Explicit Emotional Processing Research Articles

Age and sex differences in emotion perception are influenced by emotional category and communication channel.

Sex differences in verbal and nonverbal emotion processing in older individuals are underexplored despite declining emotional performance with age. This study aimed to investigate the nature of sex differences in age-related decline in emotion perception, exploring modulatory effects on communication channels and emotion categories. Seventy-three older adults (43 female participants, aged 60-89 years) and 74 younger adults (37 female participants, aged 18-30 years) completed a task to recognize basic emotions (i.e., anger, happiness, neutrality, sadness) expressed by female or male encoders through verbal (i.e., semantic) and nonverbal (i.e., facial and prosodic) channels. Female participants consistently demonstrated an overall advantage in emotion perception and expression across both age cohorts. In older adults, this superiority was heightened in decoding angry and sad faces, as well as angry prosody and happy and sad semantics. However, older individuals exhibited decreased sensitivities to angry semantics, sad prosody, and neutral prosody from female encoders, whereas they showed heightened sensitivities to happy faces from female encoders and angry faces from male encoders. Both older and younger adults displayed age-related changes in sex interactions specific to emotional categories and channels. But neither own-sex nor opposite-sex bias was systematically observed across the two age groups. These results suggest that explicit emotion processing involves an intricate integration of individual and contextual differences, with significant age and sex interplay linked to specific emotions and channels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing alexithymia: the proposal of a psychometric tool based on spheric videos.

The present perspective introduces a novel psychometric tool designed to enhance the evaluation of alexithymia. Alexithymia, a condition marked by difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions, along with a propensity to direct attention outside rather than toward one's own interior experiences, is commonly investigated through self-report questionnaires. These instruments assume that individuals have sufficient self-awareness and abstraction capabilities, which restricts the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of emotional recognition in individuals who do not possess these capacities. To address this lack, emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and 360° videos facilitate the recreation of immersive contexts, enabling subjects to engage with scenarios even remotely. Our innovative tool employs spherical video technology to recreate social and non-social scenarios that elicit emotions. Psychophysiological measures are collected during video observation; then, questions are asked to investigate how the subject consciously processes the emotions they experienced. This multimodal approach aims to capture both implicit and explicit emotion processing, providing a comprehensive assessment. Overall, the proposed psychometric tool offers the potential for a more nuanced understanding of alexithymic traits and their real-life impact, empowering clinicians to tailor treatment processes to individual needs based on a richer set of information.

Gender Differences in Identifying Facial, Prosodic, and Semantic Emotions Show Category- and Channel-Specific Effects Mediated by Encoder's Gender.

Purpose The nature of gender differences in emotion processing has remained unclear due to the discrepancies in existing literature. This study examined the modulatory effects of emotion categories and communication channels on gender differences in verbal and nonverbal emotion perception. Method Eighty-eight participants (43 females and 45 males) were asked to identify three basic emotions (i.e., happiness, sadness, and anger) and neutrality encoded by female or male actors from verbal (i.e., semantic) or nonverbal (i.e., facial and prosodic) channels. Results While women showed an overall advantage in performance, their superiority was dependent on specific types of emotion and channel. Specifically, women outperformed men in regard to two basic emotions (happiness and sadness) in the nonverbal channels and only the anger category with verbal content. Conversely, men did better for the anger category in the nonverbal channels and for the other two emotions (happiness and sadness) in verbal content. There was an emotion- and channel-specific interaction effect between the two types of gender differences, with male subjects showing higher sensitivity to sad faces and prosody portrayed by the female encoders. Conclusion These findings reveal explicit emotion processing as a highly dynamic complex process with significant gender differences tied to specific emotion categories and communication channels. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15032583.

Atypical neural activation associated with implicit negative emotional facial processing in fMRI tasks in individuals with neuroticism personality traits

Neuroticism is a personality trait that reflects emotional instability and is related to negative emotions, such as sensitivity to negative information and negative appraisal. Existing studies on the neural basis of the neuroticism personality trait have focused on explicit emotion processing and neglected to acknowledge the potentially important role of implicit emotion processing, especially using an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) task with a Chinese sample. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate differences in brain activation in an implicit negative emotion processing fMRI task between individuals with high and low neuroticism scores within a Chinese sample. To this end, the revised NEO-PI-R (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory) was used to identify 82 high-neuroticism participants and 82 low-neuroticism participants, who were then scanned during an implicit negative emotion processing fMRI task. Compared to the participants with low neuroticism scores, those with high neuroticism scores showed significantly decreased brain activation in the mPFC (medial prefrontal cortex), which plays a pivotal role in implicit emotion processing; these data might suggest that individuals with high neuroticism have deficits in implicit negative emotion processing, which may be related to their emotional instability, emotional regulation and attention-related spontaneous activity.

