Differences In Emotional Responses Research Articles

Unaltered emotional experience in Parkinson’s disease: Pupillometry and behavioral evidence

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Recognizing emotions in others is a pivotal part of socioemotional functioning and plays a central role in social interactions. It has been shown that individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD) are less accurate at identifying basic emotions such as fear, sadness, and happiness; however, previous studies have predominantly assessed emotion processing using unimodal stimuli (e.g., pictures) that do not reflect the complexity of real-world processing demands. Dynamic, naturalistic stimuli (e.g., movies) have been shown to elicit stronger subjective emotional experiences than unimodal stimuli and can facilitate emotion recognition.Method: In this experiment, pupil measurements of PD patients and matched healthy controls (HC) were recorded while they watched short film clips. Participants’ task was to identify the emotion elicited by each clip and rate the intensity of their emotional response. We explored (a) how PD affects subjective emotional experience in response to dynamic, ecologically valid film stimuli, and (b) whether there are PD-related changes in pupillary response, which may contribute to the differences in emotion processing reported in the literature.Results: Behavioral results showed that identification of the felt emotion as well as perceived intensity varies by emotion, but no significant group effect was found. Pupil measurements revealed differences in dilation depending on the emotion evoked by the film clips (happy, tender, sadness, fear, and neutral) for both groups.Conclusions: Our results suggest that differences in emotional response may be negligible when PD patients and healthy controls are presented with dynamic, ecologically valid emotional stimuli. Given the limited data available on pupil response in PD, this study provides new evidence to suggest that the PD-related deficits in emotion processing reported in the literature may not translate to real-world differences in physiological or subjective emotion processing in early-stage PD patients.

Disgust and Anger Relate to Different Aggressive Responses to Moral Violations

In response to the same moral violation, some people report experiencing anger, and others report feeling disgust. Do differences in emotional responses to moral violations reflect idiosyncratic differences in the communication of outrage, or do they reflect differences in motivational states? Whereas equivalence accounts suggest that anger and disgust are interchangeable expressions of condemnation, sociofunctional accounts suggest that they have distinct antecedents and consequences. We tested these accounts by investigating whether anger and disgust vary depending on the costs imposed by moral violations and whether they differentially correspond with aggressive tendencies. Results across four studies favor a sociofunctional account: When the target of a moral violation shifts from the self to another person, anger decreases, but disgust increases. Whereas anger is associated with high-cost, direct aggression, disgust is associated with less costly indirect aggression. Finally, whether the target of a moral violation is the self or another person influences direct aggression partially via anger and influences indirect aggression partially via disgust.

Age and Adaptation: Stronger Decision Updating about Real World Risks in Older Age.

In later life, people are faced with a multitude of risky decisions that concern their health, finance, and personal security. Older adults often exercise caution in situations that involve risk. In this research, we asked whether older adults are also more responsive to warnings about potential risk. An answer to this question could reveal a factor underlying increased cautiousness in older age. In Study 1, participants decided whether they would engage in risky activities (e.g., using an ATM machine in the street) in four realistic scenarios about which participants could be expected to have relevant knowledge or experience. They then made posterior decisions after listening to audio extracts of real reports relevant to each activity. In Study 2, we explored the role that emotions play in decision updating. As in Study 1, participants made prior and posterior decisions, with the exception that for each scenario the reports were presented in their original audio format (high emotive) or in a written transcript format (low emotive). Following each posterior decision, participants indicated their emotional valence and arousal responses to the reports. In both studies, older adults engaged in fewer risky activities than younger adults, indicative of increased cautiousness in older age, and exhibited stronger decision updating in response to the reports. Older adults also showed stronger emotional responses to the reports, even though emotional responses did not differ for audio and written transcript formats. Finally, age differences in emotional responses to the reports accounted for age differences in decision updating.

