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How aging affects emotional processing? Neurophysiological evidence using passive emotion evocative stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS)
408
Poster Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 85 (2012) 361–430
Results showed significant smaller P300 amplitudes for RD children compared to normal readers over frontal and central regions. This effect was mainly observed on right hemisphere for visuospatial task independent of working memory load. Nonetheless, no differences between groups were observed for the verbal task. Behavioral results also showed a worse performance for RD respect to normal readers only for visuospatial task. These results showed that, unlike verbal task, visuospatial task exerted greater demands on the CE reflected in a lesser P300 amplitude and a worse recall of the matrices by the RD children.
power decrease in the same frequency bands. In other frequency bands including alpha no significant effects of valence of induced emotions were observed for both internal and external inductions. So it is demonstrated again that EEG power changes in highfrequency bands are sensitive to emotion valences and that positive emotions are connected with increases of high-frequency power and negative — with decreases. But it appeared also that these effects are much less sensitive to a type of emotion induction. It looks like that a search for grounds of mentioned divergences in high-frequency EEG effects of emotion valences has to be continued.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.120 doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.121 Local EEG synchronization during internal and external induction of human emotions J.A. Boytsovaa, S.G. Dankoa, L.V. Gratchevab, M.L. Solovjevaa a N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain RAS, Saint-Petersburg, Russia b State Academy of Theatre Arts, Saint-Petersburg, Russia On the basis of the literature data it is possible to draw a conclusion that emotional states are connected with changes of EEG spectral power practically in all EEG frequency bands. But valences of emotions are mainly reflected in changes of high-frequency EEG power. So the increase of beta or gamma power is noted not only during experience of positive emotions (Rusalova, Kostunina 1999; Danko et al., 2003, 2004, 2008, Shemyakina, Danko 2007), but also during negative emotions (Aftanas 2000, Gemignani et al., 2000, Guntekin, Basar 2007). According to recently proposed taxonomy of external and internal attention (Chun, Golomb, Turk-Browne 2011) it is possible to assume that orientation of attention or type of emotion induction — external or internal induction (Dankoet al., 2011) can influence EEG correlates of emotional states and cause such diverse EEG data. The present work is an attempt to find out what EEG spectral power changes are connected with different emotion valences and whether they depend on a type of emotion induction. The subjects (healthy volunteers, N = 49) had to reproduce in mind real walks (RW), to invent and follow fantastic walks (FW), and to watch slide-shows — IAPS pictures (WS) and video-clips (WV). Each kind of the tasks was given in neutral, positive and negative emotional variants. Default mode state of rest (DM) was used as a common referential state. Eyes were opened in any of the states. EEG was recorded using 10–20 placement. EEG spectral power was calculated in traditional EEG frequency bands from delta (1,5–4 Hz) up to low-gamma (30–40 Hz). Both internal attention states RW and FW if compared to DM state are characterized with alpha2 increases in central and posterior regions. Both external attention states WS and WV in similar comparisons show significant decreases of EEG alpha2 power. These are the main effects of differences in methods of induction and they are in line with literary data about alpha EEG sensitivity to attentional demands (Ray, Cole 1985, Cooper, Croft, Dominey et al., 2003, Tumyalis et al., 2010 and others) and its dependence on attention orientation. Minor differences in delta and theta bands can be presumably attributed to differences in induction methods as well though their relation to attention exactly is in question. In comparison of positive emotional states to negative emotional states both internal and external attention states are characterized by increase of EEG power in beta2 and gamma frequency bands, during RW and WV states — also characterized by increase of EEG power in beta1 frequency band. As compared to neutral emotional states both internal and external attention states with positive valences are characterized by power increase in beta2 and gamma frequency bands, whereas states with negative valences are characterized by
