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Ferrera D, Galán D, Peláez I, Carpio A, Martín-Buro MC, Mercado F. Long-term findings on working memory neural dynamics in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19. Clin Neurophysiol 2024; 161:40-51. [PMID: 38447493 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.01.010] [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: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Understanding the long-term impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on cognitive function, even in mild cases, is critical to the well-being of individuals, especially for healthcare workers who are at increased risk of exposure to the virus. To the best of our knowledge, the electrophysiological activity underlying cognitive functioning has not yet been explored. METHODS Seventy-seven healthcare workers took part in the study (43 with mild infection about one year before the study and 34 uninfected). To assess cognitive status, event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioural responses were recorded while participants performed a working memory task. RESULTS COVID-19 participants exhibited a distinct neural pattern with lower parieto-occipital N1 amplitudes and higher frontal P2 amplitudes as compared to non-infected healthcare workers. We found no behavioural differences (reaction times and error rates) in working memory functioning between groups. CONCLUSIONS This neural pattern suggests the presence of a decrement of processing resources linked to the encoding of sensory information (N1), followed by the enhanced of the P2 response which could be interpreted as the activation of compensation mechanism in COVID-19 participants. SIGNIFICANCE The current findings point out that ERPs could serve as valuable neural indices for detecting distinctive patterns in working memory functioning of COVID-19 participants, even in mild cases. However, further research is required to precisely ascertain the long-term cognitive effects of COVID-19 beyond one-year post-infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Ferrera
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Diego Galán
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Irene Peláez
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alberto Carpio
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Carmen Martín-Buro
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Mercado
- Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain; Cognitive Neuroscience, Pain and Rehabilitation Research Group (NECODOR), School of Health Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
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Stanković M, Müller HJ, Shi Z. Task-irrelevant valence-preferred colors boost visual search for a singleton-shape target. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:417-437. [PMID: 37819500 PMCID: PMC10858139 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01880-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Some studies have suggested that emotion-associated features might influence attentional capture. However, demonstrating valence-dependent distractor interference has proven challenging, possibly due to the neglect of individuals' color-valence preferences in standard, averaged reaction-time (RT) measures. To address this, we investigated valence-driven attentional-capture using an association phase in which emotionally neutral vs. positive-feedback photographs were paired with two alternative target colors, red vs. green. This was followed by a test phase requiring participants to search for a pop-out shape target in the presence or absence of an emotion-associated color. In Experiments 1 and 2, this color could only appear in a distractor, while in Experiment 3, it appeared in the target. Analyzing the standard, averaged RT measures, we found no significant valence association or valence-modulated attentional capture. However, correlational analyses revealed a positive relationship between individual participants' color-valence preference during the association phase and their valence-based effect during the test phase. Moreover, most individuals favored red over green in the association phase, leading to marked color-related asymmetries in the average measures. Crucially, the presence of the valence-preferred color anywhere in the test display facilitated RTs. This effect persisted even when the color appeared in one of the distractors (Experiments 1 and 2), at variance with this distractor capturing attention. These findings suggest that task-irrelevant valence-preferred color signals were registered pre-attentively and boosted performance, likely by raising the general (non-spatial) alertness level. However, these signals were likely kept out of attentional-priority computation to prevent inadvertent attentional capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miloš Stanković
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Hermann J Müller
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Zhuanghua Shi
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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3
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Which word makes you feel more negative? “Nausea” or “corpse”. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-04164-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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4
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Grzybowski SJ, Wyczesany M, Kaiser J. Feel Thine Own Self – Mood Congruency Evaluation of Emotional State Adjectives. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. The goal of the study was to explore event-related potential (ERP) differences during the processing of emotional adjectives that were evaluated as congruent or incongruent with the current mood. We hypothesized that the first effects of congruence evaluation would be evidenced during the earliest stages of semantic analysis. Sixty mood adjectives were presented separately for 1,000 ms each during two sessions of mood induction. After each presentation, participants evaluated to what extent the word described their mood. The results pointed to incongruence marking of adjective’s meaning with current mood during early attention orientation and semantic access stages (the P150 component time window). This was followed by enhanced processing of congruent words at later stages. As a secondary goal the study also explored word valence effects and their relation to congruence evaluation. In this regard, no significant effects were observed on the ERPs; however, a negativity bias (enhanced responses to negative adjectives) was noted on the behavioral data (RTs), which could correspond to the small differences traced on the late positive potential.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jan Kaiser
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
