scholarly journals Support from a TMS/MEP study for a direct link between positive/negative stimuli and approach/avoidance tendencies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Fini ◽  
Maja Fischer ◽  
Lara Bardi ◽  
Marcel Brass ◽  
Agnes Moors
Keyword(s):  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Early Action ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Stimulus Valence ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Action Tendencies ◽  
Negative Stimuli

Previous behavioral studies using stimulus-response compatibility tasks have shown that people are faster to carry out instructed approach/avoidance responses to positive/negative stimuli. This result has been taken as evidence that positive/negative stimulus valence directly activates a tendency to approach/avoid, which in turn, facilitates execution of instructed approach/avoidance behavior. In these studies, however, it cannot be excluded that the results reflect a purely semantic link between stimulus valence and instructed responses. According to this alternative interpretation, positive/negative stimuli do not elicit an approach/avoidance tendency, but instead they interact with the positive/negative valence of the instructed responses, and in this way, produce the observed compatibility effect. To circumvent this possible disadvantage of compatibility tasks, we used a novel method for the measurement of early action tendencies: TMS induced MEPs. In two experiments, participants were first trained to abduct the index finger to approach and the thumb to avoid. Then, they observed a series of positive and negative stimuli. Each stimulus was followed by a TMS pulse (at 400 ms post-stimulus onset) and MEPs were measured continuously on the muscles of both fingers. These observation trials were randomly intermixed with response trials, in which neutral stimuli were presented and participants were instructed to approach/avoid the stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants received clear visual feedback on the outcome of their response in the response trials. In Experiment 2, we omitted this feedback to test whether it was necessary for the effect to occur. The results indicated higher MEPs for the approach/avoidance finger after positive/negative stimuli in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2. Analyses on the data aggregated over both experiments suggest that the visual feedback was necessary for stimulus valence to elicit action tendencies. Taken together, the results are in line with the results of behavioral studies with compatibility tasks, suggesting that stimulus valence directly elicits specific action tendencies already at 400 ms but they indicate that clear visual feedback is necessary for this effect to occur.

scholarly journals Flowers and spiders in spatial stimulus-response compatibility: Does affective valence influence selection of task-sets or selection of responses?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motonori Yamaguchi ◽  
Jing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Simon Effect ◽  
Response Compatibility ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Spatial Stimulus ◽  
Stimulus Valence ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Stimulus Response Compatibility ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Negative Stimuli

The present study examined the effect of stimulus valence on two levels of selection in the cognitive system, selection of a task-set and selection of a response. In the first experiment, participants performed a spatial compatibility task (pressing left and right key according to the locations of stimuli) in which stimulus-response mappings were determined by stimulus valence. There was a standard spatial stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect for positive stimuli (flowers) and a reversed SRC effect for negative stimuli (spiders), but the same data could be interpreted as showing faster responses when positive and negative stimuli were assigned to compatible and incompatible mappings, respectively, than when the assignment was opposite. Experiment 2 disentangled these interpretations, showing that valence did not influence a spatial SRC effect (Simon effect) when task-set retrieval was unnecessary. Experiments 3 and 4 replaced keypress responses with joystick deflections that afforded approach/avoidance action coding. Stimulus valence modulated the Simon effect (but did not reverse it) when the valence was task-relevant (Experiment 3) as well as when it was task-irrelevant (Experiment 4). Therefore, stimulus valence influences task-set selection and response selection, but the influence on the latter is limited to conditions where responses afford approach/avoidance action coding.