How aging affects emotional processing? Neurophysiological evidence using passive emotion evocative stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) A. Semertzidou, C.A. Frantzidis, A. Ladas, M. Karagianni, M. Tsolaki, P.D. Bamidis Laboratory of Medical Informatics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece There is concrete scientific evidence that physiological aging is accompanied with slowing of information processing, and gradual cognitive decline (Rossini et al., 2007). Recently, intense research interest has been focused on the understanding of the interaction between emotional processing and aging (Scheibe et al., 2010). Emotions are vital for proper decision making, independent living, while mood disturbances like depression are a common problem in advanced aging often linked with poor quality of life and dementia (Phillips et al., 2010). Aiming to shed light into the mechanisms differentiating emotional processing due to aging, the current study employed 24 healthy elderly and 24 young participants. Exclusion criteria to the study were medical history of neurological or psychiatric disorder, patients suffering from depression or other emotional disorder, recent stroke attack, Parkinson disease, multiple or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, drug or alcohol abuse. Healthy volunteers were members of the Laboratory of Medical Informatics or students of the local university. Senior citizens were recruited from local day care centers and the study was part of a screening examination served as a baseline test prior to their participation to the Long Lasting Memories research project, which involved physical and cognitive training programs for seniors (www.longlastingmemories.eu). They also submitted to full neurophysiological testing, containing tests regarding their general cognitive decline, emotional disturbance, quality of life, activities of independent living, working memory, verbal memory and executive functioning in order to exclude any patients suffering from dementia or depression. The equipment involved an EEG acquisition system consisted of 57 active electrodes and two reference electrodes located on the mastoids. Patients passively watched emotion evocative stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) collection. These stimuli were divided in four subcategories according to their arousal and valence distribution (High Valence High Arousal/ HVHA, High Valence Low Arousal/HVLA, Low Valence Low Arousal/ LVLA and Low Valence High Arousal/LVHA). Each emotional category was consisted of 40 pictures. Each stimulus was presented for 1.5 s. A fixation cross appeared between successive stimuli for 2.1–2.5 s. The stimulus sequence was random regarding the emotional content. Electrode impedances were kept below 5 kΩ. Pre-processing involved digital filtering (high-pass 0.5 Hz, notch between 47 and 53 Hz and lowpass 90 Hz). The Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm offered by the EEGLAB software was adopted to reject artifactual components. Then, epoch extraction and averaging of
Poster Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 85 (2012) 361–430
epochs belonging to the same emotional category took place. Amplitude information was extracted from the following eventrelated potentials (ERPs): P100, N100, P200, N200, P300 and SPW. Statistical analysis through a 2 × 2 × 12 × 2 mixed ANOVA was performed using the SPSS software. Arousal (high/low), valence (high/low) and electrode locations (prefrontal, frontal, anteriofrontal, central, frontocentral, frontotemporal, temporal, parietal, parietotemporal, occipital, parietooccipital and centroparietal) were used as within subjects' factors. Age group (young/old was served as between subjects' factor). Statistical analysis was performed separately for each ERP. Post-hoc analysis using t-test revealed that elderly produce greater P100 amplitude on anterior areas (prefrontal (t = − 3.226, p = 0.002), frontal (t = −2.374, p = 0.032)), while young produce maximum P100 responses on posterior areas (occipital (t = 3.793, p b 0.001) and parietooccipital (t = 3.620, p = 0.001)). The same phenomenon, even more topologically extended on anterior areas, was observed regarding the P200 amplitude. A main effect of age was observed regarding the P300 amplitude (F(1, 46) = 10.684, p = .002, η² = ,188), since elderly produced weaker responses for all the emotional categories. Main effects of arousal and valence followed the same pattern for all the ERPs irrespective of the aging factor. The aforementioned results indicate that capacity of emotional processing remains relatively intact across lifespan in case of physiological aging. The activation of anterior areas during early processing may be attributed to deficits of the primary visual cortex due to aging. Therefore, frontal areas play a compensatory role as revealed by the P100 and P200 amplitudes. However, elderly participants seem to face difficulty in case of more elaborate processing involving memory and attention as indicated by the P300 amplitude. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.122
