TY - JOUR A1 - Stegmann, Yannik A1 - Reicherts, Philipp A1 - Andreatta, Marta A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Wieser, Matthias J. T1 - The effect of trait anxiety on attentional mechanisms in combined context and cue conditioning and extinction learning JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Sensory processing and attention allocation are shaped by threat, but the role of trait-anxiety in sensory processing as a function of threat predictability remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we measured steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as an index of sensory processing of predictable and unpredictable threat cues in 29 low (LA) and 29 high (HA) trait-anxious participants during a modified NPU-paradigm followed by an extinction phase. Three different contextual cues indicated safety (N), predictable (P) or unpredictable threat (U), while foreground cues signalled shocks in the P-condition only. All participants allocated increased attentional resources to the central P-threat cue, replicating previous findings. Importantly, LA individuals exhibited larger ssVEP amplitudes to contextual threat (U and P) than to contextual safety cues, while HA individuals did not differentiate among contextual cues in general. Further, HA exhibited higher aversive ratings of all contexts compared to LA. These results suggest that high trait-anxious individuals might be worse at discriminating contextual threat stimuli and accordingly overestimate the probability and aversiveness of unpredictable threat. These findings support the notion of aberrant sensory processing of unpredictable threat in anxiety disorders, as this processing pattern is already evident in individuals at risk of these disorders. KW - attention KW - fear conditioning Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-239394 VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mussel, Patrick A1 - Hewig, Johannes T1 - A neural perspective on when and why trait greed comes at the expense of others JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Depending on the point of view, conceptions of greed range from being a desirable and inevitable feature of a well-regulated, well-balanced economy to the root of all evil - radix omnium malorum avaritia (Tim 6.10). Regarding the latter, it has been proposed that greedy individuals strive for obtaining desired goods at all costs. Here, we show that trait greed predicts selfish economic decisions that come at the expense of others in a resource dilemma. This effect was amplified when individuals strived for obtaining real money, as compared to points, and when their revenue was at the expense of another person, as compared to a computer. On the neural level, we show that individuals high, compared to low in trait greed showed a characteristic signature in the EEG, a reduced P3 effect to positive, compared to negative feedback, indicating that they may have a lack of sensitivity to adjust behavior according to positive and negative stimuli from the environment. Brain-behavior relations further confirmed this lack of sensitivity to behavior adjustment as a potential underlying neuro-cognitive mechanism which explains selfish and reckless behavior that may come at the expense of others. KW - human behaviour KW - psychology Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231652 VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hommers, L. G. A1 - Richter, J. A1 - Yang, Y. A1 - Raab, A. A1 - Baumann, C. A1 - Lang, K. A1 - Schiele, M. A. A1 - Weber, H. A1 - Wittmann, A. A1 - Wolf, C. A1 - Alpers, G. W. A1 - Arolt, V. A1 - Domschke, K. A1 - Fehm, L. A1 - Fydrich, T. A1 - Gerlach, A. A1 - Gloster, A. T. A1 - Hamm, A. O. A1 - Helbig-Lang, S. A1 - Kircher, T. A1 - Lang, T. A1 - Pané-Farré, C. A. A1 - Pauli, P. A1 - Pfleiderer, B. A1 - Reif, A. A1 - Romanos, M. A1 - Straube, B. A1 - Ströhle, A. A1 - Wittchen, H.-U. A1 - Frantz, S. A1 - Ertl, G. A1 - Lohse, M. J. A1 - Lueken, U. A1 - Deckert, J. T1 - A functional genetic variation of SLC6A2 repressor hsa-miR-579-3p upregulates sympathetic noradrenergic processes of fear and anxiety JF - Translational Psychiatry N2 - Increased sympathetic noradrenergic signaling is crucially involved in fear and anxiety as defensive states. MicroRNAs regulate dynamic gene expression during synaptic plasticity and genetic variation of microRNAs modulating noradrenaline transporter gene (SLC6A2) expression may thus lead to altered central and peripheral processing of fear and anxiety. In silico prediction of microRNA regulation of SLC6A2 was confirmed by luciferase reporter assays and identified hsa-miR-579-3p as a regulating microRNA. The minor (T)-allele of rs2910931 (MAFcases = 0.431, MAFcontrols = 0.368) upstream of MIR579 was associated with panic disorder in patients (pallelic = 0.004, ncases = 506, ncontrols = 506) and with higher trait anxiety in healthy individuals (pASI = 0.029, pACQ = 0.047, n = 3112). Compared to the major (A)-allele, increased