@article{StegmannAndreattaWieser2023,
  author    = {Stegmann, Yannik and Andreatta, Marta and Wieser, Matthias J.},
  title     = {The effect of inherently threatening contexts on visuocortical engagement to conditioned threat},
  series = {Psychophysiology},
  volume    = {60},
  journal   = {Psychophysiology},
  number    = {4},
  doi       = {10.1111/psyp.14208},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312465},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Fear and anxiety are crucial for adaptive responding in life-threatening situations. Whereas fear is a phasic response to an acute threat accompanied by selective attention, anxiety is characterized by a sustained feeling of apprehension and hypervigilance during situations of potential threat. In the current literature, fear and anxiety are usually considered mutually exclusive, with partially separated neural underpinnings. However, there is accumulating evidence that challenges this distinction between fear and anxiety, and simultaneous activation of fear and anxiety networks has been reported. Therefore, the current study experimentally tested potential interactions between fear and anxiety. Fifty-two healthy participants completed a differential fear conditioning paradigm followed by a test phase in which the conditioned stimuli were presented in front of threatening or neutral contextual images. To capture defense system activation, we recorded subjective (threat, US-expectancy), physiological (skin conductance, heart rate) and visuocortical (steady-state visual evoked potentials) responses to the conditioned stimuli as a function of contextual threat. Results demonstrated successful fear conditioning in all measures. In addition, threat and US-expectancy ratings, cardiac deceleration, and visuocortical activity were enhanced for fear cues presented in threatening compared with neutral contexts. These results are in line with an additive or interactive rather than an exclusive model of fear and anxiety, indicating facilitated defensive behavior to imminent danger in situations of potential threat.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{AboagyeWeberMerdianetal.2021,
  author    = {Aboagye, B. and Weber, T. and Merdian, H. L. and Bartsch, D. and Lesch, K. P. and Waider, J.},
  title     = {Serotonin deficiency induced after brain maturation rescues consequences of early life adversity},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  number    = {1},
  issn      = {2045-2322},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-021-83592-4},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258626},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Brain serotonin (5-HT) system dysfunction is implicated in depressive disorders and acute depletion of 5-HT precursor tryptophan has frequently been used to model the influence of 5-HT deficiency on emotion regulation. Tamoxifen (TAM)-induced Cre/loxP-mediated inactivation of the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 gene (Tph2) was used to investigate the effects of provoked 5-HT deficiency in adult mice (Tph2 icKO) previously subjected to maternal separation (MS). The efficiency of Tph2 inactivation was validated by immunohistochemistry and HPLC. The impact of Tph2 icKO in interaction with MS stress (Tph2 icKOxMS) on physiological parameters, emotional behavior and expression of 5-HT system-related marker genes were assessed. Tph2 icKO mice displayed a significant reduction in 5-HT immunoreactive cells and 5-HT concentrations in the rostral raphe region within four weeks following TAM treatment. Tph2 icKO and MS differentially affected food and water intake, locomotor activity as well as panic-like escape behavior. Tph2 icKO prevented the adverse effects of MS stress and altered the expression of the genes previously linked to stress and emotionality. In conclusion, an experimental model was established to study the behavioral and neurobiological consequences of 5-HT deficiency in adulthood in interaction with early-life adversity potentially affecting brain development and the pathogenesis of depressive disorders.},
  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{MadanBayerGameretal.2018,
  author    = {Madan, Christopher R. and Bayer, Janine and Gamer, Matthias and Lonsdorf, Tina B. and Sommer, Tobias},
  title     = {Visual Complexity and Affect: Ratings Reflect More Than Meets the Eye},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  number    = {2368},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02368},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-190015},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Pictorial stimuli can vary on many dimensions, several aspects of which are captured by the term 'visual complexity.' Visual complexity can be described as, "a picture of a few objects, colors, or structures would be less complex than a very colorful picture of many objects that is composed of several components." Prior studies have reported a relationship between affect and visual complexity, where complex pictures are rated as more pleasant and arousing. However, a relationship in the opposite direction, an effect of affect on visual complexity, is also possible; emotional arousal and valence are known to influence selective attention and visual processing. In a series of experiments, we found that ratings of visual complexity correlated with affective ratings, and independently also with computational