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, in press
Many models of judgment and decision-making posit distinct cognitive and emotional contributions to decision-making under uncertainty. Cognitive processes typically involve exact computations according to a cost-benefit calculus, whereas emotional processes typically involve approximate, heuristic processes that deliver rapid evaluations without mental effort. However, it remains largely unknown what specific parameters of uncertain decision the brain encodes, the extent to which these parameters correspond to various decision-making frameworks, and their correspondence to emotional and rational processes. Here, I review research suggesting that emotional processes encode in a precise quantitative manner the basic parameters of financial decision theory, indicating a reorientation of emotional and cognitive contributions to risky choice.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Neural correlates of affective picture processing - a depth ERP study.
Brázdil M, Roman R, Urbánek T, Chládek J, Spok D, Mareček R, Mikl M, Jurák P, Halámek J, Daniel P, Rektor I.
Neuroimage, in press
Using functional neuroimaging techniques (PET and fMRI), various cortical, limbic, and paralimbic structures have been identified in the last decade as neural substrates of human emotion. In this study we used a novel approach (intracerebral recordings of event-related potentials) to add to our knowledge of specific brain regions involved in affective picture processing. Ten intractable epileptic patients undergoing pre-surgical depth electrode recording viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures and intracerebral event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. A total of 752 cortical and subcortical sites were investigated. Significant differences in ERPs to unpleasant as compared to neutral or pleasant pictures were frequently and consistently observed in recordings from various brain areas - the mesial temporal cortex (the amygdala, the hippocampus, the temporal pole), the lateral temporal cortex, the mesial prefrontal cortex (ACC and the medial frontal gyrus), and the lateral prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, the mean latencies of responses to emotional stimuli were somewhat shorter in the frontal lobe structures (with evidently earlier activation within lateral prefrontal areas when compared to mesial prefrontal cortex) and longer in the temporal lobe regions. These differences, however, were not significant. Additional clearly positive findings were observed in some rarely investigated regions - in the posterior parietal cortex, the precuneus, and the insula. An approximately equivalent number of positive findings was revealed in the left and right hemisphere structures. These results are in agreement with a multisystem model of human emotion, distributed far beyond the typical limbic system and substantially comprising lateral aspects of both frontal lobes as well.
Neuroimage, in press
Using functional neuroimaging techniques (PET and fMRI), various cortical, limbic, and paralimbic structures have been identified in the last decade as neural substrates of human emotion. In this study we used a novel approach (intracerebral recordings of event-related potentials) to add to our knowledge of specific brain regions involved in affective picture processing. Ten intractable epileptic patients undergoing pre-surgical depth electrode recording viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures and intracerebral event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. A total of 752 cortical and subcortical sites were investigated. Significant differences in ERPs to unpleasant as compared to neutral or pleasant pictures were frequently and consistently observed in recordings from various brain areas - the mesial temporal cortex (the amygdala, the hippocampus, the temporal pole), the lateral temporal cortex, the mesial prefrontal cortex (ACC and the medial frontal gyrus), and the lateral prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, the mean latencies of responses to emotional stimuli were somewhat shorter in the frontal lobe structures (with evidently earlier activation within lateral prefrontal areas when compared to mesial prefrontal cortex) and longer in the temporal lobe regions. These differences, however, were not significant. Additional clearly positive findings were observed in some rarely investigated regions - in the posterior parietal cortex, the precuneus, and the insula. An approximately equivalent number of positive findings was revealed in the left and right hemisphere structures. These results are in agreement with a multisystem model of human emotion, distributed far beyond the typical limbic system and substantially comprising lateral aspects of both frontal lobes as well.
ARTICLE UPDATE - I'll Know What You're Like When I See How You Feel.
Ames DR, Johar GV.
Psychological Science, in press
Accumulating evidence suggests that targets' displays of emotion shape perceivers' impression of those targets. Prior research has highlighted generalization effects, such as an angry display prompting an impression of hostility. In two studies, we went beyond generalization to examine the interaction of displays and behaviors, finding new evidence of augmenting effects (behavior-correspondent inferences are stronger when behavior is accompanied by positive affect) and discounting effects (such inferences are weaker when behavior is accompanied by negative affect). Thus, the same display can have different effects on impressions depending on the behavior it accompanies. We found evidence that these effects are mediated by ascribed intentions and that they have a boundary: When behaviors and affective displays are repeated, the augmenting and discounting power of displays appears to wane.
