Moral emotions when reading quotidian circumstances in contexts of violence: an fMRI study

2020 ◽  
pp. 105971232093934
Author(s):  
Daniel Atilano-Barbosa ◽  
Lorena Paredes ◽  
Froylán Enciso ◽  
Erick H Pasaye ◽  
Roberto E Mercadillo
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Reference Processing

The increase of violence in Mexico and consequent suffering during the last decades is evident, but its effects over feelings and moral judgments remain uncertain. We used journalistic news showing real-life situations to investigate the effects of facing violence over the experience of four moral emotions which represent powerful impulses for social actions in situations of suffering linked to violence: Negative Compassion, Positive Compassion, Schadenfreude, and Indignation. We evaluate brain activation by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during three cognitive conditions: reading, introspection, and resting. When reading the news, only Indignation-evoking stimuli elicited salient brain activations in the posterior cerebellum, and temporal and parietal cortical regions, whose functions are related to anger experiences and processing of socially relevant circumstances. When introspecting the emotional experience, cerebellar, frontal, parietal, and occipital activations related to self-focused experiences were observed for all emotions. When resting after facing the stimuli, only the Negative Compassion emotion elicited brain activations in the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus related to emotional self-reference processing; thus, negative compassion may produce more perdurable cognitive-affective effects related to sadness while perceiving suffering in others. Our results may suggest different emotional-based social decisions to face suffering and violence and to motivate pro-social actions in the collectivistic Mexican culture.

scholarly journals Brain Activation during Thoughts of One’s Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanan Hirano ◽  
Kentaro Oba ◽  
Toshiki Saito ◽  
Shohei Yamazaki ◽  
Ryuta Kawashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activation ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Negative Linear Correlation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Older Populations ◽  
Existential Issues

Abstract Facing one’s own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one’s own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60–72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the “self” or the “other.” The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

scholarly journals Hippocampal Contributions to Episodic Encoding: Insights From Relational and Item-Based Learning

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 982-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila Davachi ◽  
Anthony D. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Relational Processing ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Episodic Encoding ◽  
Hippocampus Proper ◽  
Temporal Structures ◽  
Cortical Regions

The integrity of the hippocampus and surrounding medial-temporal cortices is critical for episodic memory, with the hippocampus being posited to support relational or configural associative learning. The present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the role of specific medial-temporal lobe structures in learning during relational and item-based processing, as well as the extent to which these structures are engaged during item-based maintenance of stimuli in working memory. fMRI indexed involvement of the hippocampus and underlying cortical regions during performance of two verbal encoding conditions, one that required item-based maintenance of word triplets in working memory and the other that entailed the formation of inter-item associations across the words in each triplet. Sixteen subjects were scanned using a rapid event-related fMRI design while they encountered the item-based and relational processing trials. To examine the correlation between fMRI signal in medial-temporal structures during learning and the subject's subsequent ability to remember the stimuli (a measure of effective memory formation), subjects were administered a yes-no recognition memory test following completion of the encoding scans. Results revealed that the hippocampus proper was engaged during both relational and item-based processing, with relational processing resulting in a greater hippocampal response. By contrast, entorhinal and parahippocampal gyri were differentially engaged during item-based processing, providing strong evidence for a functional neuroanatomic distinction between hippocampal and parahippocampal structures. Analysis of the neural correlates of subsequent memory revealed that activation in the bilateral hippocampus was reliably correlated with behavioral measures of effective memory formation only for those stimuli that were encoded in a relational manner. Taken together, these data provide evidence that the hippocampus, while engaged during item-based working memory maintenance, differentially subserves the relational binding of items into an integrated memory trace so that the experience can be later remembered.

scholarly journals Perspective influences eye movements during real-life conversation: Mentalising about self vs. others in autism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Barzy ◽  
Heather Jane Ferguson ◽  
David Williams
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Verbal Responses ◽  
Socially Relevant

Socio-communication is profoundly impaired among autistic individuals. Difficulties representing others’ mental states have been linked to modulations of gaze and speech, which have also been shown to be impaired in autism. Despite these observed impairments in ‘real-world’ communicative settings, research has mostly focused on lab-based experiments, where the language is highly structured. In a pre-registered experiment, we recorded eye movements and verbal responses while adults (N=50) engaged in a real-life conversation. Conversation topic either related to the self, a familiar other, or an unfamiliar other (e.g. "Tell me who is your/your mother’s/Marina’s favourite celebrity and why?”). Results replicated previous work, showing reduced attention to socially-relevant information among autistic participants (i.e. less time looking at the experimenter’s face, and more time looking around the background), compared to typically-developing controls. Importantly, perspective modulated social attention in both groups; talking about an unfamiliar other reduced attention to potentially distracting or resource demanding social information, and increased looks to non-social background. Social attention did not differ between self and familiar other contexts- reflecting greater shared knowledge for familiar/similar others. Autistic participants spent more time looking at the background when talking about an unfamiliar other vs. themselvesFuture research should investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect.

