Event-Related Potentials to Faces Presented in an Emotional Context

AbstractDepression is associated with abnormalities in patterns of information processing, particularly in the context of processing of interpersonal information. The present study was designed to investigate the differences in depressive individuals in cortical processing of facial stimuli when neutral faces were presented in a context that involved information about emotional valence as well as self-reference. In 21 depressive patients and 20 healthy controls, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the presentation of neutral facial expressions, which were accompanied by affective context information that was either self- or other-related. Across conditions, depressive patients showed larger mean P100 amplitudes than healthy controls. Furthermore, mean late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes of depressive patients were larger in response to faces in self-related than in other-related context. In addition, irrespective of self-reference, mean LPP responses of depressive patients to faces presented after socially threatening sentences were larger compared with faces presented after neutral sentences. Results regarding self-reference supported results of previous studies indicating larger mean amplitudes in self-related conditions. Findings suggest a general heightened initial responsiveness to emotional cues and a sustained emotion processing of socially threatening information in depressive patients.

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Investigation of the effects of emotional context and psychosocial stress on response inhibition

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)72119-8 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 411-411

Author(s):

P.Z. Álmos ◽

G. Csifcsák ◽

B. Andó ◽

M. Gergelyfi ◽

T. Sándor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Response Inhibition ◽

Psychosocial Stress ◽

Social Stress ◽

Stress Test ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Trier Social Stress Test ◽

Baseline Condition ◽

Emotional Context ◽

Promising Tool ◽

Related Potentials

IntroductionResponse inhibition (RI) is a basic component of human behaviour responsible for suppressing actions or thoughts which are inappropriate in a certain context. This cognitive function is well-studied in laboratory conditions, but there is limited data how it is influenced by emotional context and psychosocial stress.ObjectivesThe effect of emotional factors on RI can be investigated with an emotional go/nogo task, while psychosocial stress can be induced with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Electroencephalography (EEG) is an excellent method for studying the neural correlates of RI: the two major event-related potentials (ERPs) implicated in the process are the frontal N2 and P3 components.AimsIn this respect, our aim was to investigate how psychosocial stress and emotional context modulate these ERPs.MethodsSeven healthy adult volunteers performed emotional go/no go tasks while brain responses were recorded by EEG. The task was carried out on two different occasions: at baseline condition and after moderate psychosocial stress induced by the TSST.ResultsWe successfully replicated the robust go vs. nogo effect on the frontal N2 and P3 amplitudes. However, ERPs were not affected by positive or negative emotional context in the baseline condition. In contrast, after TSST a significantly enhanced valence effect was observed on the go-related N2 amplitude and a greater go vs. nogo N2 latency difference was detected.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of the stress-regulating system on emotionally modulated RI and render this paradigm a promising tool for investigating RI in anxiety and mood disorders.

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Prior Emotional Context Modulates Early Event-Related Potentials to Neutral Retrieval Cues

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01451 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (11) ◽

pp. 1755-1767 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Holly J. Bowen ◽

Eric C. Fields ◽

Elizabeth A. Kensinger

Keyword(s):

Recognition Test ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Residual Effects ◽

Early Event ◽

Neutral Context ◽

Emotional Context ◽

Related Potentials

Memory retrieval is thought to involve the reactivation of encoding processes. Previous fMRI work has indicated that reactivation processes are modulated by the residual effects of the prior emotional encoding context; different spatial patterns emerge during retrieval of memories previously associated with negative compared with positive or neutral context. Other research suggests that event-related potential (ERP) indicators of memory retrieval processes, like the left parietal old/new effect, can also be modulated by emotional context, but the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of these effects are unclear. In the current study, we examined “when” emotion affects recognition memory and whether that timing reflects processes that come before and may guide successful retrieval or postrecollection recovery of emotional episodic detail. While recording EEG, participants ( n = 25) viewed neutral words paired with negative, positive, or neutral pictures during encoding, followed by a recognition test for the words. Analyses focused on ERPs during the recognition test. In line with prior ERP studies, we found an early positive-going parietally distributed effect starting around 200 msec after retrieval-cue onset. This effect emerged for words that had been encoded in an emotional compared with neutral context (no valence differences), before the general old/new effect. This emotion-dependent effect occurred in an early time window, suggesting that emotion-related reactivation is a precursor to successful recognition.

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Effects of emotional study context on immediate and delayed recognition memory: Evidence from event-related potentials

Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3758/s13415-021-00944-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lisa Katharina Kuhn ◽

Regine Bader ◽

Axel Mecklinger

Keyword(s):

Direct Evidence ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Test Phase ◽

Item Memory ◽

Significant Evidence ◽

Emotional Context ◽

Emotional Faces ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Delayed Recognition ◽

Study Context

AbstractWhilst research has largely focused on the recognition of emotional items, emotion may be a more subtle part of our surroundings and conveyed by context rather than by items. Using ERPs, we investigated which effects an arousing context during encoding may have for item-context binding and subsequent familiarity-based and recollection-based item-memory. It has been suggested that arousal could facilitate item-context bindings and by this enhance the contribution of recollection to subsequent memory judgements. Alternatively, arousal could shift attention onto central features of a scene and by this foster unitisation during encoding. This could boost the contribution of familiarity to remembering. Participants learnt neutral objects paired with ecologically highly valid emotional faces whose names later served as neutral cues during an immediate and delayed test phase. Participants identified objects faster when they had originally been studied together with emotional context faces. Items with both neutral and emotional context elicited an early frontal ERP old/new difference (200-400 ms). Neither the neurophysiological correlate for familiarity nor recollection were specific to emotionality. For the ERP correlate of recollection, we found an interaction between stimulus type and day, suggesting that this measure decreased to a larger extend on Day 2 compared with Day 1. However, we did not find direct evidence for delayed forgetting of items encoded in emotional contexts at Day 2. Emotion at encoding might make retrieval of items with emotional context more readily accessible, but we found no significant evidence that emotional context either facilitated familiarity-based or recollection-based item-memory after a delay of 24 h.

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