Unraveling the temporal interplay of slow-paced breathing and prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on cardiac indices of autonomic activity.

The neurovisceral integration model proposes that information flows bidirectionally between the brain and the heart via the vagus nerve, indexed by vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV). Voluntary reduction in breathing rate (slow-paced breathing, SPB, 5.5 Breathing Per Minute (BPM)) can enhance vmHRV.

Vagally-mediated HRV as a marker of trait rumination in healthy individuals? A large cross-sectional analysis.

The tendency to ruminate (i.e., repetitive, self-referential, negative thoughts) is a maladaptive form of emotional regulation and represents a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor for stress-related psychopathology.

Attentional bias to food during free and instructed viewing in anorexia nervosa: An eye tracking study.

Previous research has shown that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) show an attentional bias to food. However, due to different conceptualizations of attentional bias and the use of various paradigms, results are inconclusive and more precise insights into the exact nature of this attentional bias are needed. Therefore, an eye-tracking paradigm with food (low and high caloric) and non-food (objects) pictures was used to investigate biases in AN patients (n = 25) compared to healthy controls (n = 22).

Adult age differences in the psychophysiological response to acute stress.

Age-related differences in the psychophysiology of the acute stress response are poorly understood given the limited number of studies and the high heterogeneity of findings. The present study contributes by investigating age differences in both the psychological and physiological responses to acute stress in a sample of healthy younger (N = 50; 18-30; M = 23.06; SD = 2.

Prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation over the right prefrontal cortex reduces proactive and reactive control performance towards emotional material in healthy individuals.

The prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in cognitive processes, both during anticipatory and reactive modes of cognitive control. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can modulate these cognitive resources. However, there is a lack of research exploring the impact of tDCS on emotional material processing in the prefrontal cortex, particularly in regard to proactive and reactive modes of cognitive control.

Acoustic speech features in social comparison: how stress impacts the way you sound.

The use of speech as a digital biomarker to detect stress levels is increasingly gaining attention. Yet, heterogeneous effects of stress on specific acoustic speech features have been observed, possibly due to previous studies' use of different stress labels/categories and the lack of solid stress induction paradigms or validation of experienced stress. Here, we deployed a controlled, within-subject psychosocial stress induction experiment in which participants received both neutral (control condition) and negative (negative condition) comparative feedback after solving a challenging cognitive task.

Prefrontal tDCS Attenuates Self-Referential Attentional Deployment: A Mechanism Underlying Adaptive Emotional Reactivity to Social-Evaluative Threat.

Social-evaluative threat (SET) - a situation in which one could be negatively evaluated by others - elicits profound (psycho)physiological reactivity which, if chronically present and not adaptively regulated, has deleterious effects on mental and physical health. Decreased self-awareness and increased other-awareness are understood to be an adaptive response to SET. Attentional deployment - the process of selectively attending to certain aspects of emotional stimuli to modulate emotional reactivity - is supported by fronto-parietal and fronto-limbic networks, with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex being a central hub.

Prefrontal tDCS attenuates counterfactual thinking in female individuals prone to self-critical rumination.

The tendency to ruminate (i.e., repetitive negative self-referential thoughts that perpetuate depressive mood) is associated with (a) an elevated propensity to maladaptively experience counterfactual thinking (CFT) and regret, and (b) hypo-activity of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).

Effects of HF-rTMS over the left and right DLPFC on proactive and reactive cognitive control.

Previous research supports the distinction between proactive and reactive control. Although the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been consistently related to these processes, lateralization of proactive and reactive control is still under debate. We manipulated brain activity to investigate the role of the left and right DLPFC in proactive and reactive cognitive control.

Mind the social feedback: effects of tDCS applied to the left DLPFC on psychophysiological responses during the anticipation and reception of social evaluations.

The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) is implicated in anticipatory (i.e. during anticipation of emotional stimuli) and online (i.

Bifrontal tDCS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in heavy drinkers: Influence on reward-triggered approach bias and alcohol consumption.

Even though the ventromedial neural network (reward pathway) has been well documented to be a mediator for increased craving, the prefrontal cortex is receiving ever more attention for craving monitoring. In the current study, we examined whether causal modulation of the prefrontal cortex, and its associated neural network, diminishes reward-triggered approach bias (due to increased cognitive control), alcohol craving and consumption. Using a double-blind within-subjects design in a subclinical group of forty-five heavy drinkers, a single sham controlled session of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).

Inverse effects of tDCS over the left versus right DLPC on emotional processing: A pupillometry study.

Background And Objectives: The Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is implicated in cognitive and emotional responses. Yet, research that investigates the causal role of the left versus right DLPFC during the processes of emotion appraisal is lacking. In the current study, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was used to disentangle the functional lateralization of the DLPFC on emotional processing in response to the anticipation of, and subsequent confrontation with emotional stimuli in healthy volunteers.

Neurocognitive mechanisms behind emotional attention: Inverse effects of anodal tDCS over the left and right DLPFC on gaze disengagement from emotional faces.

Background: Attention to relevant emotional information in the environment is an important process related to vulnerability and resilience for mood and anxiety disorders. In the present study, the effects of left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (i.e.