promoter activity was observed in luciferase reporter assays in vitro suggesting more effective MIR579 expression and SLC6A2 repression in vivo (p = 0.041). Healthy individuals carrying at least one (T)-allele showed a brain activation pattern suggesting increased defensive responding and sympathetic noradrenergic activation in midbrain and limbic areas during the extinction of conditioned fear. Panic disorder patients carrying two (T)-alleles showed elevated heart rates in an anxiety-provoking behavioral avoidance test (F(2, 270) = 5.47, p = 0.005). Fine-tuning of noradrenaline homeostasis by a MIR579 genetic variation modulated central and peripheral sympathetic noradrenergic activation during fear processing and anxiety. This study opens new perspectives on the role of microRNAs in the etiopathogenesis of anxiety disorders, particularly their cardiovascular symptoms and comorbidities. KW - clinical genetics KW - psychiatric disorders Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-322497 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holtfrerich, Sarah K. C. A1 - Pfister, Roland A1 - El Gammal, Alexander T. A1 - Bellon, Eugen A1 - Diekhof, Esther K. T1 - Endogenous testosterone and exogenous oxytocin influence the response to baby schema in the female brain JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Nurturing behavior may be critically influenced by the interplay of different hormones. The neuropeptide oxytocin is known to promote maternal behavior and its reduction has been associated with postpartum depression risk and child neglect. Contrariwise, the observed decrease in testosterone level during early parenthood may benefit caretaking behavior, whereas increased testosterone may reduce attention to infants. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the interactive influence of testosterone and oxytocin on selective attention to and neural processing of the baby schema (BS). 57 nulliparous women performed a target detection task with human faces with varying degree of BS following double-blinded placebo-controlled oxytocin administration in a between-subjects design. Our results support the idea that oxytocin enhances attention to the BS. Oxytocin had a positive effect on activation of the inferior frontal junction during identification of infant targets with a high degree of BS that were presented among adult distractors. Further, activation of the putamen was positively correlated with selective attention to the BS, but only in women with high endogenous testosterone who received oxytocin. These findings provide initial evidence for the neural mechanism by which oxytocin may counteract the negative effects of testosterone in the modulation of nurturing behavior. KW - attention KW - reward Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-322285 VL - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gottschalk, Michael G. A1 - Richter, Jan A1 - Ziegler, Christiane A1 - Schiele, Miriam A. A1 - Mann, Julia A1 - Geiger, Maximilian J. A1 - Schartner, Christoph A1 - Homola, György A. A1 - Alpers, Georg W. A1 - Büchel, Christian A1 - Fehm, Lydia A1 - Fydrich, Thomas A1 - Gerlach, Alexander L. A1 - Gloster, Andrew T. A1 - Helbig-Lang, Sylvia A1 - Kalisch, Raffael A1 - Kircher, Tilo A1 - Lang, Thomas A1 - Lonsdorf, Tina B. A1 - Pané-Farré, Christiane A. A1 - Ströhle, Andreas A1 - Weber, Heike A1 - Zwanzger, Peter A1 - Arolt, Volker A1 - Romanos, Marcel A1 - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich A1 - Hamm, Alfons A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Neufang, Susanne A1 - Höfler, Michael A1 - Domschke, Katharina T1 - Orexin in the anxiety spectrum: association of a HCRTR1 polymorphism with panic disorder/agoraphobia, CBT treatment response and fear-related intermediate phenotypes JF - Translational Psychiatry N2 - Preclinical studies point to a pivotal role of the orexin 1 (OX1) receptor in arousal and fear learning and therefore suggest the HCRTR1 gene as a prime candidate in panic disorder (PD) with/without agoraphobia (AG), PD/AG treatment response, and PD/AG-related intermediate phenotypes. Here, a multilevel approach was applied to test the non-synonymous HCRTR1 C/T Ile408Val gene variant (rs2271933) for association with PD/AG in two independent case-control samples (total n = 613 cases, 1839 healthy subjects), as an outcome predictor of a six-weeks exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in PD/AG patients (n = 189), as well as with respect to agoraphobic cognitions (ACQ) (n = 483 patients, n = 2382 healthy subjects), fMRI alerting network activation in healthy subjects (n = 94), and a behavioral avoidance task in PD/AG pre- and post-CBT (n = 271). The HCRTR1 rs2271933 T allele was associated with PD/AG in both samples independently, and in their meta-analysis (p = 4.2 × 10−7), particularly in the female subsample (p = 9.8 × 10−9). T allele carriers displayed a significantly poorer CBT outcome (e.g., Hamilton anxiety rating scale: p = 7.5 × 10−4). The