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Li S, Zhang Y, Li H, Hao B, He W, Luo W. Is processing superiority a universal trait for all threats? Divergent impacts of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces on attentional capture. Cortex 2024; 177:37-52. [PMID: 38833819 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Fearful, angry, and disgusted facial expressions are evolutionarily salient and convey different types of threat signals. However, it remains unclear whether these three expressions impact sensory perception and attention in the same way. The present ERP study investigated the temporal dynamics underlying the processing of different types of threatening faces and the impact of attentional resources employed during a perceptual load task. Participants were asked to judge the length of bars superimposed over faces presented in the center of the screen. A mass univariate statistical approach was used to analyze the EEG data. Behaviorally, task accuracy was significantly reduced following exposure to fearful faces relative to neutral distractors, independent of perceptual load. The ERP results revealed that the P1 amplitude over the right hemisphere was found to be enhanced for fearful relative to disgusted faces, reflecting the rapid and coarse detection of fearful cues. The N170 responses elicited by fearful, angry, and disgusted faces were larger than those elicited by neutral faces, suggesting the largely automatic and preferential processing of threats. Furthermore, the early posterior negativity (EPN) component yielded increased responses to fearful and angry faces, indicating prioritized attention to stimuli representing acute threats. Additionally, perceptual load exerted a pronounced influence on the EPN and late positive potential (LPP), with larger responses observed in the low perceptual load condition, indicating goal-directed cognitive processing. Overall, the early sensory processing of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces is characterized by differential sensitivity in capturing attention automatically, despite the importance of these facial signals for survival. Fearful faces produce a strong interference effect and are processed with higher priority than angry and disgusted ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuaixia Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Yihan Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Hui Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Bin Hao
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
| | - Wenbo Luo
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
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Rho G, Callara AL, Bossi F, Ognibene D, Cecchetto C, Lomonaco T, Scilingo EP, Greco A. Combining electrodermal activity analysis and dynamic causal modeling to investigate the visual-odor multimodal integration during face perception. J Neural Eng 2024; 21:016020. [PMID: 38290158 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad2403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
Objective. This study presents a novel methodological approach for incorporating information related to the peripheral sympathetic response into the investigation of neural dynamics. Particularly, we explore how hedonic contextual olfactory stimuli influence the processing of neutral faces in terms of sympathetic response, event-related potentials and effective connectivity analysis. The objective is to investigate how the emotional valence of odors influences the cortical connectivity underlying face processing and the role of face-induced sympathetic arousal in this visual-olfactory multimodal integration.Approach. To this aim, we combine electrodermal activity (EDA) analysis and dynamic causal modeling to examine changes in cortico-cortical interactions.Results. The results reveal that stimuli arising sympathetic EDA responses are associated with a more negative N170 amplitude, which may be a marker of heightened arousal in response to faces. Hedonic odors, on the other hand, lead to a more negative N1 component and a reduced the vertex positive potential when they are unpleasant or pleasant. Concerning connectivity, unpleasant odors strengthen the forward connection from the inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) to the middle temporal gyrus, which is involved in processing changeable facial features. Conversely, the occurrence of sympathetic responses after a stimulus is correlated with an inhibition of this same connection and an enhancement of the backward connection from ITG to the fusiform face gyrus.Significance. These findings suggest that unpleasant odors may enhance the interpretation of emotional expressions and mental states, while faces capable of eliciting sympathetic arousal prioritize identity processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianluca Rho
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Alejandro Luis Callara
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Francesco Bossi
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Dimitri Ognibene
- Università Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
| | - Cinzia Cecchetto
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Tommaso Lomonaco
- Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Enzo Pasquale Scilingo
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Alberto Greco
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Research Center 'E. Piaggio', School of Engineering, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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3
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Gonçalves JL, Fuertes M, Silva S, Lopes-dos-Santos P, Ferreira-Santos F. Differential effects of attachment security on visual fixation to facial expressions of emotion in 14-month-old infants: an eye-tracking study. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1302657. [PMID: 38449748 PMCID: PMC10917067 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1302657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Models of attachment and information processing suggest that the attention infants allocate to social information might occur in a schema-driven processing manner according to their attachment pattern. A major source of social information for infants consists of facial expressions of emotion. We tested for differences in attention to facial expressions and emotional discrimination between infants classified as securely attached (B), insecure-avoidant (A), and insecure-resistant (C). Methods Sixty-one 14-month-old infants participated in the Strange Situation Procedure and an experimental task of Visual Habituation and Visual Paired-Comparison Task (VPC). In the Habituation phase, a Low-Arousal Happy face (habituation face) was presented followed by a VPC task of 6 trials composed of two contrasting emotional faces always involving the same actress: the one used in habituation (trial old face) and a new one (trial new face) portraying changes in valence (Low-Arousal Angry face), arousal (High-Arousal Happy face), or valence + arousal (High-Arousal Angry face). Measures of fixation time (FT) and number of fixations (FC) were obtained for the habituation face, the trial old face, the trial new face, and the difference between the trial old face and the trial new face using an eye-tracking system. Results We found a higher FT and FC for the trial new face when compared with the trial old face, regardless of the emotional condition (valence, arousal, valence + arousal contrasts), suggesting that 14-month-old infants were able to discriminate different emotional faces. However, this effect differed according to attachment pattern: resistant-attached infants (C) had significantly higher FT and FC for the new face than patterns B and A, indicating they may remain hypervigilant toward emotional change. On the contrary, avoidant infants (A) revealed significantly longer looking times to the trial old face, suggesting overall avoidance of novel expressions and thus less sensitivity to emotional change. Discussion Overall, these findings corroborate that attachment is associated with infants' social information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana L. Gonçalves