Gender Differences in Affective Response from Warning Pictorials on Cigarette Label

Consideration of designing an emotional warning pictorial on cigarette labels which will be used in public place, the effect from gender differences should be concerned. The aim of this study was to examine gender differences in emotional response from warning pictorials on cigarette labels. Sixty engineering students participated in this study. Half of them are males. Neutral affect manipulation using IAPS was conducted prior the experiments. Participants were asked to rate their emotional responses from sixty warning pictorials (positive, neutral, negative). Results revealed that both male and female participants could perceive target emotional affective warning pictorials, although there were some differences. Male participants perceived greater arousal than female participants which contradicts to previous study. Implications for affective warning pictorial design concerning gender difference.

Integrating implicit and explicit emotional assessment of food quality and safety concerns

Tools for automatic facial expression analysis (AFEA), frontal cortex (EEG) and cardiac electrical activity (ECG) may bring additional support to traditional sensory techniques for a better understanding of implicit physiological and emotional response to food. To enhance the understanding of consumer emotional response to food, participants (age: 18–29years; n=40, female=31) were presented with videos (average 40s) of food concerns (safety, hygiene and spoilage; called evented videos) and matched control (no food concern; called control videos) videos, while implicit emotional responses (AFEA, EEG and ECG) and expressed explicit emotional responses were measured concurrently. AFEA analyzed facial expressions for the six basic emotions (0=not expressed; 1=expressed); EEG measured frontal cortex asymmetry for motivational behavior tendency (right hemisphere activation=withdrawal: scared, sad and disgust; left hemisphere activation=approach: happy, surprised and angry; 10/20 system, 32 channels, 512Hz), while ECG measured heart rate (bpm) changes. Explicit emotions were assessed using a list of emotional terms (n=43) in a check-all-that-apply method and acceptability was rated on a 7-point hedonic scale (1=dislike extremely; 7=like extremely). Withdrawal emotions, disgust and worried, were significantly chosen more for evented videos, while approach emotions (content, good, good-natured, interested, pleasant, pleased and satisfied) were significant for all control videos (p<0.05). Acceptability scores were significantly lower (p<0.05) for the evented meals. Significant differences in heart rate may indicate emotional response. AFEA results for quality (spoilage, hygiene) concerns found greater variety of emotion expression compared to the safety concern, while frontal cortex asymmetries were inconsistent. More research is needed to validate the use of implicit measures (EEG, ECG and AFEA) in providing information for understanding differences in emotional response to food safety, hygiene and spoilage events. The evaluation of displeasing or unpleasant characteristics of food, through the integration of implicit and explicit responses, will lead to a greater understanding of the consumer-food relationship.

Psychosocial Research and Care in Diabetes: Altering Lives by Understanding Attitudes.

The philosophers of antiquity and others through the ages recognized the connection of human emotion and thought with physiological processes and behavior (1). The relatively recent increases in the human life span and the prevalence of significant chronic illnesses have generated a greater appreciation of the relationship between human emotional, social, cognitive, and behavioral processes and health and wellness. However, understanding human behavior remains challenging, and in the presence of a significant chronic illness such as diabetes, that challenge becomes even more daunting. Specifically, the interaction of individual differences in emotional responses, attitudes, thought processes, preferences, beliefs, and social situations appear amplified with the increased complexities of new diabetes treatments. With the realization that other factors such as quality of life are equally important as physiological outcomes, the necessity of understanding behavioral and psychosocial processes is evident (2,3). Thus, the era of simply outlining a broad plan and sending it home for the patient to implement, if that era ever existed, is over. The era of placing the person with diabetes and family in the center of health care decisions and understanding their individual challenges and barriers has begun. Given the emerging concepts in the psychosocial aspects of diabetes, the editorial committee of Diabetes Care wanted to highlight this area in this issue. This special issue of Diabetes Care presents nine articles that represent a broad spectrum of behavioral and psychosocial issues that can influence treatment success and quality of life for those living with diabetes. Central to this topic and serving as the cornerstone of the special issue is the publication of the first Position Statement from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) for the psychosocial care of people with diabetes (4). This is followed by the presentation of a collection of articles that represent important aspects of …

Sex differences in emotional responses to film clips of six emotional categories

Sex differences in emotional responses to film clips of six emotional categories

Gender Differences in Emotional Response: Inconsistency between Experience and Expressivity.

