Influence of emotional complexity on the neural substrates of affective theory of mind

Dynamic and/or multimodal assessments for social cognition in neuropsychology: Results from a systematic literature review

Objective: Despite the prevalence of socio-cognitive disturbances, and their important diagnostic/therapeutic implications, the assessment of these disturbances remains scarce. This systematic review aims to identify available social cognition tools for adult assessment that use multimodal and/or dynamic social cues, specifying their strengths and limitations (e.g. from a methodological, psychometric, ecological, and clinical perspective). Method: An electronic search was conducted in Pubmed, PsychINFO, Embase and Scopus databases for articles published up to the 3th of January 2023 and the first 200 Google Scholar results on the same date. The PRISMA methodology was applied, 3884 studies were screened based on title and abstract and 329 full texts were screened. Articles using pseudo-dynamic methodologies (e.g. morphing), reported only subjective or self-reported measures, or investigated only physiological or brain activity responses were excluded. Results: In total, 149 works were included in this review, representing 65 assessment tools (i.e. 48% studying emotion recognition (n = 31), 32% Theory of Mind (n = 21), 5% empathy (n = 3), 1.5% moral cognition/social reasoning (n = 1), and 14% being multimodal (n = 9)). For each study, the tool's main characteristics, psychometric properties, ecological validity indicators and available norms are reported. The tools are presented according to social-cognitive process assessed and communication channels used. Conclusions: This study highlights the lack of validated and standardized tools. A few tools appear to partially meet some clinical needs. The development of methodologies using a first-person paradigm and taking into account the multidimensional nature of social cognition seems a relevant research endeavour for greater ecological validity.

The effects of implicit emotion on the use of theory of mind among college students in China

This research aims to study the impact of implicit emotion on the use of theory of mind and enrich the research on emotions and the use of theory of mind, thus allowing adults to apply theory of mind more effectively in the context of social interaction. This study includes 120 college students as participants. A two (level of theory of mind: high vs. low) * three (implicit emotional state: implicit positive emotion, implicit neutral emotion, or implicit negative emotion) * two (private knowledge: endowed vs. unendowed) between-subjects three-factor design was employed. This study obtained the following results: (1) The main effect of different implicit emotional states on college students' use of theory of mind is significant. College students with implicit positive emotions use theory of mind much less than those with implicit neutral and negative emotions. (2) In cases of implicit positive emotions, college students with a low level of theory of mind use theory of mind substantially less than students with a high level of theory of mind. In cases of implicit neutral and negative emotions, college students with the high and low theory of mind do not exhibit substantial differences in their use of theory of mind. This study concludes that different emotional states affect college students' use of theory of mind.

Influence of first-person and third-person perspectives on neural mechanisms of professional pride

Professional pride, including self-reflection and attitude toward one's own occupational group, induces individuals to behave in socially appropriate ways, and uniforms can encourage wearers to have this pride. This study was to elucidate the working pattern of professional pride by exploring neural responses when wearing uniforms and being conscious of a third-person's perspective. Twenty healthy adults who had an occupation requiring uniforms were scanned using functional MRI with a self-evaluation task consisting of 2 [uniform versus casual wear] × 2 [first-person perspective versus third-person perspective] conditions. The neural effects of clothing and perspective were analyzed and post-hoc tests were followed. The interaction effect was displayed in the bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, where uniform led to higher activity in third-person perspective than in first-person perspective, whereas casual wear led to the opposite pattern, suggesting this region may be involved in the awareness of third-person's perspective to uniform-wearing. The right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex showed functional connectivity with the right posterior superior temporal sulcus in uniform-third-person perspective compared to uniform-first-person perspective, suggesting this connection may work for processing information from third-person perspective in a uniform-wearing state. Professional pride may prioritize social information processing in third-person perspective rather than self-referential processing in first-person perspective.

