scholarly journals Neural Responses to Infant Emotions and Emotional Self-Awareness in Mothers and Fathers during Pregnancy

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Trentini ◽  
Marco Pagani ◽  
Marco Lauriola ◽  
Renata Tambelli
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
High Order ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery ◽  
Affective Processes

Neuroscientific research has largely investigated the neurobiological correlates of maternal and (to a much lesser extent) paternal responsiveness in the post-partum period. In contrast, much less is known about the neural processing of infant emotions during pregnancy. Twenty mothers and 19 fathers were recruited independently during the third trimester of pregnancy. High-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) was recorded while expectant parents passively viewed images representing distressed, ambiguous, happy, and neutral faces of unknown infants. Correlational analyses were performed to detect a link between neural responses to infant facial expressions and emotional self-awareness. In response to infant emotions, mothers and fathers showed similar cerebral activity in regions involved in high-order socio-affective processes. Mothers and fathers also showed different brain activity in premotor regions implicated in high-order motor control, in occipital regions involved in visuo-spatial information processing and visual mental imagery, as well as in inferior parietal regions involved in attention allocation. Low emotional self-awareness negatively correlated with activity in parietal regions subserving empathy in mothers, while it positively correlated with activity in temporal and occipital areas implicated in mentalizing and visual mental imagery in fathers. This study may enlarge knowledge on the neural response to infant emotions during pregnancy.

scholarly journals Beyond imagination: Hypnotic visual hallucination induces greater lateralised brain activity than visual mental imagery

NeuroImage ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 118282
Author(s):  
Renzo C. Lanfranco ◽  
Álvaro Rivera-Rei ◽  
David Huepe ◽  
Agustín Ibáñez ◽  
Andrés Canales-Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Visual Hallucination ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery

The Costs of Ignoring High-Order Correlations in Populations of Model Neurons

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 660-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melchi M. Michel ◽  
Robert A. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Model Neuron ◽  
Joint Probability ◽  
High Order ◽  
Neural Population ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Significant Information ◽  
Statistical Correlations ◽  
Neural Populations ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Dependence Tree

Investigators debate the extent to which neural populations use pairwise and higher-order statistical dependencies among neural responses to represent information about a visual stimulus. To study this issue, three statistical decoders were used to extract the information in the responses of model neurons about the binocular disparities present in simulated pairs of left-eye and right-eye images: (1) the full joint probability decoder considered all possible statistical relations among neural responses as potentially important; (2) the dependence tree decoder also considered all possible relations as potentially important, but it approximated high-order statistical correlations using a computationally tractable procedure; and (3) the independent response decoder, which assumed that neural responses are statistically independent, meaning that all correlations should be zero and thus can be ignored. Simulation results indicate that high-order correlations among model neuron responses contain significant information about binocular disparities and that the amount of this high-order information increases rapidly as a function of neural population size. Furthermore, the results highlight the potential importance of the dependence tree decoder to neuroscientists as a powerful but still practical way of approximating high-order correlations among neural responses.

Acetaminophen Reduces Social Pain

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 931-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Nathan DeWall ◽  
Geoff MacDonald ◽  
Gregory D. Webster ◽  
Carrie L. Masten ◽  
Roy F. Baumeister ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Social Rejection ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Physical Pain ◽  
Social Pain ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Pain, whether caused by physical injury or social rejection, is an inevitable part of life. These two types of pain—physical and social—may rely on some of the same behavioral and neural mechanisms that register pain-related affect. To the extent that these pain processes overlap, acetaminophen, a physical pain suppressant that acts through central (rather than peripheral) neural mechanisms, may also reduce behavioral and neural responses to social rejection. In two experiments, participants took acetaminophen or placebo daily for 3 weeks. Doses of acetaminophen reduced reports of social pain on a daily basis (Experiment 1). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure participants’ brain activity (Experiment 2), and found that acetaminophen reduced neural responses to social rejection in brain regions previously associated with distress caused by social pain and the affective component of physical pain (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula). Thus, acetaminophen reduces behavioral and neural responses associated with the pain of social rejection, demonstrating substantial overlap between social and physical pain.

scholarly journals Mental Rotation Meets the Motion Aftereffect: The Role of hV5/MT+ in Visual Mental Imagery

