Processing Of Emotional Information Research Articles

An fMRI study examining the role of the extended amygdala and amygdala in emotion and inhibitory control in native versus second language processing.

The role of the extended amygdala and amygdala in mediating emotion and inhibitory control in native language versus second language processing is currently not well understood. The current study examined activity in the extended amygdala and amygdala when twelve healthy young adults were exposed to emotional-linguistic stimuli in either their native language (i.e., Japanese) or in a second language (i.e., English) using a go/no-go task while undergoing fMRI scans. Data was bootstrapped using random resampling. A significant interaction was observed for the amygdala and extended amygdala activity for language (English vs. Japanese), emotional-linguistic valence (positive, negative, neutral) and inhibitory control (go/no-go condition). Furthermore, main effects were observed for language and valence for the amygdala and extended amygdala. Main effects were observed for inhibitory control for the extended amygdala and right amygdala but not for the left amygdala, which did not show a main effect for inhibitory control. Significant interactions and main effects were also observed for behavioral outcomes (go/no-go reaction time and accuracy scores) for the amygdala and extended amygdala. Post hoc analyses found that under conditions of inhibitory control participants had less activation in the extended amygdala and amygdala when processing emotional information in English (i.e., second language) compared to Japanese (i.e., native language). In summary, our findings suggest that the amygdala and extended amygdala may mediate emotion and inhibitory control when participants process information in their native (Japanese) versus a second language (English).

"Hot" affect-related aspects in emotional information processing: The role of facial muscle responses in the direct and indirect processing of emotion categories.

The present study investigated the involvement of facial muscle responses in the indirect and direct processing of emotional facial expressions. Five discrete emotion categories were used, and we assessed both facial muscle and behavioral responses on a trial-by-trial basis. Experiment 1 tested facial muscle activation of clearly visible stimuli in an emotion categorization task. We observed emotion-specific facial muscle responses and corresponding behavioral categorization effects, providing evidence for the specificity of facial muscle activation. By contrast, under masked indirect presentation conditions in which emotional facial expressions were presented as primes in an emotion misattribution procedure, a specific pattern of emotion-congruent and cross-category behavioral misattributions was observed (in line with Rohr et al., 2015, 2018). Multilevel analyses in Study 2 suggest that an emotional reaction feeds into the behavioral decision, as indicated by differential activation of the frontalis lateralis in response to angry faces. Thus, the present study provides evidence that facial muscle responses contribute to behavioral decisions under masked indirect processing conditions. The different pattern of effects in both studies suggests that facial muscle responses index different processes, depending on the processing conditions: sensorimotor simulation in direct processing conditions and emotional reactions in masked indirect processing conditions. We discuss the implications for models that aim to account for facial muscle activity in response to emotional facial expressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross-channel adaptation reveals shared emotion representation from face and biological motion.

Emotions in interpersonal interactions can be communicated simultaneously via various social signals such as face and biological motion (BM). Here, we demonstrate that even though BM and face are very different in visual properties, emotions conveyed by these two types of social signals involve dedicated and common processing mechanisms (N = 168, college students, 2020-2024). By utilizing the visual adaptation paradigm, we found that prolonged exposure to the happy BM biased the emotion perception of the subsequently presented morphed BM toward sad, and vice versus. The observed aftereffect disappeared when the BM adaptors were shown inverted, indicating that it arose from emotional information processing rather than being a result of adaptation to constitutive low-level features. Besides, such an aftereffect was also found for facial expressions and similarly vanished when the face adaptors were inverted. Critically, preexposure to emotional faces also exerted an adaptation aftereffect on the emotion perception of BMs. Furthermore, this cross-channel effect could not only happen from faces to BMs but also from BMs to faces, suggesting that emotion perception from face and BM are potentially driven by common underlying neural substrates. Overall, these findings highlighted a close coupling of BM and face emotion perception and suggested the existence of a dedicated emotional representation that can be shared across these two different types of social signals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Increased sensorimotor activity during categorisation of emotionally ambiguous faces.