Implicit vs. Explicit Emotion Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Opinion on the Role of the Cerebellum

Implicit vs. Explicit Emotion Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Opinion on the Role of the Cerebellum

Influence of Attention Control on Implicit and Explicit Emotion Processing of Face and Body: Evidence From Flanker and Same-or-Different Paradigms.

Many existing findings indicate that processing of emotional information is pre-attentive, largely immune from attentional control. Nevertheless, inconsistent evidence on the interference of emotional cues on cognitive processing suggests that this influence may be a highly conditional phenomenon. The aim of the present study was twofold: (1) to examine the modulation of attention control on emotion processing using facial expressions (2) explore the very same effect for emotional body expressions. In Experiment 1, participants performed a Flanker task in which they had to indicate either the emotion (happy/fearful) or the gender of the target stimulus while ignoring the distracting stimuli at the side. We found evidence for intrusion of the emotional dimension of a stimulus in both the emotion and gender discrimination performance, thus when either task-relevant or task-irrelevant. To further explore the influence of attention control mechanisms, in Experiment 2 participants performed a same-or-different judgment task in which they were asked to pay attention to both the central and lateral stimuli and indicated whether the central stimulus matched the lateral for emotion or gender. Results showed that emotional features exerted an influence at an implicit level (i.e., during gender judgments) for bodies only. Gender features did not affect emotional processing in either experiments. To rule out the possibility that this effect was driven by postural rather than emotional features of fearful vs. happy stimuli, a control experiment was conducted. In Experiment 3, bodies with an opening/up-ward or closing/down-ward posture but with no emotional valence were presented. Results revealed that the body posture did not influence gender discrimination. Findings suggest that the emotional valence of a face or body stimulus can overpass attention filtering mechanisms, independently from the level of attentional modulation (Experiment 1). However, broadening the focus of attention to include the lateral stimuli led emotional information to intrude on the main task, exerting an implicit, bottom–up influence on gender processing, only when conveyed by bodies (Experiment 2). Results point to different mechanisms for the implicit processing of face and body emotional expressions, with the latter likely having role on action preparation processes.

Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus Influences Facial Emotion Recognition in Patients With Parkinson's Disease: A Review.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor symptoms following dopaminergic depletion in the substantia nigra. Besides motor impairments, however, several non-motor detriments can have the potential to considerably impact subjectively perceived quality of life in patients. Particularly emotion recognition of facial expressions has been shown to be affected in PD, and especially the perception of negative emotions like fear, anger, or disgust is impaired. While emotion processing generally refers to automatic implicit as well as conscious explicit processing, the focus of most previous studies in PD was on explicit recognition of emotions only, while largely ignoring implicit processing deficits. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is widely accepted as a therapeutic measure in the treatment of PD and has been shown to advantageously influence motor problems. Among various concomitant non-motor effects of STN-DBS, modulation of facial emotion recognition under subthalamic stimulation has been investigated in previous studies with rather heterogeneous results. Although there seems to be a consensus regarding the processing of disgust, which significantly deteriorates under STN stimulation, findings concerning emotions like fear or happiness report heterogeneous data and seem to depend on various experimental settings and measurements. In the present review, we summarized previous investigations focusing on STN-DBS influence on recognition of facial emotional expressions in patients suffering from PD. In a first step, we provide a synopsis of disturbances and problems in facial emotion processing observed in patients with PD. Second, we present findings of STN-DBS influence on facial emotion recognition and especially highlight different impacts of stimulation on implicit and explicit emotional processing.

The interaction between OXTR rs2268493 and perceived maternal care is associated with amygdala-dorsolateral prefrontal effective connectivity during explicit emotion processing.