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Aksoy M, Ufodiama CE, Bateson AD, Martin S, Asghar AUR. A comparative experimental study of visual brain event-related potentials to a working memory task: virtual reality head-mounted display versus a desktop computer screen. Exp Brain Res 2021; 239:3007-3022. [PMID: 34347129 PMCID: PMC8536609 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06158-w] [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: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Virtual reality head mounted display (VR HMD) systems are increasingly utilised in combination with electroencephalography (EEG) in the experimental study of cognitive tasks. The aim of our investigation was to determine the similarities/differences between VR HMD and the computer screen (CS) in response to an n-back working memory task by comparing visual electrophysiological event-related potential (ERP) waveforms (N1/P1/P3 components). The same protocol was undertaken for VR HMD and CS with participants wearing the same EEG headcap. ERP waveforms obtained with the VR HMD environment followed a similar time course to those acquired in CS. The P3 mean and peak amplitudes obtained in VR HMD were not significantly different to those obtained in CS. In contrast, the N1 component was significantly higher in mean and peak amplitudes for the VR HMD environment compared to CS at the frontal electrodes. Significantly higher P1 mean and peak amplitudes were found at the occipital region compared to the temporal for VR HMD. Our results show that successful acquisition of ERP components to a working memory task is achievable by combining VR HMD with EEG. In addition, the higher amplitude N1/P1 components seen in VR HMD indicates the potential utility of this VR modality in the investigation of early ERPs. In conclusion, the combination of VR HMD with EEG/ERP would be a useful approach to advance the study of cognitive function in experimental brain research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Murat Aksoy
- Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Chiedu E Ufodiama
- Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Anthony D Bateson
- Department of Engineering, Faculty Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Stewart Martin
- School of Education and Social Sciences, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Aziz U R Asghar
- Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK.
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6
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A mathematical model of the interaction between bottom-up and top-down attention controllers in response to a target and a distractor in human beings. COGN SYST RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogsys.2019.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Fide E, Emek-Savaş DD, Aktürk T, Güntekin B, Hanoğlu L, Yener GG. Electrophysiological evidence of altered facial expressions recognition in Alzheimer's disease: A comprehensive ERP study. Clin Neurophysiol 2019; 130:1813-1824. [PMID: 31401490 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.06.229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The present study aims to evaluate the amplitude and latency of event-related potentials (ERPs) P100, N170, VPP and N230 in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to healthy elderly controls, using a passive viewing task of emotional facial expressions. METHODS Twenty-four individuals with mild to moderate AD and 23 demographically matched healthy elderly controls were included in the study. ERP P100, N170, VPP and N230 amplitude and latency values were compared between groups. RESULTS The categorization of emotional facial expressions was intact; yet, increased P100 amplitude and latency, decreased N170 amplitude, and increased VPP amplitude were observed in AD compared to controls. Increased N230 amplitude and latency were observed in response to angry expressions, while neutral expressions elicited decreased amplitude and latency. CONCLUSIONS Increased P100 amplitude and latency may reflect reduced amygdala volume and disruptions in the visual system, while decreased N170 and increased VPP amplitudes may reflect impaired perceptual processing, mitigated by a greater involvement of prefrontal areas for task performance in AD. SIGNIFICANCE This study is the first to report a complex pattern of ERPs to emotional facial expressions in individuals with AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ezgi Fide
- Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Derya Durusu Emek-Savaş
- Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Tuba Aktürk
- Istanbul Medipol University, Vocational School, Program of Electroneurophysiology, Istanbul, Turkey; Istanbul Medipol University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Department of Neuroscience, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Bahar Güntekin
- Istanbul Medipol University, International School of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, Istanbul, Turkey; REMER, Clinical Electrophysiology, Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation Lab, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Lütfü Hanoğlu
- REMER, Clinical Electrophysiology, Neuroimaging and Neuromodulation Lab, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey; Istanbul Medipol University, School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Görsev G Yener
- Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey; Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, Department of Neurology, Izmir, Turkey; Dokuz Eylul University, Brain Dynamics Multidisciplinary Research Center, Izmir, Turkey
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Peláez I, Ferrera D, Barjola P, Fernandes R, Mercado F. Subliminal emotional pictures are capable of modulating early cerebral responses to pain in fibromyalgia. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0217909. [PMID: 31166997 PMCID: PMC6550399 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Pain experience involves a complex relationship between sensory and both emotional and cognitive factors, which appear to be mediated by different neural pathways. Previous evidence has shown that whereas conscious processing of unpleasant stimuli enhances pain perception, the influence of emotions on pain under unaware conditions is much less known. The need to better characterise the relationship between pain processing and emotional factors is crucial for dealing with chronic pain conditions. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the neural correlates relating to the influence of visual masking emotional stimulation on the processing of painful stimuli in chronic pain patients suffering from fibromyalgia (FM). Twenty FM and 22 healthy control (HC) women participated in the study. The experimental masking paradigm consisted of a rapid succession of two types of stimuli, where a masked picture (neutral, negative or pain-related) was followed by a laser stimulus (painful or not painful). LEP activity was recorded at sixty scalp electrodes. An LEP-amplitude approach was used to quantify the main cerebral waves linked to pain response. ANOVAs indicated that the posterior regions of the P1 component were sensitive to experimental manipulation (p<0.05). Specifically, FM patients showed higher amplitudes to painful stimuli preceded by pain-related pictures compared with painful trials preceded by other emotional pictures. The FM group also showed greater amplitudes than those in the HC group in P2a and P2b waves. In addition to the scalp data, at the neural level the posterior cingulate cortex, lingual gyrus and insular cortex showed higher activation in the FM group than in the HC group. Our findings show an early cerebral modulation of pain (as reflected by the P1) in FM patients, suggesting that only pain-related information, even when it is unconsciously perceived, is capable to enhance exogenous (automatic) attention, increasing the neural activity involved in processing painful stimulation. Further research is needed to fully understand unconscious emotional influences on pain in fibromyalgia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Peláez
