Early Components Research Articles

Stroop in motion: Neurodynamic modulation underlying interference control while sitting, standing, and walking

There is conflicting evidence about how interference control in healthy adults is affected by walking as compared to standing or sitting. Although the Stroop paradigm is one of the best-studied paradigms to investigate interference control, the neurodynamics associated with the Stroop task during walking have never been studied. We investigated three Stroop tasks using variants with increasing interference levels – word-reading, ink-naming, and the switching of the two tasks, combined in a systematic dual-tasking fashion with three motor conditions – sitting, standing, and treadmill walking. Neurodynamics underlying interference control were recorded using the electroencephalogram. Worsened performance was observed for the incongruent compared to congruent trials and for the switching Stroop compared to the other two variants. The early frontocentral event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with executive functions (P2, N2) differentially signaled posture-related workloads, while the later stages of information processing indexed faster interference suppression and response selection in walking compared to static conditions. The early P2 and N2 components as well as frontocentral Theta and parietal Alpha power were sensitive to increasing workloads on the motor and cognitive systems. The distinction between the type of load (motor and cognitive) became evident only in the later posterior ERP components in which the amplitude non-uniformly reflected the relative attentional demand of a task. Our data suggest that walking might facilitate selective attention and interference control in healthy adults. Existing interpretations of ERP components recorded in stationary settings should be considered with care as they might not be directly transferable to mobile settings.

Cinema’s Cosmic Shifts

Cinema’s Cosmic Shifts

P1 Component Discloses Gender-Related Hemispheric Asymmetries during IAPS Processing

Background: Although some studies showed distinct electrophysiological correlates of emotions in men and women about 300 ms after the stimulus onset, little is known about the automatic visual phases of emotional processing. Investigating both early and late event-related potential (ERP) components (e.g., the P1, P300) could allow us to clarify the effect of gender on the temporal dynamics underlying emotional processing. Methods: Twenty men and twenty women similar in age, education and empathy traits passively viewed emotional and neutral IAPS pictures during EEG recording, providing their subjective evaluations about valence and arousal. ERP and source analyses were implemented to examine gender effects on emotional processing. Results: The P1 analysis revealed gender-related asymmetries, consisting of the greater amplitude of right vs. left parietal sites for women, and bilateral activation for men, almost for each emotional category. These findings were also supported by source analyses. Conversely, during the fear stimulus processing, women showed an involvement of the left cuneus, and men of the right homologous. No group differences appeared in the P300 component analysis. Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis that men and women adopt different strategies when processing visual emotional information, and suggest that gender is a crucial variable in emotional research.

Reconsidering the role of blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer's disease: From delivery to target.

The existence of a selective blood-brain barrier (BBB) and neurovascular coupling are two unique central nervous system vasculature features that result in an intimate relationship between neurons, glia, and blood vessels. This leads to a significant pathophysiological overlap between neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease whose pathogenesis is still to be unveiled but has mostly been explored under the light of the amyloid-cascade hypothesis. Either as a trigger, bystander, or consequence of neurodegeneration, vascular dysfunction is an early component of the pathological conundrum of AD. The anatomical and functional substrate of this neurovascular degeneration is the BBB, a dynamic and semi-permeable interface between blood and the central nervous system that has consistently been shown to be defective. Several molecular and genetic changes have been demonstrated to mediate vascular dysfunction and BBB disruption in AD. The isoform ε4 of Apolipoprotein E is at the same time the strongest genetic risk factor for AD and a known promoter of BBB dysfunction. Low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP-1), P-glycoprotein, and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) are examples of BBB transporters implicated in its pathogenesis due to their role in the trafficking of amyloid-β. This disease is currently devoid of strategies that change the natural course of this burdening illness. This unsuccess may partly be explained by our misunderstanding of the disease pathogenesis and our inability to develop drugs that are effectively delivered to the brain. BBB may represent a therapeutic opportunity as a target itself or as a therapeutic vehicle. In this review, we aim to explore the role of BBB in the pathogenesis of AD including the genetic background and detail how it can be targeted in future therapeutic research.