Job stress and blood pressure in public transport drivers J. Siedlecka, A. Bortkiewicz, E. Gadzicka, T. Makowiec-Dąbrowska Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland The job of a bus driver in public transport is associated with a high level of stress at work, mostly due to being responsible for the safety of passengers in heavy urban traffic. Therefore, this profession is characterized by an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. The traffic collisions he may take part in, as well as the time pressure, or the possible conflicts with passengers, may cause a sudden increase in arterial blood pressure, which potentiates the risk of an accident. The clinical practice shows that an individually-adjusted hypotensive treatment allows the patient to lead a fairly normal life. However, there are no literature reports on the tolerance of occupational activity and the cardiovascular function in such patients. Aim of the study: Accordingly, the present project has been focused on investigating the cardiovascular response to professional duties and work-related stress in public transport drivers with treated and untreated arterial hypertension vs. the drivers with normal blood pressure values. The study group was composed of 61 drivers aged 37–58 years. Thirty of them had a hypertensive disease: 15 subjects received systematic treatment and the other 15 had no hypotensive therapy. Normal BP values were found in 31 subjects. All the subjects had general medical examination, responded to a questionnaire regarding the risk factors and symptoms of hypertensive disease, and had 24-h heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. The subjects were asked to record in writing all the stressful situations at work while the monitoring of the hemodynamic functions was proceeding. Seventy-five conditions with different level of stresogenicity were identified and appropriate BP and HR values from the monitoring
409
records were assigned. The statistical methods included analysis of variance and logistic regression model. The results revealed that in subjects with untreated arterial hypertension, the cardiovascular response to stressogenic conditions consisted in a higher increase in systolic BP (180/113 mm Hg) than in those with normal BP (144/ 94 mm Hg) or receiving hypotensive treatment (153/101 mm Hg); (p b 0.01). Conclusions 1. The bus drivers' job was characterized by a high level of work-related stress. Therefore, it is necessary to undertake preventive measures to reduce the level of stress, e.g. by training in stress coping and conflict solving strategies and to periodically perform long-term monitoring of arterial blood pressure in the workers at risk. 2. The study points to a high significance of the hypotensive therapy which, when combined with a healthy lifestyle, ensures a better tolerance of stressogenic conditions of the bus driver's job.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.123
Speed of reading and number of errors in children with dysgraphia S.M. Golubovic, J. Milutinovic Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitattion, University of Belgrade, Serbia The goal of this research was to determine speed of reading and number of errors in reading in children with dysgraphia. The test for assessment of dysgraphia of hand writing (Azagiuerrera, & Оzias) and the Tridimensional version of reading test (Helen Sax) were used in this research. The sample consisted of 272 children from which 240 (88,2%) were without difficulties in writing, and 32 (11,8%) of children had difficulties in writing. From sample with dysgraphia (32), 15.6 (5) were girls, and 84.4% (27) were boys. Concerning the gender, 17 children were in third grade, and 15 were in fourth grade. From 32 children with dysgraphia, 15 pupils had dysphasic dysgraphia, and 17 had graphomotor dysgraphia. From 15 pupils with dysphasic dysgraphia there were 12 boys and 3 girls, and from 17 with graphomotor dysgraphia there were 15 boys and 2 girls. Regarding to the lateralization, most children were right handed (18), than dislateralized (10), and the least were left handed (49). There is statistically significant difference in average speed of reading regarding to the type of dysgraphia. Children with graphomotor dysgraphia show faster speed of reading than children with dyslexic–dysphasic dysgraphia. There is statistically significant difference in average number of errors regarding to the type of dysgraphia. Children with graphomotor dysgraphia in average make less mistakes than children with dyslexic–dysphasic dysgraphia.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.124
Individual differences in error-related and feedback-related negativities: Heritability, development, and associations with behavior A.P. Anokhin, S. Golosheykin Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Missouri, USA Adaptive self-regulation of goal-directed behavior requires constant monitoring of the discrepancies between the desired and actual
Poster Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 85 (2012) 361–430
Results showed significant smaller P300 amplitudes for RD children compared to normal readers over frontal and central regions. This effect was mainly observed on right hemisphere for visuospatial task independent of working memory load. Nonetheless, no differences between groups were observed for the verbal task. Behavioral results also showed a worse performance for RD respect to normal readers only for visuospatial task. These results showed that, unlike verbal task, visuospatial task exerted greater demands on the CE reflected in a lesser P300 amplitude and a worse recall of the matrices by the RD children.