Actions are rarely devoid of emotional content. Thus, a more complete picture of the neural mechanisms underlying the mental simulation of observed actions requires more research using emotion information. The present study used high-density electroencephalography to investigate mental simulation associated with facial emotion categorisation. Alpha-mu rhythm modulation was measured at each frequency, from 8Hz to 13 Hz, to infer the degree of sensorimotor simulation. Results suggest the sensitivity of the sensorimotor activity to emotional information, because (1) categorising static images of neutral faces as happy or sad was associated with stronger suppression in the central region than categorising clearly happy faces, (2) there was preliminary evidence indicating that the strongest suppression in the central region was in response to neutral faces, followed by sad and then happy faces and (3) in the control task, which required categorising images with the head oriented right, left, or forward as right or left, differences between conditions showed a pattern more indicative of task difficulty rather than sensorimotor engagement. Dissociable processing of emotional information in facial expressions and directionality information in head orientations was further captured in beta band activity (14-20 Hz). Stronger mu suppression to neutral faces indicates that sensorimotor simulation extends beyond crude motor mimicry. We propose that mu rhythm responses to facial expressions may serve as a biomarker for empathy circuit activation. Future research should investigate whether atypical or inconsistent mu rhythm responses to facial expressions indicate difficulties in understanding or sharing emotions.

Neurocognitive mechanisms of emotional interference in native and foreign languages: evidence from proficient bilinguals.

Currently available data show mixed results as to whether the processing of emotional information has the same characteristics in the native (L1) as in the second language (L2) of bilinguals. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment to shed light on the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying bilinguals' emotional processing in L1 and L2 during an emotional interference task (i.e., the Emotional Stroop Task - EST). Our sample comprised proficient Italian-English bilinguals who learned their L2 during childhood mainly in instructional rather than immersive contexts. In spite of no detectable behavioural effects, we found stronger brain activations for L1 versus L2 emotional words in sectors of the posteromedial cortex involved in attention modulation, episodic memory, and affective processing. While fMRI findings are consistent with the hypothesis of a stronger emotional resonance when processing words in a native language, our overall pattern of results points to the different sensitivity of behavioural and hemodynamic responses to emotional information in the two languages of bilingual speakers.

Social anxiety modulating early processing for social threat words: an ERP study

ABSTRACT Even though some recent research revealed individuals with HSA typically display enhanced processing in the early stages of emotional information processing due to hypervigilance and vulnerability to negative stimuli, it is still unclear whether social anxiety affects the time course underlying processing bias for emotional stimuli. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the early stage of processing social threat stimuli in high social anxiety (HSA) individuals by recording RTs and EEG data in the emotional Stroop task. Behavioral data showed that the HSA group responded to the threat words faster than neutral words (i.e. negative bias), but no emotional effects in the low social anxiety (LSA) group. Although the P1 component did not show any early effects, ERP data exhibited an enhanced N170 for HSA than for LSA groups. Threat words elicited larger N170 than neutral words in the LSA group only; this emotion effect was not evident in the HSA group. These findings indicated that social anxiety modulates early processing for social threat words. This study revealed the neural mechanisms underlying early emotional processing in individuals with social anxiety, providing insights for the evaluation and intervention of social anxiety.

Emotional and Cognitive "Route" in Decision-Making Process: The Relationship between Executive Functions, Psychophysiological Correlates, Decisional Styles, and Personality.

Studies on decision-making have classically focused exclusively on its cognitive component. Recent research has shown that a further essential component of decisional processes is the emotional one. Indeed, the emotional route in decision-making plays a crucial role, especially in situations characterized by ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk. Despite that, individual differences concerning such components and their associations with individual traits, decisional styles, and psychophysiological profiles are still understudied. This pilot study aimed at investigating the relationship between individual propensity toward using an emotional or cognitive information-processing route in decision-making, EEG and autonomic correlates of the decisional performance as collected via wearable non-invasive devices, and individual personality and decisional traits. Participants completed a novel task based on realistic decisional scenarios while their physiological activity (EEG and autonomic indices) was monitored. Self-report questionnaires were used to collect data on personality traits, individual differences, and decisional styles. Data analyses highlighted two main findings. Firstly, different personality traits and decisional styles showed significant and specific correlations, with an individual propensity toward either emotional or cognitive information processing for decision-making. Secondly, task-related EEG and autonomic measures presented a specific and distinct correlation pattern with different decisional styles, maximization traits, and personality traits, suggesting different latent profiles.