Anti-glutamatergic Effects of Three Lignan Compounds: Arctigenin, Matairesinol and Trachelogenin - An ex vivo Study on Rat Brain Slices.

Arctigenin is a bioactive dibenzylbutyrolactone-type lignan exhibiting various pharmacological activities. The neuroprotective effects of arctigenin were demonstrated to be mediated via inhibition of AMPA and KA type glutamate receptors in the somatosensory cortex of the rat brain. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of arctigenin with matairesinol and trachelogenin on synaptic activity in ex vivo rat brain slices. Arctigenin, matairesinol and trachelogenin were isolated from Arctium lappa, Centaurea scabiosa and Cirsium arvense, respectively, and applied on brain slices via perfusion medium at the concentration range of 0.5 - 40 µM. The effects of the lignans were examined in the CA1 hippocampus and the somatosensory cortex by recording electrically evoked field potentials. Arctigenin and trachelogenin caused a significant dose-dependent decrease in the amplitude of hippocampal population spikes (POPS) and the slope of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs), whereas matairesinol (1 µM and 10 µM) decreased EPSP slope but had no effect on POPS amplitude. Trachelogenin effect (0.5 µM, 10 µM, 20 µM) was comparable to arctigenin (1 µM, 20 µM, 40 µM) (p > 0.05). In the neocortex, arctigenin (10 µM, 20 µM) and trachelogenin (10 µM) significantly decreased the amplitude of evoked potential early component, while matairesinol (1 µM and 10 µM) had no significant effect (p > 0.05). The results suggest that trachelogenin and arctigenin act via inhibition of AMPA and KA receptors in the brain and trachelogenin has a higher potency than arctigenin. Thus, trachelogenin and arctigenin could serve as lead compounds in the development of neuroprotective drugs.

RNA epitranscriptomics dysregulation: A major determinant for significantly increased risk of ASD pathogenesis.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are perhaps the most severe, intractable and challenging child psychiatric disorders. They are complex, pervasive and highly heterogeneous and depend on multifactorial neurodevelopmental conditions. Although the pathogenesis of autism remains unclear, it revolves around altered neurodevelopmental patterns and their implications for brain function, although these cannot be specifically linked to symptoms. While these affect neuronal migration and connectivity, little is known about the processes that lead to the disruption of specific laminar excitatory and inhibitory cortical circuits, a key feature of ASD. It is evident that ASD has multiple underlying causes and this multigenic condition has been considered to also dependent on epigenetic effects, although the exact nature of the factors that could be involved remains unclear. However, besides the possibility for differential epigenetic markings directly affecting the relative expression levels of individual genes or groups of genes, there are at least three mRNA epitranscriptomic mechanisms, which function cooperatively and could, in association with both genotypes and environmental conditions, alter spatiotemporal proteins expression patterns during brain development, at both quantitative and qualitative levels, in a tissue-specific, and context-dependent manner. As we have already postulated, sudden changes in environmental conditions, such as those conferred by maternal inflammation/immune activation, influence RNA epitranscriptomic mechanisms, with the combination of these processes altering fetal brain development. Herein, we explore the postulate whereby, in ASD pathogenesis, RNA epitranscriptomics might take precedence over epigenetic modifications. RNA epitranscriptomics affects real-time differential expression of receptor and channel proteins isoforms, playing a prominent role in central nervous system (CNS) development and functions, but also RNAi which, in turn, impact the spatiotemporal expression of receptors, channels and regulatory proteins irrespective of isoforms. Slight dysregulations in few early components of brain development, could, depending upon their extent, snowball into a huge variety of pathological cerebral alterations a few years after birth. This may very well explain the enormous genetic, neuropathological and symptomatic heterogeneities that are systematically associated with ASD and psychiatric disorders at large.

