The Integration of Emotional Expression and Experience: A Pragmatist Review of Recent Evidence From Brain Stimulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caruana Fausto
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Common View ◽  
Frontal Operculum ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
Stimulation Of

A common view in affective neuroscience considers emotions as a multifaceted phenomenon constituted by independent affective and motor components. Such dualistic connotation, obtained by rephrasing the classic Darwin and James’s theories of emotion, leads to the assumption that emotional expression is controlled by motor centers in the anterior cingulate, frontal operculum, and supplementary motor area, whereas emotional experience depends on interoceptive centers in the insula. Recent stimulation studies provide a different perspective. I will outline two sets of findings. First, affective experiences can be elicited also following the stimulation of motor centers. Second, emotional expressions can be elicited by stimulating interoceptive regions. Echoing the original pragmatist theories of emotion, I will make a case for the notion that emotional experience emerges from the integration of sensory and motor signals, encoded in the same functional network.

Cutaneous Painful Laser Stimuli Evoke Responses Recorded Directly From Primary Somatosensory Cortex in Awake Humans

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2734-2746 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ohara ◽  
N. E. Crone ◽  
N. Weiss ◽  
R.-D. Treede ◽  
F. A. Lenz
Keyword(s):  
Evoked Potential ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Intractable Epilepsy ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Vibratory Stimulation ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Medial Dorsal ◽  
Postcentral Gyrus ◽  
Stimulation Of

Negative and positive laser evoked potential (LEP) peaks (N2*, P2**) were simultaneously recorded from the primary somatosensory (SI), parasylvian, and medial frontal (MF: anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area) cortical surfaces through subdural electrodes implanted for the surgical treatment of intractable epilepsy. Distribution of the LEP N2* and P2** peaks was estimated to be in cortical areas (SI, parasylvian, and MF) identified by anatomic criteria, by their response to innocuous vibratory stimulation of a finger (v-SEP), and to electrical stimulation of the median nerve (e-SEP). The maximum of the LEP N2* peak was located on the CS, medial (dorsal) to the finger motor area, as determined by cortical stimulation, and to the finger somatosensory area, as determined from the e-SEP and v-SEP. This finding suggests that the generator source of the LEP N2* peak in SI was different from that of e-SEP or v-SEP in Brodmann's areas 3b or 1. In parasylvian and MF, polarity reversal was often observed, indicating tangential current sources in these regions. In contrast to e-SEP and v-SEP, the LEP N2* latency over SI was not shorter than that over the parasylvian region. The amplitude of N2* was larger over SI than over MF and the latencies of the LEP peaks in those 2 regions were different. These findings provide evidence for a significant LEP generator in the postcentral gyrus, perhaps SI cortex, that is situated outside the tactile homunculus in SI and that receives its input arising from nociceptors simultaneously with parasylvian and MF cortex.

scholarly journals Emotions as Agents of Social Influence

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerben van Kleef
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Affective Reactions ◽  
Supportive Evidence ◽  
Interpersonal Effects

Emotion is part and parcel of social influence. The emotions people feel shape the ways in which they respond to persuasion attempts, and the emotions people express influence other individuals who observe those expressions. This chapter is concerned with the latter type of emotional influence. Such interpersonal effects of emotional expressions are quite different from the traditionally studied intrapersonal effects of emotional experience. This calls for a new theoretical approach that is dedicated specifically to understanding the interpersonal effects of emotional expressions. I summarize emotions as social information (EASI) theory, which posits that emotional expressions shape social influence by triggering affective reactions and/or inferential processes in observers, depending on the observer’s information processing and the perceived appropriateness of the emotional expression. I review supportive evidence from various domains of social influence, including negotiation, leadership, attitude change, compliance, and conformity in groups. Differences and commonalities with traditional intrapersonal frameworks are discussed.

scholarly journals The Interpretation of E-Motions in Faces and Bodies Derived from Static Artworks by Individuals with High Functioning Autistic Spectrum

Vision ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Maria Elisa Della-Torre ◽  
Daniele Zavagno ◽  
Rossana Actis-Grosso
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Dynamic Component ◽  
Specific Emotion ◽  
Similar Range

E-motions are defined as those affective states the expressions of which—conveyed either by static faces or body posture—embody a dynamic component and, consequently, convey a higher sense of dynamicity than other emotional expressions. An experiment is presented, aimed at testing whether e-motions are perceived as such also by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which have been associated with impairments in emotion recognition and in motion perception. To this aim we replicate with ASD individuals a study, originally conducted with typically developed individuals (TDs), in which we showed to both ASD and TD participants 14 bodiless heads and 14 headless bodies taken from eleven static artworks and four drawings. The Experiment was divided into two sessions. In Session 1 participants were asked to freely associate each stimulus to an emotion or an affective state (Task 1, option A); if they were unable to find a specific emotion, the experimenter showed them a list of eight possible emotions (words) and asked them to choose one from such list, that best described the affective state portrayed in the image (Task 1, option B). After their choice, they were asked to rate the intensity of the perceived emotion on a seven point Likert scale (Task 2). In Session 2 participants were requested to evaluate the degree of dynamicity conveyed by each stimulus on a 7 point Likert scale. Results showed that ASDs and TDs shared a similar range of verbal expressions defining emotions; however, ASDs (i) showed an impairment in the ability to spontaneously assign an emotion to a headless body, and (ii) they more frequently used terms denoting negative emotions (for both faces and bodies) as compared to neutral emotions, which in turn were more frequently used by TDs. No difference emerged between the two groups for positive emotions, with happiness being the emotion better recognized in both faces and in bodies. Although overall there are no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the emotions assigned to the images and the degree of perceived dynamicity, the interaction Artwork x Group showed that for some images ASDs assigned a different value than TDs to perceived dynamicity. Moreover, two images were interpreted by ASDs as conveying completely different emotions than those perceived by TDs. Results are discussed in light of the ability of ASDs to resolve ambiguity, and of possible different cognitive styles characterizing the aesthetical/emotional experience.

