Facial emotion processing in young people with subjective memory complaints: an ERP study

Author(s):  
Vanesa Perez ◽  
Ruth Garrido-Chaves ◽  
Mario Perez-Alarcon ◽  
Tiago O. Paiva ◽  
Matias M. Pulopulos ◽  
...  

Abstract Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are commonly related to aging, but they are also presented by young adults. Their neurophysiological mechanisms are not thoroughly understood, although some aspects related to affective state have been mentioned. Here, we investigated whether facial emotion processing is different in young people with (n = 41) and without SMCs (n = 39) who were exposed to positive, negative, and neutral faces, by recording the event-related potential (ERP) activity. From the ERP activity, the N170 (an index of face processing) and the LPP (an index of motivated attention) components were extracted. Regarding N170, results showed less amplitude for positive and neutral faces in the participants with SMCs than in those without SMCs. Moreover, women with SMCs displayed longer latencies for neutral faces than women without SMCs. No significant differences were found between the groups in the LPP component. Together, our findings suggest deficits in an early stage of facial emotion processing in young people with SMCs, and they emphasize the importance of further examining affective dimensions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanesa Perez ◽  
Ruth Garrido-Chaves ◽  
Mario Perez-Alarcón ◽  
Tiago O. Paiva ◽  
Matias M. Pulopulos ◽  
...  

AbstractSubjective memory complaints (SMCs) are commonly related to aging, but they are also presented by young adults. Their neurophysiological mechanisms are not thoroughly understood, although some aspects related to affective state have been mentioned. Here, we investigated whether facial emotion processing is different in young people with (n = 41) and without (n = 39) SMCs who were exposed to positive, negative, and neutral faces, by recording the event-related potential (ERP) activity. From the ERP activity, the N170 (an index of face processing) and the LPP (an index of motivated attention) components were extracted. Regarding the N170, results showed less amplitude for positive and neutral faces in the participants with SMCs than in those without SMCs. Moreover, women with SMCs displayed longer latencies for neutral faces than women without SMCs. No significant differences were found between the groups in the LPP component. Together, our findings suggest deficits in an early stage of facial emotion processing in young people with SMCs, and they emphasize the importance of further examining affective dimensions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity J Bigelow ◽  
Gillian M Clark ◽  
Jarrad Lum ◽  
Peter Gregory Enticott

Facial emotion processing (FEP) is critical to social cognitive ability. Developmentally, FEP rapidly improves in early childhood and continues to be fine-tuned throughout middle childhood and into adolescence. Previous research has suggested that language plays a role in the development of social cognitive skills, including non-verbal emotion recognition tasks. Here we investigated whether language is associated with specific neurophysiological indicators of FEP. One hundred and fourteen children (4-12 years) completed a language assessment and a FEP task including stimuli depicting anger, happiness, fear, and neutrality. EEG was used to record key event related potentials (ERPs; P100, N170, LPP at occipital and parietal sites separately) previously shown to be sensitive to faces and facial emotion. While there were no main effects of language, the P100 latency to negative expressions appeared to increase with language, while LPP amplitude increased with language for negative and neutral expressions. These findings suggest that language is linked to some early physiological indicators of FEP, but this is dependent on the facial expression. Future studies should explore the role of language in later stages of neural processing, with a focus on processes localised to ventromedial prefrontal regions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 107215
Author(s):  
Jingbo Gong ◽  
Jianbo Liu ◽  
Lizhi Shangguan ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Zhu Peng ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 198 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie M. Douglas ◽  
Richard J. Porter ◽  
Robert G. Knight ◽  
Paul Maruff

BackgroundImpaired neuropsychological function and differences in facial emotion processing are features of major depression. Some aspects of these functions may change during treatment and may be useful in assessing treatment response, even at an early stage of treatment.AimsTo examine early and later changes in neuropsychological functioning and facial emotion processing as potential markers of treatment response in major depression.MethodIn total, 68 newly admitted in-patients with a primary diagnosis of major depression and 50 healthy controls completed an assessment, including mood ratings, neuropsychological measures and facial emotion processing measures at three time points (baseline, 10–14 days and 6 weeks).ResultsPervasive neuropsychological impairment was evident at baseline in patients with depression compared with healthy controls. During 6 weeks of treatment, only simple reaction time, verbal working memory and the recognition of angry facial expressions showed differential change in those whose depression responded to treatment compared with treatment non-responders in the depression group. None of the measures showed a significant difference between treatment responders and non-responders at 10–14 days.ConclusionsDespite significant impairment in neuropsychological functioning in the depression group, most measures failed to differentiate between treatment responders and non-responders at 10–14 days or at 6 weeks. Simple reaction time, verbal working memory and recognition of angry facial expressions may be useful in assessing response in severe depression but probably not at an early stage.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kyle D. Meeuwsen ◽  
Kayleah M. Groeneveld ◽  
Linda A. Walker ◽  
Anna M. Mennenga ◽  
Rachel K. Tittle ◽  
...  

Background: The three-month, multidomain Memory Boot Camp program incorporates z-score neurofeedback (NFB), heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, and one-on-one coaching to teach memory skills and encourage behavior change in diet, sleep, physical fitness, and stress reduction. Objective: This prospective trial evaluates the Memory Boot Camp program for adults ages 55 to 85 with symptoms of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and subjective memory complaints. Methods: Participants were evaluated via the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), NeuroTrax Global Cognitive Index, measures of anxiety, depression, sleep, quality of life, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), and HRV parameters at four timepoints: baseline, pre-program, post-program, and follow-up. The trial included a three-month waiting period between baseline and pre-program, such that each participant acted as their own control, and follow-up took place six months after completion of the program. Results: Participants’ MoCA scores and self-reported measures of anxiety, depression, sleep quality, and quality of life improved after treatment, and these changes were maintained at follow-up. Physiological changes in HRV parameters after treatment were not significant, however, breathing rate and QEEG parameters were improved at post-program and maintained at follow-up. Finally, participants’ improvement in MoCA score over the treatment period was correlated with their improvement in two brain oscillation parameters targeted by the z-score NFB protocol: relative power of delta and relative power of theta. Conclusions: Trial results suggest that the Memory Boot Camp program is a promising treatment strategy for older adults with symptoms of MCI and subjective memory complaints.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaís Soares Cianciarullo Minett ◽  
Rosimeire Vieira Da Silva ◽  
Karin Zazo Ortiz ◽  
Paulo Henrique Ferreira Bertolucci

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