The present study investigated gender differences in both emotional experience and expressivity. Heart rate (HR) was recorded as an indicator of emotional experience while the participants watched 16 video clips that induced eight types of emotion (sadness, anger, horror, disgust, neutrality, amusement, surprise, and pleasure). We also asked the participants to report valence, arousal, and motivation as indicators of emotional expressivity. Overall, the results revealed gender differences in emotional experience and emotional expressivity. When watching videos that induced anger, amusement, and pleasure, men showed larger decreases in HR, whereas women reported higher levels of arousal. There was no gender difference in HR when the participants watched videos that induced horror and disgust, but women reported lower valence, higher arousal, and stronger avoidance motivation than did men. Finally, no gender difference was observed in sadness or surprise, although there was one exception—women reported higher arousal when watching videos that induced sadness. The findings suggest that, when watching videos that induce an emotional response, men often have more intense emotional experiences, whereas women have higher emotional expressivity, particularly for negative emotions. In addition, gender differences depend on the specific emotion type but not the valence.

Emotional Behaviour among Autism and Typically Developing Children in Malaysia

The study was to determine the emotional response among autism and typically developing children in Malaysia. 50 autism and 50 typically developing children with age ranged 8 to 12 years old were participated in this study. The emotional response measured by Mood and Feelings Questionnaire Short (MFQS) - parent version. The descriptive data and Independent T-Test had shown that there was a significant difference in emotional response between autism and typically. The study concluded emotional response shown a difference between autism and typically developing children. Future research needs to develop the intervention on an emotional response to enhancing the quality of life among autism.

Children's altruistic behavior in context: The role of emotional responsiveness and culture.

Altruistic behavior in humans is thought to have deep biological roots. Nonetheless, there is also evidence for considerable variation in altruistic behaviors among individuals and across cultures. Variability in altruistic behavior in adults has recently been related to individual differences in emotional responsiveness to fear in others. The current study examined the relation between emotional responsiveness (using eye-tracking) and altruistic behavior (using the Dictator Game) in 4 to 5-year-old children (N = 96) across cultures (India and Germany). The results revealed that increased altruistic behavior was associated with a greater responsiveness to fear faces (faster fixation), but not happy faces, in both cultures. This suggests that altruistic behavior is linked to our responsiveness to others in distress across cultures. Additionally, only among Indian children greater altruistic behavior was associated with greater sensitivity to context when responding to fearful faces. These findings further our understanding of the origins of altruism in humans by highlighting the importance of emotional processes and cultural context in the development of altruism.

Are Plasma Oxytocin and Vasopressin Levels Reflective of Amygdala Activation during the Processing of Negative Emotions? A Preliminary Study.

Plasma oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are associated with individual differences in emotional responses and behaviors. The amygdala is considered to be an important brain region for regulating emotion-based behavior, with OT and AVP modulating activity in the amygdala during the processing of negative emotions. In particular, increased OT levels may diminish amygdala activation (anxiolytic effects) and enhanced AVP levels may augment amygdala activation (anxiogenic effects) when negative emotions are processed. A growing body of research has shown that the effects of OT and AVP are modulated by sex: the aforementioned anxiolytic effects of OT and the anxiogenic effects of AVP occur in men, but not in women. However, we have little knowledge regarding the biological mechanisms underlying OT and AVP plasma levels or their respective anxiogenic and anxiolytic effects; similarly, little is known about the causes and nature of sex differences related to these neuropeptides and their effects on emotional processing. In the current study, we focused on the neural functions associated with the biological mechanisms underlying such effects. We hypothesized that amygdala activation would correlate with trait plasma OT (anxiolytic effects) and AVP (anxiogenic effects) levels because the amygdala is thought to affect the coordinated release of these neuropeptides following affective experiences. We further hypothesized that the effects would be modulated by sex. We assessed 51 participants (male and female) using a paradigm involving negative emotion in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging and measurements of plasma OT and AVP levels. We determined that increased plasma AVP levels were positively associated with amygdala activation (anxiogenic effects) in men, but not in women. These findings highlight the potential underlying neural mechanisms of plasma AVP levels in men.