Atherosclerotic carotid plaque characteristics vary with time from ischemic event: A multicenter, prospective magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging registry study

Recent studies report that the rate of recurrent stroke is highest in the stages immediately following cerebral infarction and decreases over time in patients with atherosclerotic carotid stenosis. The purpose of this study was to identify temporal differences in early stage carotid plaque components from acute cerebrovascular ischemic events using carotid MRI. Carotid plaque images were obtained on 3 T MRI from 128 patients enrolled in MR-CAS. Among the 128 subjects, 53 were symptomatic and 75 asymptomatic. The symptomatic patients were classified into three groups based on interval from onset of symptoms to the date of the carotid MRI (Group <14 days; 15-30 days; and > 30 days). The volume of each plaque component was identified and quantified from MR images. The presence of juxtaluminal loose matrix/inflammation (LM/I) was identified as a possible indicator of inflammation on the luminal side. Plaque components were compared between groups using the Wilcoxon rank-sum or the Chi-square test. Patient characteristics and carotid plaque morphology were similar among all four groups. The median volume of LM/I in Group >30 days was significantly lower than in other groups (0 mm3 vs 12.3 mm3 and 18.1 mm3; p = 0.003). In addition, the prevalence of juxtaluminal LM/I decreased over time (ptrend = 0.002). There were no statistically significant differences in other plaque components between the symptomatic groups. The volume of LM/I was significantly smaller in Group >30 days and prevalence of juxtaluminal LM/I in the atherosclerotic carotid plaque was high in the early stages after events. This suggests that carotid plaques undergo rapid evolution after an acute cerebrovascular ischemic event.

Automatic attention to sexual stimuli: exploring the role of neuroticism and sexual excitation/inhibition through event-related potentials.

Previous findings have shown that neuroticism is a higher-order vulnerability factor in the development and maintenance of sexual dysfunctions and can have an impact on the attentional processing of sexual stimuli; however, the influence of psychosexual dimensions on the early automatic phases of such cognitive processes has not been established yet. To examine the mediating role of sexual inhibition/excitation propensity in the relationship between neuroticism and automatic attention to visual erotica and to identify the neuroelectric correlates of such a process. We analyzed the answers provided by 58 individuals on the Neuroticism subscale of the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised and the Sexual Inhibition/Excitation Scales. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a modified oddball paradigm containing romantic and sexually explicit pictures. Parallel mediations were performed to simultaneously test the mediating role of sexual inhibition/excitation in the relationship between neuroticism and each ERP. Three early attention ERP components (P1, P2, and N2) were assessed. Findings revealed an indirect effect of neuroticism on automatic attention, via sexual inhibition due to threat of performance failure (SIS1), for romantic and sexually explicit stimuli. This effect was significant only for component N2, which showed increased amplitudes and earlier latencies in participants with high SIS1. Sexual stimuli, due to their emotional valence and arousal potential, might be perceived as virtually threatening by individuals with neuroticism, who may benefit from strategies that decrease hyperarousal and sympathetic activation. This was one of the first studies to analyze neuroelectric activity associated with automatic attention toward sexual stimuli in relation to personality and sexual excitation/inhibition propensity. Nevertheless, the limited number of participants demands caution in generalizing the results. These results provide a better understanding of the relationship between personality and sexual cognition and open new avenues of research in relation to other automatic cognitive phenomena related to human sexual behavior.

Neural empathic response to disability: An ERP study of prejudice

While social neuroscience has already provided evidence for a deficit of affective empathy in racial prejudice, little is known about other less visible social categories when considered as an outgroup. We studied the process of empathy through event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We focused on the group "people with disabilities" as they are the target of a large amount of prejudice. Twenty-six participants performed a pain decision task. The mean amplitudes of N1, P2, N2–N3 and P3 components were recorded. Our results are consistent with previous work on prejudice, showing that the pain detection is modulated by group membership (with disabilities vs. without disabilities) on N2–N3, suggesting a better neural decoding of pain vs. non-pain in the without-disability condition. Critically, no effect of early sensory components (N1, P2) was found, and P3 was not moderated by disability. These findings indicate a different time course of empathic responses depending on the condition, suggesting that people with disabilities trigger specific empathic responses. Our results contribute to disentangling perceptual processes from affective empathy reactions.

