scholarly journals The neural circuitry of affect-induced distortions of trust

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. eaau3413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan B. Engelmann ◽  
Friederike Meyer ◽  
Christian C. Ruff ◽  
Ernst Fehr

Aversive affect is likely a key source of irrational human decision-making, but still, little is known about the neural circuitry underlying emotion-cognition interactions during social behavior. We induced incidental aversive affect via prolonged periods of threat of shock, while 41 healthy participants made investment decisions concerning another person or a lottery. Negative affect reduced trust, suppressed trust-specific activity in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and reduced functional connectivity between the TPJ and emotion-related regions such as the amygdala. The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) seems to play a key role in mediating the impact of affect on behavior: Functional connectivity of this brain area with left TPJ was associated with trust in the absence of negative affect, but aversive affect disrupted this association between TPJ-pSTS connectivity and behavioral trust. Our findings may be useful for a better understanding of the neural circuitry of affective distortions in healthy and pathological populations.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan B. Engelmann ◽  
Friederike Meyer ◽  
Christian C. Ruff ◽  
Ernst Fehr

AbstractAversive emotions are likely to be a key source of irrational human decision-making but still little is known about the neural circuitry underlying emotion-cognition interactions during social behavior. Here, we show that incidental aversive emotions distort trust decisions and cause significant changes in the associated neural circuitry. Experimentally-induced negative affect reduced trust, suppressed trust-specific activity in left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and reduced functional connectivity between TPJ and emotion-related regions such as the amygdala. The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) seems to play a key role in mediating the impact of emotion on behavior: Functional connectivity of this brain area with left TPJ was associated with trust in the absence of negative emotions, but aversive emotions disrupted this association between TPJ-pSTS connectivity and behavioral trust. Our findings may be useful for a better understanding of the neural circuitry of affective distortions and may help identify the neural bases of psychiatric diseases that are associated with emotion-related psychological and behavioral dysfunctions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav H Patel ◽  
David C. Gruskin ◽  
Sophie C. Arkin ◽  
Emery C. Jamerson ◽  
Daniel R. Ruiz-Betancourt ◽  
...  

Background: Efficient processing of complex and dynamic social scenes relies on intact connectivity of many underlying cortical areas and networks, but how connectivity deficits affect this functioning in social cognition remains unknown. Here we measure these relationships using functionally based localization of social cognition areas, resting-state functional connectivity, and movie-watching data. Methods: In 42 schizophrenia participants (SzP) and 41 healthy controls (HC), we measured the functional connectivity of areas localized by face-emotion processing, theory-of-mind, and attention tasks. We quantified the weighted shortest path length between visual and medial prefrontal theory-of-mind areas in both populations to assess the impact of functional connectivity deficits on network structure. We then correlated connectivity along the shortest path in each group with movie-evoked activity in a key node of the theory-of-mind network (TPJp). Results: SzP had pronounced connectivity deficits in temporoparietal junction/posterior superior temporal sulcus (TPJ-pSTS) areas involved in face-emotion processing (t(81)=4.4, p=0.00002). In HC the shortest path connecting visual and medial prefrontal theory-of-mind areas passed through TPJ-pSTS, whereas in SzP the shortest path passed through prefrontal cortex (PFC). While movie-evoked TPJp activity correlated with connectivity along the TPJ-pSTS pathway in both groups (r=0.43, p=0.002), it additionally correlated with connectivity along the PFC pathway only in SzP (rSzP=0.56, p=0.003). Conclusions: Connectivity along the human-unique TPJ-pSTS pathway affects both the network architecture and functioning of areas involved in processing complex dynamic social scenes. These results demonstrate how focal deficits can have widespread impacts across cortex.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (supplement) ◽  
pp. 352-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seon Hee Jang ◽  
Frank E Pollick

