scholarly journals Neural Activation during Covert Processing of Positive Emotional Facial Expressions

NeuroImage ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Dolan ◽  
P. Fletcher ◽  
J. Morris ◽  
N. Kapur ◽  
J.F.W. Deakin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Early and Recent Life Stress and Emotional Expression Processing—A Functional Connectivity Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Sokołowski ◽  
Monika Folkierska-Żukowska ◽  
Katarzyna Jednoróg ◽  
Craig A. Moodie ◽  
Wojciech Ł. Dragan
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Cumulative Stress ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Effects Of Stress

The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals who experienced only early life stress, only recent life stress, both, or neither. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies have suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing and, hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. We found that both the interaction between early and recent life stress, as well as cumulative stress levels, were related to alterations in functional connectivity during emotional facial expressions processing. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress on humans.

Neural correlates of perception of emotional facial expressions in out-patients with mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety. A multicenter fMRI study

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 2253-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Demenescu ◽  
R. Renken ◽  
R. Kortekaas ◽  
M.-J. van Tol ◽  
J. B. C. Marsman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
Depressed Patients

BackgroundDepression has been associated with limbic hyperactivation and frontal hypoactivation in response to negative facial stimuli. Anxiety disorders have also been associated with increased activation of emotional structures such as the amygdala and insula. This study examined to what extent activation of brain regions involved in perception of emotional faces is specific to depression and anxiety disorders in a large community-based sample of out-patients.MethodAn event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm was used including angry, fearful, sad, happy and neutral facial expressions. One hundred and eighty-two out-patients (59 depressed, 57 anxiety and 66 co-morbid depression-anxiety) and 56 healthy controls selected from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) were included in the present study. Whole-brain analyses were conducted. The temporal profile of amygdala activation was also investigated.ResultsFacial expressions activated the amygdala and fusiform gyrus in depressed patients with or without anxiety and in healthy controls, relative to scrambled faces, but this was less evident in patients with anxiety disorders. The response shape of the amygdala did not differ between groups. Depressed patients showed dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) hyperactivation in response to happy faces compared to healthy controls.ConclusionsWe suggest that stronger frontal activation to happy faces in depressed patients may reflect increased demands on effortful emotion regulation processes triggered by mood-incongruent stimuli. The lack of strong differences in neural activation to negative emotional faces, relative to healthy controls, may be characteristic of the mild-to-moderate severity of illness in this sample and may be indicative of a certain cognitive-emotional processing reserve.

Exploring an Emotional Basis of Cognitive Control in the Flanker Task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motonori Yamaguchi ◽  
Jack Dylan Moore ◽  
Sarah Hendry ◽  
Felicity Wolohan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Mood Induction ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Flanker Effect ◽  
Sequential Modulation ◽  
Emotional Basis ◽  
Negative Stimuli

The emotional basis of cognitive control has been investigated in the flanker task with various procedures and materials across different studies. The present study examined the issue with the same flanker task but with different types of emotional stimuli and design. In seven experiments, the flanker effect and its sequential modulation according to the preceding trial type were assessed. Experiments 1 and 2 used affective pictures and emotional facial expressions as emotional stimuli, and positive and negative stimuli were intermixed. There was little evidence that emotional stimuli influenced cognitive control. Experiments 3 and 4 used the same affective pictures and facial expressions, but positive and negative stimuli were separated between different participant groups. Emotional stimuli reduced the flanker effect as well as its sequential modulation regardless of valence. Experiments 5 and 6 used affective pictures but manipulated arousal and valence of stimuli orthogonally The results did not replicate the reduced flanker effect or sequential modulation by valence, nor did they show consistent effects of arousal. Experiment 7 used a mood induction technique and showed that sequential modulation was positively correlated with valence rating (the higher the more positive) but was negatively correlated with arousal rating. These results are inconsistent with several previous findings and are difficult to reconcile within a single theoretical framework, confirming an elusive nature of the emotional basis of cognitive control in the flanker task.