Previous studies have indicated a link between socio-emotional processing and the oxytocin receptor. In this regard, a single nucleotide polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor coding gene (OXTR rs2268493) has been linked with lower social functioning, increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and with post-mortem OXTR mRNA expression levels. Indeed, the levels of expression of OXTR in brain regions involved in emotion processing are also associated with maternal care. Furthermore, maternal care has been associated with emotional correlates. Taken together, these previous findings suggest a possible combined effect of rs2268493 and maternal care on emotion-related brain phenotypes. A crucial biological mechanism subtending emotional processing is the amygdala-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) functional connection. On this basis, our aim was to investigate the interaction between rs2268493 and maternal care on amygdala-DLPFC effective connectivity during emotional evaluation. We characterized through dynamic causal modeling (DCM) patterns of amygdala-DLPFC effective connectivity during explicit emotion processing in healthy controls (HC), profiled based on maternal care and rs2268493 genotype. In the whole sample, right top-down DLPFC-to-amygdala pattern was the most likely directional model of effective connectivity. This pattern of connectivity was the most likely for all rs2268493/maternal care subgroups, except for thymine homozygous (TT)/low maternal care individuals. Here, a right bottom-up amygdala-to-DLPFC was the most likely directional model. These results suggest a gene by environment interaction mediated by the oxytocin receptor on biological phenotypes relevant to emotion processing.

Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus Selectively Modulates Emotion Recognition of Facial Stimuli in Parkinson's Patients.

Background: Diminished emotion recognition is a known symptom in Parkinson (PD) patients and subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) has been shown to further deteriorate the processing of especially negative emotions. While emotion recognition generally refers to both, implicit and explicit processing, demonstrations of DBS-influences on implicit processing are sparse. In the present study, we assessed the impact of STN-DBS on explicit and implicit processing for emotional stimuli. Methods: Under STN-DBS ON and OFF, fourteen PD patients performed an implicit as well as an explicit emotional processing task. To assess implicit emotional processing, patients were tested with a lexical decision task (LTD) combined with an affective priming paradigm, which provides emotional content through the facial eye region. To assess explicit emotional processing, patients additionally explicitly rated the emotional status of eyes and words used in the implicit task. Results: DBS affected explicit emotional processing more than implicit processing with a more pronounced effect on error rates than on reaction speed. STN-DBS generally worsened implicit and explicit processing for disgust stimulus material but improved explicit processing of fear stimuli. Conclusions: This is the first study demonstrating influences of STN-DBS on explicit and implicit emotion processing in PD patients. While STN stimulation impeded the processing of disgust stimuli, it improved explicit discrimination of fear stimuli.

Commentary: Altered medial frontal and superior temporal response to implicit processing of emotions in autism

• In the recent article in Autism Research entitled “Altered Medial Frontal and Superior Temporal Response to Implicit Processing of Emotions in Autism” individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were found to have deficits in implicit but not explicit emotion processing. • This finding may inform future developments of psychotherapeutic interventions for individuals with ASDs. • Specifically, interventions addressing implicit rather than explicit emotion regulation may benefit this population. • Preexisting treatments including Alan Greenspan’s Floor Time may promote implicit emotion regulation. • The operationalization and manualization of targeted approaches to implicit emotion regulation, such as Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children (RFP-C), may benefit individuals with ASDs.

T10. HERITABILITY OF AMYGDALA ACTIVITY AND ITS GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION WITH THE SCHIZOPHRENIA RISK LOCUS OF MIR137

BackgroundIt is well known that heritability plays a prominent role in risk for schizophrenia, and that this brain disorder is crucially characterized by emotional symptoms. Less known is how heritability shapes brain activity during emotion processing and whether this brain phenotype is also associated with genetic variation increasing risk for schizophrenia. Here, we implemented a multi-step, data-driven approach in order to assess the relevance of the link between heritability, genetic variation, and schizophrenia for brain activity during emotion processing.MethodsWe investigated three samples of healthy individuals and one sample of schizophrenia (SCZ) patients: i) 28 healthy twin pairs (16 monozygotic and 12 dizygotic twin pairs); ii) 289 unrelated healthy participants (genome-wide association study - GWAS -discovery sample); iii) 90 unrelated healthy participants (replication sample); iv) 40 SCZ patients. During fMRI, participants approached or avoided threatening angry faces (explicit emotion processing). Intra-class correlations (ICC) between twin pairs and ACE models (A: additive genetics; C: common environment; E: unique environment) were used to identify regions of interest (ROIs) with heritable functional activity. Then, we extracted BOLD signal from these ROIs and conducted a GWAS on 565,137 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (selected with the following criteria: minor allele frequency>0.15, Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium<0.001, linkage disequilibrium pruning r2>0.9) using robust linear models of allelic dosage corrected for multiple comparisons (Gao et al. 2008 Genetic Epidemiology). Finally, we assessed the effect of surviving SNPs in the replication sample of healthy individuals as well as in the sample of SCZ patients.ResultsIn healthy twins, we identified bilateral amygdala as the brain region with the highest heritability during explicit emotion processing as evaluated with our task (ICC=.79; h2=0.54; p<.001). The subsequent GWAS in healthy non-twins indicated that bilateral amygdala activity during the task was associated with a polymorphism close to miR-137 (rs1198575) (p=1.5 × 10–7), with the C allele corresponding to lower activity than the t allele. A similar effect was found in the replication sample (p=.01) and in patients with SCZ (p=.03).DiscussionOur data-driven approach revealed that amygdala activity as evaluated with our task is heritable. Furthermore, our results indicate that a polymorphism in miR-137 has genome wide association with amygdala response during emotion processing which is also replicated in two independent samples of healthy subjects and of patients with schizophrenia. Previous findings indicated that this polymorphism has genome-wide association with schizophrenia (Ripke et al. 2014). Other results reveal that miR-137 is a key regulatory neuronal factor linked to SCZ and involved in emotion processing (Cosgrove et al., 2017). Our findings are consistent with these previous findings and further highlight a crucial role for miR-137 in emotion processing and SCZ (Anticevic et al., 2012 Schizophr Bull).

