@article{MavratzakisHerbertWalla2016, author = {Mavratzakis, Aimee and Herbert, Cornelia and Walla, Peter}, title = {Emotional facial expressions evoke faster orienting responses, but weaker emotional responses at neural and behavioural levels compared to scenes: a simultaneous EEG and facial EMG study}, series = {NeuroImage}, volume = {124}, journal = {NeuroImage}, number = {Part A}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.065}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191535}, pages = {931-946}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In the current study, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously with facial electromyography (fEMG) to determine whether emotional faces and emotional scenes are processed differently at the neural level. In addition, it was investigated whether these differences can be observed at the behavioural level via spontaneous facial muscle activity. Emotional content of the stimuli did not affect early P1 activity. Emotional faces elicited enhanced amplitudes of the face-sensitive N170 component, while its counterpart, the scene-related N100, was not sensitive to emotional content of scenes. At 220-280 ms, the early posterior negativity (EPN) was enhanced only slightly for fearful as compared to neutral or happy faces. However, its amplitudes were significantly enhanced during processing of scenes with positive content, particularly over the right hemisphere. Scenes of positive content also elicited enhanced spontaneous zygomatic activity from 500-750 ms onwards, while happy faces elicited no such changes. Contrastingly, both fearful faces and negative scenes elicited enhanced spontaneous corrugator activity at 500-750 ms after stimulus onset. However, relative to baseline EMG changes occurred earlier for faces (250 ms) than for scenes (500 ms) whereas for scenes activity changes were more pronounced over the whole viewing period. Taking into account all effects, the data suggests that emotional facial expressions evoke faster attentional orienting, but weaker affective neural activity and emotional behavioural responses compared to emotional scenes.}, language = {en} } @article{CitronAbugaberHerbert2016, author = {Citron, Francesca M. M. and Abugaber, David and Herbert, Cornelia}, title = {Approach and Withdrawal Tendencies during Written Word Processing: Effects of Task, Emotional Valence, and Emotional Arousal}, series = {frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {6}, journal = {frontiers in Psychology}, number = {1935}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01935}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165318}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The affective dimensions of emotional valence and emotional arousal affect processing of verbal and pictorial stimuli. Traditional emotional theories assume a linear relationship between these dimensions, with valence determining the direction of a behavior (approach vs. withdrawal) and arousal its intensity or strength. In contrast, according to the valence-arousal conflict theory, both dimensions are interactively related: positive valence and low arousal (PL) are associated with an implicit tendency to approach a stimulus, whereas negative valence and high arousal (NH) are associated with withdrawal. Hence, positive, high-arousal (PH) and negative, low-arousal (NL) stimuli elicit conflicting action tendencies. By extending previous research that used several tasks and methods, the present study investigated whether and how emotional valence and arousal affect subjective approach vs. withdrawal tendencies toward emotional words during two novel tasks. In Study 1, participants had to decide whether they would approach or withdraw from concepts expressed by written words. In Studies 2 and 3 participants had to respond to each word by pressing one of two keys labeled with an arrow pointing upward or downward. Across experiments, positive and negative words, high or low in arousal, were presented. In Study 1 (explicit task), in line with the valence-arousal conflict theory, PH and NL words were responded to more slowly than PL and NH words. In addition, participants decided to approach positive words more often than negative words. In Studies 2 and 3, participants responded faster to positive than negative words, irrespective of their level of arousal. Furthermore, positive words were significantly more often associated with "up" responses than negative words, thus supporting the existence of implicit associations between stimulus valence and response coding (positive is up and negative is down). Hence, in contexts in which participants' spontaneous responses are based on implicit associations between stimulus valence and response, there is no influence of arousal. In line with the valence-arousal conflict theory, arousal seems to affect participants' approach-withdrawal tendencies only when such tendencies are made explicit by the task, and a minimal degree of processing depth is required.}, language = {en} } @article{LugoQuitadamoBianchietal.2016, author = {Lugo, Zulay R. and Quitadamo, Lucia R. and Bianchi, Luigi and Pellas, Fr{\´e}deric and Veser, Sandra and Lesenfants, Damien and Real, Ruben G. L. and Herbert, Cornelia and Guger, Christoph and Kotchoubey, Boris and Mattia, Donatella and K{\"u}bler, Andrea and Laureys, Steven and Noirhomme, Quentin}, title = {Cognitive Processing in Non-Communicative Patients: What Can Event-Related Potentials Tell Us?}, series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience}, number = {569}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2016.00569}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165165}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Event-related potentials (ERP) have been proposed to improve the differential diagnosis of non-responsive patients. We investigated the potential of the P300 as a reliable marker of conscious processing in patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS). Eleven chronic LIS patients and 10 healthy subjects (HS) listened to a complex-tone auditory oddball paradigm, first in a passive condition (listen to the sounds) and then in an active condition (counting the deviant tones). Seven out of nine HS displayed a P300 waveform in the passive condition and all in the active condition. HS showed statistically significant changes in peak and area amplitude between conditions. Three out of seven LIS patients showed the P3 waveform in the passive condition and five of seven in the active condition. No changes in peak amplitude and only a significant difference at one electrode in area amplitude were observed in this group between conditions. We conclude that, in spite of keeping full consciousness and intact or nearly intact cortical functions, compared to HS, LIS patients present less reliable results when testing with ERP, specifically in the passive condition. We thus strongly recommend applying ERP paradigms in an active condition when evaluating consciousness in non-responsive patients.}, language = {en} }