Focusing of Visuospatial Attention

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Pesce ◽  
Rainer Bösel
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Spatial Relation ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Simple Rt

Abstract In the present study we explored the focusing of visuospatial attention in subjects practicing and not practicing activities with high attentional demands. Similar to the studies of Castiello and Umiltà (e. g., 1990) , our experimental procedure was a variation of Posner's (1980) basic paradigm for exploring covert orienting of visuospatial attention. In a simple RT-task, a peripheral cue of varying size was presented unilaterally or bilaterally from a central fixation point and followed by a target at different stimulus-onset-asynchronies (SOAs). The target could occur validly inside the cue or invalidly outside the cue with varying spatial relation to its boundary. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and reaction times (RTs) were recorded to target stimuli under the different task conditions. RT and ERP findings showed converging aspects as well as dissociations. Electrophysiological results revealed an amplitude modulation of the ERPs in the early and late Nd time interval at both anterior and posterior scalp sites, which seems to be related to the effects of peripheral informative cues as well as to the attentional expertise. Results were: (1) shorter latency effects confirm the positive-going amplitude enhancement elicited by unilateral peripheral cues and strengthen the criticism against the neutrality of spatially nonpredictive peripheral cueing of all possible target locations which is often presumed in behavioral studies. (2) Longer latency effects show that subjects with attentional expertise modulate the distribution of the attentional resources in the visual space differently than nonexperienced subjects. Skilled practice may lead to minimizing attentional costs by automatizing the use of a span of attention that is adapted to the most frequent task demands and endogenously increases the allocation of resources to cope with less usual attending conditions.

Aff_Faces

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz G Gawryszewski ◽  
Mikael Cavallet
Keyword(s):  
Compatibility Effect ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Positive Stimulus ◽  
Spatial Compatibility ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Fearful Faces ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Avoidance Reactions

Conde et al (2011) reported a modulation of the spatial compatibility effect by the affective valence of soccer team figures. For Favorite team, it was faster to respond by pressing the key located on the stimulus side than the opposite key (ipsi- and contralateral keys, respectively). For Rival team, this pattern was reversed. These findings were interpreted as being due to approach and avoidance reactions which facilitate both the ipsilateral response to a positive stimulus and the contralateral response to a negative one and vice-versa. This hypothesis was challenged by arguing that there is no spatial compatibility effect when a mixed-rule task was used and that approach/avoidance reactions are not elicited when a keyboard was employed to execute the responses. Alternatively, it was proposed that Conde et al. (2011) results were due to task-set effects. Here, emotional faces (Happy, Angry and Fearful) faces were used to test the generality of effects elicited by affective stimuli and to disentangle task-set and approach/avoidance reactions hypotheses. We found that there is no task-set effect when the Happiness-Anger pair was used. Moreover, for the Happiness/Fear pair, there was an interaction between valence and spatial compatibility within a block of trials. These results suggest that: (i) the interaction between valence and spatial compatibility in the Affective SC task modulates the spatial compatibility effect; (ii) this modulation elicits a task-set effect that varies according to the pair of affective stimuli and (iv) the task-set effect may be due to an automatic orientation of the visual attention to the positive stimulus which facilitates the ipsilateral response conjoined with an inhibition of the ipsilateral response to the aversive stimulus, simulating a reversed compatibility effect to the negative stimulus.

scholarly journals Transient neuronal suppression for exploitation of new sensory evidence

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Shinn ◽  
Daeyeol Lee ◽  
John D. Murray ◽  
Hyojung Seo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Temporal Integration ◽  
Motor Preparation ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Sensory Evidence

AbstractIn noisy but stationary environments, decisions should be based on the temporal integration of sequentially sampled evidence. This strategy has been supported by many behavioral studies and is qualitatively consistent with neural activity in multiple brain areas. By contrast, decision-making in the face of non-stationary sensory evidence remains poorly understood. Here, we trained monkeys to identify and respond via saccade to the dominant color of a dynamically refreshed bicolor patch that becomes informative after a variable delay. Animals’ behavioral responses were briefly suppressed after evidence changes, and many neurons in the frontal eye field displayed a corresponding dip in activity at this time, similar to that frequently observed after stimulus onset but sensitive to stimulus strength. Generalized drift-diffusion models revealed consistency of behavior and neural activity with brief suppression of motor output, but not with pausing or resetting of evidence accumulation. These results suggest that momentary arrest of motor preparation is important for dynamic perceptual decision making.

