Acquisition and generalization of emotional and neural responses to faces associated with negative and positive feedback behaviours.

Faces can acquire emotional meaning by learning to associate individuals with specific behaviors. Here, we investigated emotional evaluation and brain activations toward faces of persons who had given negative or positive evaluations to others. Furthermore, we investigated how emotional evaluations and brain activation generalize to perceptually similar faces.

Electrophysiological correlates of sustained conscious perception.

Previous research on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) in visual perception revealed an early event-related potential (ERP), the visual awareness negativity (VAN), to be associated with stimulus awareness. However, due to the use of brief stimulus presentations in previous studies, it remains unclear whether awareness-related negativities represent a transient onset-related response or correspond to the duration of a conscious percept. Studies are required that allow prolonged stimulus presentation under aware and unaware conditions.

How and when social evaluative feedback is processed in the brain: A systematic review on ERP studies.

Social evaluative feedback informs the receiver of the other's views, which may contain judgments of personality-related traits and/or the level of likability. Such kinds of social evaluative feedback are of particular importance to humans. Event-related potentials (ERPs) can directly measure where in the processing stream feedback valence, expectancy, or contextual relevance modulate information processing.

Stimulus awareness is associated with secondary somatosensory cortex activation in an inattentional numbness paradigm.

While inattentional blindness and deafness studies have revealed neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) without the confound of task relevance in the visual and auditory modality, comparable studies for the somatosensory modality are lacking. Here, we investigated NCC using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an inattentional numbness paradigm. Participants (N = 44) received weak electrical stimulation on the left hand while solving a demanding visual task.

Beyond facial expressions: A systematic review on effects of emotional relevance of faces on the N170.

The N170 is the most prominent electrophysiological signature of face processing. While facial expressions reliably modulate the N170, there is considerable variance in N170 modulations by other sources of emotional relevance. Therefore, we systematically review and discuss this research area using different methods to manipulate the emotional relevance of inherently neutral faces.

Glenoid index: a new risk factor for recurrence of glenohumeral instability after arthroscopic Bankart repair.

Background: The glenoid index (GI) (glenoid height to width ratio) has been shown to be a risk factor for instability in young healthy athletes. Nevertheless, whether the altered GI is a risk factor for recurrence after a Bankart repair remains unknown.

Methods: Between 2014 and 2018, 148 patients ≥ 18 years old with anterior glenohumeral instability underwent a primary arthroscopic Bankart repair in our institution.

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.

Visual perceptual load and processing of somatosensory stimuli in primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

Load theory assumes that neural activation to distractors in early sensory cortices is modulated by the perceptual load of a main task, regardless of whether task and distractor share the same sensory modality or not. While several studies have investigated the question of load effects on distractor processing in early sensory areas, there is no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study regarding load effects on somatosensory stimuli. Here, we used fMRI to investigate effects of visual perceptual load on neural responses to somatosensory stimuli applied to the wrist in a study with 44 participants.

The effects of visual perceptual load on detection performance and event-related potentials to auditory stimuli.

Load Theory states that perceptual load prevents, or at least reduces, the processing of task-unrelated stimuli. This study systematically examined the detection and neural processing of auditory stimuli unrelated to a visual foreground task. The visual task was designed to create continuous perceptual load, alternated between low and high load, and contained performance feedback to motivate participants to focus on the visual task instead of the auditory stimuli presented in the background.

Potentiated early neural responses to fearful faces are not driven by specific face parts.

Prioritized processing of fearful compared to neutral faces is reflected in increased amplitudes of components of the event-related potential (ERP). It is unknown whether specific face parts drive these modulations. Here, we investigated the contributions of face parts on ERPs to task-irrelevant fearful and neutral faces using an ERP-dependent facial decoding technique and a large sample of participants (N = 83).

The effects of visual working memory load on detection and neural processing of task-unrelated auditory stimuli.

While perceptual load has been proposed to reduce the processing of task-unrelated stimuli, theoretical arguments and empirical findings for other forms of task load are inconclusive. Here, we systematically investigated the detection and neural processing of auditory stimuli varying in stimulus intensity during a stimuli-unrelated visual working memory task alternating between low and high load. We found, depending on stimulus strength, decreased stimulus detection and reduced P3, but unaffected N1 amplitudes of the event-related potential to auditory stimuli under high as compared to low load.

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.

Fearful faces straight ahead or in the periphery: Early neuronal responses independently of trait anxiety.

For humans, it is vitally important to rapidly detect potentially threatening stimuli such as fearful faces in the periphery. Trait anxiety has been related to biased responses to threatening faces, which might be more pronounced for peripheral stimuli. We examined the impact of spatial location and trait anxiety on event-related potentials to fearful faces (ERPs) in a large sample ( = 80).