Psychological Science, in press
Accumulating evidence suggests that targets' displays of emotion shape perceivers' impression of those targets. Prior research has highlighted generalization effects, such as an angry display prompting an impression of hostility. In two studies, we went beyond generalization to examine the interaction of displays and behaviors, finding new evidence of augmenting effects (behavior-correspondent inferences are stronger when behavior is accompanied by positive affect) and discounting effects (such inferences are weaker when behavior is accompanied by negative affect). Thus, the same display can have different effects on impressions depending on the behavior it accompanies. We found evidence that these effects are mediated by ascribed intentions and that they have a boundary: When behaviors and affective displays are repeated, the augmenting and discounting power of displays appears to wane.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Laterality effect on emotional faces processing: ALE meta-analysis of evidence.
Fusar-Poli P, Placentino A, Carletti F, Allen P, Landi P, Abbamonte M, Barale F, Perez J, McGuire P, Politi PL.
Neuroscience Letters, in press
Recognizing emotion from facial expressions draws on diverse psychological processes implemented in a large array of neural structures. Two major theories of cerebral lateralization of emotional perception have been proposed: (i) the Right-Hemisphere Hypothesis (RHH) and (ii) the Valence-Specific Hypothesis (VSH). To test these lateralization models we conducted a large voxel-based meta-analysis of current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies employing emotional faces paradigms in healthy volunteers. Two independent researchers conducted separate comprehensive PUBMED (1990-May 2008) searches to find all functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using a variant of the emotional faces paradigm in healthy subjects. Out of the 551 originally identified studies, 105 studies met inclusion criteria. The overall database consisted of 1785 brain coordinates which yield an overall sample of 1600 healthy subjects. We found no support for the hypothesis of overall right-lateralization of emotional processing. Conversely, across all emotional conditions the parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, precuneus, inferior and middle occipital gyrus, posterior cingulated, middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal and superior frontal gyri were activated bilaterally (p=0.001). There was a valence-specific lateralization of brain response during negative emotions processing in the left amygdala (p=0.001). Significant interactions between the approach and avoidance dimensions and prefrontal response were observed (p=0.001).
Neuroscience Letters, in press
Recognizing emotion from facial expressions draws on diverse psychological processes implemented in a large array of neural structures. Two major theories of cerebral lateralization of emotional perception have been proposed: (i) the Right-Hemisphere Hypothesis (RHH) and (ii) the Valence-Specific Hypothesis (VSH). To test these lateralization models we conducted a large voxel-based meta-analysis of current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies employing emotional faces paradigms in healthy volunteers. Two independent researchers conducted separate comprehensive PUBMED (1990-May 2008) searches to find all functional magnetic resonance imaging studies using a variant of the emotional faces paradigm in healthy subjects. Out of the 551 originally identified studies, 105 studies met inclusion criteria. The overall database consisted of 1785 brain coordinates which yield an overall sample of 1600 healthy subjects. We found no support for the hypothesis of overall right-lateralization of emotional processing. Conversely, across all emotional conditions the parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, precuneus, inferior and middle occipital gyrus, posterior cingulated, middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal and superior frontal gyri were activated bilaterally (p=0.001). There was a valence-specific lateralization of brain response during negative emotions processing in the left amygdala (p=0.001). Significant interactions between the approach and avoidance dimensions and prefrontal response were observed (p=0.001).
ARTICLE UPDATE - Neural systems of visual attention responding to emotional gestures.
Flaisch T, Schupp HT, Renner B, Junghöfer M.