power decrease in the same frequency bands. In other frequency bands including alpha no significant effects of valence of induced emotions were observed for both internal and external inductions. So it is demonstrated again that EEG power changes in highfrequency bands are sensitive to emotion valences and that positive emotions are connected with increases of high-frequency power and negative — with decreases. But it appeared also that these effects are much less sensitive to a type of emotion induction. It looks like that a search for grounds of mentioned divergences in high-frequency EEG effects of emotion valences has to be continued.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.120 doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.121 Local EEG synchronization during internal and external induction of human emotions J.A. Boytsovaa, S.G. Dankoa, L.V. Gratchevab, M.L. Solovjevaa a N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain RAS, Saint-Petersburg, Russia b State Academy of Theatre Arts, Saint-Petersburg, Russia On the basis of the literature data it is possible to draw a conclusion that emotional states are connected with changes of EEG spectral power practically in all EEG frequency bands. But valences of emotions are mainly reflected in changes of high-frequency EEG power. So the increase of beta or gamma power is noted not only during experience of positive emotions (Rusalova, Kostunina 1999; Danko et al., 2003, 2004, 2008, Shemyakina, Danko 2007), but also during negative emotions (Aftanas 2000, Gemignani et al., 2000, Guntekin, Basar 2007). According to recently proposed taxonomy of external and internal attention (Chun, Golomb, Turk-Browne 2011) it is possible to assume that orientation of attention or type of emotion induction — external or internal induction (Dankoet al., 2011) can influence EEG correlates of emotional states and cause such diverse EEG data. The present work is an attempt to find out what EEG spectral power changes are connected with different emotion valences and whether they depend on a type of emotion induction. The subjects (healthy volunteers, N = 49) had to reproduce in mind real walks (RW), to invent and follow fantastic walks (FW), and to watch slide-shows — IAPS pictures (WS) and video-clips (WV). Each kind of the tasks was given in neutral, positive and negative emotional variants. Default mode state of rest (DM) was used as a common referential state. Eyes were opened in any of the states. EEG was recorded using 10–20 placement. EEG spectral power was calculated in traditional EEG frequency bands from delta (1,5–4 Hz) up to low-gamma (30–40 Hz). Both internal attention states RW and FW if compared to DM state are characterized with alpha2 increases in central and posterior regions. Both external attention states WS and WV in similar comparisons show significant decreases of EEG alpha2 power. These are the main effects of differences in methods of induction and they are in line with literary data about alpha EEG sensitivity to attentional demands (Ray, Cole 1985, Cooper, Croft, Dominey et al., 2003, Tumyalis et al., 2010 and others) and its dependence on attention orientation. Minor differences in delta and theta bands can be presumably attributed to differences in induction methods as well though their relation to attention exactly is in question. In comparison of positive emotional states to negative emotional states both internal and external attention states are characterized by increase of EEG power in beta2 and gamma frequency bands, during RW and WV states — also characterized by increase of EEG power in beta1 frequency band. As compared to neutral emotional states both internal and external attention states with positive valences are characterized by power increase in beta2 and gamma frequency bands, whereas states with negative valences are characterized by
How aging affects emotional processing? Neurophysiological evidence using passive emotion evocative stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) A. Semertzidou, C.A. Frantzidis, A. Ladas, M. Karagianni, M. Tsolaki, P.D. Bamidis Laboratory of Medical Informatics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece There is concrete scientific evidence that physiological aging is accompanied with slowing of information processing, and gradual cognitive decline (Rossini et al., 2007). Recently, intense research interest has been focused on the understanding of the interaction between emotional processing and aging (Scheibe et al., 2010). Emotions are vital for proper decision making, independent living, while mood disturbances like depression are a common problem in advanced