scholarly journals Hedonicity in functional motor disorders: a chemosensory study assessing taste

2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (10) ◽  
pp. 1399-1407
Author(s):  
Maria Paola Cecchini ◽  
Stefano Tamburin ◽  
Alice Zanini ◽  
Federico Boschi ◽  
Benedetta Demartini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Preliminary Finding ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Sweet Taste ◽  
Motor Disorders ◽  
Taste Stimulation ◽  
Anxiety Depression

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore hedonicity to basic tastes in patients with functional motor disorders (FMDs) that are often associated with impairment in emotional processing. We recruited 20 FMD patients and 24 healthy subjects, matched for age and sex. Subjects were asked to rate the hedonic sensation (i.e., pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant) on a − 10 to +10 scale to the four basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter) at different concentrations, and neutral stimuli (i.e., no taste stimulation) by means of the Taste Strips Test. Anxiety, depression, and alexithymia were assessed. FMD patients rated the highest concentration of sweet taste (6.7 ± 2.6) as significantly more pleasant than controls (4.7 ± 2.5, p = 0.03), and the neutral stimuli significantly more unpleasant (patients: − 0.7 ± 0.4, controls: 0.1 ± 0.4, p = 0.013). Hedonic ratings were not correlated to anxiety, depression, or alexithymia scores. Hedonic response to taste is altered in FMD patients. This preliminary finding might result from abnormal interaction between sensory processing and emotional valence.

Immunological variability associated with experimentally-induced positive and negative affective states

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann D. Futterman ◽  
Margaret E. Kemeny ◽  
David Shapiro ◽  
William Polonsky ◽  
John L. Fahey
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Immunological Parameters ◽  
Neutral State ◽  
Negative Affective States ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
Experimentally Induced

SYNOPSISFunctional and phenotypic immunological parameters were examined immediately before, after, and 30 minutes after experimentally-induced short-term positive (happiness) and negative (anxiety, depression) affective states and a neutral state, in five healthy subjects. Results indicated that all affective states induced more immune fluctuations (regardless of the direction) than the neutral state. Furthermore, among the affective states, anxiety induced the most immunological variability and depression the least.

Measures of anhedonia and hedonic responses to sucrose in depressive and schizophrenic patients in comparison with healthy subjects

1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Berlin ◽  
L Givry-Steiner ◽  
Y Lecrubier ◽  
AJ Puech
Keyword(s):  
Major Depression ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Sweet Taste ◽  
Taste Perception ◽  
Social Anhedonia ◽  
Perception Threshold ◽  
Sucrose Solutions ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Depressive Patients

SummaryAnhedonia may be considered as a transnosological feature of depression and schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to assess hedonic responses to sucrose solutions and sweet taste perception threshold in patients with major depression and in schizophrenic patients in comparison with healthy subjects (matched for age and gender with depressive patients), and to compare these responses to evaluations by the Physical and Social Anhedonia scale of Chapman and the Pleasure Scale of Fawcett, generally used to quantify anhedonia. Hedonic responses to sucrose solutions were similar in patients with major depression (n = 20), schizophrenia (n = 20), and healthy controls (n = 20). Sweet taste perception threshold was significantly higher in depressive patients than in controls. Hedonic response to sucrose was inversely correlated with physical Anhedonia Scores and sweet taste perception threshold with Pleasure Scale scores. Measures of hedonia/anhedonia were not related with the intensity of depression or anxiety as measured by the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale, respectively. In 11 depressed patients hospitalised for 17 to 33 days, neither hedonic ratings to sucrose solutions, sweet taste perception threshold, Physical, Social Anhedonia scores nor Pleasure Scale scores were modified in spite of substantial decrease in MADRS or Hamilton Anxiety scores. Hedonic responses to sucrose solutions and sweet taste perception threshold may be used as complementary evaluation to quantify anhedonia.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological Correlates of Comprehending Emotional Meaning in Context

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2245-2262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne J. Holt ◽  
Spencer K. Lynn ◽  
Gina R. Kuperberg
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Late Positivity ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Emotional Meaning ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Modulated Process

Although the neurocognitive mechanisms of nonaffective language comprehension have been studied extensively, relatively less is known about how the emotional meaning of language is processed. In this study, electrophysiological responses to affectively positive, negative, and neutral words, presented within nonconstraining, neutral contexts, were evaluated under conditions of explicit evaluation of emotional content (Experiment 1) and passive reading (Experiment 2). In both experiments, a widely distributed Late Positivity was found to be larger to negative than to positive words (a “negativity bias”). In addition, in Experiment 2, a small, posterior N400 effect to negative and positive (relative to neutral) words was detected, with no differences found between N400 magnitudes to negative and positive words. Taken together, these results suggest that comprehending the emotional meaning of words following a neutral context requires an initial semantic analysis that is relatively more engaged for emotional than for nonemotional words, whereas a later, more extended, attention-modulated process distinguishes the specific emotional valence (positive vs. negative) of words. Thus, emotional processing networks within the brain appear to exert a continuous influence, evident at several stages, on the construction of the emotional meaning of language.