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - David Ferrera
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
| | - Paloma Barjola
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
| | - Roberto Fernandes
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Mercado
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain
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9
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Gupta R. Positive emotions have a unique capacity to capture attention. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 247:23-46. [PMID: 31196436 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Most of the previous research in the area of cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience focused on studying negative emotions and argued that the negative emotional stimuli capture attention involuntarily as compared to neutral stimuli. However, in the last decades, researchers started paying attention in studying positive emotions also as positive emotions have evolutionary significance and are essential for many aspects of our life. The theme of this chapter is to present an overview of research in the area of positive emotions, and make a case that positively-valenced stimulus is prioritized over others. Primarily, when attentional resources are not constrained, many studies have shown that similar to negative stimuli, positive stimuli also capture attention automatically irrespective of whether they are relevant or irrelevant to the primary task. It suggests a fundamental prioritization of these stimuli by the cognitive/motivational system. However, when attentional resources are constrained, only positive or high rewarding stimuli win the competition for attentional resources compared to negative or stimuli associated with high punishment. Positive or high rewarding stimuli also receive priority in temporal selection, when attention is constrained. Theoretical implications of these results have been discussed. Possible cognitive and neural mechanisms have been proposed underlying these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rashmi Gupta
- Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.
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10
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Riegel M, Moslehi A, Michałowski JM, Żurawski Ł, Horvat M, Wypych M, Jednoróg K, Marchewka A. Nencki Affective Picture System: Cross-Cultural Study in Europe and Iran. Front Psychol 2017; 8:274. [PMID: 28316576 PMCID: PMC5334317 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2016] [Accepted: 02/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Although emotions have been assumed conventionally to be universal, recent studies have suggested that various aspects of emotions may be mediated by cultural background. The purpose of our research was to test these contradictory views, in the case of the subjective evaluation of visual affective stimuli. We also sought to validate the recently introduced Nencki Affective Picture System (NAPS) database on a different cultural group. Since there has been, to date, no attempt to compare the emotions of a culturally distinct sample of Iranians with those of Europeans, subjective ratings were collected from 40 Iranians and 39 Europeans. Each cultural group was asked separately to provide normative affective ratings and classify pictures according to discrete emotions. The results were analyzed to identify cultural differences in the ratings of individual images. One hundred and seventy NAPS pictures were rated with regard to the intensity of the basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust) they elicited, as well as in terms of affective dimensions (valence and arousal). Contrary to previous studies using the International Affective Picture System, our results for Europeans and Iranians show that neither the ratings for affective dimensions nor for basic emotions differed across cultural groups. In both cultural groups, the relationship between valence and arousal ratings could be best described by a classical boomerang-shaped function. However, the content of the pictures (animals, faces, landscapes, objects, or people) had a significant effect on the ratings for valence and arousal. These findings indicate that further studies in cross-cultural affective research should control for the content of stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Riegel
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Centre, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
| | - Abnoos Moslehi
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Centre, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of SciencesWarsaw, Poland; Faculty of Psychology, University of WarsawWarsaw, Poland
| | - Jarosław M Michałowski
- Faculty of Psychology, University of WarsawWarsaw, Poland; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Design in Poznan, SWPS University of Social Sciences and HumanitiesPoznan, Poland
| | - Łukasz Żurawski
- Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
| | - Marko Horvat
- Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Applied Sciences Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Marek Wypych
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Centre, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Jednoróg
- Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
| | - Artur Marchewka
- Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Neurobiology Centre, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw, Poland
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11
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Affective norms of 875 Spanish words for five discrete emotional categories and two emotional dimensions. Behav Res Methods 2016; 48:272-84. [PMID: 25740761 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-015-0572-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In the present study, we introduce affective norms for a new set of Spanish words, the Madrid Affective Database for Spanish (MADS), that were scored on two emotional dimensions (valence and arousal) and on five discrete emotional categories (happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust), as well as on concreteness, by 660 Spanish native speakers. Measures of several objective psycholinguistic variables--grammatical class, word frequency, number of letters, and number of syllables--for the words are also included. We observed high split-half reliabilities for every emotional variable and a strong quadratic relationship between valence and arousal. Additional analyses revealed several associations between the affective dimensions and discrete emotions, as well as with some psycholinguistic variables. This new corpus complements and extends prior databases in Spanish and allows for designing new experiments investigating the influence of affective content in language processing under both dimensional and discrete theoretical conceptions of emotion. These norms can be downloaded as supplemental materials for this article from www.dropbox.com/s/o6dpw3irk6utfhy/Hinojosa%20et%20al_Supplementary%20materials.xlsx?dl=0 .