Differences in emotional responses in living and deceased donor kidney transplant patients.

BackgroundThe psychological functioning of living donor (LD) and deceased donor (DD) recipients are important factors for emotional adjustment to transplantation. This study investigated differences in medical, sociodemographic and emotional factors between these two groups.MethodsA total of 241 kidney transplant recipients (68 LD, 173 DD) completed questionnaires on emotional and behavioural responses to transplantation, including quality of life, anxiety and depression, social support and experience with immunosuppressive medication.ResultsOverall, LD recipients were younger, better educated, more often employed and had a shorter duration of dialysis prior to transplantation. Findings indicate that LD recipients expressed more guilt towards the donor than DD recipients. In addition, more LD recipients experienced clinically significant levels of anxiety. Both groups experienced high levels of negative effects of immunosuppressant medication. No differences between LD and DD recipients were found for gender, relationship status, time since transplantation or transplant rejection treatment during the last 12 months. In addition, perceived social support and quality of life were comparable between the two groups.ConclusionsFeelings of guilt and anxiety may be an important focus for interventions to improve emotional adjustment to transplantation, especially in LD recipients.

Developing a reduced consumer-led lexicon to measure emotional response to beer

Previous researchers have recently recommended and utilised consumer-led lexicons to measure emotional response. This study further advances this approach by (1) making the lexicon generation process more efficient by using consumer focus groups as opposed to individual consumer interviews and (2) decreasing the number of responses required from each consumer by reducing the lexicon to categories of similar terms. In response to 10 lager samples which were manipulated in order to control selected sensory properties, focus groups generated a lexicon of 44 emotion terms. This lexicon was reduced to 12 distinct emotion categories using linguistic checks and cluster analysis. Naïve beer consumers (n=113) used these 12 emotion categories to rate their emotional response to the 10 samples. The reduced consumer-led lexicon was validated through its ability to discriminate across samples as well as show differences in emotional response between genders and age groups. The 12 emotion categories were found to discriminate well between samples, although a number of categories grouped samples similarly. However, differences in responses to otherwise comparable emotion categories were identified between genders and age groups, highlighting the importance of including all emotion categories so as to not over-reduce the lexicon and risk missing out on valuable emotion data.

Music as an auditory cue for emotions and cravings in adults with substance use disorders

Music is commonly found in substance using contexts yet little is known about whether music acts as an auditory cue for emotions and cravings that might lead to substance use. The current study addressed two questions: first, whether individuals in treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) show different emotional responses to music compared to matched controls, and second, whether music listening can increase and reduce cravings to use substances in individuals with SUD. Participants were 19 adults in residential treatment for SUD and 19 healthy adults matched for age and gender (both samples had a mean age of 31 years and 53% males). There were significant between-group differences in emotional response to relaxing, happy, and sad music – in particular, participants with SUD showed a dampened response to happy music. Furthermore, after listening to a participant-selected song related to their substance use, individuals with SUD experienced an increase in cravings, while after listening to a nominated abstinent song, there was a decrease in cravings. These results show that music may act as a mild auditory cue for emotions and cravings in adults with SUD. Potential uses of music in SUD treatment are discussed, such as musical stimuli for cue exposure.