Activation of the left medial temporal gyrus and adjacent brain areas during affective theory of mind processing correlates with trait schizotypy in a nonclinical population

Schizophrenia, a severe psychiatric disorder, is associated with abnormal brain activation during theory of mind (ToM) processing. Researchers recently suggested that there is a continuum running from subclinical schizotypal personality traits to fully expressed schizophrenia symptoms. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether schizotypal personality traits in a nonclinical population are associated with atypical brain activation during ToM tasks. Our aim was to investigate correlations between fMRI brain activation during affective ToM (ToMA) and cognitive ToM (ToMC) tasks and scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and the Basic Empathy Scale in 39 healthy individuals. The total SPQ score positively correlated with brain activation during ToMA processing in clusters extending from the left medial temporal gyrus (MTG), lingual gyrus and fusiform gyrus to the parahippocampal gyrus (Brodmann area: 19). During ToMA processing, the right inferior occipital gyrus, right MTG, precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex negatively correlated with the emotional disconnection subscore and the total score of self-reported empathy. These posterior brain regions are known to be involved in memory and language, as well as in creative reasoning, in nonclinical individuals. Our findings highlight changes in brain processing associated with trait schizotypy in nonclinical individuals during ToMA but not ToMC processing.

Aberrant static and dynamic functional connectivity of amygdala subregions in patients with major depressive disorder and childhood maltreatment

Major depressive disorder (MDD) with childhood maltreatment is a heterogeneous clinical phenotype of depression with prominent features of brain disconnectivity in areas linked to maltreatment-related emotion processing (e.g., the amygdala). However, static and dynamic alterations of functional connectivity in amygdala subregions have not been investigated in MDD with childhood maltreatment. Here, we explored whether amygdala subregions (i.e., medial amygdala [MeA] and lateral amygdala [LA]) exhibited static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) disruption, and whether these disruptions were related to childhood maltreatment. We compared sFC and dFC patterns in MDD with childhood maltreatment (n = 48), MDD without childhood maltreatment (n = 30), healthy controls with childhood maltreatment (n = 57), and healthy controls without childhood maltreatment (n = 46). The bilateral MeA and LA were selected as the seeds in the FC analysis. The results revealed a functional connectivity disruption pattern in maltreated MDD patients, characterized by sFC and dFC abnormalities involving the MeA, LA, and theory of mind-related brain areas including the middle occipital area, middle frontal gyrus, superior medial frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, supplementary motor areas, middle temporal gyrus, middle cingulate gyrus, and calcarine gyrus. Significant correlations were detected between impaired dFC patterns and childhood maltreatment. Furthermore, the dFC disruption pattern served as a moderator in the relationship between sexual abuse and depression severity. Our findings revealed neurobiological features of childhood maltreatment, providing new evidence regarding vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.

The influence of pride emotion on executive function: Evidence from ERP

BACKGROUND

The current study examined the influence of positive "basic" emotions on executive function; there is limited evidence about the influence of positive "self-conscious"emotions, such as pride, on executive functions processes.

METHODS

Pride is a status-related self-conscious emotion and the present research explored the influence of pride on the subcomponents of executive function, using three experiments that adopted the digit size-parity switching, N-back, and dual choice oddball paradigms.

RESULTS

The behavioral results suggested that cognitive load and behavior inhibition effects in the pride emotion were significantly higher than the neutral emotion. The ERP results showed that the pride emotion elicited smaller P3 difference wave for the switching task and dual choice oddball task. In the N-back task, the pride emotion elicited larger N1 amplitude and smaller P2 difference wave compared to the neutral emotion. A comparison among results from the three experiments indicated that pride emotion restrains all subcomponents of executive function, though with different manifestations of the impact.

CONCLUSION

Experiencing positive emotions is typically viewed as desirable and adaptive in educational settings; however, pride as a unique positive emotion may damage people's cognitive performance, indicating that we need to be cautious when performing cognitive operations in a pride mood.

Perceiving social injustice during arrests of Black and White civilians by White police officers: An fMRI investigation

From social media to courts of law, recordings of interracial police officer-civilian interactions are now widespread and publicly available. People may be motivated to preferentially understand the dynamics of these interactions when they perceive injustice towards those whose communities experience disproportionate policing relative to others (e.g., non-White racial/ethnic groups). To explore these questions, two studies were conducted (study 1 neuroimaging n = 69 and study 2 behavioral n = 58). The fMRI study examined White participants' neural activity when viewing real-world videos with varying degrees of aggression or conflict of White officers arresting a Black or White civilian. Activity in brain regions supporting social cognition was greater when viewing Black (vs. White) civilians involved in more aggressive police encounters. Additionally, although an independent sample of perceivers rated videos featuring Black and White civilians as similar in overall levels of aggression when civilian race was obscured, participants in the fMRI study (where race was not obscured) rated officers as more aggressive and their use of force as less legitimate when the civilian was Black. In study 2, participants who had not viewed the videos also reported that they believe police are generally more unjustly aggressive towards Black compared with White civilians. These findings inform our understanding of how perceptions of conflict with the potential for injustice shape social cognitive engagement when viewing arrests of Black and White individuals by White police officers.