Selective knockdown of GABAA-α2 subunit in the dorsal dentate gyrus in adulthood induces anxiety, learning and memory deficits and impairs synaptic plasticity.

Animal studies and clinical trials suggest that maintenance of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic activity may be crucial in coping with stressful conditions, anxiety and mood disorders. Drugs highly efficient in promoting anxiolysis were shown to activate this system, particularly via the α2-subunit of type A receptors (GABAA α2). Given the high expression of GABAA α2 in the dentate gyrus (DG) sub-field of the hippocampus, we sought to examine whether manipulation of the α2 subunit in this area will evoke changes in emotional behaviour, memory and learning as well as in synaptic plasticity. We found that knockdown of GABAAα2 receptor specifically in the dorsal DG of rats caused increased anxiety without affecting locomotor activity. Spatial memory and learning in the Morris water maze were also impaired in GABAAα2 receptor knocked down rats, an effect accompanied by alterations in synaptic plasticity, as assessed by long-term potentiation in the DG. Our findings provide further support to the notion that emotional information processing in the hippocampus may be controlled, at least in part, via the inhibitory GABAA α2 receptor subunit, opening a potential avenue for early interventions from pre- puberty into adulthood, as a strategy for controlling anxiety-related psychopathology.

A Review of the Impact of Native Language on Emotional Aspects of Second Language Acquisition

This review explores how native language affects second language learners' abilities in processing emotional information, including the cognitive processing of emotional vocabulary, emotional expression and communication, and cross-cultural understanding of emotions. The research found that native language background plays a multi-dimensional role in this process, affecting not only the processing of emotional information within the language but also individuals' cross-cultural communication skills. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the importance of focusing on emotional vocabulary teaching and the cultivation of emotional expression strategies in second language teaching, as well as directions for further research. By deeply understanding the impact of native language on emotional processing in a second language, practical guidance can be provided for cross-cultural education, promoting effective communication and understanding among people from different cultural backgrounds.

Effect of contextual prediction on emotional word processing: an evidence from ERPNR-D-24-00189.

This study examined the effect of context on the prediction of emotional words with varying valences. It investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the processing differences of emotion words with different valences in both predictable and unpredictable contexts. Additionally, it aimed to address the conflicting results regarding the processing time in predictive contexts reported in previous studies. Participants were instructed to carefully read the text that included the specified emotion words. Event-related potentials elicited by emotional words were measured. To ensure that the participants can read the text carefully, 33% of the texts are followed by comprehension problems. After reading the text, the comprehension questions were answered based on the text content. The study revealed that the N400 amplitude elicited by an unpredictable context was greater than that elicited by a predictable context. Additionally, the N400 amplitude triggered by positive emotion words was larger than that triggered by negative emotion words. However, there was no significant difference in late positive component amplitude observed between contextual prediction and emotional word valence. The present study suggests that predictive processing takes place at an intermediate stage of speech processing, approximately 400 ms after stimulus onset. Furthermore, the presence of a predictive context enhances the processing of emotional information. Notably, brain activity is more pronounced during the processing of positive emotional stimuli compared to negative emotional stimuli. Additionally, the facilitative effect of a predictable context diminishes in the advanced phase of Chinese speech comprehension.