Emotional processing of individuals high in psychopathic traits

One of the most important clinical features of psychopaths is their differential emotional response style. The present study examined the modulating effect of negative mood induction on the processing of emotional information and its relation to psychopathy. The sample of 105 participants were randomly assigned to two types of mood induction conditions (negative vs neutral) and viewed three types of visual stimuli (positive, neutral, negative). Psychopathic Personality Inventory‐R (PPI‐R; Lilienfeld & Andrews) was employed to measure their psychopathic traits. It was hypothesized that individuals high on PPI‐II (i.e., self‐centered impulsivity) would show greater response latencies to emotionally negative pictures when they were induced into a negative mood compared to individuals high on PPI‐I (i.e., fearless dominance). In general, individuals high on PPI‐II showed greater response latencies to emotionally negative pictures, but their responsivity did not vary as a function of mood manipulation or task demands. When controlling the influence of other PPI factors, PPI‐I predicted reaction time (RT) facilitation to positive pictures in general (i.e., faster RT), and when interacting with a negative mood induction, it predicted longer viewing time of and more difficulty disattending from positive pictures (i.e., slower RT). These results were discussed within emotional processing theory associated with psychopathy.

Evidence of stimulus correlated empathy modes – Group ICA of fMRI data

The analysis of the cognitive processes in response to a narrative as presented in a movie provides an insight into momentary reaction to a single depicted action like a facial expression and an aggregate processing of the entire sequence of events. In this study we report results from fMRI data analyzed by group independent component analysis (ICA) method from a free viewing experiment using a diverse set of movie clips – an animation, a Hollywood and an Indian Hindi movie. The fMRI data were collected from 15 college students as they viewed 5–8min clips from three movies. The movie clips were rated for depiction of emotional expressions, the emotion as per the narrative and the viewer’s own empathy response. The neural correlates attributed to cognitive, motor and emotional empathy were the focus of the study. The methodology of using long duration stimuli in free viewing mode combined with ICA analysis has the potential to tease out spatially distributed but temporally coherent brain activity as demonstrated in this study. The independent components obtained from group ICA method isolated spatial maps with activations which can be safely ascribed to stimulus processing. We found that the activity in the areas attributable to cognitive and motor empathy was comparable for all the three stimuli while certain critical areas for emotional empathy were not noticed for the animation movie. These findings lead to interesting questions on possible differential emotion response in viewer(s) for computer generated actors compared to actors in live-action movies and the role of narrative and exposure to different genre of movies on racial, ethnic and cultural differences in empathy response.

Development of the Mealtime Emotions Measure for adolescents (MEM-A): Gender differences in emotional responses to family mealtimes and eating psychopathology

This study aimed to examine the factor structure of the Mealtime Emotions Measure for adolescents (MEM-A), a novel measure of emotional responses experienced during family mealtimes. Additionally, it examined gender differences in mealtime emotions and also the relationships between mealtime emotions and levels of eating psychopathology, when controlling for anxiety or depression. Adolescent participants (N = 527; 282 girls, 245 boys) with a mean age of 15.9 years completed the new mealtime measure for adolescents (MEM-A), in addition to questions about family mealtime atmosphere, and measures assessing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and eating psychopathology. Factor analysis produced a three factor solution for the MEM-A with two subscales relating to different types of negative mealtime emotions (Anxiety-related mealtime emotions and Anger-related mealtime emotions) and one subscale relating to Positive mealtime emotions. Generally, girls reported experiencing more Anxiety-related mealtime emotions compared to boys. Having conducted separate analyses controlling for levels of either anxiety or depression, there were several significant associations for both girls and boys between mealtime emotions, particularly Anxiety-related emotions, and eating psychopathology. The findings suggest that some mealtime emotions are associated with increased eating psychopathology. Replication and detailed examination of these emotional responses is required.