- Center for Research in Psychology for Positive Development, Lusíada University, Porto, Portugal
| | - Marina Fuertes
- Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Susana Silva
- Neurocognition and Language Research Group, Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro Lopes-dos-Santos
- Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Ferreira-Santos
- Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
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4
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Codispoti M, De Cesarei A, Ferrari V. Alpha-band oscillations and emotion: A review of studies on picture perception. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14438. [PMID: 37724827 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023]
Abstract
Although alpha-band activity has long been a focus of psychophysiological research, its modulation by emotional value during picture perception has only recently been studied systematically. Here, we review these studies and report that the most consistent alpha oscillatory pattern indexing emotional processing is an enhanced desynchronization (ERD) over posterior sensors when viewing emotional compared with neutral pictures. This enhanced alpha ERD is not specific to unpleasant picture content, as previously proposed for other measures of affective response, but has also been observed for pleasant stimuli. Evidence suggests that this effect is not confined to the alpha band but that it also involves a desynchronization of the lower beta frequencies (8-20 Hz). The emotional modulation of alpha ERD occurs even after massive stimulus repetition and when emotional cues serve as task-irrelevant distractors, consistent with the hypothesis that evaluative processes are mandatory in emotional picture processing. A similar enhanced ERD has been observed for other significant cues (e.g., conditioned aversive stimuli, or in anticipation of a potential threat), suggesting that it reflects cortical excitability associated with the engagement of the motivational systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Vera Ferrari
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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5
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Abreu AL, Fernández-Aguilar L, Ferreira-Santos F, Fernandes C. Increased N250 elicited by facial familiarity: An ERP study including the face inversion effect and facial emotion processing. Neuropsychologia 2023; 188:108623. [PMID: 37356541 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
The present study aims to explore how familiarity modulates the neural processing of faces under different conditions: upright or inverted, neutral or emotional. To this purpose, 32 participants (25 female; age: M = 27.7 years, SD = 9.3) performed two face/emotion identification tasks during EEG recording. In the first task, to study facial processing, three different categories of facial stimuli were presented during a target detection task: famous familiar faces, faces of loved ones, and unfamiliar faces. To explore the face inversion effect according to each level of familiarity, these facial stimuli were also presented upside down. In the second task, to study emotional face processing, an emotional identification task on personally familiar and unfamiliar faces was conducted. The behavioural results showed an improved performance in the identification of facial expressions of emotion with the increase of facial familiarity, consistent with the previous literature. Regarding electrophysiological results, we found increased amplitudes of the P100, N170, and N250 for inverted compared to upright faces, independently of their degree of familiarity. Moreover, we did not find familiarity effects at the P100 and N170 time-windows, but we found that N250 amplitude was larger for personally familiar compared to unfamiliar faces. This result supports the reasoning that the facial familiarity increases the neural activity during the N250 time-window, which may be explained by the processing of additional information prompted by the viewing of our loved ones faces, in contrast to what happens with unfamiliar individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- A L Abreu
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal; MindProber Labs, Porto, Portugal.
| | - L Fernández-Aguilar
- Department of Psychology, University of Castilla La Mancha, Albacete, Spain; Applied Cognitive Psychology Unit, Research Institute of Neurological Disabilities, University of Castilla La Mancha, Albacete, Spain
| | - F Ferreira-Santos
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal
| | - C Fernandes
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal; Molecular Oncology and Viral Pathology Group, Research Center of IPO Porto (CI-IPOP) & RISE@CI-IPOP (Health Research Network), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto)/Porto Comprehensive Cancer Center (Porto.CCC), Portugal
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6
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Gladhill KA, Mioni G, Wiener M. Dissociable effects of emotional stimuli on electrophysiological indices of time and decision-making. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0276200. [PMCID: PMC9671475 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that emotional faces affect time perception, however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Earlier attempts focus on effects at the different stages of the pacemaker-accumulator model (clock, memory, and/or decision-making) including, an increase in pacemaker rate or accumulation rate via arousal or attention, respectively, or by biasing decision-making. A visual temporal bisection task with sub-second intervals was conducted in two groups to further investigate these effects; one group was strictly behavioral whereas the second included a 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG). To separate the influence of face and timing responses, participants timed a visual stimulus, temporally flanked (before and after) by two faces, either negative or neutral, creating three trial-types: Neg→Neut, Neut→Neg, or Neut→Neut. We found a leftward shift in bisection point (BP) in Neg→Neut relative to Neut→Neut suggests an overestimation of the temporal stimulus when preceded by a negative face. Neurally, we found the face-responsive N170 was larger for negative faces and the N1 and contingent negative variation (CNV) were larger when the temporal stimulus was preceded by a negative face. Additionally, there was an interaction effect between condition and response for the late positive component of timing (LPCt) and a significant difference between response (short/long) in the neutral condition. We concluded that a preceding negative face affects the clock stage leading to more pulses being accumulated, either through attention or arousal, as indexed by a larger N1, CNV, and N170; whereas viewing a negative face after impacted decision-making mechanisms, as evidenced by the LPCt.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keri Anne Gladhill