Neuroimage, in press
Humans are the only species known to use symbolic gestures for communication. This affords a unique medium for nonverbal emotional communication with a distinct theoretical status compared to facial expressions and other biologically evolved nonverbal emotion signals. While a frown is a frown all around the world, the relation of emotional gestures to their referents is arbitrary and varies from culture to culture. The present studies examined whether such culturally based emotion displays guide visual attention processes. In two experiments, participants passively viewed symbolic hand gestures with positive, negative and neutral emotional meaning. In Experiment 1, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements showed that gestures of insult and approval enhance activity in selected bilateral visual-associative brain regions devoted to object perception. In Experiment 2, dense sensor event-related brain potential recordings (ERP) revealed that emotional hand gestures are differentially processed already 150 ms poststimulus. Thus, the present studies provide converging neuroscientific evidence that emotional gestures provoke the cardinal signatures of selective visual attention regarding brain structures and temporal dynamics previously shown for emotional face and body expressions. It is concluded that emotionally charged gestures are efficient in shaping selective attention processes already at the level of stimulus perception.
Neuroimage, in press
Humans are the only species known to use symbolic gestures for communication. This affords a unique medium for nonverbal emotional communication with a distinct theoretical status compared to facial expressions and other biologically evolved nonverbal emotion signals. While a frown is a frown all around the world, the relation of emotional gestures to their referents is arbitrary and varies from culture to culture. The present studies examined whether such culturally based emotion displays guide visual attention processes. In two experiments, participants passively viewed symbolic hand gestures with positive, negative and neutral emotional meaning. In Experiment 1, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements showed that gestures of insult and approval enhance activity in selected bilateral visual-associative brain regions devoted to object perception. In Experiment 2, dense sensor event-related brain potential recordings (ERP) revealed that emotional hand gestures are differentially processed already 150 ms poststimulus. Thus, the present studies provide converging neuroscientific evidence that emotional gestures provoke the cardinal signatures of selective visual attention regarding brain structures and temporal dynamics previously shown for emotional face and body expressions. It is concluded that emotionally charged gestures are efficient in shaping selective attention processes already at the level of stimulus perception.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Links between rapid ERP responses to fearful faces and conscious awareness.
Eimer M, Kiss M, Holmes A.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2, 165-181
To study links between rapid ERP responses to fearful faces and conscious awareness, a backward-masking paradigm was employed where fearful or neutral target faces were presented for different durations and were followed by a neutral face mask. Participants had to report target face expression on each trial. When masked faces were clearly visible (200 ms duration), an early frontal positivity, a later more broadly distributed positivity, and a temporo-occipital negativity were elicited by fearful relative to neutral faces, confirming findings from previous studies with unmasked faces. These emotion-specific effects were also triggered when masked faces were presented for only 17 ms, but only on trials where fearful faces were successfully detected. When masked faces were shown for 50 ms, a smaller but reliable frontal positivity was also elicited by undetected fearful faces. These results demonstrate that early ERP responses to fearful faces are linked to observers' subjective conscious awareness of such faces, as reflected by their perceptual reports. They suggest that frontal brain regions involved in the construction of conscious representations of facial expression are activated at very short latencies.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2, 165-181
To study links between rapid ERP responses to fearful faces and conscious awareness, a backward-masking paradigm was employed where fearful or neutral target faces were presented for different durations and were followed by a neutral face mask. Participants had to report target face expression on each trial. When masked faces were clearly visible (200 ms duration), an early frontal positivity, a later more broadly distributed positivity, and a temporo-occipital negativity were elicited by fearful relative to neutral faces, confirming findings from previous studies with unmasked faces. These emotion-specific effects were also triggered when masked faces were presented for only 17 ms, but only on trials where fearful faces were successfully detected. When masked faces were shown for 50 ms, a smaller but reliable frontal positivity was also elicited by undetected fearful faces. These results demonstrate that early ERP responses to fearful faces are linked to observers' subjective conscious awareness of such faces, as reflected by their perceptual reports. They suggest that frontal brain regions involved in the construction of conscious representations of facial expression are activated at very short latencies.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Segregated and integrated coding of reward and punishment in the cingulate cortex.
Fujiwara J, Tobler PN, Taira M, Iijima T, Tsutsui KI.
