On the neural basis of emotional word processing. A combined EEG-MEG study with individual head models

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event On the neural basis of emotional word processing. A combined EEG-MEG study with individual head models Marisa Nordt1*, Kati Keuper1, Peter Zwanzger2 and Christian Dobel1 1 Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, Germany 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Germany Emotional stimuli effectively capture attention and therefore obtain prioritized processing. Kissler et al. (2007) demonstrated in an EEG study that this also holds for emotional words. They reported enhanced amplitudes of the ‘early posterior negativity’ (EPN; 200-300 ms) for emotional compared to neutral nouns in left occipito-temporal brain areas. The present study aimed at further investigating the neural mechanisms of early emotional word processing by means of simultaneous EEG-MEG measurements. Participants silently read continuously presented streams of neutral, positive and negative nouns. Data were analyzed using L2 minimum norm solutions based on individual head models and cortical constraints. For the time window of 200-300msec we found enhanced activation for emotional compared to neutral words in left occipito-temporal regions and the Brodmann areas 30 and 40. Findings in left occipito-temporal regions are in line with the results of Kissler et al. (2007). The enhanced activation in Brodmann area 30 comprising the cingulate cortex is consistent with fMRI studies on emotional word processing (Maddock et al., 2003), but has not been found in electrophysiological studies before. Additionally, we found differences between positive and negative words, with more right dorsolateral prefrontal activity for negative words and more left inferior prefrontal activity for positive words. This supports early hemispheric specialization for symbolic emotional stimuli (e.g. Davidson, 2001). Methodologically, this study emphasizes the benefit of combined neurophysiological measures. Funding: Supported by IZKF (Do3/021/10). Keywords: EEG, Language Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain Citation: Nordt M, Keuper K, Zwanzger P and Dobel C (2011). On the neural basis of emotional word processing. A combined EEG-MEG study with individual head models. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00502 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Ms. Marisa Nordt, Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, Münster, Germany, marisa.nordt@uni-muenster.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Marisa Nordt Kati Keuper Peter Zwanzger Christian Dobel Google Marisa Nordt Kati Keuper Peter Zwanzger Christian Dobel Google Scholar Marisa Nordt Kati Keuper Peter Zwanzger Christian Dobel PubMed Marisa Nordt Kati Keuper Peter Zwanzger Christian Dobel Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.