- Psychology Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Giovanna Mioni
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Martin Wiener
- Psychology Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America
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7
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Liu Z, Du W, Sun Z, Hou G, Wang Z. Neural Processing Differences of Facial Emotions Between Human and Vehicles: Evidence From an Event-Related Potential Study. Front Psychol 2022; 13:876252. [PMID: 35874396 PMCID: PMC9302361 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.876252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Vehicle “faces” are a crucial factor influencing consumer intention to purchase gasoline and electric vehicles. However, little empirical evidence has demonstrated whether people process a vehicle’s face similarly to a human’s face. We investigated the neural processing relationship among human facial emotions and facial emotions of gasoline and electric vehicles using a 2 (emotional) × 3 (face type) repeated measures design and electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings. The results showed that human faces appear to share a partly similar neural processing mechanism in the latency of 100–300 ms, and that both human and vehicle faces elicited the ERP components N170, EPN, and P2. The large EPN and P2 suggest that gasoline vehicle facial emotions can be perceived more efficiently than those of electric vehicles. These findings provide an insight for vehicle designers to better understand the facial emotions presented by cars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo Liu
- School of Art and Design, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
- *Correspondence: Zhuo Liu,
| | - Wenjun Du
- School of Art and Design, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Zhongrui Sun
- School of Art and Design, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Guanhua Hou
- Pan Tianshou College of Architecture, Art and Design, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
- Guanhua Hou,
| | - Zhuonan Wang
- School of Art and Design, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
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8
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Jaspers-Fayer F, Maffei A, Goertzen J, Kleffner K, Coccaro A, Sessa P, Liotti M. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Covert vs. Overt Emotional Face Processing in Dysphoria. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:920989. [PMID: 35874655 PMCID: PMC9296982 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.920989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
People at risk of developing clinical depression exhibit attentional biases for emotional faces. To clarify whether such effects occur at an early, automatic, or at a late, deliberate processing stage of emotional processing, the present study used high-density electroencephalography during both covert and overt processing of sad, fearful, happy, and neutral expressions in healthy participants with high dysphoria (n = 16) and with low dysphoria (n = 19). A state-of-the-art non-parametric permutation-based statistical approach was then used to explore the effects of emotion, attentional task demands, and group. Behaviorally, participants responded faster and more accurately when overtly categorizing happy faces and they were slower and less accurate when categorizing sad and fearful faces, independent of the dysphoria group. Electrophysiologically, in an early time-window (N170: 140-180 ms), there was a significant main effect for the dysphoria group, with greater negative voltage for the high vs. low dysphoria group over the left-sided temporo-occipital scalp. Furthermore, there was a significant group by emotional interaction, with the high dysphoria group displaying greater negative amplitude N170 for happy than fearful faces. Attentional task demands did not influence such early effects. In contrast, in an intermediate time-window (EPN: 200-400 ms) and in a late time-window (LPP: 500-750 ms) there were no significant main effects nor interactions involving the dysphoria Group. The LPP results paralleled the behavioral results, with greater LPP voltages for sad and fearful relative to happy faces only in the overt task, but similarly so in the two dysphoria groups. This study provides novel evidence that alterations in face processing in dysphoric individuals can be seen at the early stages of face perception, as indexed by the N170, although not in the form of a typical pattern of mood-congruent attentional bias. In contrast, intermediate (EPN) and late (LPP) stages of emotional face processing appear unaffected by dysphoria. Importantly, the early dysphoria effect appears to be independent of the top-down allocation of attention, further supporting the idea that dysphoria may influence a stage of automatic emotional appraisal. It is proposed that it may be a consequence of a shift from holistic to feature-based processing of facial expressions, or may be due to the influence of negative schemas acting as a negative context for emotional facial processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fern Jaspers-Fayer
- Laboratory for Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Antonio Maffei
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Jennifer Goertzen
- Laboratory for Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Killian Kleffner
- Laboratory for Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Ambra Coccaro
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Mario Liotti
- Laboratory for Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
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9
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Liang J, Li Y, Zhang Z, Luo W. Sound gaps boost emotional audiovisual integration independent of attention: Evidence from an ERP study. Biol Psychol 2021; 168:108246. [PMID: 34968556 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Revised: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The emotion discrimination paradigm was adopted to study the effect of interrupted sound on visual emotional processing under different attentional states. There were two experiments: Experiment 1: judging facial expressions (explicit task), Experiment 2: judging the position of a bar (implicit task). In Experiment 1, ERP results showed that there was a sound gap accelerating the effect of P1 present only under neutral faces. In Experiment 2, the accelerating effect (P1) existed regardless of the emotional condition. Combining two experiments, P1 findings suggest that sound gap enhances bottom-up attention. The N170 and late positive component (LPC) were found to be regulated by emotion face in both experiments, with fear over the neutral. Comparing the two experiments, the explicit task induced a larger LPC than the implicit task. Overall, sound gaps boosted the audiovisual integration by bottom-up attention in early integration, while cognitive expectations led to top-down attention in late stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junyu Liang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, Liaoning Province, China
| | - Yuchen Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, Liaoning Province, China
| | - Zhao Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Institute of Psychology, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 216053, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, Liaoning Province, China
| | - Wenbo Luo
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, Liaoning Province, China.