Journal of Neurophysiology, in press
Affective stimuli fall into two major classes, reward and punishment, both of which are processed by the cingulate cortex. However, it is unclear whether the positive and negative affective values of monetary reward and punishment are processed by separate or common subregions of the cingulate cortex. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a free-choice task, and compared cingulate activations for different levels of monetary gain and loss. Gain-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing gain, but no activation change in relation to loss) occurred mainly in the anterior part of the anterior cingulate and in the posterior cingulate cortex. Conversely, loss-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing loss, but no activation change in relation to gain) occurred in-between these areas, in the middle and posterior part of the anterior cingulate. Integrated coding of gain and loss (increasing activation throughout the full range, from biggest loss to biggest gain) occurred in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate, at the border with medial prefrontal cortex. Finally, unspecific activation increases to both gains and losses (increasing activation to increasing gains and increasing losses, possibly reflecting attention) occurred in dorsal and middle regions of the cingulate cortex. Together, these results suggest separate and common coding of monetary reward and punishment in distinct subregions of the cingulate cortex. Further meta-analysis suggested that the presently found reward- and punishment-specific areas overlapped with those processing positive and negative emotions, respectively.
Journal of Neurophysiology, in press
Affective stimuli fall into two major classes, reward and punishment, both of which are processed by the cingulate cortex. However, it is unclear whether the positive and negative affective values of monetary reward and punishment are processed by separate or common subregions of the cingulate cortex. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a free-choice task, and compared cingulate activations for different levels of monetary gain and loss. Gain-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing gain, but no activation change in relation to loss) occurred mainly in the anterior part of the anterior cingulate and in the posterior cingulate cortex. Conversely, loss-specific activation (increasing activation for increasing loss, but no activation change in relation to gain) occurred in-between these areas, in the middle and posterior part of the anterior cingulate. Integrated coding of gain and loss (increasing activation throughout the full range, from biggest loss to biggest gain) occurred in the dorsal part of the anterior cingulate, at the border with medial prefrontal cortex. Finally, unspecific activation increases to both gains and losses (increasing activation to increasing gains and increasing losses, possibly reflecting attention) occurred in dorsal and middle regions of the cingulate cortex. Together, these results suggest separate and common coding of monetary reward and punishment in distinct subregions of the cingulate cortex. Further meta-analysis suggested that the presently found reward- and punishment-specific areas overlapped with those processing positive and negative emotions, respectively.
Monday, March 30, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Between- and within-ear congruency and laterality effects in an auditory semantic/emotional prosody conflict task.
Techentin C, Voyer D, Klein RM.
Brain and Cognition, in press
The present study investigated the influence of within- and between-ear congruency on interference and laterality effects in an auditory semantic/prosodic conflict task. Participants were presented dichotically with words (e.g., mad, sad, glad) pronounced in either congruent or incongruent emotional tones (e.g., angry, happy, or sad) and identified a target word or emotion under one of two conditions. In the within-ear condition, the congruent or incongruent dimensions were bound within a single stimulus and therefore, presented to the same ear. In the between-ear condition, the two dimensions were split between two stimuli and, therefore, presented in separate ears. Findings indicated interference in both conditions. However, the expected right ear advantage (EA) for words and left EA for emotions were obtained only in the between-ear condition. Factors involved in producing interference and laterality effects in dichotic listening tasks are discussed.
Brain and Cognition, in press
The present study investigated the influence of within- and between-ear congruency on interference and laterality effects in an auditory semantic/prosodic conflict task. Participants were presented dichotically with words (e.g., mad, sad, glad) pronounced in either congruent or incongruent emotional tones (e.g., angry, happy, or sad) and identified a target word or emotion under one of two conditions. In the within-ear condition, the congruent or incongruent dimensions were bound within a single stimulus and therefore, presented to the same ear. In the between-ear condition, the two dimensions were split between two stimuli and, therefore, presented in separate ears. Findings indicated interference in both conditions. However, the expected right ear advantage (EA) for words and left EA for emotions were obtained only in the between-ear condition. Factors involved in producing interference and laterality effects in dichotic listening tasks are discussed.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Enhanced post-learning memory consolidation is influenced by arousal predisposition and emotion regulation but not by stimulus valenc
Nielson KA, Lorber W.
Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, in press
Emotionally arousing stimuli are more memorable than neutral ones and arousal induced after learning enhances later retrieval. However, there is as yet little study of how stimulus qualities might interact with induced arousal and how individual differences might influence the modulation of memory. Thus, the present study examined the effect of arousal induced after learning on memory for words that varied in both arousal and valence quality, as well as the influence of three individual differences factors that are known to influence arousal response: emotional suppression, emotional reappraisal, and arousal predisposition. Seventy-six adults (57 female) viewed and rated 60 words that normatively ranged from high to low in arousal and valence. Ten minutes later, they viewed a 3-min comedic or neutral video clip. Arousal induced after learning enhanced one-week delayed memory, spanning the lengthy task without preference for word type or serial position, contrasting with reports of arousal effects interacting with stimulus qualities. Importantly, being predisposed to arousal led to greater enhancement of long-term memory modulation, while the use of emotional reappraisal, which reduces arousal responding, inhibited the ability of arousal to induce memory enhancement. Thus, individual differences that influence arousal responding can contribute to or interfere with memory modulation.
Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, in press
Emotionally arousing stimuli are more memorable than neutral ones and arousal induced after learning enhances later retrieval. However, there is as yet little study of how stimulus qualities might interact with induced arousal and how individual differences might influence the modulation of memory. Thus, the present study examined the effect of arousal induced after learning on memory for words that varied in both arousal and valence quality, as well as the influence of three individual differences factors that are known to influence arousal response: emotional suppression, emotional reappraisal, and arousal predisposition. Seventy-six adults (57 female) viewed and rated 60 words that normatively ranged from high to low in arousal and valence. Ten minutes later, they viewed a 3-min comedic or neutral video clip. Arousal induced after learning enhanced one-week delayed memory, spanning the lengthy task without preference for word type or serial position, contrasting with reports of arousal effects interacting with stimulus qualities. Importantly, being predisposed to arousal led to greater enhancement of long-term memory modulation, while the use of emotional reappraisal, which reduces arousal responding, inhibited the ability of arousal to induce memory enhancement. Thus, individual differences that influence arousal responding can contribute to or interfere with memory modulation.
ARTICLE UPDATE - How do emotion and motivation direct executive control?
Pessoa L.
Trends in Cognitive Science, in press
Emotion and motivation have crucial roles in determining human behavior. Yet, how they interact with cognitive control functions is less understood. Here, the basic elements of a conceptual framework for understanding how they interact are introduced. More broadly, the 'dual competition' framework proposes that emotion and motivation affect both perceptual and executive competition. In particular, the anterior cingulate cortex is hypothesized to be engaged in attentional/effortful control mechanisms and to interact with several other brain structures, including the amygdala and nucleus accumbens, in integrating affectively significant signals with control signals in prefrontal cortex. An implication of the proposal is that emotion and motivation can either enhance or impair behavioral performance depending on how they interact with control functions.
Trends in Cognitive Science, in press
Emotion and motivation have crucial roles in determining human behavior. Yet, how they interact with cognitive control functions is less understood. Here, the basic elements of a conceptual framework for understanding how they interact are introduced. More broadly, the 'dual competition' framework proposes that emotion and motivation affect both perceptual and executive competition. In particular, the anterior cingulate cortex is hypothesized to be engaged in attentional/effortful control mechanisms and to interact with several other brain structures, including the amygdala and nucleus accumbens, in integrating affectively significant signals with control signals in prefrontal cortex. An implication of the proposal is that emotion and motivation can either enhance or impair behavioral performance depending on how they interact with control functions.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Nonautomatic emotion perception in a dual-task situation.
Tomasik D, Ruthruff E, Allen PA, Lien MC.
Psychological Bulletin & Review, 16, 282-288
Are emotions perceived automatically? Two psychological refractory period experiments were conducted to ascertain whether emotion perception requires central attentional resources. Task 1 required an auditory discrimination (tone vs. noise), whereas Task 2 required a discrimination between happy and angry faces. The difficulty of Task 2 was manipulated by varying the degree of emotional expression. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between Task 1 and Task 2 was also varied. Experiment 1 revealed additive effects of SOA and Task 2 emotion-perception difficulty. Experiment 2 replicated the additive relationship with a stronger manipulation of emotion-perception difficulty. According to locus-of-slack logic, our participants did not process emotional expressions while central resources were devoted to Task 1. We conclude that emotion perception is not fully automatic.