Neural correlates of individual differences in multimodal emotion recognition ability

Studies have reported substantial variability in emotion recognition ability (ERA) – an important social skill – but possible neural underpinnings for such individual differences are not well understood. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated neural responses during emotion recognition in young adults (N = 49) who were selected for inclusion based on their performance (high or low) during previous testing of ERA. Participants were asked to judge brief video recordings in a forced-choice emotion recognition task, wherein stimuli were presented in visual, auditory and multimodal (audiovisual) blocks. Emotion recognition rates during brain scanning confirmed that individuals with high (vs low) ERA received higher accuracy for all presentation blocks. fMRI-analyses focused on key regions of interest (ROIs) involved in the processing of multimodal emotion expressions, based on previous meta-analyses. In neural response to emotional stimuli contrasted with neutral stimuli, individuals with high (vs low) ERA showed higher activation in the following ROIs during the multimodal condition: right middle superior temporal gyrus (mSTG), right posterior superior temporal sulcus (PSTS), and right inferior frontal cortex (IFC). Overall, results suggest that individual variability in ERA may be reflected across several stages of decisional processing, including extraction (mSTG), integration (PSTS) and evaluation (IFC) of emotional information.

Neural correlates of aggression outcome expectation and their association with aggression: A voxel-based morphometry study

BackgroundAggression outcome expectation is an important cognitive factor of aggression. Discovering the neural mechanism of aggression outcome expectation is conducive to developing aggression research. However, the neural correlates underlying aggression outcome expectation and its effect remain elusive. MethodsWe utilized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to unravel the neural architecture of aggression outcome expectation measured by the Social Emotional Information Processing Assessment for Adults and its relationship with aggression measured by the Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire in a sample of 185 university students (114 female; mean age = 19.94 ± 1.62 years; age range: 17–32 years). ResultsWe found a significantly positive correlation between aggression outcome expectation and the regional gray matter volume (GMV) in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) (x = 55.5, y = −58.5, z = 1.5; t = 3.35; cluster sizes = 352, p < 0.05, GRF corrected). Moreover, aggression outcome expectation acted as a mediator underlying the association between the right MTG volume and aggression. ConclusionsThese results revealed the neural correlates of aggression outcome expectation and its effect on aggression for the first time, which may contribute to our understanding of the cognitive neural mechanism of aggression and potentially identifying neurobiological markers for aggression.

FC-TFS-CGRU: A Temporal-Frequency-Spatial Electroencephalography Emotion Recognition Model Based on Functional Connectivity and a Convolutional Gated Recurrent Unit Hybrid Architecture.

The gated recurrent unit (GRU) network can effectively capture temporal information for 1D signals, such as electroencephalography and event-related brain potential, and it has been widely used in the field of EEG emotion recognition. However, multi-domain features, including the spatial, frequency, and temporal features of EEG signals, contribute to emotion recognition, while GRUs show some limitations in capturing frequency-spatial features. Thus, we proposed a hybrid architecture of convolutional neural networks and GRUs (CGRU) to effectively capture the complementary temporal features and spatial-frequency features hidden in signal channels. In addition, to investigate the interactions among different brain regions during emotional information processing, we considered the functional connectivity relationship of the brain by introducing a phase-locking value to calculate the phase difference between the EEG channels to gain spatial information based on functional connectivity. Then, in the classification module, we incorporated attention constraints to address the issue of the uneven recognition contribution of EEG signal features. Finally, we conducted experiments on the DEAP and DREAMER databases. The results demonstrated that our model outperforms the other models with remarkable recognition accuracy of 99.51%, 99.60%, and 99.59% (58.67%, 65.74%, and 67.05%) on DEAP and 98.63%, 98.7%, and 98.71% (75.65%, 75.89%, and 71.71%) on DREAMER in a subject-dependent experiment (subject-independent experiment) for arousal, valence, and dominance.

The comparison of hot and cold executive functions in patients with bipolar II disorder, borderline personality disorder, and healthy individuals.

Differential diagnosis of bipolar II disorder (BD-II) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) has always been challenging for clinicians due to symptoms' overlap. This study aimed to compare hot and cold executive functions (EFs) in BD-II patients, as well as BPD and healthy controls (HCs), in order to differentiate these two disorders. In the present study, 30 BD-II and 30 BPD patients undergoing the drug therapy with mood stabilizers, and 30 HC were examined using EFs evaluated tests. The data were then analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. The BD-II Patients performed significantly less in all cold EFs than the HC. Also, BPD patients had meaningfully lesser performance compared to HC in all cold EFs except sustained attention. No significant difference was perceived between the two patient groups in the cold EFs. In BD-II patients, the risky decision-making as a hot EFs' component was not significantly different from HC; nevertheless, its amount was significantly higher in BPD than in the HC and BD-II patients. These findings underline the differences between the two mentioned disorders based on the hot EFs, which may indicate further disorder in the emotional information processing system among the BPD patients.