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10
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Maffei A, Goertzen J, Jaspers-Fayer F, Kleffner K, Sessa P, Liotti M. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Covert Versus Overt Processing of Happy, Fearful and Sad Facial Expressions. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11070942. [PMID: 34356176 PMCID: PMC8329921 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11070942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of the influence of task demands on the processing of happy, sad, and fearful expressions were investigated in a within-subjects study that compared a perceptual distraction condition with task-irrelevant faces (e.g., covert emotion task) to an emotion task-relevant categorization condition (e.g., overt emotion task). A state-of-the-art non-parametric mass univariate analysis method was used to address the limitations of previous studies. Behaviorally, participants responded faster to overtly categorized happy faces and were slower and less accurate to categorize sad and fearful faces; there were no behavioral differences in the covert task. Event-related potential (ERP) responses to the emotional expressions included the N170 (140-180 ms), which was enhanced by emotion irrespective of task, with happy and sad expressions eliciting greater amplitudes than neutral expressions. EPN (200-400 ms) amplitude was modulated by task, with greater voltages in the overt condition, and by emotion, however, there was no interaction of emotion and task. ERP activity was modulated by emotion as a function of task only at a late processing stage, which included the LPP (500-800 ms), with fearful and sad faces showing greater amplitude enhancements than happy faces. This study reveals that affective content does not necessarily require attention in the early stages of face processing, supporting recent evidence that the core and extended parts of the face processing system act in parallel, rather than serially. The role of voluntary attention starts at an intermediate stage, and fully modulates the response to emotional content in the final stage of processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Maffei
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Jennifer Goertzen
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Fern Jaspers-Fayer
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Killian Kleffner
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Mario Liotti
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
- Correspondence:
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11
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Yu J, Wang Y, Yu J, Zeng J. Racial Ingroup Bias and Efficiency Consideration Influence Distributive Decisions: A Dynamic Analysis of Time Domain and Time Frequency. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:630811. [PMID: 34040502 PMCID: PMC8141561 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.630811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Although previous studies have demonstrated that identity had effect on justice norms and behavioral decisions, the neural mechanism of that effect remains unclear. In this study, the subjects made their distributive decisions on the trade-off between equity and efficiency among Chinese and foreign children and their scalp potentials were recorded. Behavioral results showed that efficiency consideration played an important part in the distribution task. Meanwhile, participants gave preferential treatment to same-race children. Relative to the distribution within ingroup children, the distribution involving outgroup children induced higher N170 amplitude. The distribution involving outgroup children also elicited weakened P300 amplitude and enhanced delta response than the distribution within ingroup children when subjects are facing the conflict between equality and efficiency. In other words, ingroup bias affected the neural process of the trade-off between equality and efficiency. The combination of time-domain and time-frequency analyses provided spatiotemporal and spectral results for a better understanding of racial ingroup favoritism on distributive justice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxin Yu
- School of Applied Finance & Behavioral Science, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
| | - Yan Wang
- School of Applied Finance & Behavioral Science, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
| | - Jianling Yu
- School of Applied Finance & Behavioral Science, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
| | - Jianmin Zeng
- Sino-Britain Centre for Cognition and Ageing Research, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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Turano MT, Giganti F, Gavazzi G, Lamberto S, Gronchi G, Giovannelli F, Peru A, Viggiano MP. Spatially Filtered Emotional Faces Dominate during Binocular Rivalry. Brain Sci 2020; 10:brainsci10120998. [PMID: 33348612 PMCID: PMC7767193 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10120998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The present investigation explores the role of bottom-up and top-down factors in the recognition of emotional facial expressions during binocular rivalry. We manipulated spatial frequencies (SF) and emotive features and asked subjects to indicate whether the emotional or the neutral expression was dominant during binocular rivalry. Controlling the bottom-up saliency with a computational model, physically comparable happy and fearful faces were presented dichoptically with neutral faces. The results showed the dominance of emotional faces over neutral ones. In particular, happy faces were reported more frequently as the first dominant percept even in the presence of coarse information (at a low SF level: 2-6 cycle/degree). Following current theories of emotion processing, the results provide further support for the influence of positive compared to negative meaning on binocular rivalry and, for the first time, showed that individuals perceive the affective quality of happiness even in the absence of details in the visual display. Furthermore, our findings represent an advance in knowledge regarding the association between the high- and low-level mechanisms behind binocular rivalry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Teresa Turano
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
- Fondazione Turano Onlus, 00195 Roma, Italy
| | - Fiorenza Giganti
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Gioele Gavazzi
- Diagnostic and Nuclear Research Institute, IRCCS SDN, 80121 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Simone Lamberto
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Giorgio Gronchi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Fabio Giovannelli
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Andrea Peru
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
| | - Maria Pia Viggiano
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child’s Health, University of Florence, 50100 Florence, Italy; (M.T.T.); (F.G.); (S.L.); (G.G.); (F.G.); (A.P.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-0552755053
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Ferreira BLC, Fabrício DDM, Chagas MHN. Are facial emotion recognition tasks adequate for assessing social cognition in older people? A review of the literature. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2020; 92:104277. [PMID: 33091714 DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2020.104277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Revised: 09/25/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Facial emotion recognition (FER) is a component of social cognition and important to interpersonal relations. Therefore, tasks have been developed to assess this skill in different population. Regarding older people, even healthy individuals have a poorer performance compared to rate of correct answers commonly used to assess such tasks. Perform a systematic review to analyze studies addressing the performance of healthy older adults on FER tasks compared to the 70% correct response rate commonly used for the creation of stimulus banks. MATERIAL AND METHODS Searches were conducted up to May 2019 in the Pubmed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, and Scopus databases using the keywords ("faces" OR "facial") AND ("recognition" OR "expression" OR "emotional") AND ("elderly" OR "older adults"). RESULTS Twenty-seven articles were included in the present review. In 16 studies (59.2%), older people had correct response rates on FER lower than 70% on at least one of the emotions evaluated. Among the studies that evaluated each emotion specifically, 62.5% found correct response rates lower than 70% for the emotion fear, 50% for surprise, 50% for sadness, 37.5% for anger, 21.4% for disgust, and 5.9% for happiness. Moreover, the studies that evaluated the level of intensity of the emotions demonstrated a lower rate of correct responses when the intensity of the facial expression was low. CONCLUSION That studies employ methods and facial stimuli that may not be adequate for measuring this skill in older people. Thus, it is important to create adequate tasks for assessing the skill in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bianca Letícia C Ferreira
- Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Research Group on Mental Health, Cognition and Aging, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
| | - Daiene de Morais Fabrício
- Research Group on Mental Health, Cognition and Aging, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
| | - Marcos Hortes N Chagas
- Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Research Group on Mental Health, Cognition and Aging, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil; Bairral Institute of Psychiatry, Itapira, SP, Brazil
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14
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Schindler S, Bublatzky F. Attention and emotion: An integrative review of emotional face processing as a function of attention. Cortex 2020; 130:362-386. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Wu X, Feng C, He Z, Gong X, Luo YJ, Luo Y. Gender-specific effects of vasopressin on human social communication: An ERP study. Horm Behav 2019; 113:85-94. [PMID: 31059697 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The quick and efficient perception of facial expressions represents a special and fundamental capacity of humans to engage in social communication. Here, we examined the effects of vasopressin (AVP, a neuropeptide) on the processing of same- and other-gender facial expressions among males and females. After receiving either AVP or placebo (PBO) intranasally in a randomized and double-blind manner, participants were asked to rate their approachability to facial expressions while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Males rated lower approachability scores to neutral and positive male faces relative to the scores to emotion-matched female faces after AVP but not following PBO administration. These behavioral effects were correlated with the AVP-induced increased P1 and decreased N170 responses to male faces among male participants. Females rated higher approachability scores to negative female faces than the scores to negative male faces after AVP but not following PBO treatment. These results suggest that AVP decreases friendly responses to neutral/positive male faces in males and increases friendly responses to negative female faces in females. Overall, these results demonstrate the gender-specific effects of AVP in response to same- and other-gender facial expressions, indicating there are sex- and context-dependent effects of AVP on socioemotional processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Wu
- Center of Brain Disorder and Cognitive Sciences, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Chunliang Feng
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhenhong He
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Xu Gong
- Center of Brain Disorder and Cognitive Sciences, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yue-Jia Luo
- Center of Brain Disorder and Cognitive Sciences, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Center for Emotion and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China; Dept Psychology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Yi Luo
- Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, Virginia 24016, USA
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16
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Stefanou ME, Dundon NM, Bestelmeyer PEG, Koldewyn K, Saville CWN, Fleischhaker C, Feige B, Biscaldi M, Smyrnis N, Klein C. Electro-cortical correlates of multisensory integration using ecologically valid emotional stimuli: Differential effects for fear and disgust. Biol Psychol 2019; 142:132-139. [PMID: 30685414 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2018] [Revised: 01/16/2019] [Accepted: 01/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Multisensory integration (MSI) is crucial for human communication and social interaction and has been investigated in healthy populations and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the use of stimuli with high ecological validity is sparse, especially in event-related potential (ERP) studies. The present study examined the ERP correlates of MSI in healthy adults using short (500 ms) ecologically valid professional actor-produced emotions of fear or disgust as vocal exclamation or facial expression (unimodal conditions) or both (bimodal condition). Behaviourally, our results show a general visual dominance effect (similarly fast responses following bimodal and visual stimuli) and an MSI-related speedup of responses only for fear. Electrophysiologically, both P100 and N170 showed MSI-related amplitude increases only following fear, but not disgust stimuli. Our results show for the first time that the known differential neural processing of fear and disgust also holds for the integration of dynamic auditory and visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- M E Stefanou
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Neil M Dundon
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany; Brain Imaging Center, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | | | - K Koldewyn
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - C W N Saville
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - C Fleischhaker
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - B Feige
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - M Biscaldi
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - N Smyrnis
- Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece
| | - C Klein
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Germany.
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Emotional Contrast and Psychological Function Impact Response Inhibition to Threatening Faces. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2018; 42:920-930. [PMID: 30581242 DOI: 10.1007/s11031-018-9709-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Poor inhibitory control over negative emotional information has been identified as a possible contributor to affective disorders, but the distinct effects of emotional contrast and fearful versus angry faces on response inhibition remain unknown. In the present study, young adults completed an emotional go/no-go task involving happy, neutral, and either fearful or angry faces. Results did not reveal differences in accuracy or speed between angry and fearful face conditions. However, responses were slower and indicated poorer inhibition in blocks where threatening faces were paired with happy, versus neutral, faces. Results may reflect cognitive load of emotional valence contrast, such that higher contrast blocks (containing threatening with happy faces) produced more conflict and required more processing than lower contrast blocks (threatening with neutral faces). Preliminary findings also revealed higher anxiety and depression symptoms corresponded with slower responses and worse accuracy, consistent with patterns of adverse impacts of anxiety and depression on response inhibition to threatening faces, even at subclinical levels of symptomatology.
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18
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Age-related decline in emotional perspective-taking: Its effect on the late positive potential. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 19:109-122. [PMID: 30341622 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-00648-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Aging is associated with changes in cognitive and affective functioning, which likely shape older adults' social cognition. As the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying age differences in social abilities remain poorly understood, the present study aims to extend the research in this field. To this purpose, younger (n = 30; Mage = 26.6), middle-aged (n = 30; Mage = 48.4), and older adults (n = 29; Mage = 64.5) performed a task designed to assess affective perspective-taking, during an EEG recording. In this task, participants decided whether a target facial expression of emotion (FEE) was congruent or incongruent with that of a masked intervener of a previous scenario, which portrayed a neutral or an emotional scene. Older adults showed worse performance in comparison to the other groups. Regarding electrophysiological results, while younger and middle-aged adults showed higher late positive potentials (LPPs) after FEEs congruent with previous scenarios than after incongruent FEEs, older adults had similar amplitudes after both. This insensitivity of older adults' LPPs in differentiating congruent from incongruent emotional context-target FEE may be related to their difficulty in generating information about others' inner states and using that information in social interactions.