Impaired Conflict Adaptation in an Emotional Task Context following Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex Lesions in Humans

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 2070-2079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Maier ◽  
Giuseppe di Pellegrino
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Conflict Adaptation ◽  
Task Context ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Competing Response ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Normal Controls

Recent brain imaging studies have implicated the rostral ACC (rACC) in the resolution of conflict between competing response tendencies in emotional task contexts, but not in neutral task contexts. This study tested the hypothesis that the rACC is necessary for such context-specific conflict adaptation. To this end, a group of patients with lesions of the rACC, a group of brain-damaged controls, and a group of normal controls classified the emotional expression (emotional task context) or the gender (neutral task context) of faces while ignoring congruent and incongruent words written across the faces. In all three groups, performance was worse with incongruent as compared with congruent stimuli in both task contexts. In the two control groups, this congruency effect was reduced following incongruent trials in both task contexts. By contrast, the rACC group displayed such conflict adaptation only in the neutral, but not in the emotional, task context. These results show that the rACC is necessary for conflict adaptation in emotional but not in neutral task contexts and suggest that the regulation of behavior is context specific.

scholarly journals Encoding of speed and direction of movement in the human supplementary motor area

2009 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 1304-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Tankus ◽  
Yehezkel Yeshurun ◽  
Tamar Flash ◽  
Itzhak Fried
Keyword(s):  
Firing Rate ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neuron Activity ◽  
Kinematic Parameters ◽  
Speed Increase ◽  
Hand Motion ◽  
Depth Electrodes

Object The supplementary motor area (SMA) plays an important role in planning, initiation, and execution of motor acts. Patients with SMA lesions are impaired in various kinematic parameters, such as velocity and duration of movement. However, the relationships between neuronal activity and these parameters in the human brain have not been fully characterized. This is a study of single-neuron activity during a continuous volitional motor task, with the goal of clarifying these relationships for SMA neurons and other frontal lobe regions in humans. Methods The participants were 7 patients undergoing evaluation for epilepsy surgery requiring implantation of intracranial depth electrodes. Single-unit recordings were conducted while the patients played a computer game involving movement of a cursor in a simple maze. Results In the SMA proper, most of the recorded units exhibited a monotonic relationship between the unit firing rate and hand motion speed. The vast majority of SMA proper units with this property showed an inverse relation, that is, firing rate decrease with speed increase. In addition, most of the SMA proper units were selective to the direction of hand motion. These relationships were far less frequent in the pre-SMA, anterior cingulate gyrus, and orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusions The findings suggest that the SMA proper takes part in the control of kinematic parameters of endeffector motion, and thus lend support to the idea of connecting neuroprosthetic devices to the human SMA.

scholarly journals Typical emotional expression in children’s drawings of the human face

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Cannoni ◽  
Giuliana Pinto ◽  
Anna Silvia Bombi
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Basic Emotions ◽  
Preferential Expression ◽  
Human Figure ◽  
Figure Drawings ◽  
Number Of Faces ◽  
Human Faces

AbstractThis study was aimed at verifying if children introduce emotional expressions in their drawings of human faces, and if a preferential expression exists; we also wanted to verify if children’s pictorial choices change with increasing age. To this end we examined the human figure drawings made by 160 boys and 160 girls, equally divided in 4 age groups: 6–7; 8–9; 10–11; 12–13 years; mean ages (SD in parentheses) were: 83,30 (6,54); 106,14 (7,16) 130,49 (8,26); 155,40 (6,66). Drawings were collected with the Draw-a-Man test instructions, i.e. without mentioning an emotional characterization. In the light of data from previous studies of emotion drawing on request, and the literature about preferred emotional expressions, we expected that an emotion would be portrayed even by the younger participants, and that the preferred emotion would be happiness. We also expected that with the improving ability to keep into account both mouth and eyes appearance, other expressions would be found besides the smiling face. Data were submitted to non-parametric tests to compare the frequencies of expressions (absolute and by age) and the frequencies of visual cues (absolute and by age and expressions). The results confirmed that only a small number of faces were expressionless, and that the most frequent emotion was happiness. However, with increasing age this representation gave way to a variety of basic emotions (sadness, fear, anger, surprise), whose representation may depend from the ability to modify the shapes of both eyes and mouth and changing communicative aims of the child.

Cognitive-Affective Neuroscience of Depersonalization

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 467-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan J. Stein ◽  
Daphne Simeon
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Body Schema ◽  
The Body ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Limbic Structures ◽  
Molecular Systems ◽  
Depersonalization Disorder

ABSTRACTDepersonalization disorder (DPD) is characterized by a subjective sense of detachment from one's own being and a sense of unreality. An examination of the psychobiology of depersonalization symptoms may be useful in understanding the cognitive-affective neuroscience of embodiment. DPD may be mediated by neurocircuitry and neurotransmitters involved in the integration of sensory processing and of the body schema, and in the mediation of emotional experience and the identification of feelings. For example, DPD has been found to involve autonomic blunting, deactivation of sub-cortical structures, and disturbances in molecular systems in such circuitry. An evolutionary perspective suggests that attenuation of emotional responses, mediated by deactivation of limbic structures, may sometimes be advantageous in response to inescapable stress.

Mirth and laughter elicited by electrical stimulation of the human anterior cingulate cortex

Cortex ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fausto Caruana ◽  
Pietro Avanzini ◽  
Francesca Gozzo ◽  
Stefano Francione ◽  
Francesco Cardinale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Stimulation Of
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