scholarly journals Brain circuits signaling the absence of emotion in body language

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (34) ◽  
pp. 20868-20873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arseny A. Sokolov ◽  
Peter Zeidman ◽  
Michael Erb ◽  
Frank E. Pollick ◽  
Andreas J. Fallgatter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Body Language ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Adaptive Social Behavior ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
The Brain

Adaptive social behavior and mental well-being depend on not only recognizing emotional expressions but also, inferring the absence of emotion. While the neurobiology underwriting the perception of emotions is well studied, the mechanisms for detecting a lack of emotional content in social signals remain largely unknown. Here, using cutting-edge analyses of effective brain connectivity, we uncover the brain networks differentiating neutral and emotional body language. The data indicate greater activation of the right amygdala and midline cerebellar vermis to nonemotional as opposed to emotional body language. Most important, the effective connectivity between the amygdala and insula predicts people’s ability to recognize the absence of emotion. These conclusions extend substantially current concepts of emotion perception by suggesting engagement of limbic effective connectivity in recognizing the lack of emotion in body language reading. Furthermore, the outcome may advance the understanding of overly emotional interpretation of social signals in depression or schizophrenia by providing the missing link between body language reading and limbic pathways. The study thus opens an avenue for multidisciplinary research on social cognition and the underlying cerebrocerebellar networks, ranging from animal models to patients with neuropsychiatric conditions.

scholarly journals Increased fronto-temporal connectivity by modified melody in real music

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Hee Kim ◽  
Jaeho Seol ◽  
Seung-Hyun Jin ◽  
June Sic Kim ◽  
Youn Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Rhythmic Pattern ◽  
Temporal Connectivity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Musical Elements ◽  
The Brain

AbstractIn real music, the original melody may appear intact, with little elaboration only, or significantly modified. Since a melody is most easily perceived in music, hearing significantly modified melody may change a brain connectivity. Mozart KV 265 is comprised of an original melody of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” with its significant variations. We studied whether effective connectivity changes with significantly modified melody, between bilateral inferior frontal gyri (IFGs) and Heschl’s gyri (HGs) using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Among the 12 connectivities, the connectivity from the left IFG to the right HG was consistently increased with significantly modified melody compared to the original melody in 2 separate sets of the same rhythmic pattern with different melody (p = 0.005 and 0.034, Bonferroni corrected). Our findings show that the modification of an original melody in a real music changes the brain connectivity.Significant statementsOur data show how a regional connectivity changes when the original melody is intact or significantly modified, consistent in two different sets of variations with the same rhythmic patterns but with the different melody pattern. The present study employed real music of Mozart’s Variation KV 265 as musical stimuli, dissected musical elements in each variation, and devised the two comparable sets of variation, which have the same rhythmic pattern but different melody. We exploited naturalistic conditions in real music instead of devising artificial conditions, and successfully demonstrated how variations of melody in real music change a regional connectivity in the brain.

scholarly journals Positive affect is inversely related to the salience and emotion network’s connectivity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Qi ◽  
Charlene L. M. Lam ◽  
Jing Jun Wong ◽  
Dorita H. F. Chang ◽  
Tatia M. C. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Positive Affect ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Intrinsic Connectivity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Increasing evidence has shown that positive affect enhances many aspects of daily functioning. Yet, how dispositional positive affect is represented in the intrinsic brain networks remains unclear. Here, we used resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to test how trait positive and negative affect of an individual were associated with the intrinsic connectivity of brain regions within the salience and emotion network and the default mode network in 70 healthy young adults. We observed that positive affect was negatively associated with connectivity within the salience and emotion network, particularly with the bidirectional connections spanning the left anterior insula and left nucleus accumbens. For connections between the salience and emotion network and the rest of the brain, we observed that positive affect was negatively related to the connectivity between the right amygdala and the right middle temporal gyrus. Affect-based modulations of connectivity were specific to positive affect and to the salience and emotion network. Our findings highlight the critical role of salience and emotion network in the neural relations of positive affect, and lay the groundwork for future studies on modeling the connectivity of salience and emotion network to predict mental well-being.