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19
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Gonçalves AR, Fernandes C, Pasion R, Ferreira-Santos F, Barbosa F, Marques-Teixeira J. Effects of age on the identification of emotions in facial expressions: a meta-analysis. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5278. [PMID: 30065878 PMCID: PMC6064197 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Emotion identification is a fundamental component of social cognition. Although it is well established that a general cognitive decline occurs with advancing age, the effects of age on emotion identification is still unclear. A meta-analysis by Ruffman and colleagues (2008) explored this issue, but much research has been published since then, reporting inconsistent findings. Methods To examine age differences in the identification of facial expressions of emotion, we conducted a meta-analysis of 24 empirical studies (N = 1,033 older adults, N = 1,135 younger adults) published after 2008. Additionally, a meta-regression analysis was conducted to identify potential moderators. Results Results show that older adults less accurately identify facial expressions of anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and happiness compared to younger adults, strengthening the results obtained by Ruffman et al. (2008). However, meta-regression analyses indicate that effect sizes are moderated by sample characteristics and stimulus features. Importantly, the estimated effect size for the identification of fear and disgust increased for larger differences in the number of years of formal education between the two groups. Discussion We discuss several factors that might explain the age-related differences in emotion identification and suggest how brain changes may account for the observed pattern. Furthermore, moderator effects are interpreted and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana R Gonçalves
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Carina Fernandes
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Faculty of Medicine, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Language Research Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Rita Pasion
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Ferreira-Santos
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Barbosa
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - João Marques-Teixeira
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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20
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Guérin-Dugué A, Roy RN, Kristensen E, Rivet B, Vercueil L, Tcherkassof A. Temporal Dynamics of Natural Static Emotional Facial Expressions Decoding: A Study Using Event- and Eye Fixation-Related Potentials. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1190. [PMID: 30050487 PMCID: PMC6052106 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
This study aims at examining the precise temporal dynamics of the emotional facial decoding as it unfolds in the brain, according to the emotions displayed. To characterize this processing as it occurs in ecological settings, we focused on unconstrained visual explorations of natural emotional faces (i.e., free eye movements). The General Linear Model (GLM; Smith and Kutas, 2015a,b; Kristensen et al., 2017a) enables such a depiction. It allows deconvolving adjacent overlapping responses of the eye fixation-related potentials (EFRPs) elicited by the subsequent fixations and the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited at the stimuli onset. Nineteen participants were displayed with spontaneous static facial expressions of emotions (Neutral, Disgust, Surprise, and Happiness) from the DynEmo database (Tcherkassof et al., 2013). Behavioral results on participants' eye movements show that the usual diagnostic features in emotional decoding (eyes for negative facial displays and mouth for positive ones) are consistent with the literature. The impact of emotional category on both the ERPs and the EFRPs elicited by the free exploration of the emotional faces is observed upon the temporal dynamics of the emotional facial expression processing. Regarding the ERP at stimulus onset, there is a significant emotion-dependent modulation of the P2-P3 complex and LPP components' amplitude at the left frontal site for the ERPs computed by averaging. Yet, the GLM reveals the impact of subsequent fixations on the ERPs time-locked on stimulus onset. Results are also in line with the valence hypothesis. The observed differences between the two estimation methods (Average vs. GLM) suggest the predominance of the right hemisphere at the stimulus onset and the implication of the left hemisphere in the processing of the information encoded by subsequent fixations. Concerning the first EFRP, the Lambda response and the P2 component are modulated by the emotion of surprise compared to the neutral emotion, suggesting an impact of high-level factors, in parieto-occipital sites. Moreover, no difference is observed on the second and subsequent EFRP. Taken together, the results stress the significant gain obtained in analyzing the EFRPs using the GLM method and pave the way toward efficient ecological emotional dynamic stimuli analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Guérin-Dugué
- GIPSA-lab, Institute of Engineering, Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble INP, Grenoble, France
| | - Raphaëlle N. Roy
- Department of Conception and Control of Aeronautical and Spatial Vehicles, Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace, Université Fédérale de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Emmanuelle Kristensen
- GIPSA-lab, Institute of Engineering, Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble INP, Grenoble, France
- Laboratoire InterUniversitaire de Psychologie – Personnalité, Cognition, Changement Social, Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Grenoble, France
| | - Bertrand Rivet
- GIPSA-lab, Institute of Engineering, Université Grenoble Alpes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble INP, Grenoble, France
| | - Laurent Vercueil
- Exploration Fonctionnelle du Système Nerveux, Pôle Psychiatrie, Neurologie et Rééducation Neurologique, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Anna Tcherkassof
- Laboratoire InterUniversitaire de Psychologie – Personnalité, Cognition, Changement Social, Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Grenoble, France
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New version of the emotion socialization scale with the positive emotion of overjoy: initial validation evidence with Portuguese adolescents. PSICOLOGIA-REFLEXAO E CRITICA 2018; 31:9. [PMID: 32025961 PMCID: PMC6967315 DOI: 10.1186/s41155-018-0090-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2017] [Accepted: 03/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
There are few studies on parental socialization of positive emotions in adolescents and few instruments that measure these parental reactions. Therefore, we developed a new version of the Emotion Socialization Scale (ESS) for the positive emotion of overjoy. We further provided some evidence of validity and reliability of the Portuguese ESS, featuring overjoy, fear, anger, and sadness. Adolescents (N = 418) answered questionnaires on maternal emotion socialization and maternal rearing practices. Confirmatory factor analysis achieved good (reward, neglect, override, magnify) to acceptable (punish) levels of fit, and scales had good levels of internal consistency, except for punish (all emotions) and neglect (overjoy). Association with maternal rearing practices supported the adaptive role of reward and magnify and the less adaptive role of punish, override, neglect of positive emotion, with some exceptions. This investigation demonstrated the importance of assessing parents' reactions to adolescents' positive emotion as these may be important indicators of the parent-adolescent relationship quality.