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1395-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Seurinck ◽  
Floris P. de Lange ◽  
Erik Achten ◽  
Guy Vingerhoets
Keyword(s):  
Mental Rotation ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Motion Aftereffect ◽  
Mental Rotation Task ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery

A growing number of studies show that visual mental imagery recruits the same brain areas as visual perception. Although the necessity of hV5/MT+ for motion perception has been revealed by means of TMS, its relevance for motion imagery remains unclear. We induced a direction-selective adaptation in hV5/MT+ by means of an MAE while subjects performed a mental rotation task that elicits imagined motion. We concurrently measured behavioral performance and neural activity with fMRI, enabling us to directly assess the effect of a perturbation of hV5/MT+ on other cortical areas involved in the mental rotation task. The activity in hV5/MT+ increased as more mental rotation was required, and the perturbation of hV5/MT+ affected behavioral performance as well as the neural activity in this area. Moreover, several regions in the posterior parietal cortex were also affected by this perturbation. Our results show that hV5/MT+ is required for imagined visual motion and engages in an interaction with parietal cortex during this cognitive process.

Pattern of brain activity during mental imagery of eye movements

NeuroImage ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1219
Author(s):  
F. Lui ◽  
P. Baraldi ◽  
F. Benuzzi ◽  
S. Fonda ◽  
M. Maieron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Brain Activity

scholarly journals Adaptive brain activity changes during tongue movement with palatal coverage from fMRI data

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuka Inamochi ◽  
Kenji Fueki ◽  
Nobuo Usui ◽  
Masato Taira ◽  
Noriyuki Wakabayashi
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Information ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Motor Impairment ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Tongue Movement ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Oral Environment ◽  
Motor Dexterity ◽  
The Brain

AbstractSuccessful adaptation to wearing dentures with palatal coverage may be associated with cortical activity changes related to tongue motor control. The purpose was to investigate the brain activity changes during tongue movement in response to a new oral environment. Twenty-eight fully dentate subjects (mean age: 28.6-years-old) who had no experience with removable dentures wore experimental palatal plates for 7 days. We measured tongue motor dexterity, difficulty with tongue movement, and brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging during tongue movement at pre-insertion (Day 0), as well as immediately (Day 1), 3 days (Day 3), and 7 days (Day 7) post-insertion. Difficulty with tongue movement was significantly higher on Day 1 than on Days 0, 3, and 7. In the subtraction analysis of brain activity across each day, activations in the angular gyrus and right precuneus on Day 1 were significantly higher than on Day 7. Tongue motor impairment induced activation of the angular gyrus, which was associated with monitoring of the tongue’s spatial information, as well as the activation of the precuneus, which was associated with constructing the tongue motor imagery. As the tongue regained the smoothness in its motor functions, the activation of the angular gyrus and precuneus decreased.

scholarly journals Fusing Mobile Phone Sensing and Brain Imaging to Assess Depression in College Students

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy F. Huckins ◽  
Alex W. daSilva ◽  
Rui Wang ◽  
Weichen Wang ◽  
Elin L. Hedlund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Antidepressant Treatment ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Mobile Phone Sensing ◽  
Functional Brain Activity

AbstractAs smartphone usage has become increasingly prevalent in our society, so have rates of depression, particularly among young adults. Individual differences in smartphone usage patterns have been shown to reflect individual differences in underlying affective processes such as depression (Wang et al., 2018). In the current study, we identified a positive relationship between smartphone screen time (e.g. phone unlock duration) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the subgenual cingulate cortex (sgCC), a brain region implicated in depression and antidepressant treatment response, and regions of the ventromedial/orbitofrontal cortex, such that increased phone usage was related to stronger connectivity between these regions. We then used this cluster to constrain subsequent analyses looking at depressive symptoms in the same cohort and observed partial replication in a separate cohort. We believe the data and analyses presented here provide relatively simplistic initial analyses which replicate and provide a first step in combining functional brain activity and smartphone usage patterns to better understand issues related to mental health. Smartphones are a prevalent part of modern life and the usage of mobile sensing data from smartphones promises to be an important tool for mental health diagnostics and neuroscience research.

scholarly journals Mothers and fathers in NICU: The impact of preterm birth on parental distress