Coarse-to-fine Categorization of Visual Scenes in Scene-selective Cortex

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2287-2297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Musel ◽  
Louise Kauffmann ◽  
Stephen Ramanoël ◽  
Coralie Giavarini ◽  
Nathalie Guyader ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Dynamic Scenes ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Outdoor Scenes ◽  
Computational Data ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
First Time ◽  
Coarse To Fine

Neurophysiological, behavioral, and computational data indicate that visual analysis may start with the parallel extraction of different elementary attributes at different spatial frequencies and follows a predominantly coarse-to-fine (CtF) processing sequence (low spatial frequencies [LSF] are extracted first, followed by high spatial frequencies [HSF]). Evidence for CtF processing within scene-selective cortical regions is, however, still lacking. In the present fMRI study, we tested whether such processing occurs in three scene-selective cortical regions: the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the retrosplenial cortex, and the occipital place area. Fourteen participants were subjected to functional scans during which they performed a categorization task of indoor versus outdoor scenes using dynamic scene stimuli. Dynamic scenes were composed of six filtered images of the same scene, from LSF to HSF or from HSF to LSF, allowing us to mimic a CtF or the reverse fine-to-coarse (FtC) sequence. Results showed that only the PPA was more activated for CtF than FtC sequences. Equivalent activations were observed for both sequences in the retrosplenial cortex and occipital place area. This study suggests for the first time that CtF sequence processing constitutes the predominant strategy for scene categorization in the PPA.

scholarly journals Differences in Functional Connectivity Networks Related to the Midbrain Dopaminergic System-Related Area in Various Psychiatric Disorders

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1239-1248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Nakamura ◽  
Naohiro Okada ◽  
Daisuke Koshiyama ◽  
Kouhei Kamiya ◽  
Osamu Abe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Frontal Pole ◽  
Related Area ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Medication Dose ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Fmri Analysis

Abstract Objective Disruptions in the dopamine system have been observed in psychiatric disorders. Since dopamine is mainly produced in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), elucidating the differences in the VTA neural network across psychiatric disorders would facilitate a greater understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these disorders. However, no study has compared VTA-seed-based functional connectivity across psychiatric disorders. Therefore, we conducted a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) study to perform a seed-based fMRI analysis, using the VTA as a seed. Methods We included participants with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 45), schizophrenia (n = 32), and bipolar disorder (BPD; n = 30), along with healthy control participants (n = 46) who were matched for age, gender, and handedness. Results The results showed that patients with MDD and BPD had altered VTA-related connectivity in the superior frontal gyrus, frontal pole regions, hippocampus, cerebellum, and posterior cingulate cortex. Some of these differences in connectivity were also found between affective disorders and schizophrenia; however, there were no differences between the schizophrenia and control groups. Connectivity between the VTA and the hippocampus was correlated with positive symptoms in the schizophrenia group. The connectivity was not associated with medication dose, and the results remained significant after controlling for dose. Conclusions The results suggest that altered brain functional connectivity related to VTA networks could be associated with the distinctive pathophysiologies of psychiatric disorders, especially affective disorders.

Moral Judgments, Moral Virtues, and Moral Norms

Human Affairs ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Popper
Keyword(s):  
Social Trust ◽  
Moral Emotions ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Moral Virtues ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethical Systems ◽  
Ways Of Life

Moral Judgments, Moral Virtues, and Moral NormsThe paper consists of two basic parts. In the first, contemporary approaches to moral judgments and their relations with moral virtues and moral norms are analyzed. The focus is on comparing the role of the emotions and reason, and conscious and unconscious processes in forming and/or justifying moral judgments. The second part examines views on the current broader socio-political situation in Western countries and points to the growing feelings of insecurity among people mainly due to the fact that traditional ways of life have been losing solid ground, settled (social) norms and ethical systems are weakening and at the same time the social trust in various state institutions and bureaucratic structures involved in power is decreasing. In conclusion the author argues for the potential of the ethic of autonomy that would lead to still greater cooperation in globalized ethic, primarily thanks to our moral emotions and moral judgments.