Psychological Bulletin & Review, 16, 282-288
Are emotions perceived automatically? Two psychological refractory period experiments were conducted to ascertain whether emotion perception requires central attentional resources. Task 1 required an auditory discrimination (tone vs. noise), whereas Task 2 required a discrimination between happy and angry faces. The difficulty of Task 2 was manipulated by varying the degree of emotional expression. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between Task 1 and Task 2 was also varied. Experiment 1 revealed additive effects of SOA and Task 2 emotion-perception difficulty. Experiment 2 replicated the additive relationship with a stronger manipulation of emotion-perception difficulty. According to locus-of-slack logic, our participants did not process emotional expressions while central resources were devoted to Task 1. We conclude that emotion perception is not fully automatic.
Monday, March 16, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Emotion perception in emotionless face images suggests a norm-based representation.
Neth D, Martinez AM.
Journal of Vision, 9, 5.1 - 5.11
Perception of facial expressions of emotion is generally assumed to correspond to underlying muscle movement. However, it is often observed that some individuals have sadder or angrier faces, even for neutral, motionless faces. Here, we report on one such effect caused by simple static configural changes. In particular, we show four variations in the relative vertical position of the nose, mouth, eyes, and eyebrows that affect the perception of emotion in neutral faces. The first two configurations make the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth shorter than average, resulting in the perception of an angrier face. The other two configurations make this distance larger than average, resulting in the perception of sadness. These perceptions increase with the amount of configural change, suggesting a representation based on variations from a norm (prototypical) face.
Journal of Vision, 9, 5.1 - 5.11
Perception of facial expressions of emotion is generally assumed to correspond to underlying muscle movement. However, it is often observed that some individuals have sadder or angrier faces, even for neutral, motionless faces. Here, we report on one such effect caused by simple static configural changes. In particular, we show four variations in the relative vertical position of the nose, mouth, eyes, and eyebrows that affect the perception of emotion in neutral faces. The first two configurations make the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth shorter than average, resulting in the perception of an angrier face. The other two configurations make this distance larger than average, resulting in the perception of sadness. These perceptions increase with the amount of configural change, suggesting a representation based on variations from a norm (prototypical) face.
ARTICLE UPDATE - Flawless visual short-term memory for facial emotional expressions.
Bankó EM, Gál V, Vidnyánszky Z.
Journal of Vision, 9, 12.1-12.13
Facial emotions are important cues of human social interactions. Emotional expressions are continuously changing and thus should be monitored, memorized, and compared from time to time during social intercourse. However, it is not known how efficiently emotional expressions can be stored in short-term memory. Here we show that emotion discrimination is not impaired when the faces to be compared are separated by several seconds, requiring storage of fine-grained emotion-related information in short-term memory. Likewise, we found no significant effect of increasing the delay between the sample and the test face in the case of facial identity discrimination. Furthermore, a second experiment conducted on a large subject sample (N = 160) revealed flawless short-term memory for both facial emotions and facial identity also when observers performed the discrimination tasks only twice with novel faces. We also performed an fMRI experiment, which confirmed that discrimination of fine-grained emotional expressions in our experimental paradigm involved processing of high-level facial emotional attributes. Significantly stronger fMRI responses were found in a cortical network--including the posterior superior temporal sulcus--that is known to be involved in processing of facial emotional expression during emotion discrimination than during identity discrimination. These findings reveal flawless, high-resolution visual short-term memory for emotional expressions, which might underlie efficient monitoring of continuously changing facial emotions.
