scholarly journals Impaired emotion perception and categorization in semantic aphasia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Edward Souter ◽  
Kristen A Lindquist ◽  
Beth Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
Semantic Access ◽  
Left Hemisphere Stroke ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vocal Emotion

According to a constructionist model of emotion, conceptual knowledge plays a foundational role in emotion perception; reduced availability of relevant conceptual knowledge should therefore impair emotion perception. Conceptual deficits can follow both degradation of semantic knowledge (e.g., semantic ‘storage’ deficits in semantic dementia) and deregulation of retrieval (e.g., semantic ‘access’ deficits in semantic aphasia). While emotion recognition deficits are known to accompany degraded conceptual knowledge, less is known about the impact of semantic access deficits. Here, we examined emotion perception and categorization tasks in patients with semantic aphasia, who have difficulty accessing semantic information in a flexible and controlled fashion following left hemisphere stroke. In Study 1, participants were asked to sort faces according to the emotion they portrayed – with numbers, written labels and picture examples each provided as category anchors across tasks. Semantic aphasia patients made more errors and showed a larger benefit from word anchors that reduced the need to internally constrain categorization than age-matched controls. They successfully sorted portrayals that differed in valance (positive vs. negative) but had difficulty categorizing different negative emotions. In Study 2, participants matched facial emotion portrayals to written labels following vocal emotion prosody cues, miscues, or no cues. Patients presented with overall poorer performance and benefited from cue trials relative to within-valence miscue trials. This same effect was seen in controls, who also showed deleterious effects of within-valence miscue relative to no cue trials. Overall we found that patients with deregulated semantic retrieval have deficits in emotional perception but that word anchors and cue conditions can facilitate emotion perception by increasing access to relevant emotion concepts and reducing reliance on semantic control. Semantic control may be of particular importance in emotion perception when it is necessary to interpret ambiguous inputs, or when there is interference between conceptually similar emotional states. These findings extend constructionist accounts of emotion to encompass difficulties in controlled semantic retrieval.

scholarly journals 0311 The Impairments in Emotional Perception Following Total Sleep Deprivation and the Restorative Effects of Napping and Time of Day

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A117-A117
Author(s):  
T J Cunningham ◽  
R M Bottary ◽  
E A Kensinger ◽  
R Stickgold
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Emotional Intensity ◽  
Total Sleep Deprivation ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
Recovery Sleep ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction The ability to perceive emotions is a socially-relevant skill critical for healthy interpersonal functioning, while deficits in this ability are associated with psychopathology. Total sleep deprivation (TSD) has been shown to have deleterious effects on emotion perception, yet the extent to which these impairments persist across the day with continued wakefulness, or if brief periods of recovery sleep can restore emotion perception abilities, remains unexplored. Methods Participants viewed slideshows of faces ranging in emotional expression and were asked to categorize (Happy, Sad, Angry, Neutral) and rate the emotional intensity (1-9) of each face at baseline (2100; Session 1), at 0900 (Session 2) following a night of sleep or TSD, and at 1400 (Session 3) following either continued wakefulness (wake group) or a 90-minute nap opportunity (nap group). Results Emotion categorization ability marginally improved from Session 1 to Session 2 following overnight sleep, however, no changes in emotion intensity ratings or vigilance were observed. TSD led to an increase in error rates during vigilance testing [t(46)=2.9, p=0.005] and impairment in emotion categorization ability [t(46)=5.5, p<0.001] from Session 1 to Session 2, although by Session 3 performance levels on both measures returned to baseline for all TSD participants. TSD also led to a decrease in emotional intensity ratings from Session 1 to Session 2, particularly for the highest tertile of emotional faces [6-9; t(46)=6.1, p<0.001]. These ratings remained suppressed at Session 3 in both the wake [t(25)=7.8, p<0.001] and nap [t(18)=3.1, p=0.006] groups. Conclusion These results indicate that time of day effects, with or without any additional benefit of a nap, can restore the impairments in vigilance and emotional categorization caused by TSD. The ability to discriminate levels of emotional intensity, however, is not restored by time of day or napping, suggesting that this ability is more sensitive to the impact of TSD. Support  

