Aging and the Combined effects of ADRA2B and CB1 deletions on Affective Working Memory

The Protective Role of Neurogenetic Components in Reducing Stress-Related Effects during Spaceflights: Evidence from the Age-Related Positive Memory Approach

Fighting stress-related effects during spaceflight is crucial for a successful mission. Emotional, motivational, and cognitive mechanisms have already been shown to be involved in the decrease of negative emotions. However, emerging evidence is pointing to a neurogenetic profile that may render some individuals more prone than others to focusing on positive information in memory and increasing affective health. The relevance for adaptation to the space environment and the interaction with other stressors such as ionizing radiations is discussed. In particular, to clarify this approach better, we will draw from the psychology and aging literature data. Subsequently, we report on studies on candidate genes for sensitivity to positive memories. We review work on the following candidate genes that may be crucial in adaptation mechanisms: ADRA2B, COMT, 5HTTLPR, CB1, and TOMM40. The final aim is to show how the study of genetics and cell biology of positive memory can help us to reveal the underlying bottom-up pathways to also increasing positive effects during a space mission.

The neuroscience of positive emotions and affect: Implications for cultivating happiness and wellbeing

This review paper provides an integrative account regarding neurophysiological correlates of positive emotions and affect that cumulatively contribute to the scaffolding for happiness and wellbeing in humans and other animals. This paper reviews the associations among neurotransmitters, hormones, brain networks, and cognitive functions in the context of positive emotions and affect. Consideration of lifespan developmental perspectives are incorporated, and we also examine the impact of healthy social relationships and environmental contexts on the modulation of positive emotions and affect. The neurophysiological processes that implement positive emotions are dynamic and modifiable, and meditative practices as well as flow states that change patterns of brain function and ultimately support wellbeing are also discussed. This review is part of "The Human Affectome Project" (http://neuroqualia.org/background.php), and in order to advance a primary aim of the Human Affectome Project, we also reviewed relevant linguistic dimensions and terminology that characterizes positive emotions and wellbeing. These linguistic dimensions are discussed within the context of the neuroscience literature with the overarching goal of generating novel recommendations for advancing neuroscience research on positive emotions and wellbeing.

Affectively Biased Competition: Sustained Attention is Tuned to Rewarding Expressions and is Not Modulated by Norepinephrine Receptor Gene Variant

It is well established that emotionally salient stimuli evoke greater visual cortex activation than neutral ones, and can distract attention from competing tasks. Yet less is known about underlying neurobiological processes. As a proxy of population level biased competition, EEG steady-state visual evoked potentials are sensitive to competition effects from salient stimuli. Here we wished to examine whether individual differences in norepinephrine activity play a role in emotionally-biased competition.

Our previous research has found robust effects of a common variation in the ADRA2B gene, coding for alpha2B norepinephrine (NE) receptors, on emotional modulation of attention and memory. In the present study, EEG was collected while 87 carriers of the ADRA2B deletion variant and 95 non-carriers (final sample) performed a change detection task in which target gratings (gabor patches) were superimposed directly over angry, happy, and neutral faces. Participants indicated the number of phase changes (0–3) in the target. Overlapping targets and distractors were flickered at a distinct driving frequencies. Relative EEG power for faces vs. targets at the driving frequency served as an index of cortical resources allocated to each of the competing stimuli. Deletion carriers and non-carriers were randomly assigned to Discovery and Replication samples and reliability of results across samples was assessed before the groups were combined for greater power.

Overall happy faces evoked higher competition than angry or neutral faces; however, we observed no hypothesized effects of ADRA2B. Increased competition from happy faces was not due to the effect of low-level visual features or individuals low in social anxiety. Our results indicate that emotionally biased competition during sustained attention, while reliably observed in young adults, is not influenced by commonly observed individual differences linked to NE receptor function. They further indicate an overall pattern of affectively-biased competition for happy faces, which we interpret in relation to previously observed boundary conditions.