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Empathic trait predicts the psychophysiological response of emotional tears
International Journal of Psychophysiology 94 (2014) 120–261
to watching neutral pictures. Moreover, successful negative emotion regulation was evidenced by greater corrugator activity while increasing negative emotion and less activity while decreasing negative emotion, as compared to maintaining negative emotion. Positive emotion regulation was also demonstrated by greater zygomatic activity while increasing positive emotion and less activity while decreasing positive emotion, as compared to maintaining positive emotion. Self-reported ratings also showed significant changes according to regulation instructions. These data suggest that the current experimental paradigm using emotional pictures and facial EMG could be utilized to probe emotion regulation abilities in Koreans, and to examine both negative and positive emotions. This finding would also help provide foundation for investigating the relationship between abilities to regulate negative and positive emotions. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.949
A proposed novel and applicative assessment method of brain activity related to human feeling Shigeru Tominagaa, Tatsuya Iwakib Confectionery R&D Labs., Meiji Co., Ltd., Japan b Department of Assistive Rehabilitation, Hiroshima International University, Japan a
The idea that EEG alpha activity corresponds to the default mode network (DMN) is gaining favor. In this view, it is possible that some feature values in the neural network, such as the scaling property in time-series analyses, indicate activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a part of the DMN. It is also possible that these indicate a complementary increase in beta activity, such as in the working memory network (WMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN). This information helps explain internal and external psychological orientations. It is theorized that cortical neuronal network dynamics change within the range of a few seconds to a few hundreds of milliseconds. Although the theory is not well established in mathematical studies, it is presumed that locally synchronized clusters of neuronal networks formed by noise-induced synchronization take on smallworld networks, and this self-organization process often acquires a scale-free property. Moreover, EEG is characterized by deterministic chaos, and its time-series presents a fluctuation spectrum with a scaling exponent from 0 to 1, where 0 corresponds to disorder within the analysis and 1 indicates a self-organizing neuronal network. It is possible that the scaling exponent of alpha-band EEG relates to psychological states, such as emotion, assuming that neural network activity in the frontal cortex is under the influence of feeling. In the presented method, a time-series of effective EEG voltage from the frontal pole or the frontal electrodes on each hemisphere was used. This is because effective voltage reflects the amount of postsynaptic potential or the instantaneous firing rate. The state of the neuronal network (i.e., the instantaneous connection strength) is estimated through the analyzed scaling property of its power spectrum density (PSD). For example, the effective voltages of recorded alpha-band EEG (8–13 Hz) from Fp1 and Fp2 were analyzed in 25.6 s intervals according to changes of the feeling. After spectrum analysis, the scaling exponents were measured by the linear approximation of a double logarithmic plotted PSD of each hemisphere on a Hz log scale between −1 and 0 (0.1–1.0 Hz) within the constraints of the data length and Nyquist frequency. The derived scaling exponents were plotted bidimensionally (left and right halves). Feeling estimation was possible by referring to the simultaneous presentations.
249
The proposed method is precise and robust compared to other methods that use absolute power values, which contain larger errors caused by variation depending on the EEG measurement principle. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.950
An evaluation of the differences in subjective responses to the attractiveness of pictures of the opposite sex after a visual presentation Kohei Fuseda, Yuichiro Nagano, Takefumi Kobayashi Bunkyo Gakuin University, Japan Previous research using central nervous system indices showed that judgment of the attractiveness of opposite sex pictures is carried out within a few hundred milliseconds (Ortigue & Bianchi-Demicheli, 2008). However, it is unclear how such differences in people's subjective responses may affect autonomic nervous system activity. Previous research has reported a decreased heart rate (HR) and increased skin conductance (SC) during the presentation of a visual stimulus (Bradley et al., 2001). It is noted that such physiological reactions may depend on the valence and arousal levels of the stimulus (Bradley & Lang, 2007) or may merely be an orienting response (Codispoti et al., 2008). In this study, in order to control the above effects of the stimulus, we investigated subjective responses to attractiveness in pictures of the opposite sex, and looked at their influence on autonomic activity in terms of associated valence and arousal factors. A total of 19 male students were presented with 10 pictures of the opposite sex. Each picture was presented for 15 s followed by 60 s of a fixation point while HR, SC, and finger blood flow (FBF) were measured. Following a rest period of one minute after the 10 pictures were presented, the