The study of dance has been helpful to advance our understanding of how human brain networks of action observation are influenced by experience. However previous studies have not examined the effect of extensive visual experience alone: for example, an art critic or dance fan who has a rich experience of watching dance but negligible experience performing dance. To explore the effect of pure visual experience we performed a single experiment using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to compare the neural processing of dance actions in 3 groups: a) 14 ballet dancers, b) 10 experienced viewers, c) 12 novices without any extensive dance or viewing experience. Each of the 36 participants viewed short 2-second displays of ballet derived from motion capture of a professional ballerina. These displays represented the ballerina as only points of light at the major joints. We wished to study the action observation network broadly and thus included two different types of display and two different tasks for participants to perform. The two different displays were: a) brief movies of a ballet action and b) frames from the ballet movies with the points of lights connected by lines to show a ballet posture. The two different tasks were: a) passively observe the display and b) imagine performing the action depicted in the display. The two levels of display and task were combined factorially to produce four experimental conditions (observe movie, observe posture, motor imagery of movie, motor imagery of posture). The set of stimuli used in the experiment are available for download after this paper. A random effects ANOVA was performed on brain activity and an effect of experience was obtained in seven different brain areas including: right Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ), left Retrosplenial Cortex (RSC), right Primary Somatosensory Cortex (S1), bilateral Primary Motor Cortex (M1), right Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC), right Temporal Pole (TP). The patterns of activation were plotted in each of these areas (TPJ, RSC, S1, M1, OFC, TP) to investigate more closely how the effect of experience changed across these areas. For this analysis, novices were treated as baseline and the relative effect of experience examined in the dancer and experienced viewer groups. Interpretation of these results suggests that both visual and motor experience appear equivalent in producing more extensive early processing of dance actions in early stages of representation (TPJ and RSC) and we hypothesise that this could be due to the involvement of autobiographical memory processes. The pattern of results found for dancers in S1 and M1 suggest that their perception of dance actions are enhanced by embodied processes. For example, the S1 results are consistent with claims that this brain area shows mirror properties. The pattern of results found for the experienced viewers in OFC and TP suggests that their perception of dance actions are enhanced by cognitive processes. For example, involving aspects of social cognition and hedonic processing – the experienced viewers find the motor imagery task more pleasant and have richer connections of dance to social memory. While aspects of our interpretation are speculative the core results clearly show common and distinct aspects of how viewing experience and physical experience shape brain responses to watching dance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Testori ◽  
M Kempf ◽  
RB Hoyle ◽  
Hedwig Eisenbarth

© 2019 Hogrefe Publishing. Personality traits have been long recognized to have a strong impact on human decision-making. In this study, a sample of 314 participants took part in an online game to investigate the impact of psychopathic traits on cooperative behavior in an iterated Prisoner's dilemma game. We found that disinhibition decreased the maintenance of cooperation in successive plays, but had no effect on moving toward cooperation after a previous defection or on the overall level of cooperation over rounds. Furthermore, our results underline the crucial importance of a good model selection procedure, showing how a poor choice of statistical model can provide misleading results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S235-S235
Author(s):  
Jooyoung Kong ◽  
Yin Liu ◽  
David Almeida

Abstract Extensive evidence suggests that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to negative health effects across a lifetime. This study examines the impact of ACEs on the frequency of providing daily support (i.e., unpaid assistance, emotional support, and disability-related assistance) to family members and the moderating effects of ACEs in the association between providing daily support to family and daily negative affect. Using the National Study of Daily Experiences II, we analyzed a total of 14,912 daily interviews from 2,022 respondents aged 56 on average. Key results showed that a greater number of ACEs were associated with providing more frequent emotional support to family. We also found the significant interaction effect that adults with more ACEs showed greater negative affect on the days when they provided assistance to family members with disabilities. The findings underscore the long-term negative impact of ACEs on daily well-being in the context of family relationships.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4961
Author(s):  
Maria Kovalska ◽  
Eva Baranovicova ◽  
Dagmar Kalenska ◽  
Anna Tomascova ◽  
Marian Adamkov ◽  
...  

L-methionine, an essential amino acid, plays a critical role in cell physiology. High intake and/or dysregulation in methionine (Met) metabolism results in accumulation of its intermediate(s) or breakdown products in plasma, including homocysteine (Hcy). High level of Hcy in plasma, hyperhomocysteinemia (hHcy), is considered to be an independent risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases, stroke and dementias. To evoke a mild hHcy in adult male Wistar rats we used an enriched Met diet at a dose of 2 g/kg of animal weight/day in duration of 4 weeks. The study contributes to the exploration of the impact of Met enriched diet inducing mild hHcy on nervous tissue by detecting the histo-morphological, metabolomic and behavioural alterations. We found an altered plasma metabolomic profile, modified spatial and learning memory acquisition as well as remarkable histo-morphological changes such as a decrease in neurons’ vitality, alterations in the morphology of neurons in the selective vulnerable hippocampal CA 1 area of animals treated with Met enriched diet. Results of these approaches suggest that the mild hHcy alters plasma metabolome and behavioural and histo-morphological patterns in rats, likely due to the potential Met induced changes in “methylation index” of hippocampal brain area, which eventually aggravates the noxious effect of high methionine intake.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Lichtman ◽  
Eyal Bergmann ◽  
Alexandra Kavushansky ◽  
Nadav Cohen ◽  
Nina S. Levy ◽  
...  