FACTORS THAT MITIGATE WAR-INDUCED ANXIETY AND MENTAL DISTRESS

2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
ASTIER M. ALMEDOM
Keyword(s):  
Mental Distress ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
The Right ◽  
Effects Of War ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
Psychosocial Transition

The effects of war-induced anxiety and mental distress on individuals and groups can either be mitigated or exacerbated by ‘humanitarian action’. This paper focuses on two key factors that protect the mental well-being of war-affected populations: organized displacement or assisted relocation; and coordinated humanitarian aid operations that are responsive to local needs. Qualitative data from two internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Eritrea are presented. Analysis of these data serves to substantiate and refine a working hypothesis: that social support of the right type, provided at the right time and level, can mitigate the worst effects of war and displacement on victims/survivors. An integrated model of psychosocial transition is suggested. The implications of this approach for humanitarian policy and practice are discussed in the wider context of current debates and lamentations of the ‘humanitarian idea’.

Direct Causal Networks for the Study of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Effects on Focal Epileptiform Discharges

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (05) ◽  
pp. 1550006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Kugiumtzis ◽  
Vasilios K. Kimiskidis
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Epileptic Focus ◽  
Sham Stimulation ◽  
Focal Seizures ◽  
Epileptiform Discharges ◽  
The Brain

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can have inhibitory effects on epileptiform discharges (EDs) of patients with focal seizures. However, the brain connectivity before, during and after EDs, with or without the administration of TMS, has not been extensively explored. Objective: To investigate the brain network of effective connectivity during ED with and without TMS in patients with focal seizures. Methods: For the effective connectivity a direct causality measure is applied termed partial mutual information from mixed embedding (PMIME). TMS-EEG data from two patients with focal seizures were analyzed. Each EEG record contained a number of EDs in the majority of which TMS was administered over the epileptic focus. As a control condition, sham stimulation over the epileptogenic zone or real TMS at a distance from the epileptic focus was also performed. The change in brain connectivity structure was investigated from the causal networks formed at each sliding window. Conclusion: The PMIME could detect distinct changes in the network structure before, within, and after ED. The administration of real TMS over the epileptic focus, in contrast to sham stimulation, terminated the ED prematurely in a node-specific manner and regained the network structure as if it would have terminated spontaneously.

scholarly journals Determination of Dynamic Brain Connectivity via Spectral Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Robinson ◽  
James A. Henderson ◽  
Natasha C. Gabay ◽  
Kevin M. Aquino ◽  
Tara Babaie-Janvier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Compact Representation ◽  
The Brain

Spectral analysis based on neural field theory is used to analyze dynamic connectivity via methods based on the physical eigenmodes that are the building blocks of brain dynamics. These approaches integrate over space instead of averaging over time and thereby greatly reduce or remove the temporal averaging effects, windowing artifacts, and noise at fine spatial scales that have bedeviled the analysis of dynamical functional connectivity (FC). The dependences of FC on dynamics at various timescales, and on windowing, are clarified and the results are demonstrated on simple test cases, demonstrating how modes provide directly interpretable insights that can be related to brain structure and function. It is shown that FC is dynamic even when the brain structure and effective connectivity are fixed, and that the observed patterns of FC are dominated by relatively few eigenmodes. Common artifacts introduced by statistical analyses that do not incorporate the physical nature of the brain are discussed and it is shown that these are avoided by spectral analysis using eigenmodes. Unlike most published artificially discretized “resting state networks” and other statistically-derived patterns, eigenmodes overlap, with every mode extending across the whole brain and every region participating in every mode—just like the vibrations that give rise to notes of a musical instrument. Despite this, modes are independent and do not interact in the linear limit. It is argued that for many purposes the intrinsic limitations of covariance-based FC instead favor the alternative of tracking eigenmode coefficients vs. time, which provide a compact representation that is directly related to biophysical brain dynamics.

scholarly journals Mindfulness Meditation Is Related to Long-Lasting Changes in Hippocampal Functional Topology during Resting State: A Magnetoencephalography Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lardone ◽  
Marianna Liparoti ◽  
Pierpaolo Sorrentino ◽  
Rosaria Rucco ◽  
Francesca Jacini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Functional Topology ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

It has been suggested that the practice of meditation is associated to neuroplasticity phenomena, reducing age-related brain degeneration and improving cognitive functions. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the brain connectivity changes in meditators. In the present work, we aim to describe the possible long-term effects of meditation on the brain networks. To this aim, we used magnetoencephalography to study functional resting-state brain networks in Vipassana meditators. We observed topological modifications in the brain network in meditators compared to controls. More specifically, in the theta band, the meditators showed statistically significant (p corrected = 0.009) higher degree (a centrality index that represents the number of connections incident upon a given node) in the right hippocampus as compared to controls. Taking into account the role of the hippocampus in memory processes, and in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease, meditation might have a potential role in a panel of preventive strategies.