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 604-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Ionio ◽  
Caterina Colombo ◽  
Valeria Brazzoduro ◽  
Eleonora Mascheroni ◽  
Emanuela Confalonieri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Preterm Birth ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Event Scale ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
The Impact

Preterm birth is a stressful event for families. In particular, the unexpectedly early delivery may cause negative feelings in mothers and fathers. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between preterm birth, parental stress and negative feelings, and the environmental setting of NICU. 21 mothers (age = 36.00 ± 6.85) and 19 fathers (age = 34.92 ± 4.58) of preterm infants (GA = 30.96 ± 2.97) and 20 mothers (age = 40.08 ± 4.76) and 20 fathers (age = 40.32 ± 6.77) of full-term infants (GA = 39.19 ± 1.42) were involved. All parents filled out the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Impact of Event Scale Revised, Profile of Mood States, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Post-Partum Bonding Questionnaire. Our data showed differences in emotional reactions between preterm and full-term parents. Results also revealed significant differences between mothers and fathers’ responses to preterm birth in terms of stress, negative feelings, and perceptions of social support. A correlation between negative conditions at birth (e.g., birth weight and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay) and higher scores in some scales of Impact of Event Scale Revised, Profile of Mood States and Post-Partum Bonding Questionnaire were found. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may be a stressful place both for mothers and fathers. It might be useful to plan, as soon as possible, interventions to help parents through the experience of the premature birth of their child and to begin an immediately adaptive mode of care.

Failures to Imagine

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reed Maxwell ◽  
Steven Jay Lynn ◽  
Scott Lilienfeld
Keyword(s):  
Borderline Personality Disorder ◽  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery

Although interest in the relationship between mental imagery and psychopathology has increased greatly over the last decade, few publications to date have examined relationships between personality-related psychopathology and mental imagery use, abilities, or both. However, we have reason to expect that substantive relationships may exist. For example, studies have consistently linked psychopathy and borderline personality disorder to problems in emotion experience and emotion regulation, and a growing number of studies indicate that deficits in visual mental imagery use and ability in particular may contribute to such problems. Using correlational data from multiple self-report measures of normal and pathological personality functioning and visual mental imagery, our study presents preliminary evidence for lower levels of self-reported visual mental imagery use, abilities, or both among noncriminal individuals with higher levels of self-reported psychopathy and individuals with greater emotional regulation difficulties, a core feature of borderline personality disorder. We also found significant relationships among self-reported visual mental imagery use, ability, or both, and personality variables shown to strongly predict psychopathy and emotional regulation difficulties. Limitations of the study, especially its reliance on a correlational, cross-sectional design, are discussed, and implications for future research are explored.

Influence of trait anxiety on brain activity during the acquisition and extinction of aversive conditioning

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Barrett ◽  
J. L. Armony
Keyword(s):  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Conditioned Response ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Aversive Conditioning ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anxiety Response ◽  
Echo Planar

BackgroundWe examined how individual differences in trait anxiety (TA) influence the neural responses associated with the acquisition and extinction of anticipatory anxiety elicited through a context conditioning paradigm, with particular focus on the amygdala and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC).MethodDuring two sessions of echo-planar functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 18 healthy volunteers completed a decision-making task with two randomly alternating 28-s to 32-s background screen colour blocks. One of the colours was associated with the presentation of an aversive noise (CTX+) and the other colour was ‘safe’ (CTX−). In the first session (Acquisition), 33% of CTX+ colour blocks were paired with noise and in the second session (Extinction) no noise was presented.ResultsThe amygdala displayed an increased response to CTX+ compared to CTX− colour blocks during the Acquisition and Extinction sessions and the ACC displayed an increased response to CTX+ compared to CTX− colour blocks during Extinction only. In addition, a greater conditioned response (CTX+ minus CTX−) was observed in the ACC when comparing the Extinction and Acquisition sessions. Correlation analyses further showed that higher levels of TA were associated with a higher conditioned response in the amygdala during Extinction as well as a greater differential conditioned response (i.e. Extinction>Acquisition) in the ACC.ConclusionsOur results support the idea that individuals with high levels of anxiety-relevant traits and vulnerable to developing an anxiety disorder display a more resilient anxiety response during extinction that is characterized by hyper-responsivity in the amygdala.

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