scholarly journals Ratings of Affective and Non-Affective Aspects of German Idioms in Second Language Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-42
Author(s):  
Teodor Petrič
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Language Technology ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions

AbstractIn this paper psycholinguistic and emotional properties of 619 German idiomatic expressions are explored. The list of idiomatic expressions has been adapted from Citron et al. (2015), who have used it with German native speakers. In our study the same idioms were evaluated by Slovene learners of German as a foreign language. Our participants rated each idiom for emotional valence, emotional arousal, familiarity, concreteness, ambiguity (literality), semantic transparency and figurativeness. They also had the task to describe the meaning of the German idioms and to rate their confidence about the attributed meaning. The aims of our study were (1) to provide descriptive norms for psycholinguistic and affective properties of a large set of idioms in German as a second language, (2) to explore the relationships between psycholinguistic and affective properties of idioms in German as a second language, and (3) to compare the ratings of the German native speakers studied in Citron et al. (2015) with the ratings of the Slovene second language learners from our study. On one hand, the results of the Slovene participants show many similarities with those of of the German native speakers, on the other hand, they show a slight positivity bias and slightly shallower emotional processing of the German idioms. Our study provides data that could be useful for future studies investigating the role of affect in figurative language in a second language setting (methodology, translation science, language technology).

scholarly journals Emotional Valence Affects Word Retrieval During Verb Fluency Tasks in Alzheimer’s Dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Memory Effects ◽  
Word Retrieval ◽  
Memory And Learning ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Insight Into

Individuals with amnestic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) often demonstrate preserved emotional processing skills despite the neurodegenerative disease that affects their limbic system. Emotional valence encompasses the encoding and retrieval of memory and it also affects word retrieval in healthy populations, but it remains unclear whether these effects are preserved in individuals with amnestic AD. Previous studies used a variety of encoding procedures and different retrieval methods that resulted in mixed findings. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate whether emotional enhancement of memory effects is observed in an experimental condition where the memory encoding process is not required, namely verb (action) fluency tasks. Seventeen participants who were cognitively healthy older adults (CHOA) and 15 participants with amnestic AD were asked to complete verb fluency tasks, and the relative degree of emotional valence observed in their responses was compared between the two groups. A neuropsychological test battery was administered to determine the participants’ cognitive and linguistic profiles, and correlational analyses were conducted to delineate relationships between emotional valence, verbal memory, and learning abilities. The results indicated that the participants with amnestic AD produced words with higher emotional valence (i.e., more pleasant words) compared to CHOA during action fluency testing. In addition, the degree of emotional valence in the words was negatively correlated with verbal memory and learning skills, showing that those with poorer memory skills tend to retrieve words with higher emotional valence. The findings are consistent with those previous studies that stressed that individuals with AD have preserved emotional enhancement of memory effects and may benefit from them for retrieval of information, which may offer some insight into the development of novel rehabilitative strategies for this population.

scholarly journals Post-determined emotion: motor action retrospectively modulates emotional valence of visual images

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20140690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoshiro Sasaki ◽  
Yuki Yamada ◽  
Kayo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Touch Screen ◽  
Lower Portion ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Motor Action ◽  
Motor Actions

Upward and downward motor actions influence subsequent and ongoing emotional processing in accordance with a space–valence metaphor: positive is up/negative is down. In this study, we examined whether upward and downward motor actions could also affect previous emotional processing. Participants were shown an emotional image on a touch screen. After the image disappeared, they were required to drag a centrally located dot towards a cued area, which was either in the upper or lower portion of the screen. They were then asked to rate the emotional valence of the image using a 7-point scale. We found that the emotional valence of the image was more positive when the cued area was located in the upper portion of the screen. However, this was the case only when the dragging action was required immediately after the image had disappeared. Our findings suggest that when somatic information that is metaphorically associated with an emotion is linked temporally with a visual event, retrospective emotional integration between the visual and somatic events occurs.

Test Anxiety in Girls and Boys: A Clinical—Developmental Analysis

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret K. Warren ◽  
Thomas H. Ollendick ◽  
Neville J. King
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Attitude Inventory ◽  
Ability Tests ◽  
Academic Grades ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
High Test

A large sample of children and adolescents were screened for test anxiety using the Test Attitude Inventory (Spielberger, 1980). Subjects with low and high test anxiety were then compared on self-report measures of trait anxiety, depression, and fear and then asked to report their thoughts and level of distress following an imagined test. Academic grades and performance on standardised achievement and ability tests were also obtained. High test-anxious children and adolescents reported higher levels of trait anxiety, depression, and fear as well as greater distress and cognitive interference during the imagined test. They also obtained lower grades and performed more poorly on the standardised measures. Age effects moderated these findings. Discussion focuses on the clinical and developmental implications of the findings.

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