Complex Social Emotions Research Articles

A historical approach to models of emotional laterality

In this paper I discuss the main models that have tried to explain brain asymmetries for emotions. The first models, based on clinical observations, proposed either a general right hemisphere dominance for emotions (the’right hemisphere’) model or a different specialization of the right hemisphere for negative and of the left hemisphere for positive emotions (the‘valence’ model). In more recent times new models, based on partly modified versions of the previous ones have been proposed. The revised version of the ‘valence’ model, labeled the ‘approach-avoidance’ model maintained that hemispheric asymmetries are not related to the valence of the emotional stimulus but to the motivational (approach vs avoidance) system that is engaged by that stimulus. On the contrary, revised versions of the ‘right hemisphere’ hypothesis proposed graded versions of this model, maintaining that only some kinds or some levels of emotions are clearly right lateralized. One version of these models (the’emotion type hypothesis’) assumed that only elementary basic emotions should be subsumed by the right hemisphere, wheres more complex social emotions should be subtended by the left hemisphere. The other version (the ‘schematic level of emotion hypothesis’) assumed that the right hemisphere should subsume only the basic ‘schematic’ level of emotions, characterized by an automatic and unconscious processing, whereas the more propositional and conscious ‘conceptual’ level could be less lateralized or subsumed by the left hemisphere. This last model is supported by the obsevation that the right hemisphere reveals a modus operandi (i.e. a prevalence of the ‘automatic’ over the ‘intentional’ and of the ‘unconscious’ over the ‘conscious’ functional processing) that is typical of the ‘schematic level of emotions.

Witnessing Meaningful Interpersonal Encounters Facilitates the Perception of Social Emotions

Judging the emotional states of others based on visual information alone is a fundamental aspect of rapid impression formation. However, it remains unclear whether complex social emotions (such as feelings of pride or envy) can be inferred by merely observing others. Here we demonstrate consistent perception of such complex social emotions when a person is seen in the context of a meaningful interpersonal encounter. In Study 1, we show that the perception of social emotions is enhanced when emotionally expressive target individuals are seen with meaningful social companions rather than with social distractors or in isolation. In Study 2, we illustrate that the perception of social emotions increases systematically when formerly isolated individuals are subsequently seen with meaningful social companions rather than with social distractors or objects. We conclude that interpersonal encounters play an integral part in the perception of social emotions.

Cat owners’ anthropomorphic perceptions of feline emotions and interpretation of photographs

BackgroundMany cat owners describe the relationship with their cat in anthropomorphic terms like child or best friend. Attributing such human social roles to cats might influence the interpretation of cat behavior and communicative cues. MethodOver 1800 Dutch cat owners filled out an online survey concerning the relationship with, and behavior of, their own cat and beliefs about the emotional lives of cats in general. Owners were also presented with seven photographs of cats (four with reliable cues to identify an emotion and three neutral ones). Results52 % of the respondents described the relationship with their cat in human terms such as family member (52 %), as a child (27 %) or as best friend (6 %) while 14 % described their cat as a pet animal. Owners who described the relationship with their cat in human terms, more often a) assigned complex social emotions (such as jealousy and compassion) to cats and b) assigned emotions to neutral photographs. Owners with a realistic perception of cat emotions were better at correctly identifying the emotional photographs. Moreover, owners that attributed complex social emotions to cats in general had a higher tendency to attribute emotions to the neutral photographs. ConclusionOur study shows that the correct interpretation of feline emotional cues from photographs are negatively associated with owners’ anthropomorphic perception of cats. This study highlights the importance of educating owners about natural cat behavior and realistic views of the emotional life of (their) cats.