measures of visual complexity. These computational measures did not correlate with affect, suggesting that complexity ratings are separately related to distinct factors. We investigated the relationship between affect and ratings of visual complexity, finding an 'arousal-complexity bias' to be a robust phenomenon. Moreover, we found this bias could be attenuated when explicitly indicated but did not correlate with inter-individual difference measures of affective processing, and was largely unrelated to cognitive and eyetracking measures. Taken together, the arousal-complexity bias seems to be caused by a relationship between arousal and visual processing as it has been described for the greater vividness of arousing pictures. The described arousal-complexity bias is also of relevance from an experimental perspective because visual complexity is often considered a variable to control for when using pictorial stimuli.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DiemerAlpersPeperkornetal.2015,
  author    = {Diemer, Julia and Alpers, Georg W. and Peperkorn, Henrik M. and Shiban, Youssef and M{\"u}hlberger, Andreas},
  title     = {The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: a review of research in virtual reality},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  number    = {26},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00026},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144200},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Virtual reality (VR) has made its way into mainstream psychological research in the last two decades. This technology, with its unique ability to simulate complex, real situations and contexts, offers researchers unprecedented opportunities to investigate human behavior in well controlled designs in the laboratory. One important application of VR is the investigation of pathological processes in mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders. Research on the processes underlying threat perception, fear, and exposure therapy has shed light on more general aspects of the relation between perception and emotion. Being by its nature virtual, i.e., simulation of reality, VR strongly relies on the adequate selection of specific perceptual cues to activate emotions. Emotional experiences in turn are related to presence, another important concept in VR, which describes the user's sense of being in a VR environment. This paper summarizes current research into perception of fear cues, emotion, and presence, aiming at the identification of the most relevant aspects of emotional experience in VR and their mutual relations. A special focus lies on a series of recent experiments designed to test the relative contribution of perception and conceptual information on fear in VR. This strand of research capitalizes on the dissociation between perception (bottom up input) and conceptual information (top-down input) that is possible in VR. Further, we review the factors that have so far been recognized to influence presence, with emotions (e.g., fear) being the most relevant in the context of clinical psychology. Recent research has highlighted the mutual influence of presence and fear in VR, but has also traced the limits of our current understanding of this relationship. In this paper, the crucial role of perception on eliciting emotional reactions is highlighted, and the role of arousal as a basic dimension of emotional experience is discussed. An interoceptive attribution model of presence is suggested as a first step toward an integrative framework for emotion research in VR. Gaps in the current literature and future directions are outlined.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{TopolinskiStrack2015,
  author    = {Topolinski, Sascha and Strack, Fritz},
  title     = {Corrugator activity confirms immediate negative affect in surprise},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  number    = {134},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00134},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144068},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The emotion of surprise entails a complex of immediate responses, such as cognitive interruption, attention allocation to, and more systematic processing of the surprising stimulus. All these processes serve the ultimate function to increase processing depth and thus cognitively master the surprising stimulus. The present account introduces phasic negative affect as the underlying mechanism responsible for this switch in operating mode. Surprising stimuli are schema discrepant and thus entail cognitive disfluency, which elicits immediate negative affect. This affect in turn works like a phasic cognitive tuning switching the current processing mode from more automatic and heuristic to more systematic and reflective processing. Directly testing the initial elicitation of negative affect by surprising events, the present experiment presented high and low surprising neutral trivia statements to N = 28 participants while assessing their spontaneous facial expressions via facial electromyography. High compared to low surprising trivia elicited higher corrugator activity, indicative of negative affect and mental effort, while leaving zygomaticus (positive affect) and frontalis (cultural surprise expression) activity unaffected. Future research shall investigate the mediating role of negative affect in eliciting surprise-related outcomes.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ConzelmannReifJacobetal.2012,
  author    = {Conzelmann, Annette and Reif, Andreas and Jacob, Christian and Weyers, Peter and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Lutz, Beat and Pauli, Paul},
  title     = {A polymorphism in the gene of the endocannabinoid-degrading enzyme FAAH (FAAH C385A) is associated with emotional-motivational reactivity},
  series = {Psychopharmacology},
  volume    = {224},
  journal   = {Psychopharmacology},
  number    = {4},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00213-012-2785-y},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129936},
  pages     = {573-579},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Rationale The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is implicated in several psychiatric disorders. Investigating emotional-motivational dysfunctions as underlying mechanisms, a study in humans revealed that in the C385A polymorphism of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the degrading enzyme of the eCB anandamide (AEA), A carriers, who are characterized by increased signaling of AEA as compared to C/C carriers, exhibited reduced brain reactivity towards unpleasant faces and enhanced reactivity towards reward. However, the association of eCB system with emotional-motivational reactivity is complex and bidirectional due to upcoming compensatory processes. Objectives Therefore, we further investigated the relationship of the FAAH polymorphism and emotional-motivational reactivity in humans. Methods We assessed the affect-modulated startle, and ratings of valence and arousal in response to higher arousing pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in 67 FAAH C385A C/C carriers and 45 A carriers. Results Contrarily to the previous functional MRI study, A carriers compared to C/C carriers exhibited an increased startle potentiation and therefore emotional responsiveness towards unpleasant picture stimuli and reduced startle inhibition indicating reduced emotional reactivity in response to pleasant pictures, while both groups did not differ in ratings of arousal and valence. Conclusions Our findings emphasize the bidirectionality and thorough examination of the eCB system's impact on emotional reactivity as a central endophenotype underlying various psychiatric disorders.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ConzelmannReifJacobetal.2012,
  author    = {Conzelmann, Annette and Reif, Andreas and Jacob, Christian and Weyers, Peter and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Lutz, Beat and Pauli, Paul},
  title     = {A polymorphism in the gene of the endocannabinoid-degrading enzyme FAAH (FAAH C385A) is associated with emotional-motivational reactivity},
  series = {Psychopharmacology},
  volume    = {224},
  journal   = {Psychopharmacology},
  number    = {4},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00213-012-2785-y},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-126845},
  pages     = {573-579},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {RATIONALE: The endocannabinoid (eCB) system is implicated in several psychiatric disorders. Investigating emotional-motivational dysfunctions as underlying mechanisms, a study in humans revealed that in the C385A polymorphism of the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the degrading enzyme of the eCB anandamide (AEA), A carriers, who are characterized by increased signaling of AEA as compared to C/C carriers, exhibited reduced brain reactivity towards unpleasant faces and enhanced reactivity towards reward. However, the association of eCB system with emotional-motivational reactivity is complex and bidirectional due to upcoming compensatory processes. OBJECTIVES: Therefore, we further investigated the relationship of the FAAH polymorphism and emotional-motivational reactivity in humans. METHODS: We assessed the affect-modulated startle, and ratings of valence and arousal in response to higher arousing pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in 67 FAAH C385A C/C carriers and 45 A carriers. RESULTS: Contrarily to the previous functional MRI study, A carriers compared to C/C carriers exhibited an increased startle potentiation and therefore emotional responsiveness towards unpleasant picture stimuli and reduced startle inhibition indicating reduced emotional reactivity in response to pleasant pictures, while both groups did not differ in ratings of arousal and valence. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings emphasize the bidirectionality and thorough examination of the eCB system's impact on emotional reactivity as a central endophenotype underlying various psychiatric disorders.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HohoffGorjiKaiseretal.2013,
  author    = {Hohoff, Christa and Gorji, Ali and Kaiser, Sylvia and Willscher, Edith and Korsching, Eberhard and Ambr{\´e}e, Oliver and Arolt, Volker and Lesch, Klaus-Peter and Sachser, Norbert and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Lewejohann, Lars},
  title     = {Effect of Acute Stressor and Serotonin Transporter Genotype on Amygdala First Wave Transcriptome in Mice},
  series = {PLoS ONE},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {PLoS ONE},
  number    = {3},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0058880},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131040},