scholarly journals Time course of spatiotopic updating across saccades

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 2027-2032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasper H. Fabius ◽  
Alessio Fracasso ◽  
Tanja C. W. Nijboer ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Oculomotor System ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Oculomotor Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
The Brain

Humans move their eyes several times per second, yet we perceive the outside world as continuous despite the sudden disruptions created by each eye movement. To date, the mechanism that the brain employs to achieve visual continuity across eye movements remains unclear. While it has been proposed that the oculomotor system quickly updates and informs the visual system about the upcoming eye movement, behavioral studies investigating the time course of this updating suggest the involvement of a slow mechanism, estimated to take more than 500 ms to operate effectively. This is a surprisingly slow estimate, because both the visual system and the oculomotor system process information faster. If spatiotopic updating is indeed this slow, it cannot contribute to perceptual continuity, because it is outside the temporal regime of typical oculomotor behavior. Here, we argue that the behavioral paradigms that have been used previously are suboptimal to measure the speed of spatiotopic updating. In this study, we used a fast gaze-contingent paradigm, using high phi as a continuous stimulus across eye movements. We observed fast spatiotopic updating within 150 ms after stimulus onset. The results suggest the involvement of a fast updating mechanism that predictively influences visual perception after an eye movement. The temporal characteristics of this mechanism are compatible with the rate at which saccadic eye movements are typically observed in natural viewing.

Opposed optimal strategies of weighting somatosensory inputs for planning reaching movements toward visual and proprioceptive targets

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 2290-2301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Blouin ◽  
Anahid H. Saradjian ◽  
Nicolas Lebar ◽  
Alain Guillaume ◽  
Laurence Mouchnino
Keyword(s):  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Optimal Strategies ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Movement Planning ◽  
Reaching Movements ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Somatosensory Input ◽  
Visual Targets ◽  
The Brain

Behavioral studies have suggested that the brain uses a visual estimate of the hand to plan reaching movements toward visual targets and somatosensory inputs in the case of somatosensory targets. However, neural correlates for distinct coding of the hand according to the sensory modality of the target have not yet been identified. Here we tested the twofold hypothesis that the somatosensory input from the reaching hand is facilitated and inhibited, respectively, when planning movements toward somatosensory (unseen fingers) or visual targets. The weight of the somatosensory inputs was assessed by measuring the amplitude of the somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) resulting from vibration of the reaching finger during movement planning. The target sensory modality had no significant effect on SEP amplitude. However, Spearman's analyses showed significant correlations between the SEPs and reaching errors. When planning movements toward proprioceptive targets without visual feedback of the reaching hand, participants showing the greater SEPs were those who produced the smaller directional errors. Inversely, participants showing the smaller SEPs when planning movements toward visual targets with visual feedback of the reaching hand were those who produced the smaller directional errors. No significant correlation was found between the SEPs and radial or amplitude errors. Our results indicate that the sensory strategy for planning movements is highly flexible among individuals and also for a given sensory context. Most importantly, they provide neural bases for the suggestion that optimization of movement planning requires the target and the reaching hand to both be represented in the same sensory modality.

scholarly journals Age-related Alterations in Simple Declarative Memory and the Effect of Negative Stimulus Valence

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1920-1933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishnu P. Murty ◽  
Fabio Sambataro ◽  
Saumitra Das ◽  
Hao-Yang Tan ◽  
Joseph H. Callicott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Stimulus Valence ◽  
Effect Of Age ◽  
Encoding And Retrieval