Neural correlates and effect of jealousy on cognitive flexibility in the female titi monkey (Plecturocebus cupreus)

Jealousy is a social emotion that manifests as behavioral reactions from an individual toward a threat to a valuable relationship. Monogamous species exhibit jealousy-type behaviors as an adaptive response to preserve the relationship. Jealousy is also a complex, negatively-valenced emotion which may include fear of loss, anxiety, suspiciousness, and anger. Negative emotion may impair cognitive processes such as cognitive flexibility, an ability important for coping with new situations. However, little is known about how complex social emotions influence cognitive flexibility. To understand the interaction between jealousy and cognitive flexibility, we examined the neural, physiological, and behavioral factors involved in jealousy and cognitive flexibility in female titi monkeys. We presented subjects with a jealousy provoking scenario, followed by a reversal learning task and a PET scan with a glucose-analog radiotracer. We found that female titi monkeys reacted to a jealousy provoking scenario with increased locomotor behavior and higher glucose uptake in the cerebellum; however, hormone measures and were not affected. As only two females demonstrated cognitive flexibility, the effects of jealousy were difficult to interpret. Locomotion behavior was also negatively correlated with glucose uptake in brain areas linked with motivation, sociality, and cognitive flexibility. Surprisingly, glucose uptake in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly decreased during jealousy scenarios, while uptake in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was decreased during reversal tasks. Our findings suggest that the presence of an intruder produces less visible behavioral reactions in female titis than in males, while still reducing activity in the OFC.

Neuroanatomy of complex social emotion dysregulation in adolescent offenders.

Social emotions require the correct integration of emotional, cognitive, and social processes and are critical for complex social interactions. Adolescent criminal offenders (AOs) show abnormalities in the experience of basic emotions. However, most research has focused solely on basic emotions, neglecting complex social emotions that could be critical for social reintegration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral and neural correlates of social emotions (envy and Schadenfreude) in AOs. We explored the experience of complex social emotions, as well as their anatomical correlates, in AOs (n = 19) and a nonoffenders control group (NOs, n = 20). Additionally, we assessed the relationship between social emotions, executive functions (EFs), and fluid intelligence (FI). Structural brain imaging was obtained in all participants. The results showed that AOs had significantly lower envy and Schadenfreude ratings and exhibited lower performance in EFs compared with NOs. The measurement of EFs relied on the INECO frontal screening (IFS). Experiencing fewer social emotions was associated with diminished EFs but not with FI. Moreover, in AOs, reduced levels of envy and Schadenfreude were linked with reduced gray matter volumes in regions subserving mentalizing abilities (inferior parietal lobe and precuneus) and socioemotional processing (inferior and middle temporal regions), as well as key hubs of the executive frontoparietal network (inferior parietal lobule, orbital and rectus gyri). Additional analysis on the AOs revealed no associations between the type of crime and our variables of interest (EFs, FI and social emotions). Our findings are the first to provide evidence on abnormalities in the experience of social emotions in AOs that are associated with neurocognitive markers of social cognition and EFs. Understanding social emotions and their abnormalities (under-experience) as complex intertwined processes may have important future translational implications, including risk prediction for social adaptation/reintegration, sociocognitive targeted interventions, and skill training for social emotions in vulnerable populations.

I Cannot Read Your Eye Expression: Suicide Attempters Have Difficulties in Interpreting Complex Social Emotions.

Background: The ability to differentiate emotions in social contexts is important for dealing with challenging social situations. Suicide attempters show some difficulties in emotion recognition that may result in hypersensitivity to social stress. However, other studies on the recognition of social complex emotions found that suicide attempters have similar performances as depressed non-attempters.Objectives: To investigate differences in social emotion recognition in patients with current Major Depressive Episode (MDE) with and without history of suicide attempt.Methods: Two hundred and ten patients with MDE were recruited among whom 115 had lifetime history of suicide attempt (suicide attempters, SA) and 95 did not (affective controls, AC). Recognition of complex social emotions was assessed using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). Emotions were separated in three valence categories: positive, negative, and neutral. Verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) and attention were measured with the National Adult Reading Task (NART) and the d2 test, respectively.Results: Mixed logistic regression models adjusted for sex, lifetime bipolar disorder, verbal IQ and attention showed that the RMET performance for neutral emotions was worse in the SA than AC group (OR = 0.87 [0.75, 0.99]). Furthermore, when violent/serious SA were compared to non-violent/non-serious SA and AC, the RMET neutral valence category showed a trend for group factor (p < 0.059) and RMET scores were lower in the violent/serious SA than AC group (OR = 0.79 [0.64, 0.96]).Conclusion: Recognition of neutral emotions is poor in SA and this may complicate their daily life. Interventions to improve the understanding of complex emotions may be helpful to prevent suicidal risk in patients with depression.

