scholarly journals QOL-15. NEURAL NETWORK INTEGRITY FOR FACIAL AFFECT RECOGNITION IN SURVIVORS OF MEDULLOBLASTOMA

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii433-iii434
Author(s):  
Tara Brinkman ◽  
Kevin Krull ◽  
Matthew Scoggins ◽  
Zhenghong Li ◽  
John Glass ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Medulloblastoma survivors are at risk for social deficits, yet underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. METHODS Facial affect recognition was assessed in 50 medulloblastoma survivors treated with craniospinal radiation (median[range] 21.4[12.5–30.9] years old, 11.0[5.7–22.6] years since diagnosis) and 56 non-cancer age-, sex-, and race-matched controls. Brain activation and connectivity in core regions/nodes of the face perception network (fusiform gyri, occipital gyri, superior temporal sulcus) were examined using structural and functional neuroimaging. Structural networks were constructed from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data and individual node strength and efficiency were assessed. Functional MRI (fMRI) was conducted using a 1-back facial affect recognition task with assessment of regional differences in task-related cerebral blood flow (BOLD). Standardized neurocognitive testing was completed with 24 hours of brain imaging. RESULTS Medulloblastoma survivors performed worse on a behavioral measure of facial affect recognition (P=0.003) compared to matched controls. During the facial affect recognition task, controls demonstrated greater BOLD activation of the left and right fusiform gyri and the left and right middle occipital gyri compared to survivors (P’s<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). DTI indicated weaker core node strength in survivors in the right lateral occipital gyri (P=0.02) and efficiency was lower in the left (P=0.01) and right (P=0.03) occipital gyri compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS Medulloblastoma survivors have deficits in facial affect recognition and reduced activation and efficiency in brain regions comprising the face perception network compared to matched controls. Interventions targeting this specific skill and neural network may improve social functioning in survivors.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Allanah R. Casey

<p>Psychopathic offenders are often considered to be untreatable, especially dangerous, and at very high risk of reoffending. Psychopathy has generated considerable research interest. Despite this interest, our understanding of psychopathy is relatively poor, with ongoing debate regarding how best to define psychopathy, and a lack of clarity regarding how psychopathy develops. Etiological theories of psychopathy posit deficits in recognising and responding to others’ emotions, and an attenuated experience of fear as crucial mechanisms in the development of psychopathy. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the pattern of psychopathic traits present within an inmate sample, and to investigate the relationship between these psychopathic traits and performance on two tasks related to etiological theories of psychopathy: facial affect recognition and fear conditioning. Part One of this thesis addresses the first aim, investigating the presentation of psychopathy in the current sample. The relationship between psychopathic traits in the present sample was largely consistent with previous research. A Principal Components Analysis identified two factors of psychopathic traits: a Bold/ Fearlessness factor which measures an absence of fear and anxiety and the presence of self-assurance, and a Mean/ Disinhibited factor which measures the presence of externalising and disinhibited behaviour, alongside aggression and the use of other people for one’s own gain. These findings are discussed in relation to common conceptualisations and operationalisations of psychopathy.   Part Two of this thesis uses the measurement of psychopathy from Part One to investigate performance on a facial affect recognition task and a fear conditioning task. The Violence Inhibition Mechanism theory suggests that psychopaths should show impairments on facial affect recognition tasks, particularly in the recognition of fearful and sad facial expressions. However, in the current research psychopathy was unrelated to affect recognition, across all emotional expressions. When criminal offenders were compared to a student sample, the offenders showed poorer affect recognition than the students. These results suggest that there may be an effect of antisociality on affect recognition, but no effect of psychopathy. Low fear theories of psychopathy suggest that psychopaths should be impaired at learning conditioned fear associations. However, the present study found no evidence of psychopathy-related deficits in fear conditioning. Rather, higher psychopathy was related to better fear conditioning, with higher scores on the Mean/ Disinhibited factor predicting better discrimination between the conditioned and neutral stimuli.   Taken together, these findings suggest that psychopathy was not related to deficits in either affect recognition or fear conditioning. These findings are inconsistent with etiological theories of psychopathy, and question common assumptions about the deficits which characterise psychopathy.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLEN E. GETZ ◽  
PAULA K. SHEAR ◽  
STEPHEN M. STRAKOWSKI

Patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD), by definition, have problems with emotional regulation. However, it remains uncertain whether these patients are also deficient at processing other people's emotions, particularly while manic. The present study examined the ability of 25 manic bipolar patients and 25 healthy participants on tasks of facial recognition and facial affect recognition at three different presentation durations: 500 ms, 750 ms, and 1000 ms. The groups did not differ in terms of age, education, sex, ethnicity, or estimated IQ. The groups did not differ significantly on either a novel computerized facial recognition task or the Benton Facial Recognition Test. In contrast, the bipolar group performed significantly more poorly than did the comparison group on a novel facial affect labeling task. Although the patient group had slower reaction times on all 3 computerized tasks, the presentation duration did not have an effect on performance in the patients. This study suggests that patients with bipolar disorder are able to recognize faces, but have difficulty processing facial affective cues. (JINS, 2003, 9, 623–632.)


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 950-950
Author(s):  
S. Rigucci ◽  
A. Comparelli ◽  
A. De Carolis ◽  
M.C. Rossi-Espagnet ◽  
E. Ambrosi ◽  
...  

IntroductionWhite matter abnormalities play a prominent role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies showed a widespread decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA) in psychotic disorders.AimsTo examine white and grey matter abnormalities in first episode psychosis (FEP).MethodsWe obtained T1-weighted and DTI magnetic resonance images (1.5 T) from 8 right-handed drug-naïve FEP patients and 8 healthy controls. The DTI data set was used to calculate FA maps; we carried-out optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of grey matter (GM) and FA maps using SPM2.Patients were assessed with a neuropsychological battery comprising the Trail Making Test, the Stroop Colour Word Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and a test of Facial Affect recognition.ResultsThe voxelwise analysis showed decreased FA in the superior longitudinal and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi, bilaterally, and in the left uncinate fasciculus. We observed reduced GM volume in the left frontal cortex (Brodmann areas [BA] 47, 13, 11, 10, and 9) and in right frontal (BA6), temporal (BA34) and occipital (BA 18, 19, and 30) cortex.Neuropsychological assessment showed impaired executive function and deficit in facial affect recognition.ConclusionOur findings showed fronto-temporal disconnectivity in FEP and structural alterations in both cortical and subcortical regions.Neuroanatomical findings are consistent with patients’ neuropsychological performance.Further studies to establish a relationship between white and grey matter disarray on one hand and neuropsychological testing are needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan del Aguila ◽  
Luz M. González-Gualda ◽  
María Angeles Játiva ◽  
Patricia Fernández-Sotos ◽  
Antonio Fernández-Caballero ◽  
...  

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal interpersonal distance (IPD) between humans and affective avatars in facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The ideal IPD is the one in which the humans show the highest number of hits and the shortest reaction times in recognizing the emotions displayed by avatars. The results should help design future therapies to remedy facial affect recognition deficits.Methods: A group of 39 healthy volunteers participated in an experiment in which participants were shown 65 dynamic faces in IVR and had to identify six basic emotions plus neutral expression presented by the avatars. We decided to limit the experiment to five different distances: D1 (35 cm), D2 (55 cm), D3 (75 cm), D4 (95 cm), and D5 (115 cm), all belonging to the intimate and personal interpersonal spaces. Of the total of 65 faces, 13 faces were presented for each of the included distances. The views were shown at different angles: 50% in frontal view, 25% from the right profile, and 25% from the left profile. The order of appearance of the faces presented to each participant was randomized.Results: The overall success rate in facial emotion identification was 90.33%, being D3 the IPD with the best overall emotional recognition hits, although statistically significant differences could not be found between the IPDs. Consistent with results obtained in previous studies, identification rates for negative emotions were higher with increasing IPD, whereas the recognition task improved for positive emotions when IPD was closer. In addition, the study revealed irregular behavior in the facial detection of the emotion surprise.Conclusions: IVR allows us to reliably assess facial emotion recognition using dynamic avatars as all the IPDs tested showed to be effective. However, no statistically significant differences in facial emotion recognition were found among the different IPDs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Allanah R. Casey