Object-Selective Cortex Exhibits Performance-Independent Repetition Suppression

2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 995-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory Sayres ◽  
Kalanit Grill-Spector
Keyword(s):  
Response Time ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Repetition Suppression ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Bold Responses ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Time Required

Object-selective cortical regions exhibit a decreased response when an object stimulus is repeated [repetition suppression (RS)]. RS is often associated with priming: reduced response times and increased accuracy for repeated stimuli. It is unknown whether RS reflects stimulus-specific repetition, the associated changes in response time, or the combination of the two. To address this question, we performed a rapid event-related functional MRI (fMRI) study in which we measured BOLD signal in object-selective cortex, as well as object recognition performance, while we manipulated stimulus repetition. Our design allowed us to examine separately the roles of response time and repetition in explaining RS. We found that repetition played a robust role in explaining RS: repeated trials produced weaker BOLD responses than nonrepeated trials, even when comparing trials with matched response times. In contrast, response time played a weak role in explaining RS when repetition was controlled for: it explained BOLD responses only for one region of interest (ROI) and one experimental condition. Thus repetition suppression seems to be mostly driven by repetition rather than performance changes. We further examined whether RS reflects processes occurring at the same time as recognition or after recognition by manipulating stimulus presentation duration. In one experiment, durations were longer than required for recognition (2 s), whereas in a second experiment, durations were close to the minimum time required for recognition (85–101 ms). We found significant RS for brief presentations (albeit with a reduced magnitude), which again persisted when controlling for performance. This suggests a substantial amount of RS occurs during recognition.

The New Age of Communication Research: Discourse, Cognition and Behaviour

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Skye McDonald ◽  
Leanne Togher
Keyword(s):  
Brain Injuries ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Traumatic Brain Injuries ◽  
Integrated Treatment ◽  
Communication Breakdown ◽  
Socially Relevant

AbstractResearch into communication disorders has been undergoing a slow revolution over the past few decades with some fascinating advances and some exciting new directions ahead. The major change in emphasis that has emerged is an interest in assessing communication as this relates to real-life everyday type situations. In particular, three major thrusts can be identified. The first is the application of socially relevant linguistic theory to communication disorders. Thus, theorists such as Halliday have provided useful frameworks for identifying patterns in discourse. In turn, these have revealed the strengths and weakness of speakers with aphasia or other communication disorders (e.g., traumatic brain injuries) and also what their conversational partners do to help or hinder this process. The second is an examination of how cognitive processes, including memory, inferential reasoning and social cognition, contribute to communicative competence in people who have communication disorders but not aphasia, such as those with Alzheimer's disease, with traumatic brain injuries and with right hemisphere lesions. The third is the adoption of a more integrated approach, whereby verbal and nonverbal behaviours are examined in detail for their communicative meaning, for both the purposes of characterising communication breakdown and for developing an integrated treatment approach.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of True and False Recognition Memory for Socially Relevant Information in Schizophrenia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy M Jimenez ◽  
Junghee Lee ◽  
Eric A Reavis ◽  
Jonathan K Wynn ◽  
Michael F Green
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
False Recognition ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Neural Activation ◽  
Lateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Socially Relevant

Abstract Individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) demonstrate poor recognition memory, even when information is socially relevant. The neural alterations associated with responses to old information that is accurately recognized (true recognition) vs new information inaccurately identified as old (false recognition) are not known. Twenty SZ patients and 16 healthy controls performed a recognition paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using 78 learned target and 78 new distractor words (all socially relevant trait adjectives). Participants were asked to indicate whether they had seen the word before or not. Words were classified according to the subjects’ responses, as hits (true recognition), false alarms (false recognition), correct rejections, or misses and compared for blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activation. During hits, patients with SZ and controls showed similar BOLD activation in expected areas of lateral prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex. During false alarms, controls activated many of the same regions as were activated during hits. In contrast, patients had reduced activation in lateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area, BA, 9, 46), anterior cingulate/paracingulate (BA 24/32, 6), and posterior cingulate cortex (BA 23/31). These results indicate that, compared to controls, patients with SZ exhibit a lack of correspondence between behavior (ie, falsely identifying new items as old) and neural activation patterns (ie, overlap in activation of regions associated with true and false recognition). These findings shed light on the neural mechanisms associated with false recognition memory in SZ.

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