aging often linked with poor quality of life and dementia (Phillips et al., 2010). Aiming to shed light into the mechanisms differentiating emotional processing due to aging, the current study employed 24 healthy elderly and 24 young participants. Exclusion criteria to the study were medical history of neurological or psychiatric disorder, patients suffering from depression or other emotional disorder, recent stroke attack, Parkinson disease, multiple or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, drug or alcohol abuse. Healthy volunteers were members of the Laboratory of Medical Informatics or students of the local university. Senior citizens were recruited from local day care centers and the study was part of a screening examination served as a baseline test prior to their participation to the Long Lasting Memories research project, which involved physical and cognitive training programs for seniors (www.longlastingmemories.eu). They also submitted to full neurophysiological testing, containing tests regarding their general cognitive decline, emotional disturbance, quality of life, activities of independent living, working memory, verbal memory and executive functioning in order to exclude any patients suffering from dementia or depression. The equipment involved an EEG acquisition system consisted of 57 active electrodes and two reference electrodes located on the mastoids. Patients passively watched emotion evocative stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) collection. These stimuli were divided in four subcategories according to their arousal and valence distribution (High Valence High Arousal/ HVHA, High Valence Low Arousal/HVLA, Low Valence Low Arousal/ LVLA and Low Valence High Arousal/LVHA). Each emotional category was consisted of 40 pictures. Each stimulus was presented for 1.5 s. A fixation cross appeared between successive stimuli for 2.1–2.5 s. The stimulus sequence was random regarding the emotional content. Electrode impedances were kept below 5 kΩ. Pre-processing involved digital filtering (high-pass 0.5 Hz, notch between 47 and 53 Hz and lowpass 90 Hz). The Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm offered by the EEGLAB software was adopted to reject artifactual components. Then, epoch extraction and averaging of
Poster Abstracts / International Journal of Psychophysiology 85 (2012) 361–430
epochs belonging to the same emotional category took place. Amplitude information was extracted from the following eventrelated potentials (ERPs): P100, N100, P200, N200, P300 and SPW. Statistical analysis through a 2 × 2 × 12 × 2 mixed ANOVA was performed using the SPSS software. Arousal (high/low), valence (high/low) and electrode locations (prefrontal, frontal, anteriofrontal, central, frontocentral, frontotemporal, temporal, parietal, parietotemporal, occipital, parietooccipital and centroparietal) were used as within subjects' factors. Age group (young/old was served as between subjects' factor). Statistical analysis was performed separately for each ERP. Post-hoc analysis using t-test revealed that elderly produce greater P100 amplitude on anterior areas (prefrontal (t = − 3.226, p = 0.002), frontal (t = −2.374, p = 0.032)), while young produce maximum P100 responses on posterior areas (occipital (t = 3.793, p b 0.001) and parietooccipital (t = 3.620, p = 0.001)). The same phenomenon, even more topologically extended on anterior areas, was observed regarding the P200 amplitude. A main effect of age was observed regarding the P300 amplitude (F(1, 46) = 10.684, p = .002, η² = ,188), since elderly produced weaker responses for all the emotional categories. Main effects of arousal and valence followed the same pattern for all the ERPs irrespective of the aging factor. The aforementioned results indicate that capacity of emotional processing remains relatively intact across lifespan in case of physiological aging. The activation of anterior areas during early processing may be attributed to deficits of the primary visual cortex due to aging. Therefore, frontal areas play a compensatory role as revealed by the P100 and P200 amplitudes. However, elderly participants seem to face difficulty in case of more elaborate processing involving memory and attention as indicated by the P300 amplitude. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.122