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Gonçalves AR, Fernandes C, Pasion R, Ferreira-Santos F, Barbosa F, Marques-Teixeira J. Emotion identification and aging: Behavioral and neural age-related changes. Clin Neurophysiol 2018; 129:1020-1029. [PMID: 29571120 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.02.128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Revised: 01/10/2018] [Accepted: 02/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Aging is known to alter the processing of facial expressions of emotion (FEE), however the impact of this alteration is less clear. Additionally, there is little information about the temporal dynamics of the neural processing of facial affect. METHODS We examined behavioral and neural age-related changes in the identification of FEE using event-related potentials. Furthermore, we analyze the relationship between behavioral/neural responses and neuropsychological functioning. To this purpose, 30 younger adults, 29 middle-aged adults and 26 older adults identified FEE. RESULTS The behavioral results showed a similar performance between groups. The neural results showed no significant differences between groups for the P100 component and an increased N170 amplitude in the older group. Furthermore, a pattern of asymmetric activation was evident in the N170 component. Results also suggest deficits in facial feature decoding abilities, reflected by a reduced N250 amplitude in older adults. Neuropsychological functioning predicts P100 modulation, but does not seem to influence emotion identification ability. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest the existence of a compensatory function that would explain the age-equivalent performance in emotion identification. SIGNIFICANCE The study may help future research addressing behavioral and neural processes involved on processing of FEE in neurodegenerative conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana R Gonçalves
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.
| | - Carina Fernandes
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Al. Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal; Language Research Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Av. Professor Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Rita Pasion
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Ferreira-Santos
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - Fernando Barbosa
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - João Marques-Teixeira
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
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Klumpp H, Shankman SA. Using Event-Related Potentials and Startle to Evaluate Time Course in Anxiety and Depression. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2018; 3:10-18. [PMID: 29397073 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2017] [Revised: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 09/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria initiative is a research framework designed toward understanding psychopathology as abnormalities of dimensional neurobehavioral constructs rather than in terms of DSM-defined categories. Research Domain Criteria constructs within the negative valence domain are particularly relevant for understanding anxiety and depressive disorders, which are pervasive, debilitating, and characterized by negative processing bias. One important direction for Research Domain Criteria research is investigating processes and parameters related to the time course (or chronometry) of negative valenced constructs. Two reliable methods for assessing chronometry are event-related potentials (ERPs) and startle blink. In this qualitative review, we examine ERP and startle studies of individuals with anxiety or depression or individuals vulnerable to affective disorders. The aim of the review is to highlight how these methods can inform the role of chronometry in the spectrum of anxiety and depression. ERP studies examining different chronometry facets of negative valenced responses have shown that transdiagnostic groups of individuals with internalizing psychopathologies exhibit abnormalities at early stages of processing. Startle reactivity studies have robustly differentiated fear-based disorders (e.g., panic disorder, social phobia) from other anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder) and have also shown that different internalizing phenotypes exhibit different patterns of habituation. Findings lend support to the value of ERP and startle measures in identifying groups that cut across conventional classification systems. We also highlight methodological issues that can aid in the validity and reproducibility of ERP and startle findings and, ultimately, in the goal of developing more precise models of anxiety and depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heide Klumpp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Stewart A Shankman
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
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Turano MT, Lao J, Richoz AR, de Lissa P, Degosciu SBA, Viggiano MP, Caldara R. Fear boosts the early neural coding of faces. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2017; 12:1959-1971. [PMID: 29040780 PMCID: PMC5716185 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 09/18/2017] [Accepted: 10/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The rapid extraction of facial identity and emotional expressions is critical for adapted social interactions. These biologically relevant abilities have been associated with early neural responses on the face sensitive N170 component. However, whether all facial expressions uniformly modulate the N170, and whether this effect occurs only when emotion categorization is task-relevant, is still unclear. To clarify this issue, we recorded high-resolution electrophysiological signals while 22 observers perceived the six basic expressions plus neutral. We used a repetition suppression paradigm, with an adaptor followed by a target face displaying the same identity and expression (trials of interest). We also included catch trials to which participants had to react, by varying identity (identity-task), expression (expression-task) or both (dual-task) on the target face. We extracted single-trial Repetition Suppression (stRS) responses using a data-driven spatiotemporal approach with a robust hierarchical linear model to isolate adaptation effects on the trials of interest. Regardless of the task, fear was the only expression modulating the N170, eliciting the strongest stRS responses. This observation was corroborated by distinct behavioral performance during the catch trials for this facial expression. Altogether, our data reinforce the view that fear elicits distinct neural processes in the brain, enhancing attention and facilitating the early coding of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Teresa Turano
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child's Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Junpeng Lao
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Anne-Raphaëlle Richoz
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Peter de Lissa
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Sarah B A Degosciu
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Maria Pia Viggiano
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research & Child's Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Roberto Caldara