scholarly journals The effects of sleep deprivation on the processing of emotional facial expressions in young adults with and without ADHD

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ami Cohen ◽  
Kfir Asraf ◽  
Ivgeny Saveliev ◽  
Orrie Dan ◽  
Iris Haimov
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Experimental Session ◽  
Poor Sleep ◽  
Adhd Group ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Oddball Task

AbstractThe ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions is essential to the development of complex social cognition behaviors, and impairments in this ability are associated with poor social competence. This study aimed to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on the processing of emotional facial expressions and nonfacial stimuli in young adults with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thirty-five men (mean age 25.4) with (n = 19) and without (n = 16) ADHD participated in the study. During the five days preceding the experimental session, the participants were required to sleep at least seven hours per night (23:00/24:00–7:00/9:00) and their sleep was monitored via actigraphy. On the morning of the experimental session, the participants completed a 4-stimulus visual oddball task combining facial and nonfacial stimuli, and repeated it after 25 h of sustained wakefulness. At baseline, both study groups had poorer performance in response to facial rather than non-facial target stimuli on all indices of the oddball task, with no differences between the groups. Following sleep deprivation, rates of omission errors, commission errors and reaction time variability increased significantly in the ADHD group but not in the control group. Time and target type (face/non-face) did not have an interactive effect on any indices of the oddball task. Young adults with ADHD are more sensitive to the negative effects of sleep deprivation on attentional processes, including those related to the processing of emotional facial expressions. As poor sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness are common in individuals with ADHD, it is feasible that poor sleep quality and quantity play an important role in cognitive functioning deficits, including the processing of emotional facial expressions that are associated with ADHD.

The face of future: Face expressions during future thinking

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182199299
Author(s):  
Mohamad El Haj ◽  
Emin Altintas ◽  
Ahmed A Moustafa ◽  
Abdel Halim Boudoukha
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Facial Analysis ◽  
The Face ◽  
Face Expressions

Future thinking, which is the ability to project oneself forward in time to pre-experience an event, is intimately associated with emotions. We investigated whether emotional future thinking can activate emotional facial expressions. We invited 43 participants to imagine future scenarios, cued by the words “happy,” “sad,” and “city.” Future thinking was video recorded and analysed with a facial analysis software to classify whether facial expressions (i.e., happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, and neutral facial expression) of participants were neutral or emotional. Analysis demonstrated higher levels of happy facial expressions during future thinking cued by the word “happy” than “sad” or “city.” In contrast, higher levels of sad facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “sad” than “happy” or “city.” Higher levels of neutral facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “city” than “happy” or “sad.” In the three conditions, the neutral facial expressions were high compared with happy and sad facial expressions. Together, emotional future thinking, at least for future scenarios cued by “happy” and “sad,” seems to trigger the corresponding facial expression. Our study provides an original physiological window into the subjective emotional experience during future thinking.

scholarly journals Effects of early institutionalization on emotion processing in 12-year-old youth

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1749-1761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Bick ◽  
Rhiannon Luyster ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah ◽  
Charles A. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Emotion Processing ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Facial Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Emotion ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Fearful Faces

AbstractWe examined facial emotion recognition in 12-year-olds in a longitudinally followed sample of children with and without exposure to early life psychosocial deprivation (institutional care). Half of the institutionally reared children were randomized into foster care homes during the first years of life. Facial emotion recognition was examined in a behavioral task using morphed images. This same task had been administered when children were 8 years old. Neutral facial expressions were morphed with happy, sad, angry, and fearful emotional facial expressions, and children were asked to identify the emotion of each face, which varied in intensity. Consistent with our previous report, we show that some areas of emotion processing, involving the recognition of happy and fearful faces, are affected by early deprivation, whereas other areas, involving the recognition of sad and angry faces, appear to be unaffected. We also show that early intervention can have a lasting positive impact, normalizing developmental trajectories of processing negative emotions (fear) into the late childhood/preadolescent period.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document