Job stress and blood pressure in public transport drivers J. Siedlecka, A. Bortkiewicz, E. Gadzicka, T. Makowiec-Dąbrowska Nofer Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland The job of a bus driver in public transport is associated with a high level of stress at work, mostly due to being responsible for the safety of passengers in heavy urban traffic. Therefore, this profession is characterized by an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. The traffic collisions he may take part in, as well as the time pressure, or the possible conflicts with passengers, may cause a sudden increase in arterial blood pressure, which potentiates the risk of an accident. The clinical practice shows that an individually-adjusted hypotensive treatment allows the patient to lead a fairly normal life. However, there are no literature reports on the tolerance of occupational activity and the cardiovascular function in such patients. Aim of the study: Accordingly, the present project has been focused on investigating the cardiovascular response to professional duties and work-related stress in public transport drivers with treated and untreated arterial hypertension vs. the drivers with normal blood pressure values. The study group was composed of 61 drivers aged 37–58 years. Thirty of them had a hypertensive disease: 15 subjects received systematic treatment and the other 15 had no hypotensive therapy. Normal BP values were found in 31 subjects. All the subjects had general medical examination, responded to a questionnaire regarding the risk factors and symptoms of hypertensive disease, and had 24-h heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. The subjects were asked to record in writing all the stressful situations at work while the monitoring of the hemodynamic functions was proceeding. Seventy-five conditions with different level of stresogenicity were identified and appropriate BP and HR values from the monitoring
409
records were assigned. The statistical methods included analysis of variance and logistic regression model. The results revealed that in subjects with untreated arterial hypertension, the cardiovascular response to stressogenic conditions consisted in a higher increase in systolic BP (180/113 mm Hg) than in those with normal BP (144/ 94 mm Hg) or receiving hypotensive treatment (153/101 mm Hg); (p b 0.01). Conclusions 1. The bus drivers' job was characterized by a high level of work-related stress. Therefore, it is necessary to undertake preventive measures to reduce the level of stress, e.g. by training in stress coping and conflict solving strategies and to periodically perform long-term monitoring of arterial blood pressure in the workers at risk. 2. The study points to a high significance of the hypotensive therapy which, when combined with a healthy lifestyle, ensures a better tolerance of stressogenic conditions of the bus driver's job.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.123
Speed of reading and number of errors in children with dysgraphia S.M. Golubovic, J. Milutinovic Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitattion, University of Belgrade, Serbia The goal of this research was to determine speed of reading and number of errors in reading in children with dysgraphia. The test for assessment of dysgraphia of hand writing (Azagiuerrera, & Оzias) and the Tridimensional version of reading test (Helen Sax) were used in this research. The sample consisted of 272 children from which 240 (88,2%) were without difficulties in writing, and 32 (11,8%) of children had difficulties in writing. From sample with dysgraphia (32), 15.6 (5) were girls, and 84.4% (27) were boys. Concerning the gender, 17 children were in third grade, and 15 were in fourth grade. From 32 children with dysgraphia, 15 pupils had dysphasic dysgraphia, and 17 had graphomotor dysgraphia. From 15 pupils with dysphasic dysgraphia there were 12 boys and 3 girls, and from 17 with graphomotor dysgraphia there were 15 boys and 2 girls. Regarding to the lateralization, most children were right handed (18), than dislateralized (10), and the least were left handed (49). There is statistically significant difference in average speed of reading regarding to the type of dysgraphia. Children with graphomotor dysgraphia show faster speed of reading than children with dyslexic–dysphasic dysgraphia. There is statistically significant difference in average number of errors regarding to the type of dysgraphia. Children with graphomotor dysgraphia in average make less mistakes than children with dyslexic–dysphasic dysgraphia.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.07.124
Individual differences in error-related and feedback-related negativities: Heritability, development, and associations with behavior A.P. Anokhin, S. Golosheykin Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Missouri, USA Adaptive self-regulation of goal-directed behavior requires constant monitoring of the discrepancies between the desired and actual