Confidence of probabilistic predictions modulates the cortical response to pain

Pain typically evolves over time, and the brain needs to learn this temporal evolution to predict how pain is likely to change in the future and orient behavior. This process is termed temporal statistical learning (TSL). Recently, it has been shown that TSL for pain sequences can be achieved using optimal Bayesian inference, which is encoded in somatosensory processing regions. Here, we investigate whether the confidence of these probabilistic predictions modulates the EEG response to noxious stimuli, using a TSL task. Confidence measures the uncertainty about the probabilistic prediction, irrespective of its actual outcome. Bayesian models dictate that the confidence about probabilistic predictions should be integrated with incoming inputs and weight learning, such that it modulates the early components of the EEG responses to noxious stimuli, and this should be captured by a negative correlation: when confidence is higher, the early neural responses are smaller as the brain relies more on expectations/predictions and less on sensory inputs (and vice versa). We show that participants were able to predict the sequence transition probabilities using Bayesian inference, with some forgetting. Then, we find that the confidence of these probabilistic predictions was negatively associated with the amplitude of the N2 and P2 components of the vertex potential: the more confident were participants about their predictions, the smaller the vertex potential. These results confirm key predictions of a Bayesian learning model and clarify the functional significance of the early EEG responses to nociceptive stimuli, as being implicated in confidence-weighted statistical learning.

Electrophysiological and neuropsychological assessment of cognition in spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 patients: a pilot study

BackgroundEvent-related potentials (ERPs) reflect cognitive processing: negative early components (N100, N200) are involved in the sensory and perceptual processing of a stimulus, whereas late positive component P300 requires conscious attention. Both neuropsychological and affective disorders are present in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), but the underlying mechanisms need further clarification.Materials and methodsIn this pilot study, we assessed cognitive processing by recording auditory ERPs in 16 consecutive SCA1 patients and 16 healthy controls (HC) matched for age and sex. Motor and nonmotor symptoms were evaluated using the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) and an extensive neuropsychological battery. ERPs were recorded using an oddball paradigm, and peak latency and amplitude of N100, N200, and P300 were measured in the averaged responses to target tones.ResultsWe found in SCA1 significantly increased latencies of N200 and P300 (p=0.033, p=0.007) and decreased amplitudes of N100 and P300 (p=0.024, p=0.038) compared with HC. Furthermore, P300 latency had the highest AUC in the discrimination of SCA1 in ROC analysis. The expansion of trinucleotide repeats correlated with P300 latency (r=−0.607, p=0.048), whereas both P300 and N100 amplitudes correlated with the severity of motor symptoms (r=−0.692, p=0.003; r=−0.621; p=0.010). Significant correlations between P300 latency and the scores of Emotion Attribution Task (r=−0.633, p=0.027), as well as between N200 latency and the scores of Frontal Assessment Battery and Stroop test (r=−0.520, p=0.047; r=0.538, p=0.039), were observed.ConclusionsThis research provides for the first time an extensive characterization of ERPs as useful electrophysiological markers to identify early cognitive dysfunction in SCA1.

Study of genetic parameters for pre-weaning growth traits in inner Mongolia white Arbas cashmere goats.