Bernardo Autonomous Emotional Agents Increase Perception of VR Stimuli

Video games are high emotional vectors. They play with the emotions of players by eliciting and increasing them. The importance of the induction of basic emotions has been a long forestay and is favoured by video game publishers, as they are quite easily mobilized. Video game publishers look to produce more complex social emotions like empathy, and compassion. In games framework with narrative context, designers frequently use cinema movies methods, like cinematic non-interactive Cutscenes. These methods temporarily exclude the player from interactivity to leave his first viewpoint view and move the camera focusing on the narrative stimuli. Cutscenes were used abundantly and are now rejected, the new development wave is often trying to develop in a &amp;ldquo;zero cinematic&amp;rdquo; way. For the same reason, cinematics are also not usable in new Virtual Reality. If VR games and simulations provides a high level of presence, VR environments needs certain rules related in particular to the continuation of free will and the avoidance of possible Break in Presence. We propose in this paper a concept of Emotionally Intelligent Virtual Avatars, which when they perceive an important narrative stimulus, share their emotions through, gestures, facial nonverbal expressions, and declarative sentences to stimulate the player&amp;#39;s attention. This will lead players to focus on the narrative stimuli. Our research studies the impact of the use of Bernardo Agents Emotional Avatars involving n = 51 users. The statistical analysis of the results shows a significant difference in the narrative perception of the stimuli and in Presence, correlated to the use of Agents Bernardo. Overall, our emotional Agent Bernardo is a unique concept for increasing the perception of narrative stimuli in virtual environments using HMD, and may be useful in all virtual environments using an emotional narrative process.

Mind the gap – moving beyond the dichotomy between intentional gestures and emotional facial and vocal signals of nonhuman primates

Abstract Despite the variety of theories suggesting how human language might have evolved, very few consider the potential role of emotions in such scenarios. The few existing theories jointly highlight that gaining control over the production of emotional communication was crucial for establishing and maintaining larger social groups. This in turn resulted in the development of more complex social emotions and the corresponding sophisticated socio-cognitive skills to understand others’ communicative behavior, providing the grounds for language to emerge. Importantly, these theories propose that the ability of controlling emotional communication is a uniquely human trait, an assumption that we will challenge. By taking a comparative approach, we discuss recent findings from behavioral and neurobiological studies from our closest relatives, the non-human primates, on the extent of control over their gestural, facial and vocal signals. This demonstrates that research foci differ drastically across these modalities, which further enhances the traditional dichotomy between emotional, involuntary facial and vocal expressions in contrast to intentionally, voluntarily produced gestures. Based on this brief overview, we point to gaps of knowledge in primate communication research and suggest how investigating emotional expressions in our closest relatives might enrich the road map towards the evolution of human language.

Sleep Deprivation Impairs the Human Central and Peripheral Nervous System Discrimination of Social Threat.

Facial expressions represent one of the most salient cues in our environment. They communicate the affective state and intent of an individual and, if interpreted correctly, adaptively influence the behavior of others in return. Processing of such affective stimuli is known to require reciprocal signaling between central viscerosensory brain regions and peripheral-autonomic body systems, culminating in accurate emotion discrimination. Despite emerging links between sleep and affective regulation, the impact of sleep loss on the discrimination of complex social emotions within and between the CNS and PNS remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate in humans that sleep deprivation impairs both viscerosensory brain (anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala) and autonomic-cardiac discrimination of threatening from affiliative facial cues. Moreover, sleep deprivation significantly degrades the normally reciprocal associations between these central and peripheral emotion-signaling systems, most prominent at the level of cardiac-amygdala coupling. In addition, REM sleep physiology across the sleep-rested night significantly predicts the next-day success of emotional discrimination within this viscerosensory network across individuals, suggesting a role for REM sleep in affective brain recalibration. Together, these findings establish that sleep deprivation compromises the faithful signaling of, and the "embodied" reciprocity between, viscerosensory brain and peripheral autonomic body processing of complex social signals. Such impairments hold ecological relevance in professional contexts in which the need for accurate interpretation of social cues is paramount yet insufficient sleep is pervasive.