Self-Conscious Emotions and the Right Fronto-Temporal and Right Temporal Parietal Junction

For more than two decades, research focusing on both clinical and non-clinical populations has suggested a key role for specific regions in the regulation of self-conscious emotions. It is speculated that both the expression and the interpretation of self-conscious emotions are critical in humans for action planning and response, communication, learning, parenting, and most social encounters. Empathy, Guilt, Jealousy, Shame, and Pride are all categorized as self-conscious emotions, all of which are crucial components to one’s sense of self. There has been an abundance of evidence pointing to the right Fronto-Temporal involvement in the integration of cognitive processes underlying the expression of these emotions. Numerous regions within the right hemisphere have been identified including the right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). In this review, we aim to investigate patient cases, in addition to clinical and non-clinical studies. We also aim to highlight these specific brain regions pivotal to the right hemispheric dominance observed in the neural correlates of such self-conscious emotions and provide the potential role that self-conscious emotions play in evolution.

Approximate Entropy of Brain Network in the Study of Hemispheric Differences

Human brain, a dynamic complex system, can be studied with different approaches, including linear and nonlinear ones. One of the nonlinear approaches widely used in electroencephalographic (EEG) analyses is the entropy, the measurement of disorder in a system. The present study investigates brain networks applying approximate entropy (ApEn) measure for assessing the hemispheric EEG differences; reproducibility and stability of ApEn data across separate recording sessions were evaluated. Twenty healthy adult volunteers were submitted to eyes-closed resting EEG recordings, for 80 recordings. Significant differences in the occipital region, with higher values of entropy in the left hemisphere than in the right one, show that the hemispheres become active with different intensities according to the performed function. Besides, the present methodology proved to be reproducible and stable, when carried out on relatively brief EEG epochs but also at a 1-week distance in a group of 36 subjects. Nonlinear approaches represent an interesting probe to study the dynamics of brain networks. ApEn technique might provide more insight into the pathophysiological processes underlying age-related brain disconnection as well as for monitoring the impact of pharmacological and rehabilitation treatments.

Influence of emotional complexity on the neural substrates of affective theory of mind

Affective theory of mind (ToM) depends on both the decoding of emotional expressions and the reasoning on emotional mental states from social situations. While previous studies characterized the neural substrates underlying these processes, it remains unclear whether the nature of the emotional state inferred from others can influence the brain activation associated with affective ToM. In the present study, we focused on two types of emotions: basic emotions (BEs) (e.g., anger and surprise), which are innate and universal and self‐conscious emotions (e.g., pride and embarrassment), which correspond to a special class of emotions involving the self and including a representation of one's relative reactions to internal and external standards. Specifically, we used an ecological functional MRI paradigm, on 21 healthy young subjects, to compare brain activations during the decoding of and the reasoning on others' self‐conscious, basic and neutral mental states. Our results showed that compared to neutral states, the inference of self‐conscious and basic emotional states from others elicited more activation in several core regions of affective ToM. Direct comparisons between emotional conditions revealed more activation for self‐conscious than BEs in the right temporoparietal junction during the reasoning process and in left middle occipital regions during the decoding process. Further analyses using a localizer task showed that the extrastriate body area was more recruited for decoding others' self‐conscious versus BEs, which emphasize the importance of body clues to properly infer these emotions. Using an original task allowing for an ecological assessment of the affective ToM, these results demonstrate that the complexity of the emotion inferred to others can influence the recruitment of ToM network. This study also validates the use of our task as an ecological tool to assess the affective ToM, constituting an avenue for the characterization of ToM impairments in neurological conditions.