Inner Mongolia Arbas white cashmere goats is a dual-purpose breed for producing cashmere and meat. In recent years, its meat has become more and more popular among consumers because of rich nutrients and delicious flavor. Therefore, it is particularly important to study the genetic and non-genetic factors affecting the early growth traits and estimate variance components of pre-weaning growth traits of Inner Mongolia Albas white cashmere goats. A total of 37487 kidding records such as birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), average daily gain from birth to weaning (ADG) and Kleiber ratio (KR) from 343 sires and 7296 dams were used in this study. The most appropriate model was chosen on the basis of likelihood ratio test by fitting six models which excluding or including maternal genetic, maternal permanent environmental effects. The parameters were estimated under the most appropriate model using AIREML method by WOMBAT software. With the best model (Model 6), heritability estimates were 0.0435, 0.0911, 0.0932 and 0.2339 for BWT, WWT, ADG and KR traits, respectively. Maternal heritability estimates were 0.0143, 0.0246, 0.0220 and 0.0186 for BWT, WWT, ADG, and KR traits respectively. The correlation between different traits was estimated with the most suitable model by using bivariate analysis method. The direct additive genetic correlation among the traits ranged from -0.026 (BWT~KR) to 0.772 (ADG~KR). The maternal permanent environment correlation is between -0.289 (BWT-KR) ~0.900 (WWT-ADG). Results indicated that maternal effects and direct-maternal genetic covariance should be considered in any program aimed at improving pre-weaning growth traits to have an accurate genetic evaluation. In addition, positive and medium to high genetic correlations generally exist among WWT, ADG and KR due to the existence of genetic variation for early growth traits. The results showed that the genetic progress of these traits could be slowly through selection except for KR.

Investigations into an overlooked early component of painful nociceptive withdrawal reflex responses in humans.

The role of pain as a warning system necessitates a rapid transmission of information from the periphery for the execution of appropriate motor responses. The nociceptive withdrawal reflex (NWR) is a physiological response to protect the limb from a painful stimulus and is often considered an objective measure of spinal nociceptive excitability. The NWR is commonly defined by its latency in the presumed Aδ-fiber range consistent with the canonical view that "fast pain" is signaled by Aδ nociceptors. We recently demonstrated that human skin is equipped with ultrafast (Aβ range) nociceptors. Here, we investigated the short-latency component of the reflex and explored the relationship between reflex latency and pain perception. We revisited our earlier work on NWR measurements in which, following convention, only reflex responses in the presumed Aδ range were considered. In our current analysis, we expanded the time window to search for shorter latency responses and compared those with pain ratings. In both cohorts, we found an abundance of recordings with short-latency reflex responses. In nearly 90% of successful recordings, only single reflex responses (not dual) were seen which allowed us to compare pain ratings based on reflex latencies. We found that shorter latency reflexes were just as painful as those in the conventional latency range. We found a preponderance of short-latency painful reflex responses. Based on this finding, we suggest that short-latency responses must be considered in future studies. Whether these are signaled by the ultrafast nociceptors remains to be determined.

A Study of Early Life Experiences, Temperament, Character, and Psychological Pain in Suicide Attempters and Normal Individuals

Background: Studies conducted in different countries have reported a relationship between suicidal tendencies and childhood trauma experiences, personality traits, and psychological pain. It would be valuable to re-examine such a relationship in Iranian culture. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate early life experiences, temperament, character, and psychological pain in suicidal attempters and normal individuals. Methods: This cross-sectional, causal-comparative, basic research was conducted retrospectively on all individuals who had attempted suicide by drug poisoning and were referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital of Kermanshah, Iran. The study sample, consisting of 121 suicide attempters by drug poisoning and 121 healthy individuals (companions of suicide attempters), was selected by purposeful sampling, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The participants completed the questionnaires about early life experiences, temperament, character, and mental pain. A discriminant analysis was also performed to analyze the data. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 26. Results: Based on the simultaneous discriminant analysis, 4 predicting variables (early life experiences, temperament, character, and psychological pain components) could explain 91.7% of the variance in suicide attempts. Based on the stepwise discriminant analysis, six subscales predicting variables (emptiness/worthlessness, harm avoidance, persistence, worthlessness, cooperation, and self-transcendence) could explain 91.7% of the variance in suicide attempts, as shown in the discriminant function analysis for differentiation of suicide attempters from normal people. Conclusions: Based on the findings of the present study, emptiness/worthlessness, personality traits, and early traumatic experiences can predispose individuals to suicide attempts. Therefore, there is an urgent need for psychological interventions to reduce psychological pain in suicidal attempters.