The embodiment of emotion: language use during the feeling of social emotions predicts cortical somatosensory activity

Complex social emotions involve both abstract cognitions and bodily sensations, and individuals may differ on their relative reliance on these. We hypothesized that individuals' descriptions of their feelings during a semi-structured emotion induction interview would reveal two distinct psychological styles-a more abstract, cognitive style and a more body-based, affective style-and that these would be associated with somatosensory neural activity. We examined 28 participants' open-ended verbal responses to admiration- and compassion-provoking narratives in an interview and BOLD activity to the same narratives during subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Consistent with hypotheses, individuals' affective and cognitive word use were stable across emotion conditions, negatively correlated and unrelated to reported emotion strength in the scanner. Greater use of affective relative to cognitive words predicted more activation in SI, SII, middle anterior cingulate cortex and insula during emotion trials. The results suggest that individuals' verbal descriptions of their feelings reflect differential recruitment of neural regions supporting physical body awareness. Although somatosensation has long been recognized as an important component of emotion processing, these results offer 'proof of concept' that individual differences in open-ended speech reflect different processing styles at the neurobiological level. This study also demonstrates SI involvement during social emotional experience.

Distinct neural systems for men and women during emotional processing: a possible role of attention and evaluation

Distinct neural systems for men and women during emotional processing: a possible role of attention and evaluation

The structural neuroanatomy of music emotion recognition: Evidence from frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Despite growing clinical and neurobiological interest in the brain mechanisms that process emotion in music, these mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) frequently exhibit clinical syndromes that illustrate the effects of breakdown in emotional and social functioning. Here we investigated the neuroanatomical substrate for recognition of musical emotion in a cohort of 26 patients with FTLD (16 with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, bvFTD, 10 with semantic dementia, SemD) using voxel-based morphometry. On neuropsychological evaluation, patients with FTLD showed deficient recognition of canonical emotions (happiness, sadness, anger and fear) from music as well as faces and voices compared with healthy control subjects. Impaired recognition of emotions from music was specifically associated with grey matter loss in a distributed cerebral network including insula, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex, anterior temporal and more posterior temporal and parietal cortices, amygdala and the subcortical mesolimbic system. This network constitutes an essential brain substrate for recognition of musical emotion that overlaps with brain regions previously implicated in coding emotional value, behavioural context, conceptual knowledge and theory of mind. Musical emotion recognition may probe the interface of these processes, delineating a profile of brain damage that is essential for the abstraction of complex social emotions.

Anomalous Subjective Experience and Psychosis Risk in Young Depressed Patients

Background: Help-seeking young people often display depressive symptoms. In some patients, these symptoms may co-exist with clinically high-risk mental states for psychosis. The aim of this study was to determine differences in subjective experience and social perception in young depressed patients with and without psychosis risk. Methods: Participants were 68 young persons with major depressive disorder. Twenty-six patients also met the criteria of attenuated or brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms according to the Comprehensive Assessment of At Risk Mental States (CAARMS) criteria. Subjective experiences were assessed with the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms (BSABS). Recognition of complex social emotions and mental states was assessed using the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ test. Results: Perplexity, self-disorder, and diminished affectivity significantly predicted psychosis risk. Depressed patients without psychosis risk displayed impaired recognition performance for negative social emotions, whereas patients with psychosis risk were also impaired in the recognition of cognitive expressions. In the high-risk group, self-disorder was associated with impaired recognition of facial expressions. Conclusions: These results suggest that anomalous subjective experience and impaired recognition of complex emotions may differentiate between young depressed patients with and without psychosis risk.

Neuropsychological Evidence of Impaired Cognitive Empathy in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder

The empathic abilities have never been examined in bipolar disorder patients, despite frequent observations of impaired social behavior. To examine the neuropsychological processes that underlie the affective and cognitive empathic ability in bipolar disorder, the authors compared affective and cognitive empathic abilities, as well as theory of mind and executive functions, of euthymic bipolar disorder patients and healthy comparison subjects. Significant deficits in cognitive empathy and theory of mind were observed, while affective empathy was elevated in bipolar disorder. Patients showed impaired cognitive flexibility (shifting and reversal learning) but intact planning behavior. Impaired cognitive empathy was related with performance in neurocognitive tasks of cognitive flexibility, suggesting that prefrontal cortical dysfunction may account for impaired cognitive empathy in bipolar disorder.