AbstractIQSEC2 is an X-linked gene that is associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, and epilepsy. IQSEC2 is a postsynaptic density protein, localized on excitatory synapses as part of the NMDA receptor complex and is suggested to play a role in AMPA receptor trafficking and mediation of long-term depression. Here, we present brain-wide structural volumetric and functional connectivity characterization in a novel mouse model with a missense mutation in the IQ domain of IQSEC2 (A350V). Using high-resolution structural and functional MRI, we show that animals with the A350V mutation display increased whole-brain volume which was further found to be specific to the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Moreover, using a data-driven approach we identify putative alterations in structure–function relations of the frontal, auditory, and visual networks in A350V mice. Examination of these alterations revealed an increase in functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsomedial striatum. We also show that corticostriatal functional connectivity is correlated with individual variability in social behavior only in A350V mice, as assessed using the three-chamber social preference test. Our results at the systems-level bridge the impact of previously reported changes in AMPA receptor trafficking to network-level disruption and impaired social behavior. Further, the A350V mouse model recapitulates similarly reported brain-wide changes in other ASD mouse models, with substantially different cellular-level pathologies that nonetheless result in similar brain-wide alterations, suggesting that novel therapeutic approaches in ASD that result in systems-level rescue will be relevant to IQSEC2 mutations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 296
Author(s):  
Imke Matthys ◽  
Justine Defreyne ◽  
Els Elaut ◽  
Alessandra Daphne Fisher ◽  
Baudewijntje P. C. Kreukels ◽  
...  

Improving transgender people’s quality of life (QoL) is the most important goal of gender-affirming care. Prospective changes in affect can influence QoL. We aim to assess the impact of initiating gender-affirming hormonal treatment (HT) on affect. In the European Network for the Investigation of Gender Incongruence (ENIGI) study, we prospectively collected data of 873 participants (451 transwomen (TW) and 422 transmen (TM)). At baseline, psychological questionnaires including the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) were administered. The PANAS, levels of sex steroids and physical changes were registered at each follow-up visit during a 3-year follow-up period, starting at the initiation of hormonal therapy. Data were analyzed cross-sectionally and prospectively. Over the first three months, we observed a decline in positive affect (PA) in both TM and TW. Thereafter, PA reached a steady state in TW, whereas in TM there was also a second decline at 18 months. In both TM and TW there was no persisting difference comparing baseline to the 36-months results. Concerning negative affect (NA), we observed a decline during the first year in TM, which sustained during the second year and was not different anymore at 36 months compared to baseline. In TW though, we did not find any change of NA during the entire follow-up. Even if some of these results show significant differences, they should be considered with caution, since there was no control group and the absolute differences are small. No association between affect and the level of sex steroids was observed. Baseline QoL and psychological burden are related to affect independently from gender but are not necessarily good predictors of the evolution of one’s affect during the gender-affirming process. Further research is necessary to investigate these preliminary results.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Calesella ◽  
Alberto Testolin ◽  
Michele De Filippo De Grazia ◽  
Marco Zorzi

AbstractMultivariate prediction of human behavior from resting state data is gaining increasing popularity in the neuroimaging community, with far-reaching translational implications in neurology and psychiatry. However, the high dimensionality of neuroimaging data increases the risk of overfitting, calling for the use of dimensionality reduction methods to build robust predictive models. In this work, we assess the ability of four well-known dimensionality reduction techniques to extract relevant features from resting state functional connectivity matrices of stroke patients, which are then used to build a predictive model of the associated deficits based on cross-validated regularized regression. In particular, we investigated the prediction ability over different neuropsychological scores referring to language, verbal memory, and spatial memory domains. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) were the two best methods at extracting representative features, followed by Dictionary Learning (DL) and Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NNMF). Consistent with these results, features extracted by PCA and ICA were found to be the best predictors of the neuropsychological scores across all the considered cognitive domains. For each feature extraction method, we also examined the impact of the regularization method, model complexity (in terms of number of features that entered in the model) and quality of the maps that display predictive edges in the resting state networks. We conclude that PCA-based models, especially when combined with L1 (LASSO) regularization, provide optimal balance between prediction accuracy, model complexity, and interpretability.


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