T allele count was linked to higher ACQ sores in PD/AG and healthy subjects, decreased inferior frontal gyrus and increased locus coeruleus activation in the alerting network. Finally, the T allele count was associated with increased pre-CBT exposure avoidance and autonomic arousal as well as decreased post-CBT improvement. In sum, the present results provide converging evidence for an involvement of HCRTR1 gene variation in the etiology of PD/AG and PD/AG-related traits as well as treatment response to CBT, supporting future therapeutic approaches targeting the orexin-related arousal system. KW - human behaviour KW - molecular neuroscience KW - personalized medicine KW - predictive markers KW - psychiatric disorders Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-227479 VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Landmann, Eva A1 - Breil, Christina A1 - Huestegge, Lynn A1 - Böckler, Anne T1 - The semantics of gaze in person perception: a novel qualitative-quantitative approach JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Interpreting gaze behavior is essential in evaluating interaction partners, yet the ‘semantics of gaze’ in dynamic interactions are still poorly understood. We aimed to comprehensively investigate effects of gaze behavior patterns in different conversation contexts, using a two-step, qualitative-quantitative procedure. Participants watched video clips of single persons listening to autobiographic narrations by another (invisible) person. The listener’s gaze behavior was manipulated in terms of gaze direction, frequency and direction of gaze shifts, and blink frequency; emotional context was manipulated through the valence of the narration (neutral/negative). In Experiment 1 (qualitative-exploratory), participants freely described which states and traits they attributed to the listener in each condition, allowing us to identify relevant aspects of person perception and to construct distinct rating scales that were implemented in Experiment 2 (quantitative-confirmatory). Results revealed systematic and differential meanings ascribed to the listener’s gaze behavior. For example, rapid blinking and fast gaze shifts were rated more negatively (e.g., restless and unnatural) than slower gaze behavior; downward gaze was evaluated more favorably (e.g., empathetic) than other gaze aversion types, especially in the emotionally negative context. Overall, our study contributes to a more systematic understanding of flexible gaze semantics in social interaction. KW - human behaviour KW - psychology KW - semantics of gaze KW - person perception KW - face perception Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-361413 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hauf, Juliane E. K. A1 - Nieding, Gerhild A1 - Seger, Benedikt T. T1 - The development of dynamic perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension JF - Cognitive Processing N2 - Based on an embodied account of language comprehension, this study investigated the dynamic characteristics of children and adults’ perceptual simulations during sentence comprehension, using a novel paradigm to assess the perceptual simulation of objects moving up and down a vertical axis. The participants comprised adults (N = 40) and 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children (N = 116). After listening in experimental trials to sentences implying that objects moved upward or downward, the participants were shown pictures and had to decide as quickly as possible whether the objects depicted had been mentioned in the sentences. The target pictures moved either up or down and then stopped in the middle of the screen. All age groups’ reaction times were found to be shorter when the objects moved in the directions that the sentences implied. Age exerted no developmental effect on reaction times. The findings suggest that dynamic perceptual simulations are fundamental to language comprehension in text recipients aged 6 and older. KW - embodied cognition KW - sentence comprehension KW - dynamic perceptual simulation; KW - children KW - adults Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-283665 VL - 21 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ju, Qianqian A1 - Gan, Yiqun A1 - Rinn, Robin A1 - Duan, Yanping A1 - Lippke, Sonia T1 - Health Status Stability of Patients in a Medical Rehabilitation Program: What Are the Roles of Time, Physical Fitness Level, and Self-efficacy? JF - International Journal of Behavioral Medicine N2 - Background Individuals’ physical and mental health, as well as their chances of returning to work after their ability to work is damaged, can be addressed by medical rehabilitation. Aim This study investigated the developmental trends of mental and physical health among patients in medical rehabilitation and the roles of self-efficacy and physical fitness in the development of mental and physical health. Design A longitudinal design that included four time-point measurements across 15 months. Setting A