Alexithymia modulates emotion concept activation during facial expression processing.

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in emotional information processing. However, the underlying reasons for emotional processing deficits in alexithymia are not fully understood. The present study aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying emotional deficits in alexithymia. Using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, we recruited college students with high alexithymia (n = 24) or low alexithymia (n = 24) in this study. Participants judged the emotional consistency of facial expressions and contextual sentences while recording their event-related potentials. Behaviorally, the high alexithymia group showed longer response times versus the low alexithymia group in processing facial expressions. The event-related potential results showed that the high alexithymia group had more negative-going N400 amplitudes compared with the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. More negative N400 amplitudes are also associated with slower responses to facial expressions. Furthermore, machine learning analyses based on N400 amplitudes could distinguish the high alexithymia group from the low alexithymia group in the incongruent condition. Overall, these findings suggest worse facial emotion perception for the high alexithymia group, potentially due to difficulty in spontaneously activating emotion concepts. Our findings have important implications for the affective science and clinical intervention of alexithymia-related affective disorders.

Altered EEG Patterns in Individuals with Disorganized Attachment: An EEG Microstates Study.

Over the past years, different studies provided preliminary evidence that Disorganized Attachment (DA) may have dysregulatory and disintegrative effects on both autonomic arousal regulation and brain connectivity. However, despite the clinical relevance of this construct, few studies have investigated the specific alterations underlying DA using electroencephalography (EEG). Thus, the main aim of the current study was to investigate EEG microstate parameters of DA in a non-clinical sample (N = 50) before (pre) and after (post) the administration of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Two EEG eyes-closed Resting State (RS) recordings were performed before and after the AAI, which was used for classifying the participants [i.e., Disorganized/Unresolved (D/U) or Organized/Resolved (O/R) individuals] and to trigger the attachment system. Microstates parameters (i.e., Mean Duration, Time Coverage and Occurrence) were extracted from each recording using Cartool software. EEG microstates clustering analysis revealed 6 different maps (labeled A, B, C, D, E, F) in both groups (i.e., D/U and O/R individuals) and in both conditions (i.e., pre-AAI and post-AAI). In the pre-AAI condition, compared to O/R individuals, D/U participants showed a shorter Mean Duration and Time Coverage of Map F; in the post-AAI condition, a significant reduction in the Mean Duration of Map E was also observed in D/U individuals. Finally, in the "within" statistical analysis (i.e., pre-AAI vs. post-AAI), only the D/U group exhibited a significant increase in Time Coverage of Map F after the AAI. Since these maps are associated with brain networks involved in emotional information processing and mentalization (i.e., Salience Network and Default Mode Network), our result might reflect the deficit in the ability to mentalize caregiver's interaction as well as the increased sensitivity to attachment-related stimuli typically observed in individuals with a D/U state of mind.

Effects of emotion on auditory ERPs are independent of manipulated target relevance.

Emotional attention describes the prioritized processing of emotional information to help humans quickly detect biologically salient stimuli and initiate appropriate reactions. Humans can also voluntarily attend to specific stimulus features that are target-relevant. Electrophysiological studies have shown specific temporal interactions between voluntary and emotional attention, while no such studies exist for natural sounds (e.g., explosions, running water, applause). In two experiments (N = 40, each), we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) toward target relevant or irrelevant negative, neutral, or positive sounds. Target relevance was induced by the instruction to respond blockwise to either negative, neutral, or positive sounds. Emotional sounds elicited increased fronto-central N1 and P2 amplitudes and a larger late positive potential (LPP), with more sustained effects for negative sounds. Target relevance increased amplitudes during an early LPP interval (400-900 ms) but did not interact with the valence of the sounds. These results show early and late ERP modulations for natural sounds, which do not interact with the target relevance of the sound valence, in contrast to findings from the visual domain. Thus, findings indicate little temporal overlap between emotional processes and target relevance effects in the auditory domain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Stimulus Inversion and Emotional Expressions Independently Affect Face and Body Perception: An ERP Study.