Social learning modulates the lateralization of emotional valence

Although neuropsychological studies of lateralization of emotion have emphasized valence (positive vs. negative) or type (basic vs. complex) dimensions, the interaction between the two dimensions has yet to be elucidated. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that recognition of basic emotions is processed preferentially by the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas recognition of complex social emotions is processed preferentially by the left PFC. Experiment 1 assessed the ability of healthy controls and patients with right and left PFC lesions to recognize basic and complex emotions. Experiment 2 modeled the patient’s data of Experiment 1 on healthy participants under lateralized displays of the emotional stimuli. Both experiments support the Type as well as the Valence Hypotheses. However, our findings indicate that the Valence Hypothesis holds for basic but less so for complex emotions. It is suggested that, since social learning overrules the basic preference of valence in the hemispheres, the processing of complex emotions in the hemispheres is less affected by valence.

Opioids:From Physical Pain to the Pain of Social Isolation

The opioid systems play an important role in mediating both physical pain and negative affects (eg, the pain of social isolation). From an evolutionary perspective, it is not surprising that the neurocircuitry and neurochemistry of physical pain would overlap with that involved in complex social emotions. Exposure to trauma as well as a range of gene variants in the opioid system may be associated with alterations in opioid systems function, with changes in reward processing, and with vulnerability to substance abuse. A role for interventions with opioid agents in depression and anxiety disorders has been suggested.

Fast recognition of social emotions takes the whole brain: Interhemispheric cooperation in the absence of cerebral asymmetry

Hemispheric asymmetry in emotional perception has been traditionally studied for basic emotions and very little is known about laterality for more complex social emotions. Here, we used the “redundant target paradigm” to investigate interhemispheric asymmetry and cooperation for two social emotions in healthy subjects. Facial expressions of flirtatiousness or arrogance were briefly presented either unilaterally in the left (LVF) or right visual field (RVF), or simultaneously to both visual fields (BVF) while participants responded to the target expression (flirtatious or arrogant, counterbalanced between blocks). In bilateral conditions the faces could show the same emotion (congruent condition) or two different expressions (incongruent condition). No difference between unilateral presentations was found, suggesting that the perception of social emotions is not hemispherically lateralized. Responses were faster and more accurate in bilateral displays with two emotionally congruent but physically different faces (i.e., a male and a female expressing the same emotion) than in unilateral conditions. This “redundant target effect” was consistent with a neural summation model, thereby showing that interhemispheric cooperation may occur for social emotions despite major perceptual differences between faces posing the same expression.

RECOGNITION OF COMPLEX MENTAL STATES IN PATIENTS WITH ALCOHOLISM AFTER LONG-TERM ABSTINENCE

Previous studies demonstrated that patients with alcoholism display impaired emotional facial expression recognition even after long-term abstinence. These studies focused on basic emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, and disgust). In this study, we investigated the recognition of complex social emotions and mental states in patients with alcoholism after long-term abstinence and healthy control subjects. Thirty patients with DSM-IV alcohol dependence and 30 age-matched, gender-matched, education-matched, and IQ-matched healthy control subjects participated. The patients were abstinent for >6 months. For the assessment of the recognition of complex social emotions and mental states, the Baron-Cohen Eyes Test was used. The experimenter presented 29 photographs of the eye-region of faces of actors and actresses on separate cards. Participants were asked to choose which of the four words (one target and three foils) best described the mental state of the actor/actress (for example, interested, doubtful, flirtatious, and insisting). The primary dependent measure was the number of correctly recognized stimuli. Patients with alcoholism correctly identified 22.4 (SD = 3.4) stimuli, whereas control participants identified 22.5 (SD = 2.9) stimuli. The difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.85). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients and controls who correctly recognized each mental state. These results are against the hypotheses suggesting long-term adverse effects of alcohol on social cognition or supposing an inherent vulnerability of patients that may manifest before the development of alcohol dependence.