medical rehabilitation center in Germany. Population Participants included 201 patients who were recruited from a medical rehabilitation center. Methods To objectively measure physical fitness (lung functioning), oxygen reabsorption at anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) was used, along with several self-report scales. Results We found a nonlinear change in mental health among medical rehabilitation patients. The results underscored the importance of medical rehabilitation for patients’ mental health over time. In addition, patients’ physical health was stable over time. The initial level of physical fitness (VO2AT) positively predicted their mental health and kept the trend more stable. Self-efficacy appeared to have a positive relationship with mental health after rehabilitation treatment. Conclusions This study revealed a nonlinear change in mental health among medical rehabilitation patients. Self-efficacy was positively related to mental health, and the initial level of physical fitness positively predicted the level of mental health after rehabilitation treatment. Clinical Rehabilitation More attention could be given to physical capacity and self-efficacy for improving and maintaining rehabilitants’ mental health. KW - latent growth curve model KW - mental health KW - physical fitness KW - self-efficacy KW - physical health Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-308445 SN - 1070-5503 SN - 1532-7558 VL - 29 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bürger, Arne A1 - Schoenfeld, Cornelia von A1 - Scheiner, Christin A1 - Seidel, Alexandra A1 - Wasserscheid, Antonia A1 - Gad, Doreya A1 - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah A1 - Romanos, Marcel A1 - Reiter, Andrea M. F. T1 - Universal prevention for non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents is scarce - A systematic review JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry N2 - Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) during adolescence is a high-risk marker for the development and persistence of mental health problems and has been recognized as a significant public health problem. Whereas targeted prevention has indeed shown to be effective in reducing NSSI and improve mental health problems, access to such programs is limited. By face validity, universal prevention of NSSI seems an ideal starting point for a stepped-care model to circumvent a lack of resources in the medical care system. However, it is yet unclear how effective such approaches are. Here, we provide a summary of existing work on universal prevention of NSSI in adolescents younger than 21 years based on a systematic literature search. We found that only seven studies are available. None of the programs evaluated was found to be effective in reducing the incidence or frequency of NSSI. After providing a comprehensive summary of the existing work, we evaluate the fact that existing work primarily focusses on selected/targeted prevention and on psychoeducational methods. We derive implications for future directions in the field of universal prevention of NSSI. KW - non-suicidal self-injury KW - NSSI KW - emotion regulation KW - prevention KW - universal prevention KW - adolescence KW - mental health Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-357490 VL - 14 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kleih-Dahms, Sonja C. A1 - Botrel, Loic T1 - Neurofeedback therapy to improve cognitive function in patients with chronic post-stroke attention deficits: a within-subjects comparison JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience N2 - Introduction We investigated a slow-cortical potential (SCP) neurofeedback therapy approach for rehabilitating chronic attention deficits after stroke. This study is the first attempt to train patients who survived stroke with SCP neurofeedback therapy. Methods We included N = 5 participants in a within-subjects follow-up design. We assessed neuropsychological and psychological performance at baseline (4 weeks before study onset), before study onset, after neurofeedback training, and at 3 months follow-up. Participants underwent 20 sessions of SCP neurofeedback training. Results Participants learned to regulate SCPs toward negativity, and we found indications for improved attention after the SCP neurofeedback therapy in some participants. Quality of life improved throughout the study according to engagement in activities of daily living. The self-reported motivation was related to mean SCP activation in two participants. Discussion We would like to bring attention to the potential of SCP neurofeedback therapy as a new rehabilitation method for treating post-stroke cognitive deficits. Studies with larger samples are warranted to corroborate the results. KW - stroke KW - slow cortical potentials (SCP) KW - attention deficit KW - neurofeedback training KW - self-efficacy KW - brain-computer interfaces (BCI) Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-322454 VL - 17 ER -