participants rated the attractiveness of each picture using the 100 mm VAS (visual analog scale). In the analysis, we compared autonomic responses to the most and least attractive of the pictures during the period of presentation (15 s) and after the presentation (15 s). In terms of responses, there was no significant difference between the most and least attractive pictures for HR, SC, and FBF during the picture presentation. However, HR and FBF in the case of the most attractive picture were significantly lower than in the case of the least attractive picture during the postpresentation period. We found no significant difference during the post-presentation period in terms of SC. These results suggest a difference in the subjective influence of the opposite sex pictures' attractiveness on the autonomic nervous system, in particular, regarding cardiovascular activities. The effects of valence and arousal by the stimulus (Bradley & Lang, 2007), or orientation response (Codispoti et al., 2008) to the pictures may occur during the picture presentation. Therefore, it is concluded that if we investigate the difference in reactions to the attractiveness of the opposite sex pictures using autonomic indices, we should focus on the responses made during the post-picture presentation. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.951
Empathic trait predicts the psychophysiological response of emotional tears Kazuma Moria, Yuji Wadaa, Makoto Iwanagab National food research institute, Japan b Hiroshima University, Japan a
Human beings are the only species to produce emotional tears. The tear response is a strong emotional experience that is accompanied by
250
International Journal of Psychophysiology 94 (2014) 120–261
changes in autonomic nervous system activity. Previous studies have suggested that human tear production is related to empathic traits. Although this relationship has been repeatedly suggested, most studies on tears have employed only psychological questionnaires. Thus, it remains unclear whether empathic traits are associated with the psychophysiological tear response. Accordingly, we investigated the relationship between empathic traits and the psychophysiological tear response in an experimental setting. Participants were 26 young adults. After recording baseline physiological measures, participants listened to their three favorite pieces of music and three experimenter-selected pieces of music in a soundproof room. The experimenter used the self-selected music of one participant as the experimenter-selected music for another participant. For example, if music set A (three pieces of music) evoked tears in participant 1, and music set B (three pieces of music) evoked tears in participant 2, then music set B served as the psychoacoustic control for participant 1, and music set A served as the psychoacoustic control for participant 2. Participants reported the sensation of tears by clicking a mouse each time they felt tears while listening to music. Electrocardiograph, respiration, and skin conductance were also recorded during music listening. After the experiment, participants responded to the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which taps into four separate aspects of the global concept of empathy, namely, perspective taking, empathic concern, fantasy, and personal distress. Respiration rate slowed and respiration depth increased when participants experienced emotional tears from their favorite music. The same music did not induce such physiological changes when it was experienced as experimenter-selected music by other participants. Furthermore, perspective taking positively correlated with frequency of tears for favorite music (r = .43, p = .028), but not for experimenter-selected music. The results indicate that the psychophysiological tear response induced respiration changes that suggest a calming effect. Perspective taking is the ability to perceive someone else's thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Thus, this might explain the hypothesized relationship between the psychophysiological tear response and higher cognitive functions, such as imagination and theory of mind. The present results cannot be explained by the psychoacoustic features of music or behavioral tendencies, as no correlations were observed for experimenter-selected music. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that individuals high in empathic functioning more frequently experience emotional tears related to psychophysiological calming. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.952
Effects of state and trait emotions on prepulse inhibition: A study of induced oscillatory brain activity Vilfredo De Pascalis, Kathrin Sommer Department of Psychology, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy We investigated how affective images modulate induced oscillatory brain-electric activity of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR). In addition, we evaluated whether individual differences in the sensitivity of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) differentially influence stimulus-induced oscillations during affective processing. PPI of induced delta activity (1–3.5 Hz, 207–247 ms) was sensitive to emotional valence, showing enhanced inhibition of delta activity for neutral images, relative to positive and negative images. At central sites, the inhibition was greater for negative images compared to positive ones. The emotion modulation of PPI of induced delta activity was further modulated by BAS sensitivity.