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12
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Peláez I, Martínez-Iñigo D, Barjola P, Cardoso S, Mercado F. Decreased Pain Perception by Unconscious Emotional Pictures. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1636. [PMID: 27818642 PMCID: PMC5073127 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2016] [Accepted: 10/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Pain perception arises from a complex interaction between a nociceptive stimulus and different emotional and cognitive factors, which appear to be mediated by both automatic and controlled systems. Previous evidence has shown that whereas conscious processing of unpleasant stimuli enhances pain perception, emotional influences on pain under unaware conditions are much less known. The aim of the present study was to investigate the modulation of pain perception by unconscious emotional pictures through an emotional masking paradigm. Two kinds of both somatosensory (painful and non-painful) and emotional stimulation (negative and neutral pictures) were employed. Fifty pain-free participants were asked to rate the perception of pain they were feeling in response to laser-induced somatosensory stimuli as faster as they can. Data from pain intensity and reaction times were measured. Statistical analyses revealed a significant effect for the interaction between pain and emotional stimulation, but surprisingly this relationship was opposite to expected. In particular, lower pain intensity scores and longer reaction times were found in response to negative images being strengthened this effect for painful stimulation. Present findings suggest a clear pain perception modulation by unconscious emotional contexts. Attentional capture mechanisms triggered by unaware negative stimulation could explain this phenomenon leading to a withdrawal of processing resources from pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Peláez
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University Madrid, Spain
| | - David Martínez-Iñigo
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University Madrid, Spain
| | - Paloma Barjola
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University Madrid, Spain
| | - Susana Cardoso
- Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Sciences, University of Porto Porto, Portugal
| | - Francisco Mercado
- Unit of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University Madrid, Spain
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Grass A, Bayer M, Schacht A. Electrophysiological Correlates of Emotional Content and Volume Level in Spoken Word Processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:326. [PMID: 27458359 PMCID: PMC4930929 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2016] [Accepted: 06/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
For visual stimuli of emotional content as pictures and written words, stimulus size has been shown to increase emotion effects in the early posterior negativity (EPN), a component of event-related potentials (ERPs) indexing attention allocation during visual sensory encoding. In the present study, we addressed the question whether this enhanced relevance of larger (visual) stimuli might generalize to the auditory domain and whether auditory emotion effects are modulated by volume. Therefore, subjects were listening to spoken words with emotional or neutral content, played at two different volume levels, while ERPs were recorded. Negative emotional content led to an increased frontal positivity and parieto-occipital negativity-a scalp distribution similar to the EPN-between ~370 and 530 ms. Importantly, this emotion-related ERP component was not modulated by differences in volume level, which impacted early auditory processing, as reflected in increased amplitudes of the N1 (80-130 ms) and P2 (130-265 ms) components as hypothesized. However, contrary to effects of stimulus size in the visual domain, volume level did not influence later ERP components. These findings indicate modality-specific and functionally independent processing triggered by emotional content of spoken words and volume level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Grass
- Courant Research Centre Text Structures, University of GöttingenGöttingen, Germany; Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate CognitionGöttingen, Germany
| | - Mareike Bayer
- Courant Research Centre Text Structures, University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany
| | - Annekathrin Schacht
- Courant Research Centre Text Structures, University of GöttingenGöttingen, Germany; Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate CognitionGöttingen, Germany
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