Familial Risk and a Genome-Wide Supported DRD2 Variant for Schizophrenia Predict Lateral Prefrontal-Amygdala Effective Connectivity During Emotion Processing.

The brain functional mechanisms translating genetic risk into emotional symptoms in schizophrenia (SCZ) may include abnormal functional integration between areas key for emotion processing, such as the amygdala and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). Indeed, investigation of these mechanisms is also complicated by emotion processing comprising different subcomponents and by disease-associated state variables. Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between risk for SCZ and effective connectivity between the amygdala and the LPFC during different subcomponents of emotion processing. Thus, we first characterized with dynamic causal modeling (DCM) physiological patterns of LPFC-amygdala effective connectivity in healthy controls (HC) during implicit and explicit emotion processing. Then, we compared DCM patterns in a subsample of HC, in patients with SCZ and in healthy siblings of patients (SIB), matched for demographics. Finally, we investigated in HC association of LPFC-amygdala effective connectivity with a genome-wide supported variant increasing genetic risk for SCZ and possibly relevant to emotion processing (DRD2 rs2514218). In HC, we found that a "bottom-up" amygdala-to-LPFC pattern during implicit processing and a "top-down" LPFC-to-amygdala pattern during explicit processing were the most likely directional models of effective connectivity. Differently, implicit emotion processing in SIB, SCZ, and HC homozygous for the SCZ risk rs2514218 C allele was associated with decreased probability for the "bottom-up" as well as with increased probability for the "top-down" model. These findings suggest that task-specific anomaly in the directional flow of information or disconnection between the amygdala and the LPFC is a good candidate endophenotype of SCZ.

The relation between parent depressive symptoms and neural correlates of attentional control in offspring: A preliminary study

Offspring of depressed parents are at significantly elevated risk for depressive disorders themselves; however, the specific mechanisms associated with this risk are not well known. Given the well-established link between parental depression and biased attention for negative stimuli in children, this preliminary study sought to examine the neural correlates of directing attention toward and away from emotional faces in children and adolescents in association with parent's current depressive symptoms. Forty-two youth (age 7–18 years) completed a task with conditions that manipulated whether participants were instructed to match emotional faces (explicit emotion processing) or match shapes in the context of emotional face distractors (implicit emotion processing) during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results revealed a positive correlation between parent depressive symptoms and youths’ recruitment of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during attempts to direct attention away (implicit processing) from negative faces. These findings were maintained after accounting for current anxiety and depressive symptoms among youth suggesting that the findings were not fully attributable to offspring's psychopathology. These preliminary findings suggest that altered dorsal ACC function may contribute to the biased attention for negative information typically demonstrated in youth at high risk for depression by disrupting efficient inhibition of negative stimuli.

Differentiating emotional processing and attention in psychopathy with functional neuroimaging.