Healthy aging has been shown to modulate the neural circuitry underlying simple declarative memory; however, the functional impact of negative stimulus valence on these changes has not been fully investigated. Using BOLD fMRI, we explored the effects of aging on behavioral performance, neural activity, and functional coupling during the encoding and retrieval of novel aversive and neutral scenes. Behaviorally, there was a main effect of valence with better recognition performance for aversive greater than neutral stimuli in both age groups. There was also a main effect of age with better recognition performance in younger participants compared to older participants. At the imaging level, there was a main effect of valence with increased activity in the medial-temporal lobe (amygdala and hippocampus) during both encoding and retrieval of aversive relative to neutral stimuli. There was also a main effect of age with older participants showing decreased engagement of medial-temporal lobe structures and increased engagement of prefrontal structures during both encoding and retrieval sessions. Interestingly, older participants presented with relatively decreased amygdalar–hippocampal coupling and increased amygdalar–prefrontal coupling when compared to younger participants. Furthermore, older participants showed increased activation in prefrontal cortices and decreased activation in the amygdala when contrasting the retrieval of aversive and neutral scenes. These results suggest that although normal aging is associated with a decline in declarative memory with alterations in the neural activity and connectivity of brain regions underlying simple declarative memory, memory for aversive stimuli is relatively better preserved than for neutral stimuli, possibly through greater compensatory prefrontal cortical activity.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of Approach-Avoidance Training on action-tendencies in individuals with skin-picking disorder: A preliminary randomized experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel S. Mathew ◽  
Madeline A. Rech ◽  
Han-Joo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Training ◽  
Cognitive Intervention ◽  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Skin Picking ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Approach Training ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Excoriation Disorder ◽  
Skin Picking Disorder ◽  
Action Tendencies

AbstractBackground and aimsPathological skin-picking (PSP) or excoriation disorder is a destructive behavior that affects 1-2% of the general population. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of a computerized behavior modification task on action-tendencies (i.e., approach or avoidance) in adults with PSP. We aimed to modify these action-tendencies by having participants with PSP complete the Approach-Avoidance Training (AAT) task, using a joystick to simulate an approach (=pull) or avoidance (=push) response.MethodForty-five participants diagnosed with PSP were randomized to one of three training conditions: (1) Avoidance Training (AvT; n = 15), (2) Approach Training (ApT; n = 15), or (3) Placebo Training (PT; n = 15). We hypothesized that after training, those in the AvT would have the greatest reduction in behavioral approach (i.e., their overall reaction time [RT] to approach pictures of irregular skin stimuli).ResultsResults of the pre-training assessment task revealed a positive correlation between behavioral approach to irregular skin stimuli and skin-picking severity as assessed by the Skin Picking Scale-Revised (SPS-R). After training, a lower behavioral approach and urges to pick were found in the AvT and PT groups, while those in the ApT reported higher behavioral approach and urges to pick. At two-week follow-up, no significant changes on the SPS-R were reported between groups.DiscussionOur preliminary data suggest that the AAT is a promising avenue of research to develop as a cognitive intervention to address an excessive behavioral approach tendency that characterizes skin-picking problems.

If Attitudes Affect How Stimuli Are Processed, Should They Not Affect the Event-Related Brain Potential?

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Cacioppo ◽  
Stephen L. Crites ◽  
Gary G. Berntson ◽  
Michael G. H. Coles
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Positive Component ◽  
Attitude Survey ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Brain Potential ◽  
In Series ◽  
Stimulus Valence ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Negative Stimuli

In Experiment 1, subjects completed an attitude survey to identify items toward which they held positive and negative attitudes. Subsequently, subjects were instructed to count the number of positive (or negative) stimuli in a series. Each series contained six attitude stimuli from a given semantic category (e.g., fruits), and the structure of the series was varied so that positive and negative stimuli, as indexed by subjects' idiosyncratic attitudes, were evaluatively consistent or inconsistent within the series. In Experiment 2, subjects were exposed to personality traits that were positive or negative in series of six. Again, the structure of the series was varied so that positive and negative traits were evaluatively consistent or inconsistent within the series. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that although the event-related brain potential did not differ as a function of stimulus valence per se, evaluatively inconsistent, in contrast to consistent, stimuli evoked a larger amplitude late P300-like positive component that was maximal over the centroparietal region.

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