The inhibition of theta activity (4–7.5 Hz, 116–156 ms) was modulated by emotional valence and arousal. The direction of this effect differed across electrode sites and was sensitive to the interaction with both BIS and BAS measures. PPI of low-Beta activity (14–20 Hz, 66–106 ms) was greater for neutral images at parietal and occipital sites compared to positive and negative images. Further, at occipital sites high-arousal images were associated with greater PPI than lowarousal images. High-BIS/low-BAS participants showed enhanced PPI of low-beta activity towards high-arousal images, relative to lowarousal images. Induced alpha (8–13 Hz, 90–130 ms) and high-Beta oscillations (21–30 Hz, 54–94 ms) demonstrated no influence of state and trait emotions on PPI. PPI of Gamma activity (36–50 Hz, 50–90 ms) was modulated by BAS sensitivity, showing that low-BAS participants demonstrated enhanced PPI of gamma activity for neutral images relative to negative and positive images. At parietal and occipital sites, high-BAS participants showed enhanced PPI of gamma activity to positive images compared to neutral and negative images. These results provide a new description of oscillatory brain activity as sensory-cognitive gating mechanisms subserving emotion and arousal and these results further demonstrate specific patterns of induced cortical oscillations as neural bases of individual differences in BIS and BAS traits. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.953
Mental ability and social influence: An event-related potential study Vilfredo De Pascalis, Francesca Fracasso Department of Psychology, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy The present study investigates how mental ability and social influence can affect negative components of ERP responses to socialfeedback signals. Participants, as a group, were first exposed to the administration of Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM). A second session served, for each participant, to perform a modified version of APM during which an EEG recording was carried out. During this session participants, after they had responded to each APM trial, received a feedback signal displaying the mean choice of the whole group to that trial which could be congruent or incongruent with the participant's response (social condition). After receiving the feedback participants responded for the second time to the same trial. During a third session, these participants were asked to perform the same task, but they were told that feedback signals were random generated by a computer program (control condition). For the social condition we failed to find significant differences in amplitude of the feedback related negativity (FRN) between congruent and incongruent signals. For the incongruent signals, the control condition elicited greater FRN amplitude than the social condition. Both findings contrast with previous research. In addition, we found a large slow negative wave (SNW), peaking around 900 ms after feedback onset which was larger in the social condition compared to the control condition. This last observation indicates that SNW is mostly sensitive to the social nature of the feedback signal. Although the meaning of this wave is not fully understood, we think, in agreement with previous reports, that SNW could reflect a later semantic processing of the feedback signal. In terms of individual differences in mental ability we observed that low ability (LA) participants had larger FRN amplitudes during incongruent trials relative to congruent ones. These results suggest that individual differences in mental ability play a role on conflict monitoring processing. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.954
to watching neutral pictures. Moreover, successful negative emotion regulation was evidenced by greater corrugator activity while increasing negative emotion and less activity while decreasing negative emotion, as compared to maintaining negative emotion. Positive emotion regulation was also demonstrated by greater zygomatic activity while increasing positive emotion and less activity while decreasing positive emotion, as compared to maintaining positive emotion. Self-reported ratings also showed significant changes according to regulation instructions. These data suggest that the current experimental paradigm using emotional pictures and facial EMG could be utilized to probe emotion regulation abilities in Koreans, and to examine both negative and positive emotions. This finding would also help provide foundation for investigating the relationship between abilities to regulate negative and positive emotions. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.949
A proposed novel and applicative assessment method of brain activity related to human feeling Shigeru Tominagaa, Tatsuya Iwakib Confectionery R&D Labs., Meiji Co., Ltd., Japan b Department of Assistive Rehabilitation, Hiroshima International University, Japan a
The idea that EEG alpha activity corresponds to the default mode network (DMN) is gaining favor. In this view, it is possible that some feature values in the neural network, such as the scaling property in time-series analyses, indicate activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a part of the DMN. It is also possible that these indicate a complementary increase in beta activity, such as in the working memory network (WMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN). This information helps explain internal and external psychological orientations. It is theorized that cortical neuronal network dynamics change within the range of a few seconds to a few hundreds of milliseconds. Although the theory is not well established in mathematical studies, it is presumed that locally synchronized clusters of neuronal networks formed by noise-induced synchronization take on smallworld networks, and this self-organization process often acquires a scale-free property. Moreover, EEG is characterized by deterministic chaos, and its time-series presents a fluctuation spectrum with a scaling exponent from 0 to 1, where 0 corresponds to disorder within the analysis and 1 indicates a self-organizing neuronal network. It is possible that the scaling exponent of alpha-band EEG relates to psychological states, such as emotion, assuming that neural network activity in the frontal cortex is under the influence of feeling. In the presented method, a time-series of effective EEG voltage from the frontal pole or the frontal electrodes on each hemisphere was used. This is because effective voltage reflects the amount of postsynaptic potential or the instantaneous firing rate. The state of the neuronal network (i.e., the instantaneous connection strength) is estimated through the analyzed scaling property of its power spectrum density (PSD). For example, the effective voltages of recorded alpha-band EEG (8–13 Hz) from Fp1 and Fp2 were analyzed in 25.6 s intervals according to changes of the feeling. After spectrum analysis, the scaling exponents were measured by the linear approximation of a double logarithmic plotted PSD of each hemisphere on a Hz log scale between −1 and 0 (0.1–1.0 Hz) within the constraints of the data length and Nyquist frequency. The derived scaling exponents were plotted bidimensionally (left and right halves). Feeling estimation was possible by referring to the simultaneous presentations.