<p>Psychopathic offenders are often considered to be untreatable, especially dangerous, and at very high risk of reoffending. Psychopathy has generated considerable research interest. Despite this interest, our understanding of psychopathy is relatively poor, with ongoing debate regarding how best to define psychopathy, and a lack of clarity regarding how psychopathy develops. Etiological theories of psychopathy posit deficits in recognising and responding to others’ emotions, and an attenuated experience of fear as crucial mechanisms in the development of psychopathy. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the pattern of psychopathic traits present within an inmate sample, and to investigate the relationship between these psychopathic traits and performance on two tasks related to etiological theories of psychopathy: facial affect recognition and fear conditioning. Part One of this thesis addresses the first aim, investigating the presentation of psychopathy in the current sample. The relationship between psychopathic traits in the present sample was largely consistent with previous research. A Principal Components Analysis identified two factors of psychopathic traits: a Bold/ Fearlessness factor which measures an absence of fear and anxiety and the presence of self-assurance, and a Mean/ Disinhibited factor which measures the presence of externalising and disinhibited behaviour, alongside aggression and the use of other people for one’s own gain. These findings are discussed in relation to common conceptualisations and operationalisations of psychopathy.   Part Two of this thesis uses the measurement of psychopathy from Part One to investigate performance on a facial affect recognition task and a fear conditioning task. The Violence Inhibition Mechanism theory suggests that psychopaths should show impairments on facial affect recognition tasks, particularly in the recognition of fearful and sad facial expressions. However, in the current research psychopathy was unrelated to affect recognition, across all emotional expressions. When criminal offenders were compared to a student sample, the offenders showed poorer affect recognition than the students. These results suggest that there may be an effect of antisociality on affect recognition, but no effect of psychopathy. Low fear theories of psychopathy suggest that psychopaths should be impaired at learning conditioned fear associations. However, the present study found no evidence of psychopathy-related deficits in fear conditioning. Rather, higher psychopathy was related to better fear conditioning, with higher scores on the Mean/ Disinhibited factor predicting better discrimination between the conditioned and neutral stimuli.   Taken together, these findings suggest that psychopathy was not related to deficits in either affect recognition or fear conditioning. These findings are inconsistent with etiological theories of psychopathy, and question common assumptions about the deficits which characterise psychopathy.</p>


2008 ◽  
Vol 192 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jigar Jogia ◽  
Morgan Haldane ◽  
Annabel Cobb ◽  
Veena Kumari ◽  
Sophia Frangou

BackgroundBipolar disorder is associated with dysfunction in prefrontal and limbic areas implicated in emotional processing.AimsTo explore whether lamotrigine monotherapy may exert its action by improving the function of the neural network involved in emotional processing.MethodWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine changes in brain activation during a sad facial affect recognition task in 12 stable patients with bipolar disorder when medication-free compared with healthy controls and after 12 weeks of lamotrigine monotherapy.ResultsAt baseline, compared with controls, patients with bipolar disorder showed overactivity in temporal regions and underactivity in the dorsal medial and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and the dorsal cingulate gyrus. Following lamotrigine monotherapy, patients demonstrated reduced temporal and increased prefrontal activation.ConclusionsThis preliminary evidence suggests that lamotrigine may enhance the function of the neural circuitry involved in affect recognition.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 100196
Author(s):  
Varsha D. Badal ◽  
Colin A. Depp ◽  
Peter F. Hitchcock ◽  
David L. Penn ◽  
Philip D. Harvey ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Fakra ◽  
Elisabeth Jouve ◽  
Fabrice Guillaume ◽  
Jean-Michel Azorin ◽  
Olivier Blin

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