Iron Age sites in northern Botswana’s Okavango Delta 2: the Xaro sites in the Panhandle of the river-delta system

ABSTRACT The Xaro sites are located in the Okavango Delta Panhandle of northwestern Botswana. All have an upper component with pottery identical to that made by nineteenth-century and current Mbukushu potters. Xaro 1 also has European glass beads for which cited historical documents provide calendar year dates of between 1850 and 1890. Other historical documents place the Xaro 1 Mbukushu settlement from the 1890s into the early twentieth century. All three Xaro Early Iron Age components have pottery motifs common at Tsodilo and Cubango sites on the basis of which a date range of the late sixth/early eighth centuries AD for Xaro 1 is most likely, while several pottery distinctions suggest a chronological separation within the same range for Xaro 2 and 3. Xaro Early Iron Age pottery has two unique features not discernible by the unaided eye but identified by microscopic optical petrography: 1) a red iron oxide veneer approximately two microns thick on outer surfaces; and 2) a variably thick post-deposition deposit of caliche derived from calcite suspended in Okavango water. A third uniqueness is an SEM estimated firing temperature of at least 1000˚C, much higher than the ±800˚C common for southern African vessels. Two Xaro burials provide aDNA data on Early Iron Age people in southern Africa; discriminant analysis of multiple variables determined that no present-day population sampled so far has the same ancestry mix, probably reflecting a northern genetic influence and offering genetic support to the hypothesis of a pre-Bantu expansion of pastoralists into southern Africa.

Specificity of visual event-related potentials to subthreshold presentation of erotic pictures in pedophilia

To study visual event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with presentation of erotic pictures in backward masking condition in order to investigate perception, attention and information processing underlying the initiation and maintenance of abnormal sexual behavior in pedophilia. Participants (58 males committed sexual offenses against children) were divided into the pedophilia group (n=38) and the control group without disorders of sexual preference (n=20). Three types of stimuli were used: neutral pictures of nature (S1), adult heterosexual erotic pictures (S2) and erotic pictures with children (S3). Posterior N1 (N140) and anterior N1 (N120) and P3 (P320) ERP components were included in analysis. In both groups, the perception of erotic stimuli was accompanied by a significant increase in the amplitude and prolongation of the latency of the N140 and P320 components (p<0.001). N140 changes were characterized by right-hemispheric bias in both groups, however, asymmetry was observed for amplitude in the control group, and for latency - in the pedophilia group; besides, reactivity to S3 stimuli was weaker than to S2 ones in the pedophilia group. N120 amplitude was elevated significantly in response to S2 stimuli in the control group, and no changes were found in the pedophilia group. Between-group differences were revealed for early negative components N140 and N120, which parameters were entered as predictors into classification model based on discriminant analysis. The obtained accuracy of model was 87.23%. The specificity of neurophysiological reactions to erotic pictures in pedophilic patients corroborates the concept of disease as general neurodevelopmental disorder.

An Exploration of the Role of Social Roles and Rewards in the Monitoring of Athletes' Action Outcome

After years of a dedicated training life, athletes accumulate a wealth of motor skills and knowledge in the sport to which they belong. This study reviews previous research on movement monitoring to examine the effects of social roles and rewards on athletes' movement monitoring. In the field of cognitive neuroscience, the FRN and OFRN are early components of action outcome monitoring, which are indicators of action outcome monitoring of self and others, while the P300 and OP300 are late components of action outcome monitoring, which are indicators of the emotional and motivational evaluation of action outcomes. The amplitude of the FRN and P300 feedback to oneself and its topography are moderated by social roles and are more responsive to teammates than to opponents. The feedback of reward information has a strong influence on the monitoring of action outcomes, as reward information influences the release of dopamine through the reward loop, which further alters the activation of the ACC, which in turn influences the FRN, thus influencing the monitoring of action outcomes for oneself or others. People can more accurately understand the movements they have mastered, i.e. the movements present in their self-motor representations, than unfamiliar movements. The brain can interpret immediate incoming sensorimotor and contextual information based on its own experience, and anticipate the outcome of others' movements, or understand the intentions implied in the movements.The impact of rewards on outcome monitoring is greater for athletes than for the general population in terms of processing more information about gains and losses than about gains and losses; social roles (self, teammates, opponents) and rewards (morerewards, less rewards, more penalties, less penalties) affect athletes' outcome monitoring, in terms of processing more information about gains and losses of self and teammates than about gains and losses of opponents.