249
The proposed method is precise and robust compared to other methods that use absolute power values, which contain larger errors caused by variation depending on the EEG measurement principle. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.950
An evaluation of the differences in subjective responses to the attractiveness of pictures of the opposite sex after a visual presentation Kohei Fuseda, Yuichiro Nagano, Takefumi Kobayashi Bunkyo Gakuin University, Japan Previous research using central nervous system indices showed that judgment of the attractiveness of opposite sex pictures is carried out within a few hundred milliseconds (Ortigue & Bianchi-Demicheli, 2008). However, it is unclear how such differences in people's subjective responses may affect autonomic nervous system activity. Previous research has reported a decreased heart rate (HR) and increased skin conductance (SC) during the presentation of a visual stimulus (Bradley et al., 2001). It is noted that such physiological reactions may depend on the valence and arousal levels of the stimulus (Bradley & Lang, 2007) or may merely be an orienting response (Codispoti et al., 2008). In this study, in order to control the above effects of the stimulus, we investigated subjective responses to attractiveness in pictures of the opposite sex, and looked at their influence on autonomic activity in terms of associated valence and arousal factors. A total of 19 male students were presented with 10 pictures of the opposite sex. Each picture was presented for 15 s followed by 60 s of a fixation point while HR, SC, and finger blood flow (FBF) were measured. Following a rest period of one minute after the 10 pictures were presented, the participants rated the attractiveness of each picture using the 100 mm VAS (visual analog scale). In the analysis, we compared autonomic responses to the most and least attractive of the pictures during the period of presentation (15 s) and after the presentation (15 s). In terms of responses, there was no significant difference between the most and least attractive pictures for HR, SC, and FBF during the picture presentation. However, HR and FBF in the case of the most attractive picture were significantly lower than in the case of the least attractive picture during the postpresentation period. We found no significant difference during the post-presentation period in terms of SC. These results suggest a difference in the subjective influence of the opposite sex pictures' attractiveness on the autonomic nervous system, in particular, regarding cardiovascular activities. The effects of valence and arousal by the stimulus (Bradley & Lang, 2007), or orientation response (Codispoti et al., 2008) to the pictures may occur during the picture presentation. Therefore, it is concluded that if we investigate the difference in reactions to the attractiveness of the opposite sex pictures using autonomic indices, we should focus on the responses made during the post-picture presentation. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.951
Empathic trait predicts the psychophysiological response of emotional tears Kazuma Moria, Yuji Wadaa, Makoto Iwanagab National food research institute, Japan b Hiroshima University, Japan a
Human beings are the only species to produce emotional tears. The tear response is a strong emotional experience that is accompanied by
250
International Journal of Psychophysiology 94 (2014) 120–261
changes in autonomic nervous system activity. Previous studies have suggested that human tear production is related to empathic traits. Although this relationship has been repeatedly suggested, most studies on tears have employed only psychological questionnaires. Thus, it remains unclear whether empathic traits are associated with the psychophysiological tear response. Accordingly, we investigated the relationship between empathic traits and the psychophysiological tear response in an experimental setting. Participants were 26 young adults. After recording baseline physiological measures, participants listened to their three favorite pieces of music and three experimenter-selected pieces of music in a soundproof room. The experimenter used the self-selected music of one participant as the experimenter-selected music for another participant. For example, if music set A (three pieces of music) evoked tears in participant 1, and music set B (three pieces of music) evoked tears in participant 2, then music set B served as the psychoacoustic control for participant 1, and music set A served as the psychoacoustic control for participant 2. Participants reported the sensation of tears by clicking a mouse each time they felt tears while listening to music. Electrocardiograph, respiration, and skin conductance were also recorded during music listening. After the experiment, participants responded to the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which taps into four separate aspects of the global concept of empathy, namely, perspective taking, empathic concern, fantasy, and personal distress. Respiration rate slowed and respiration depth increased when participants experienced emotional tears from their favorite music. The same music did not induce such physiological changes when it was experienced as experimenter-selected music by other participants. Furthermore, perspective taking positively correlated with frequency of tears for favorite music (r = .43, p = .028), but not for experimenter-selected music. The results indicate that the psychophysiological tear response induced respiration changes that suggest a calming effect. Perspective taking is the ability to perceive someone else's thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Thus, this might explain the hypothesized relationship between the psychophysiological tear response and higher cognitive functions, such as imagination and theory of mind. The present results cannot be explained by the psychoacoustic features of music or behavioral tendencies, as no correlations were observed for experimenter-selected music. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that individuals high in empathic functioning more frequently experience emotional tears related to psychophysiological calming. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.952