Individuals with psychopathy are often characterized by emotional processing deficits, and recent research has examined the specific contexts and cognitive mechanisms that underlie these abnormalities. Some evidence suggests that abnormal features of attention are fundamental to emotional deficits in persons with psychopathy, but few studies have demonstrated the neural underpinnings responsible for such effects. Here, we use functional neuroimaging to examine attention-emotion interactions among incarcerated individuals (n = 120) evaluated for psychopathic traits using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Using a task designed to manipulate attention to emotional features of visual stimuli, we demonstrate effects representing implicit emotional processing, explicit emotional processing, attention-facilitated emotional processing, and vigilance for emotional content. Results confirm the importance of considering mechanisms of attention when evaluating emotional processing differences related to psychopathic traits. The affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy (PCL-R Factor 1) were associated with relatively lower emotion-dependent augmentation of activity in visual processing areas during implicit emotional processing, while antisocial-lifestyle features (PCL-R Factor 2) were associated with elevated activity in the amygdala and related salience network regions. During explicit emotional processing, psychopathic traits were associated with upregulation in the medial prefrontal cortex, insula, and superior frontal regions. Isolating the impact of explicit attention to emotional content, only Factor 1 was related to upregulation of activity in the visual processing stream, which was accompanied by increased activity in the angular gyrus. These effects highlight some important mechanisms underlying abnormal features of attention and emotional processing that accompany psychopathic traits.

Age-related differences in brain activity during implicit and explicit processing of fearful facial expressions

Age-related differences in neural correlates underlying implicit and explicit emotion processing are unclear. Within the framework of the Frontoamygdalar Age-related Differences in Emotion model (St Jacques et al., 2009), our objectives were to examine the behavioral and neural modifications that occur with age for both processes. During explicit and implicit processing of fearful faces, we expected to observe less amygdala activity in older adults (OA) than in younger adults (YA), associated with poorer recognition performance in the explicit task, and more frontal activity during implicit processing, suggesting compensation. At a behavioral level, explicit recognition of fearful faces was impaired in OA compared with YA. We did not observe any cerebral differences between OA and YA during the implicit task, whereas in the explicit task, OA recruited more frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, and cingulate areas. Our findings suggest that automatic processing of emotion may be preserved during aging, whereas deliberate processing is impaired. Additional neural recruitment in OA did not appear to compensate for their behavioral deficits.

Oxytocin to modulate emotional processing in schizophrenia: A randomized, double-blind, cross-over clinical trial

Deficits in social cognition, including emotional processing, are hallmarks of schizophrenia and antipsychotic agents seem to be ineffectual to improve these symptoms. However, oxytocin does seem to have beneficial effects on social cognition. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of four months of treatment with intranasal oxytocin, in 31 patients with schizophrenia, on distinct aspects of social cognition. This was assessed using standardized and experimental tests in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial. All patients underwent clinical and experimental assessment before treatment, four months after treatment and at the end of treatment. Social cognition abilities were assessed with the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task (RMET). Furthermore, an Emotional Priming Paradigm (EPP) was developed to examine the effects of oxytocin on implicit perceptual sensitivity to affective information and explicit facial affect recognition.We found that oxytocin improved performance on MSCEIT compared to placebo in Branch 3-Understanding Emotion (p-value=0.004; Cohen׳s d=1.12). In the EPP task, we observed a significant reduction of reaction times for facial affect recognition (p-value=0.021; Cohen׳s d=0.88). No effects were found for implicit priming or for theory of mind abilities. Further study is required in order to highlight the potential for possible integration of oxytocin with antipsychotic agents as well as to evaluate psycho-social treatment as a multi-dimensional approach to increase explicit emotional processing abilities and compensate social cognition deficits related to schizophrenia.

Implicit and explicit processing of emotional facial expressions in Parkinson’s disease

ObjectiveBesides motor problems, Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with detrimental emotional and cognitive functioning. Deficient explicit emotional processing has been observed, whilst patients also show impaired Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities. However, it is unclear whether this PD patients’ ToM deficit is based on an inability to infer otherś emotional states or whether it is due to explicit emotional processing deficits. We investigated implicit and explicit emotional processing in PD with an affective priming paradigm in which we used pictures of human eyes for emotional primes and a lexical decision task (LDT) with emotional connoted words for target stimuli. MethodSixteen PD patients and sixteen matched healthy controls performed a LTD combined with an emotional priming paradigm providing emotional information through the facial eye region to assess implicit emotional processing. Second, participants explicitly evaluated the emotional status of eyes and words used in the implicit task. ResultsCompared to controls implicit emotional processing abilities were generally preserved in PD with, however, considerable alterations for happiness and disgust processing. Furthermore, we observed a general impairment of patients for explicit evaluation of emotional stimuli, which was augmented for the rating of facial expressions. ConclusionsThis is the first study reporting results for affective priming with facial eye expressions in PD patients. Our findings indicate largely preserved implicit emotional processing, with a specific altered processing of disgust and happiness. Explicit emotional processing was considerably impaired for semantic and especially for facial stimulus material. Poor ToM abilities in PD patients might be based on deficient explicit emotional processing, with preserved ability to implicitly infer other people’s feelings.