The interplay between control processes and feature relevance: Evidence from dual-task methodology

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
Maria Montefinese ◽  
Glyn Hallam ◽  
Hannah Elizabeth Thompson ◽  
Elizabeth Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Divided Attention ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Semantic Cognition ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
And Control ◽  
Healthy Participants

Neuropsychological studies suggest a distinction between (a) semantic knowledge and (b) control processes that shape the retrieval of conceptual information to suit the task or context. These aspects of semantic cognition are specifically impaired in patients with semantic dementia and semantic aphasia, respectively. However, interactions between the structure of knowledge and control processes that are expected during semantic retrieval have not been fully characterised. In particular, domain-general executive resources may not have equal relevance for the capacity to promote weak yet task relevant features (i.e., “controlled retrieval) and to ignore or suppress distracting information (i.e., “selection”). Here, using a feature selection task, we tested the contribution of featural relevance to semantic performance in healthy participants under conditions of divided attention. Healthy participants showed greater dual-task disruption as the relevance value of the distractor feature linearly increased, supporting the emerging view that semantic relevance is one of the organising principles of the structure of semantic representation. Moreover, word frequency, and inter-correlational strength affected overall performance, but they did not show an interaction with dual-task conditions. These results suggest that domain-general control processes, disrupted by divided attention, are more important to the capacity to efficiently avoid distracting information during semantic decision-making than to the promotion of weak target features. The present study therefore provides novel information about the nature of the interaction between structured conceptual knowledge and control processes that support the retrieval of appropriate information and relates these results to a new theoretical framework, termed controlled semantic cognition.

scholarly journals Deregulated Semantic Cognition Follows Prefrontal and Temporo-parietal Damage: Evidence from the Impact of Task Constraint on Nonverbal Object Use

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1125-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faye Corbett ◽  
Elizabeth Jefferies ◽  
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Task Constraint ◽  
Semantic Cognition ◽  
Object Use ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semantic Impairment

Semantic cognition, which encompasses all conceptually based behavior, is dependent on the successful interaction of two key components: conceptual representations and regulatory control. Qualitatively distinct disorders of semantic knowledge follow damage to the different parts of this system. Previous studies have shown that patients with multimodal semantic impairment following CVA—a condition referred to as semantic aphasia (SA)—perform poorly on a range of conceptual tasks due to a failure of executive control following prefrontal and/or temporo-parietal infarction [Jefferies, E., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. Semantic impairment in stroke aphasia versus semantic dementia: A case-series comparison. Brain, 129, 2132–2147, 2006]. Although a deficit of core semantic control would be expected to impair all modalities in parallel, most research exploring this condition has focused on tasks in the verbal domain. In a novel exploration of semantic control in the nonverbal domain, therefore, we assessed eight patients with SA on two experiments that examined object use knowledge under different levels of task constraint. Patients exhibited three key characteristics of semantic deregulation: (a) difficulty using conceptual knowledge flexibly to support the noncanonical uses of everyday objects; (b) poor inhibition of semantically related distractor items; and (c) improved object use with the provision of more tightly constraining task conditions following verbal and pictorial cues. Our findings are consistent with the notion that a neural network incorporating the left inferior prefrontal and temporo-parietal areas (damaged in SA) underpins regulation of semantic activation across both verbal and nonverbal modalities.

scholarly journals The interplay between semantic control processes and feature relevance: Evidence from dual task methodology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Montefinese ◽  
Glyn Hallam ◽  
Hannah Thompson ◽  
Beth Jefferies
Keyword(s):  
Divided Attention ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Semantic Cognition ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
And Control ◽  
Healthy Participants