Effective brain connectivity estimation between active brain regions in autism using the dual Kalman-based method

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Mehdi Rajabioun ◽  
Ali Motie Nasrabadi ◽  
Mohammad Bagher Shamsollahi ◽  
Robert Coben
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Estimation Error ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Estimation Errors ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
The Brain

AbstractBrain connectivity estimation is a useful method to study brain functions and diagnose neuroscience disorders. Effective connectivity is a subdivision of brain connectivity which discusses the causal relationship between different parts of the brain. In this study, a dual Kalman-based method is used for effective connectivity estimation. Because of connectivity changes in autism, the method is applied to autistic signals for effective connectivity estimation. For method validation, the dual Kalman based method is compared with other connectivity estimation methods by estimation error and the dual Kalman-based method gives acceptable results with less estimation errors. Then, connectivities between active brain regions of autistic and normal children in the resting state are estimated and compared. In this simulation, the brain is divided into eight regions and the connectivity between regions and within them is calculated. It can be concluded from the results that in the resting state condition the effective connectivity of active regions is decreased between regions and is increased within each region in autistic children. In another result, by averaging the connectivity between the extracted active sources of each region, the connectivity between the left and right of the central part is more than that in other regions and the connectivity in the occipital part is less than that in others.

scholarly journals Zinc and Psychiatric Disorders: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL4) ◽  
pp. 1505-1514
Author(s):  
Lata Kanyal Butola ◽  
Ranjit Ambad ◽  
Karuna Kacchwa
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Vesicles ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Zinc Ion ◽  
Endogenous Ligand ◽  
Zinc Enzymes ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Neurosecretory Substance ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Important Activity

Zinc is one of the micronutrients involved in emotional, cognitive, and behavioural processes. Zinc deficiency is considered to impact mental well-being, with varying degrees of anxiety and stress, consistent with zinc enzymes having important activity in brain growth and functional behaviour. Zinc is a neurosecretory substance or cofactor and is hugely abundant in particular neuron contingent named zinc-containing neurons' synaptic vesicles. The concentration of zinc in the vesicles is estimated to reach 1mmol / L and is just mildly associated with some endogenous ligand. Zinc comprising neurons is located primarily in the forebrain, where primates have evolved into a dynamic and intricate network of connections that interconnect much of the cerebral corticles and limbic structures. Changes in the homeostasis of zinc can be linked with brain disease and inflammatory activity of the brain. Zinc ion dyshomeostasis can also play a function in the ageing neurons as synapses deteriorate. Hence, a greater understanding of the function of zinc in the central nervous system may enable therapeutic strategies to be established where aberrant metal homeostasis is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.

scholarly journals Neurobiological Bases of Social Networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengfei Han ◽  
Gaofang Jiang ◽  
Haoshuang Luo ◽  
Yongcong Shao
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Dopamine Receptor ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
The Brain

A social network is a web that integrates multiple levels of interindividual social relationships and has direct associations with an individual’s health and well-being. Previous research has mainly focused on how brain and social network structures (structural properties) act on each other and on how the brain supports the spread of ideas and behaviors within social networks (functional properties). The structure of the social network is correlated with activity in the amygdala, which links decoding and interpreting social signals and social values. The structure also relies on the mentalizing network, which is central to an individual’s ability to infer the mental states of others. Network functional properties depend on multilayer brain-social networks, indicating that information transmission is supported by the default mode system, the valuation system, and the mentalizing system. From the perspective of neuroendocrinology, overwhelming evidence shows that variations in oxytocin, β-endorphin and dopamine receptor genes, including oxytocin receptor (OXTR), mu opioid receptor 1 (OPRM1) and dopamine receptor 2 (DRD2), predict an individual’s social network structure, whereas oxytocin also contributes to improved transmission of emotional and behavioral information from person to person. Overall, previous studies have comprehensively revealed the effects of the brain, endocrine system, and genes on social networks. Future studies are required to determine the effects of cognitive abilities, such as memory, on social networks, the characteristics and neural mechanism of social networks in mental illness and how social networks change over time through the use of longitudinal methods.

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