The emotional link: Leadership and the role of implicit and explicit emotional contagion processes across multiple organizational levels

Emotional contagion processes influence a wide range of organizational and leadership outcomes. In this paper, I review emotional contagion research as it relates to multiple levels of analysis within an organization and discuss the extent to which this process can be managed by leaders. The review begins with an explanation of the processes underpinning the emotional contagion process, highlighting the neurological mechanisms that give rise to implicit and explicit forms of emotional contagion. In the following section, I discuss some individual differences that moderate the experience of these two forms of emotional contagion. Subsequently, I review how emotional contagion processes impact leadership outcomes at the interpersonal, group and finally, organizational levels. The purpose of the current review is threefold. The first is to refine understandings of the emotional dynamics of leadership influence from a neurological perspective, highlighting how implicit and explicit emotional contagion underpins much of leader-follower interactions. Second, the review extends on conceptualizations of emotional contagion in leadership interactions often captured at the interpersonal level, and illustrates how the process is relevant in influencing group level organizational leadership outcomes. Third, the review also highlights themes emerging from this area of research, and concludes with directions for further research. Ultimately, the review aims to show how emotional contagion processes are implicated as the ‘emotional links’ across multiple levels in organizations and organizational leadership.

Altered Medial Frontal and Superior Temporal Response to Implicit Processing of Emotions in Autism.

Interpreting emotional expressions appropriately poses a challenge for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, difficulties with emotional processing in ASD are more pronounced in contexts where emotional expressions are subtle, automatic, and reflexive-that is, implicit. In contrast, explicit emotional processing, which requires the cognitive evaluation of an emotional experience, appears to be relatively intact in individuals with ASD. In the present study, we examined the brain activation and functional connectivity differences underlying explicit and implicit emotional processing in age- and IQ-matched adults with (n = 17) and without (n = 15) ASD. Results indicated: (1) significantly reduced levels of brain activation in participants with ASD in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) during implicit emotion processing; (2) significantly weaker functional connectivity in the ASD group in connections of the MPFC with the amygdala, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and fusiform gyrus; (3) No group difference in performance accuracy or reaction time; and (4) Significant positive relationship between empathizing ability and STG activity in ASD but not in typically developing participants. These findings suggest that the neural mechanisms underlying implicit, but not explicit, emotion processing may be altered at multiple levels in individuals with ASD.

Pretreatment Differences in BOLD Response to Emotional Faces Correlate with Antidepressant Response to Scopolamine.

Background:Faster acting antidepressants and biomarkers that predict treatment response are needed to facilitate the development of more effective treatments for patients with major depressive disorders. Here, we evaluate implicitly and explicitly processed emotional faces using neuroimaging to identify potential biomarkers of treatment response to the antimuscarinic, scopolamine.Methods:Healthy participants (n=15) and unmedicated-depressed major depressive disorder patients (n=16) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover infusion study using scopolamine (4 μg/kg). Before and following scopolamine, blood oxygen-level dependent signal was measured using functional MRI during a selective attention task. Two stimuli comprised of superimposed pictures of faces and houses were presented. Participants attended to one stimulus component and performed a matching task. Face emotion was modulated (happy/sad) creating implicit (attend-houses) and explicit (attend-faces) emotion processing conditions. The pretreatment difference in blood oxygen-level dependent response to happy and sad faces under implicit and explicit conditions (emotion processing biases) within a-priori regions of interest was correlated with subsequent treatment response in major depressive disorder.Results:Correlations were observed exclusively during implicit emotion processing in the regions of interest, which included the subgenual anterior cingulate (P<.02) and middle occipital cortices (P<.02).Conclusions:The magnitude and direction of differential blood oxygen-level– dependent response to implicitly processed emotional faces prior to treatment reflect the potential to respond to scopolamine. These findings replicate earlier results, highlighting the potential for pretreatment neural activity in the middle occipital cortices and subgenual anterior cingulate to inform us about the potential to respond clinically to scopolamine.