Effects of state and trait emotions on prepulse inhibition: A study of induced oscillatory brain activity Vilfredo De Pascalis, Kathrin Sommer Department of Psychology, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy We investigated how affective images modulate induced oscillatory brain-electric activity of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex (ASR). In addition, we evaluated whether individual differences in the sensitivity of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) differentially influence stimulus-induced oscillations during affective processing. PPI of induced delta activity (1–3.5 Hz, 207–247 ms) was sensitive to emotional valence, showing enhanced inhibition of delta activity for neutral images, relative to positive and negative images. At central sites, the inhibition was greater for negative images compared to positive ones. The emotion modulation of PPI of induced delta activity was further modulated by BAS sensitivity.
The inhibition of theta activity (4–7.5 Hz, 116–156 ms) was modulated by emotional valence and arousal. The direction of this effect differed across electrode sites and was sensitive to the interaction with both BIS and BAS measures. PPI of low-Beta activity (14–20 Hz, 66–106 ms) was greater for neutral images at parietal and occipital sites compared to positive and negative images. Further, at occipital sites high-arousal images were associated with greater PPI than lowarousal images. High-BIS/low-BAS participants showed enhanced PPI of low-beta activity towards high-arousal images, relative to lowarousal images. Induced alpha (8–13 Hz, 90–130 ms) and high-Beta oscillations (21–30 Hz, 54–94 ms) demonstrated no influence of state and trait emotions on PPI. PPI of Gamma activity (36–50 Hz, 50–90 ms) was modulated by BAS sensitivity, showing that low-BAS participants demonstrated enhanced PPI of gamma activity for neutral images relative to negative and positive images. At parietal and occipital sites, high-BAS participants showed enhanced PPI of gamma activity to positive images compared to neutral and negative images. These results provide a new description of oscillatory brain activity as sensory-cognitive gating mechanisms subserving emotion and arousal and these results further demonstrate specific patterns of induced cortical oscillations as neural bases of individual differences in BIS and BAS traits. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.953
Mental ability and social influence: An event-related potential study Vilfredo De Pascalis, Francesca Fracasso Department of Psychology, La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy The present study investigates how mental ability and social influence can affect negative components of ERP responses to socialfeedback signals. Participants, as a group, were first exposed to the administration of Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM). A second session served, for each participant, to perform a modified version of APM during which an EEG recording was carried out. During this session participants, after they had responded to each APM trial, received a feedback signal displaying the mean choice of the whole group to that trial which could be congruent or incongruent with the participant's response (social condition). After receiving the feedback participants responded for the second time to the same trial. During a third session, these participants were asked to perform the same task, but they were told that feedback signals were random generated by a computer program (control condition). For the social condition we failed to find significant differences in amplitude of the feedback related negativity (FRN) between congruent and incongruent signals. For the incongruent signals, the control condition elicited greater FRN amplitude than the social condition. Both findings contrast with previous research. In addition, we found a large slow negative wave (SNW), peaking around 900 ms after feedback onset which was larger in the social condition compared to the control condition. This last observation indicates that SNW is mostly sensitive to the social nature of the feedback signal. Although the meaning of this wave is not fully understood, we think, in agreement with previous reports, that SNW could reflect a later semantic processing of the feedback signal. In terms of individual differences in mental ability we observed that low ability (LA) participants had larger FRN amplitudes during incongruent trials relative to congruent ones. These results suggest that individual differences in mental ability play a role on conflict monitoring processing. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.08.954