Neuropsychological studies suggest a distinction between (i) semantic knowledge and (ii) control processes that shape the retrieval of conceptual information to suit the task or context. These aspects of semantic cognition are specifically impaired in patients with semantic dementia and semantic aphasia respectively. However, interactions between the structure of knowledge and control processes that are expected during semantic retrieval have not been fully characterised. In particular, domain-general executive resources may not have equal relevance for the capacity to promote weak yet relevant features (i.e., “controlled retrieval), and to ignore or suppress distracting information (i.e., “selection”). Here, using a feature selection task, we tested the contribution of featural relevance to semantic performance in healthy participants under conditions of divided attention. Healthy participants showed greater dual-task disruption as the relevance value of the distracter feature linearly increased, supporting the emerging view that semantic relevance is one of the organizing principles of the structure of semantic representation. Moreover, target relevance, word frequency and inter-correlational strength affected overall performance, but they did not show an interaction with dual-task conditions. These results suggest that domain-general control processes, disrupted by divided attention, are more relevant to the capacity to efficiently avoid distracting information during semantic decision-making than to the promotion of weak target features. The present study therefore provides novel information about the nature of the interaction between structured conceptual knowledge and control processes that support the retrieval of appropriate information, and relates these results to a new theoretical framework, termed controlled semantic cognition.

scholarly journals Self-rated social-emotional perception and its neurophysiologic and cardiac correlates while viewing a film showing the suffering of other people

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 42-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilona Papousek ◽  
Elisabeth M. Weiss ◽  
Eva M. Reiser ◽  
Günter Schulter ◽  
Heribert Harald Freudenthaler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Emotional Perception ◽  
Cardiac Responses

Using electroencephalographic (EEG) and cardiac measures, the study examined relevant mechanisms that may explain individual differences in self-rated emotion perception (i.e., the propensity of perceiving the emotional states of other persons in everyday life). Healthy women (n = 122) were confronted with film scenes showing the suffering of other people. Functional coupling between prefrontal and posterior cortices, measured by EEG coherences, more strongly decreased in individuals higher on emotion perception. This finding suggests that the propensity to loosen prefrontal inhibitory control on posterior cortical areas involved in basic processes of emotion perception is associated with higher susceptibility to social-emotional information and, therefore, with higher scores on self-rated emotion perception. In addition, higher self-rated perception of other persons' emotions was related to more pronounced cardiac responses to the observation of horrifying events occurring to people in the film which indicate enhanced attention and heightened perceptual processing

Emotional Reactivity to Visual Content as Revealed by ERP Component Clustering

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.

Challenges and opportunities for the affective sciences.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
Regina Lapate ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman ◽  
Richard J Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Core Feature ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Improved Methods ◽  
Health And Well Being

Emotion is a core feature of the human condition, with profound consequences for health, wealth, and wellbeing. Over the past quarter-century, improved methods for manipulating and measuring different features of emotion have yielded steady advances in our scientific understanding emotional states, traits, and disorders. Yet, it is clear that most of the work remains undone. Here, we highlight key challenges facing the field of affective sciences. Addressing these challenges will provide critical opportunities not just for understanding the mind, but also for increasing the impact of the affective sciences on public health and well-being.

scholarly journals The Influence of Video Format on Engagement and Performance in Online Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Sergej Lackmann ◽  
Pierre-Majorique Léger ◽  
Patrick Charland ◽  
Caroline Aubé ◽  
Jean Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Emotional Engagement ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Lecture Capture ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Subject Experiment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Video Format

Millions of students follow online classes which are delivered in video format. Several studies examine the impact of these video formats on engagement and learning using explicit measures and outline the need to also investigate the implicit cognitive and emotional states of online learners. Our study compared two video formats in terms of engagement (over time) and learning in a between-subject experiment. Engagement was operationalized using explicit and implicit neurophysiological measures. Twenty-six (26) subjects participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions based on the video shown: infographic video or lecture capture. The infographic video showed animated graphics, images, and text. The lecture capture showed a professor, providing a lecture, filmed in a classroom setting. Results suggest that lecture capture triggers greater emotional engagement over a shorter period, whereas the infographic video maintains higher emotional and cognitive engagement over longer periods of time. Regarding student learning, the infographic video contributes to significantly improved performance in matters of difficult questions. Additionally, our results suggest a significant relationship between engagement and student performance. In general, the higher the engagement, the better the student performance, although, in the case of cognitive engagement, the link is quadratic (inverted U shaped).

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