Faces and bodies provide critical cues for social interaction and communication. Their structural encoding depends on configural processing, as suggested by the detrimental effect of stimulus inversion for both faces (i.e., face inversion effect - FIE) and bodies (body inversion effect - BIE). An occipito-temporal negative event-related potential (ERP) component peaking around 170 ms after stimulus onset (N170) is consistently elicited by human faces and bodies and is affected by the inversion of these stimuli. Albeit it is known that emotional expressions can boost structural encoding (resulting in larger N170 components for emotional than for neutral faces), little is known about body emotional expressions. Thus, the current study investigated the effects of different emotional expressions on structural encoding in combination with FIE and BIE. Three ERP components (P1, N170, P2) were recorded using a 128-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) when participants were presented with (upright and inverted) faces and bodies conveying four possible emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear) or no emotion (neutral). Results demonstrated that inversion and emotional expressions independently affected the Accuracy and amplitude of all ERP components (P1, N170, P2). In particular, faces showed specific effects of emotional expressions during the structural encoding stage (N170), while P2 amplitude (representing top-down conceptualisation) was modified by emotional body perception. Moreover, the task performed by participants (i.e., implicit vs. explicit processing of emotional information) differently influenced Accuracy and ERP components. These results support integrated theories of visual perception, thus speaking in favour of the functional independence of the two neurocognitive pathways (one for structural encoding and one for emotional expression analysis) involved in social stimuli processing. Results are discussed highlighting the neurocognitive and computational advantages of the independence between the two pathways.

Development and validation of the trauma-specific emotional counting Stroop paradigm for fMRI study

BackgroundThe emotional-counting Stroop (ecStroop) is a cognitive task to evaluate emotional information processing. This study aimed to develop a trauma-specific ecStroop protocol for firefighters and assess its validity as a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation paradigm. MethodsTo develop the ecStroop protocol, trauma-related words for firefighters were selected from previous studies, and general negative and neutral words were matched corresponding to the number of letters and syllables, parts of speech, and frequency in the Korean language. The negative emotional valence of whole words was investigated in 520 healthy participants. To compare brain activation between three categories, 25 healthy individuals underwent fMRI during the ecStroop task. ResultsEight trauma-related words, eight general negative words, and sixteen neutral words were selected by emotional valence scores. The general negative words were related to increased activation in the right inferior and middle temporal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and left superior frontal gyrus compared to the neutral words. When exposed to the trauma-related words, participants' brain activation was increased in the right inferior temporal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and left inferior frontal gyrus as compared to when exposed to the neutral words. LimitationsThe fact that all participants in the phase 2 fMRI study were male could limit generalization to all genders. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the ecStroop paradigm successfully activated the brain regions for emotional processing. This paradigm could be valuable in assessing the trauma-specific neural changes in firefighters.

The influence of emotional context on emotional word processing in discourse comprehension: evidence from event-related potential.

This research utilized event-related potential (ERP) recording technology to examine the effect of emotional context on the processing of emotional information in sentences. Three types of emotion-consistent discourse materials (neutral-neutral, positive-positive and negative-negative) were constructed to specifically express neutral, positive and negative emotions, respectively. Each discourse comprised two sentences, with the emotionally significant words embedded at the penultimate position of the second sentence. Participants were asked to read these texts, respond to reading comprehension questions and the ERP amplitude induced by the emotional words was recorded. The results indicated a tripartite interaction in the N400 and Late positive component amplitudes involving emotional context, emotional words and brain hemispheres, observed in both frontal and central brain regions. Notably, there was a significant difference in response to positive words between positive and negative contexts. The findings suggest that emotional context has a substantial effect on the processing of emotional words. Positive words, in comparison to negative ones, are more influenced by emotional context, particularly in the frontal and central regions of the brain.