Testing stimulus exposure time as the critical factor of increased EPN and LPP amplitudes for fearful faces during perceptual distraction tasks

Fearful facial expressions are prioritized across different information processing stages, as evident in early, intermediate, and late components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Recent studies showed that, in contrast to early N170 modulations, mid-latency (Early Posterior Negativity, EPN) and late (Late Positive Potential, LPP) emotional modulations depend on the attended perceptual feature. Nevertheless, several studies reported significant differences between emotional and neutral faces for the EPN or LPP components during distraction tasks. One cause for these conflicting findings might be that when faces are presented sufficiently long, participants attend to task-irrelevant features of the faces. In this registered report, we tested whether the presentation duration of faces is the critical factor for differences between reported emotional modulations during perceptual distraction tasks. To this end, 48 participants were required to discriminate the orientation of lines overlaid onto fearful or neutral faces, while face presentation varied (100 msec, 300 msec, 1,000 msec, 2,000 msec). While participants did not need to pay attention to the faces, we observed main effects of emotion for the EPN and LPP, but no interaction between emotion and presentation duration. Of note, unregistered exploratory tests per presentation duration showed no significant EPN and LPP emotion differences during short durations (100 and 300 msec) but significant differences with longer durations. While the presentation duration seems not to be a critical factor for EPN and LPP emotion effects, future studies are needed to investigate the role of threshold effects and the applied analytic designs to explain conflicting findings in the literature.

The Role of Early Warning System Components in Financial Distress: Evidence from Indonesian Islamic Banks

This study aims to utilize the Early Warning System (EWS) component to predict the condition of Islamic banks before bankruptcy. This study uses the springate score model to measure the Financial Distress (FD) condition of Islamic banks. Samples were taken from 13 Islamic Commercial Banks for the period 2016 - 2020. The EWS components are Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Non-Performing Financing (NPF), Financing Deposit to Ratio (FDR) and Allowance for Impairment Losses (CKPN). Based on the springate score calculation, the highest FD conditions occurred in 2019 and 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The logistic regression test results show that only the NPF ratio has a positive effect on FD. While the CAR, FDR and CKPN variables have no effect on FD. This proves that the CAR, FDR and CKPN ratios owned by Islamic banks are said to be good so as to keep away from FD conditions.

Attributed network embedding with dual fusion strategies

ABSTRACT Attributed network embedding (ANE) maps nodes in a network into a low-dimensional space while preserving the intrinsic essence of node attribute and network topology. Incorporating node attribute and network topology with more deeply and more harmoniously is a critical and challenging issue in the ANE, because node attribute and network topology are two kinds of heterogeneous information. Existing approaches fuse two kinds of heterogeneous information at different stages: i.e. before, during or after the learning process. In fact, fusions at different stages have their own advantages and disadvantages. To maximise the profit of utilising the attributed and networked information in ANE, we propose an Attributed Network Embedding model with Dual Fusion strategies (abbr. ANEDF), which consists of both mutually beneficial components: early fusion component for capturing the latent complementarity and late fusion component for extracting the unique and distinctive information from node attribute and network topology. The two components are co-trained during the learning process, which promotes information interaction and captures the consensus of heterogeneous information. Extensive experiments with the tasks of node classification, node clustering, link prediction and visualisation on eight publicly available networks have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and rationality of the proposed model. The experimental results demonstrate that ANEDF obtains the best classification, clustering and link prediction performance on 6–7 of 8 datasets, respectively.