Filial attachment in sheep: Similarities and differences between ewe-lamb and human-lamb relationships

Animals develop relationships with intra- and interspecific partners, including humans. In some cases this can lead to strong emotional bonds indicating the existence of attachment. The sheep is well known to develop various forms of social attachment (mothers towards young, lambs towards siblings). The relationship they can develop with humans is much less understood. In this review, based on the attachment theory framework developed in human infants, we outline features and mechanisms that participate in the development and the expression of affiliative behaviours that lambs can develop with their mother or a human. Behavioural tests comparing responses towards a presumed attachment figure with those directed towards unfamiliar or familiar conspecifics demonstrate that lambs do search specifically the proximity of their mother or human caregiver. Differential emotional responses in the presence (calmness) or the absence of the partner (agitation) are also expressed. However, a relationship with a human takes place more easily when lambs are reared without their primary attachment figure, the mother. Human-lamb attachment is then facilitated by positive social contacts (gentling, hand-feeding) provided by a specific caregiver. In the case of attachment with the mother, suckling is the main reward. Although the existence of a sensitive period is still unclear, in both cases attachment develops more rapidly if positive interactions take place immediately after birth. Three neurochemical systems have profound impact on the expression of filial attachment in sheep: the gut peptide cholecystokinin, endogenous opioids, and oxytocin, all known to play a key role in prosocial behaviours in mammals. In addition, positive nutritive or non-nutritive interactions activate specific brain regions that are involved in the expression of social and emotional behaviours. In conclusion, lambs do develop intra- and interspecific attachment but not in a concomitant manner as the presence of the mother strongly reduces their motivation to interact with a human. Nonetheless, under artificial rearing conditions the human becomes a salient attachment figure.

Depressive-like behavioral response of adult male rhesus monkeys during routine animal husbandry procedure.

Social isolation is a major risk factor for the development of depressive illness; yet, no practical nonhuman primate model is available for studying processes involved in this effect. In a first study, we noted that adult male rhesus monkeys housed individually indoors occasionally exhibited a hunched, depressive-like posture. Therefore, Study 2 investigated the occurrence of a hunched posture by adult males brought from outdoor social groups to indoor individual housing. We also scored two other behaviors—lying on the substrate and day time sleeping—that convey an impression of depression. During the first week of observation following individual housing, 18 of 26 adult males exhibited the hunched posture and 21 of 26 displayed at least one depressive-like behavior. Over 2 weeks, 23 of 26 males showed depressive-like behavior during a total of only 20 min observation. Further, the behavior during the first week was positively related to the level of initial response to a maternal separation procedure experienced in infancy. In Study 3, more than half of 23 adult males of a new sample displayed depressive-like behavior during 10 min of observation each of Weeks 7–14 of individual housing. The surprisingly high frequency of depressive-like behavior in Studies 2 and 3 may have been due to recording behavior via camera with no human in the room to elicit competing responses. These results suggest that a common animal husbandry procedure might provide a practical means for examining effects of social isolation on depression-related endpoints in a nonhuman primate. The findings also suggest that trait-like differences in emotional responsiveness during separation in infancy may predict differences in responsiveness during social isolation in adulthood.

The impact of social content and negative symptoms on affective ratings in schizophrenia

The anhedonia paradox has been a topic of ongoing study in schizophrenia. Previous research has found that schizophrenia patients report less enjoyment from various activities when compared to their healthy counterparts; however, the two groups appear to have similar in-the-moment emotional ratings of these events (Gard et al., 2007; Herbener et al., 2007; Horan et al., 2006). This study examined these in-the-moment experiences further, by assessing whether they differed between social and non-social experiences. The data were collected from 38 individuals with schizophrenia and 53 matched healthy controls in the greater Chicago area. In-the-moment emotional experience was measured by self-reported arousal and valence ratings for social and non-social stimuli taken from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Clinical ratings for patients were gathered by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. A series of ANOVAs revealed that controls were more aroused by the social than nonsocial unpleasant stimuli, whereas patients did not show this distinction. Further, regression analyses revealed that negative symptom severity uniquely predicted lower arousal responses to unpleasant social, but not nonsocial, stimuli. Our results indicate that both subject and stimulus factors appear to contribute to differences in emotional responses in individuals with schizophrenia.