Early neural potentiation to centrally and peripherally presented fear-conditioned faces.

For humans, it is vitally important to rapidly detect and process threatening signals regardless of whether stimuli occur at fixation or in the periphery. However, it is unknown whether eccentricity affects early neuronal electrophysiological responses to fear-conditioned stimuli. We examined early event-related potentials (ERPs) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) to fear-conditioned faces to address this question.

Neural correlates of consciousness in an attentional blink paradigm with uncertain target relevance.

Several event-related potentials (ERPs) have been proposed as neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), most prominently the early visual awareness negativity (VAN) and the late P3b component. Highly influential support for the P3b comes from studies utilizing the attentional blink (AB), where conscious perception of a first visual target (T1) impairs reporting a second target (T2) presented shortly afterwards. Recent no-report studies using other paradigms suggest that the P3b component may reflect post-perceptual processes associated with decision-making rather than awareness.

Early and late electrophysiological correlates of gradual perceptual awareness in- and outside the Attentional Blink window.

There is an ongoing debate on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) in the attentional blink (AB). Theoretical accounts propose that NCC during the attentional blink occur late in the processing hierarchy and that this quality is specific to the AB. We investigated this question by recording event-related potentials during an AB experiment with faces as T2.

Effects of emotional valence and intensity on cognitive and affective empathy after insula lesions.

The insula plays a central role in empathy. However, the complex structure of cognitive (CE) and affective empathy (AE) deficits following insular damage is not fully understood. In the present study, patients with insular lesions (n = 20) and demographically matched healthy controls (n = 24) viewed ecologically valid videos that varied in terms of valence and emotional intensity.

Effects of awareness and task relevance on neurocomputational models of mismatch negativity generation.

Detection of regularities and their violations in sensory input is key to perception. Violations are indexed by an early EEG component called the mismatch negativity (MMN) - even if participants are distracted or unaware of the stimuli. On a mechanistic level, two dominant models have been suggested to contribute to the MMN: adaptation and prediction.

The Latarjet procedure in competitive athletes younger than 20 years old with a significant glenoid bone loss.

Purpose: To analyze return to sports, functional outcomes, and complications following the Latarjet procedure in competitive athletes younger than 20 years old with a significant glenoid bone loss.

Methods: Between 2010 and 2017, 60 competitive athletes younger than 20 years old with a significant glenoid bone loss were operated with the Latarjet procedure. Return to sports, range of motion, and the Rowe and the Athletic Shoulder Outcome Scoring System score were used to assess functional outcomes.

Differential effects of prediction error and adaptation along the auditory cortical hierarchy during deviance processing.

Neural mismatch responses have been proposed to rely on different mechanisms, including prediction error-related activity and adaptation to frequent stimuli. However, the hierarchical cortical structure of these mechanisms is unknown. To investigate this question, we recorded hemodynamic responses while participants (N = 54) listened to an auditory oddball sequence as well as a suited control condition.

Effects of task load, spatial attention, and trait anxiety on neuronal responses to fearful and neutral faces.

There is an ongoing debate on how different components of the event-related potential (ERP) to threat-related facial expressions are modulated by attentional conditions and interindividual differences in trait anxiety. In the current study (N = 80), we examined ERPs to centrally presented, task-irrelevant fearful and neutral faces, while participants had to solve a face-unrelated visual task, which differed in difficulty and spatial position. Critically, we used a fixation-controlled experimental design and ensured the spatial attention manipulation by spectral analysis of the EEG.

No trait anxiety influences on early and late differential neuronal responses to aversively conditioned faces across three different tasks.

The human brain's ability to quickly detect dangerous stimuli is crucial in selecting appropriate responses to possible threats. Trait anxiety has been suggested to moderate these processes on certain processing stages. To dissociate such different information-processing stages, research using classical conditioning has begun to examine event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to fear-conditioned (CS +) faces.

Feature-based attention interacts with emotional picture content during mid-latency and late ERP processing stages.

Several components of the event-related potential (ERP) are amplified by emotional compared to neutral pictures. This study (N = 80) investigated systematically how attention to specific stimulus features influences ERPs to briefly presented (100 ms) negative and neutral pictures. Participants had to discriminate either (i) the orientation of overlaid lines, (ii) if the picture content was animate or inanimate, or (iii) if the emotional content was negative or neutral.

Effects of perceptual and working memory load on brain responses to task-irrelevant stimuli: Review and implications for future research.

Load Theory assumes that the extent of processing of task-irrelevant information depends on the level (high vs. low load) and type (perceptual vs. working memory) of task load.