- Eye and Brain Mapping Laboratory (iBMLab), Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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Invitto S, Calcagnì A, Mignozzi A, Scardino R, Piraino G, Turchi D, De Feudis I, Brunetti A, Bevilacqua V, de Tommaso M. Face Recognition, Musical Appraisal, and Emotional Crossmodal Bias. Front Behav Neurosci 2017; 11:144. [PMID: 28824392 PMCID: PMC5539234 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2017] [Accepted: 07/19/2017] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent research on the crossmodal integration of visual and auditory perception suggests that evaluations of emotional information in one sensory modality may tend toward the emotional value generated in another sensory modality. This implies that the emotions elicited by musical stimuli can influence the perception of emotional stimuli presented in other sensory modalities, through a top-down process. The aim of this work was to investigate how crossmodal perceptual processing influences emotional face recognition and how potential modulation of this processing induced by music could be influenced by the subject's musical competence. We investigated how emotional face recognition processing could be modulated by listening to music and how this modulation varies according to the subjective emotional salience of the music and the listener's musical competence. The sample consisted of 24 participants: 12 professional musicians and 12 university students (non-musicians). Participants performed an emotional go/no-go task whilst listening to music by Albeniz, Chopin, or Mozart. The target stimuli were emotionally neutral facial expressions. We examined the N170 Event-Related Potential (ERP) and behavioral responses (i.e., motor reaction time to target recognition and musical emotional judgment). A linear mixed-effects model and a decision-tree learning technique were applied to N170 amplitudes and latencies. The main findings of the study were that musicians' behavioral responses and N170 is more affected by the emotional value of music administered in the emotional go/no-go task and this bias is also apparent in responses to the non-target emotional face. This suggests that emotional information, coming from multiple sensory channels, activates a crossmodal integration process that depends upon the stimuli emotional salience and the listener's appraisal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Invitto
- Human Anatomy and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of SalentoLecce, Italy
| | - Antonio Calcagnì
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of TrentoTrento, Italy
| | - Arianna Mignozzi
- Human Anatomy and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of SalentoLecce, Italy
| | - Rosanna Scardino
- Human Anatomy and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of SalentoLecce, Italy
| | | | - Daniele Turchi
- Human Anatomy and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of SalentoLecce, Italy
| | - Irio De Feudis
- Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of BariBari, Italy
| | - Antonio Brunetti
- Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of BariBari, Italy
| | - Vitoantonio Bevilacqua
- Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of BariBari, Italy
| | - Marina de Tommaso
- Department of Medical Science, Neuroscience, and Sense Organs, University Aldo MoroBari, Italy
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Luo S, Han X, Du N, Han S. Physical coldness enhances racial in-group bias in empathy: Electrophysiological evidence. Neuropsychologia 2017; 116:117-125. [PMID: 28478242 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2016] [Revised: 05/01/2017] [Accepted: 05/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Empathy for others' pain plays a key role in prosocial behavior and is influenced by intergroup relationships. Increasing evidence suggests greater empathy for racial in-group than out-group individuals' pain and the racial in-group bias undergoes sociocultural and biological influences. The present study further investigated whether and how physical environments influence racial in-group bias in empathy by testing the hypothesis that sensory experiences of physical coldness versus warmth enhance differential empathic neural responses to racial in-group vs. out-group individuals' suffering. We recorded event-related brain potentials to painful versus neutral expressions of same-race and other-race faces when participants held a cold or warm pack. We found that brain activity in the N2 (200-340ms) and P3 (400-600ms) time windows over the frontal/central region was positively shifted by painful (vs. neutral) expressions. Moreover, the N2/P3 empathic neural responses were significantly larger for same-race than other-race faces in the cold but not in the warm condition. Moreover, subjective ratings of different temperatures in the cold vs. warm conditions predicted larger changes of racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses in the N2 time window. Our findings suggest that sensory experiences of physical coldness can strengthen emotional resonance with same-race individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyang Luo
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Xiaochun Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Na Du
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China.
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28
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Keller AS, Payne L, Sekuler R. Characterizing the roles of alpha and theta oscillations in multisensory attention. Neuropsychologia 2017; 99:48-63. [PMID: 28259771 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.02.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2016] [Revised: 02/16/2017] [Accepted: 02/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Cortical alpha oscillations (8-13Hz) appear to play a role in suppressing distractions when just one sensory modality is being attended, but do they also contribute when attention is distributed over multiple sensory modalities? For an answer, we examined cortical oscillations in human subjects who were dividing attention between auditory and visual sequences. In Experiment 1, subjects performed an oddball task with auditory, visual, or simultaneous audiovisual sequences in separate blocks, while the electroencephalogram was recorded using high-density scalp electrodes. Alpha oscillations were present continuously over posterior regions while subjects were attending to auditory sequences. This supports the idea that the brain suppresses processing of visual input in order to advantage auditory processing. During a divided-attention audiovisual condition, an oddball (a rare, unusual stimulus) occurred in either the auditory or the visual domain, requiring that attention be divided between the two modalities. Fronto-central theta band (4-7Hz) activity was strongest in this audiovisual condition, when subjects monitored auditory and visual sequences simultaneously. Theta oscillations have been associated with both attention and with short-term memory. Experiment 2 sought to distinguish these possible roles of fronto-central theta activity during multisensory divided attention. Using a modified version of the oddball task from Experiment 1, Experiment 2 showed that differences in theta power among conditions were independent of short-term memory load. Ruling out theta's association with short-term memory, we conclude that fronto-central theta activity is likely a marker of multisensory divided attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arielle S Keller
- Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453, USA.
| | - Lisa Payne
- Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave, Swarthmore PA 19081, USA.
| | - Robert Sekuler
- Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453, USA.
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