Journal of Vision, 9, 12.1-12.13
Facial emotions are important cues of human social interactions. Emotional expressions are continuously changing and thus should be monitored, memorized, and compared from time to time during social intercourse. However, it is not known how efficiently emotional expressions can be stored in short-term memory. Here we show that emotion discrimination is not impaired when the faces to be compared are separated by several seconds, requiring storage of fine-grained emotion-related information in short-term memory. Likewise, we found no significant effect of increasing the delay between the sample and the test face in the case of facial identity discrimination. Furthermore, a second experiment conducted on a large subject sample (N = 160) revealed flawless short-term memory for both facial emotions and facial identity also when observers performed the discrimination tasks only twice with novel faces. We also performed an fMRI experiment, which confirmed that discrimination of fine-grained emotional expressions in our experimental paradigm involved processing of high-level facial emotional attributes. Significantly stronger fMRI responses were found in a cortical network--including the posterior superior temporal sulcus--that is known to be involved in processing of facial emotional expression during emotion discrimination than during identity discrimination. These findings reveal flawless, high-resolution visual short-term memory for emotional expressions, which might underlie efficient monitoring of continuously changing facial emotions.
ARTICLE UPDATE - The role of mirror neurons in processing vocal emotions: evidence from psychophysiological data.
Ramachandra V, Depalma N, Lisiewski S.
International Journal of Neuroscience, 119,681-690
Recent evidence suggests that the mirror neuron system may serve as a common neural substrate for processing motor, linguistic, emotional, and other higher-level cognitive information. The current study employed psychophysiological methods to elucidate the role of this system in processing vocal emotions. Skin conductance and heart rate were measured for 25 undergraduate students while they were both listening to emotional vocalizations and also thinking (internal production) about them. The results revealed changes in skin conductance response and heart rate during both "listening" and "thinking" conditions. This suggests an active role of the mirror neuron system in processing vocal emotions.
International Journal of Neuroscience, 119,681-690
Recent evidence suggests that the mirror neuron system may serve as a common neural substrate for processing motor, linguistic, emotional, and other higher-level cognitive information. The current study employed psychophysiological methods to elucidate the role of this system in processing vocal emotions. Skin conductance and heart rate were measured for 25 undergraduate students while they were both listening to emotional vocalizations and also thinking (internal production) about them. The results revealed changes in skin conductance response and heart rate during both "listening" and "thinking" conditions. This suggests an active role of the mirror neuron system in processing vocal emotions.
Monday, March 09, 2009
ARTICLE UPDATE - Specific and common brain regions involved in the perception of faces and bodies and the representation of their emotional expression
van de Riet WA, Grezes J, de Gelder B.
Social Neuroscience, 4, 101 - 120
Many studies provide support for the role of the fusiform gyrus in face recognition and its sensitivity to emotional expressions. Recently, category-specific representation was also observed for neutral human bodies in the middle temporal/middle occipital gyrus (extrastriate body area) but it is not clear whether this area is also sensitive to emotional bodily expressions. Besides these areas, other regions that process the affective information carried by the face and the body may be common and/or specific to the face or the body. To clarify these issues we performed a systematic comparison of how the whole brain processes faces and bodies and how their affective information is represented. Participants categorized emotional facial and bodily expressions while brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our results show that, first, the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus are sensitive to recognition of facial and bodily fear signals. Secondly, the extrastriate body area-area V5/MT is specifically involved in processing bodies without being sensitive to the emotion displayed. Thirdly, other important areas such as the superior temporal sulcus, the parietal lobe and subcortical structures represent selectively facial and bodily expressions. Finally, some face/body differences in activation are a function of the emotion expressed.
Social Neuroscience, 4, 101 - 120
Many studies provide support for the role of the fusiform gyrus in face recognition and its sensitivity to emotional expressions. Recently, category-specific representation was also observed for neutral human bodies in the middle temporal/middle occipital gyrus (extrastriate body area) but it is not clear whether this area is also sensitive to emotional bodily expressions. Besides these areas, other regions that process the affective information carried by the face and the body may be common and/or specific to the face or the body. To clarify these issues we performed a systematic comparison of how the whole brain processes faces and bodies and how their affective information is represented. Participants categorized emotional facial and bodily expressions while brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Our results show that, first, the amygdala and the fusiform gyrus are sensitive to recognition of facial and bodily fear signals. Secondly, the extrastriate body area-area V5/MT is specifically involved in processing bodies without being sensitive to the emotion displayed. Thirdly, other important areas such as the superior temporal sulcus, the parietal lobe and subcortical structures represent selectively facial and bodily expressions. Finally, some face/body differences in activation are a function of the emotion expressed.
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