  pages     = {e58880},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {The most prominent brain region evaluating the significance of external stimuli immediately after their onset is the amygdala. Stimuli evaluated as being stressful actuate a number of physiological processes as an immediate stress response. Variation in the serotonin transporter gene has been associated with increased anxiety- and depression-like behavior, altered stress reactivity and adaptation, and pathophysiology of stress-related disorders. In this study the instant reactions to an acute stressor were measured in a serotonin transporter knockout mouse model. Mice lacking the serotonin transporter were verified to be more anxious than their wild-type conspecifics. Genome-wide gene expression changes in the amygdala were measured after the mice were subjected to control condition or to an acute stressor of one minute exposure to water. The dissection of amygdalae and stabilization of RNA was conducted within nine minutes after the onset of the stressor. This extremely short protocol allowed for analysis of first wave primary response genes, typically induced within five to ten minutes of stimulation, and was performed using Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. RNA profiling revealed a largely new set of differentially expressed primary response genes between the conditions acute stress and control that differed distinctly between wild-type and knockout mice. Consequently, functional categorization and pathway analysis indicated genes related to neuroplasticity and adaptation in wild-types whereas knockouts were characterized by impaired plasticity and genes more related to chronic stress and pathophysiology. Our study therefore disclosed different coping styles dependent on serotonin transporter genotype even directly after the onset of stress and accentuates the role of the serotonergic system in processing stressors and threat in the amygdala. Moreover, several of the first wave primary response genes that we found might provide promising targets for future therapeutic interventions of stress-related disorders also in humans.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WieserGerdesReichertsetal.2014,
  author    = {Wieser, Matthias J. and Gerdes, Antje B. M. and Reicherts, Philipp and Pauli, Paul},
  title     = {Mutual influences of pain and emotional face processing},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01160},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-118446},
  pages     = {1160},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {The perception of unpleasant stimuli enhances whereas the perception of pleasant stimuli decreases pain perception. In contrast, the effects of pain on the processing of emotional stimuli are much less known. Especially given the recent interest in facial expressions of pain as a special category of emotional stimuli, a main topic in this research line is the mutual influence of pain and facial expression processing. Therefore, in this mini-review we selectively summarize research on the effects of emotional stimuli on pain, but more extensively turn to the opposite direction namely how pain influences concurrent processing of affective stimuli such as facial expressions. Based on the motivational priming theory one may hypothesize that the perception of pain enhances the processing of unpleasant stimuli and decreases the processing of pleasant stimuli. This review reveals that the literature is only partly consistent with this assumption: pain reduces the processing of pleasant pictures and happy facial expressions, but does not - or only partly - affect processing of unpleasant pictures. However, it was demonstrated that pain selectively enhances the processing of facial expressions if these are pain-related (i.e., facial expressions of pain). Extending a mere affective modulation theory, the latter results suggest pain-specific effects which may be explained by the perception-action model of empathy. Together, these results underscore the important mutual influence of pain and emotional face processing.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HerbertSuetterlin2012,
  author    = {Herbert, Cornelia and S{\"u}tterlin, Stefan},
  title     = {Do not respond! Doing the think/no-think and go/no-go tasks concurrently leads to memory impairment of unpleasant items during later recall},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-76028},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Previous research using neuroimaging methods proposed a link between mechanisms controlling motor response inhibition and suppression of unwanted memories.The present study investigated this hypothesis behaviorally by combining the think/no-think paradigm (TNT) with a go/no-go motor inhibition task. Participants first learned unpleasant cue-target pairs. Cue words were then presented as go or no-go items in the TNT. Participants' task was to respond to the cues and think of the target word aloud or to inhibit their response to the cue and the target word from coming to mind. Cued recall assessed immediately after the TNT revealed reduced recall performance for no-go targets compared to go targets or baseline cues not presented in the TNT. The results demonstrate that doing the no-think and no-go task concurrently leads to memory suppression of unpleasant items during later recall. Results are discussed in line with recent empirical research and theoretical positions.},
  subject      = {Psychologie},
  language  = {en}
}