TY - JOUR A1 - Schwarz, Katharina A. A1 - Wieser, Matthias J. A1 - Gerdes, Antje B. M. A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Pauli, Paul T1 - Why are you looking like that? How the context influences evaluation and processing of human faces JF - Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience N2 - Perception and evaluation of facial expressions are known to be heavily modulated by emotional features of contextual information. Such contextual effects, however, might also be driven by non-emotional aspects of contextual information, an interaction of emotional and non-emotional factors, and by the observers’ inherent traits. Therefore, we sought to assess whether contextual information about self-reference in addition to information about valence influences the evaluation and neural processing of neutral faces. Furthermore, we investigated whether social anxiety moderates these effects. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed neutral facial expressions preceded by a contextual sentence conveying either positive or negative evaluations about the participant or about somebody else. Contextual influences were reflected in rating and fMRI measures, with strong effects of self-reference on brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and right fusiform gyrus. Additionally, social anxiety strongly affected the response to faces conveying negative, self-related evaluations as revealed by the participants’ rating patterns and brain activity in cortical midline structures and regions of interest in the left and right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that face perception and processing are highly individual processes influenced by emotional and non-emotional aspects of contextual information and further modulated by individual personality traits. KW - social anxiety KW - facial expression KW - context KW - self-reference Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-132126 VL - 8 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Diemer, Julia A1 - Alpers, Georg W. A1 - Peperkorn, Henrik M. A1 - Shiban, Youssef A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas T1 - The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: a review of research in virtual reality JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - 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. KW - exposure therapy KW - flight phobics KW - environments KW - virtual reality KW - anxiety KW - presence KW - emotion KW - fear KW - perception KW - anxiety disorders KW - presence questionnaire KW - public speaking KW - spider phobia KW - social phobia KW - immersion Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144200 VL - 6 IS - 26 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aster, Hans-Christoph A1 - Romanos, Marcel A1 - Walitza, Susanne A1 - Gerlach, Manfred A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Rizzo, Albert A1 - Andreatta, Marta A1 - Hasenauer, Natalie A1 - Hartrampf, Philipp E. A1 - Nerlich, Kai A1 - Reiners, Christoph A1 - Lorenz, Reinhard A1 - Buck, Andreas K. A1 - Deserno, Lorenz T1 - Responsivity of the striatal dopamine system to methylphenidate — A within-subject I-123-β-CIT-SPECT study in male children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry N2 - Background: Methylphenidate (MPH) is the first-line pharmacological treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). MPH binds to the dopamine (DA) transporter (DAT), which has high density in the striatum. Assessments of the striatal dopamine transporter by single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) in childhood and adolescent patients are rare but can provide insight on how the effects of MPH affect DAT availability. The aim of our within-subject study was to investigate the effect of MPH on DAT availability and how responsivity to MPH in DAT availability is linked to clinical symptoms and cognitive functioning. Methods Thirteen adolescent male patients (9–16 years) with a diagnosis of ADHD according to the DSM-IV and long-term stimulant medication (for at least 6 months) with MPH were assessed twice within 7 days using SPECT after application of I-123-β-CIT to examine DAT binding potential (DAT BP). SPECT measures took place in an on- and off-MPH status balanced for order across participants. A virtual reality continuous performance test was performed at each time point. Further clinical symptoms were assessed for baseline off-MPH. Results On-MPH status was associated with a highly significant change (−29.9%) of striatal DAT BP as compared to off-MPH (t = −4.12, p = 0.002). A more pronounced change in striatal DAT BP was associated with higher off-MPH attentional and externalizing symptom ratings (Pearson r = 0.68, p = 0.01). Striatal DAT BP off-MPH, but not on-MPH, was associated with higher symptom ratings (Pearson r = 0.56, p = 0.04). Conclusion Our findings corroborate previous reports from mainly adult samples that MPH changes striatal DAT BP availability and suggest higher off-MPH DAT BP, likely reflecting low baseline DA levels, as a marker of symptom severity. KW - methylphenidate KW - attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) KW - striatum KW - single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) KW - responsivity KW - caudate nucleus KW - dopamine transporter (DAT) Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-270862 SN - 1664-0640 VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Peperkorn, Henrik M. A1 - Diemer, Julia E. A1 - Alpers, Georg W. A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas T1 - Representation of Patients' Hand Modulates Fear Reactions of Patients with Spider Phobia in Virtual Reality JF - frontiers in Psychology N2 - Embodiment (i.e., the involvement of a bodily representation) is thought to be relevant in emotional experiences. Virtual reality (VR) is a capable means of activating phobic fear in patients. The representation of the patient’s body (e.g., the right hand) in VR enhances immersion and increases presence, but its effect on phobic fear is still unknown. We analyzed the influence of the presentation of the participant’s hand in VR on presence and fear responses in 32 women with spider phobia and 32 matched controls. Participants sat in front of a table with an acrylic glass container within reaching distance. During the experiment this setup was concealed by a head-mounted display (HMD). The VR scenario presented via HMD showed the same setup, i.e., a table with an acrylic glass container. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. In one group, fear responses were triggered by fear-relevant visual input in VR (virtual spider in the virtual acrylic glass container), while information about a real but unseen neutral control animal (living snake in the acrylic glass container) was given. The second group received fear-relevant information of the real but unseen situation (living spider in the acrylic glass container), but visual input was kept neutral VR (virtual snake in the virtual acrylic glass container). Participants were instructed to touch the acrylic glass container with their right hand in 20 consecutive trials. Visibility of the hand was varied randomly in a within-subjects design. We found for all participants that visibility of the participant’s hand increased presence independently of the fear trigger. However, in patients, the influence of the virtual hand on fear depended on the fear trigger. When fear was triggered perceptually, i.e., by a virtual spider, the virtual hand increased fear. When fear was triggered by information about a real spider, the virtual hand had no effect on fear. Our results shed light on the significance of different fear triggers (visual, conceptual) in interaction with body representations. KW - virtual reality KW - presence KW - immersion KW - perception KW - fear KW - specific phobia Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165307 VL - 7 IS - 268 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Asthana, Manish Kumar A1 - Brunhuber, Bettina A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Schneider, Simone A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. T1 - Preventing the Return of Fear Using Reconsolidation Update Mechanisms Depends on the Met-Allele of the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met Polymorphism JF - International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology N2 - Background: Memory reconsolidation is the direct effect of memory reactivation followed by stabilization of newly synthesized proteins. It has been well proven that neural encoding of both newly and reactivated memories requires synaptic plasticity. Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been extensively investigated regarding its role in the formation of synaptic plasticity and in the alteration of fear memories. However, its role in fear reconsolidation is still unclear; hence, the current study has been designed to investigate the role of the BDNF val66met polymorphism (rs6265) in fear memory reconsolidation in humans. Methods: An auditory fear-conditioning paradigm was conducted, which comprised of three stages (acquisition, reactivation, and spontaneous recovery). One day after fear acquisition, the experimental group underwent reactivation of fear memory followed by the extinction training (reminder group), whereas the control group (non-reminder group) underwent only extinction training. On day 3, both groups were subjected to spontaneous recovery of earlier learned fearful memories. The treat-elicited defensive response due to conditioned threat was measured by assessing the skin conductance response to the conditioned stimulus. All participants were genotyped for rs6265. Results: The results indicate a diminishing effect of reminder on the persistence of fear memory only in the Met-allele carriers, suggesting a moderating effect of the BDNF polymorphism in fear memory reconsolidation. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a new role for BDNF gene variation in fear memory reconsolidation in humans. KW - BDNF KW - brain derived neurotrophic factor KW - fear conditioning KW - genetics memory KW - reconsolidation Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-166217 VL - 19 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Glotzbach, Evelyn A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Gschwendtner, Kathrin A1 - Fallgatter, Andreas J A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Herrmann, Martin J T1 - Prefrontal Brain Activation During Emotional Processing: A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Study (fNIRS) JF - The Open Neuroimaging Journal N2 - The limbic system and especially the amygdala have been identified as key structures in emotion induction and regulation. Recently research has additionally focused on the influence of prefrontal areas on emotion processing in the limbic system and the amygdala. Results from fMRI studies indicate that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved not only in emotion induction but also in emotion regulation. However, studies using fNIRS only report prefrontal brain activation during emotion induction. So far it lacks the attempt to compare emotion induction and emotion regulation with regard to prefrontal activation measured with fNIRS, to exclude the possibility that the reported prefrontal brain activation in fNIRS studies are mainly caused by automatic emotion regulation processes. Therefore this work tried to distinguish emotion induction from regulation via fNIRS of the prefrontal cortex. 20 healthy women viewed neutral pictures as a baseline condition, fearful pictures as induction condition and reappraised fearful pictures as regulation condition in randomized order. As predicted, the view-fearful condition led to higher arousal ratings than the view-neutral condition with the reappraise-fearful condition in between. For the fNIRS results the induction condition showed an activation of the bilateral PFC compared to the baseline condition (viewing neutral). The regulation condition showed an activation only of the left PFC compared to the baseline condition, although the direct comparison between induction and regulation condition revealed no significant difference in brain activation. Therefore our study underscores the results of previous fNIRS studies showing prefrontal brain activation during emotion induction and rejects the hypothesis that this prefrontal brain activation might only be a result of automatic emotion regulation processes. KW - fNIRS KW - Emotional processing KW - emotional regulation Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-141714 VL - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. A1 - Glotzbach, Evelyn A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Gschwendtner, Kathrin A1 - Fallgatter, Andreas J. A1 - Pauli, Paul T1 - Prefrontal Brain Activation During Emotional Processing: A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Study (fNIRS) JF - The Open Neuroimaging Journal N2 - The limbic system and especially the amygdala have been identified as key structures in emotion induction and regulation. Recently research has additionally focused on the influence of prefrontal areas on emotion processing in the limbic system and the amygdala. Results from fMRI studies indicate that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved not only in emotion induction but also in emotion regulation. However, studies using fNIRS only report prefrontal brain activation during emotion induction. So far it lacks the attempt to compare emotion induction and emotion regulation with regard to prefrontal activation measured with fNIRS, to exclude the possibility that the reported prefrontal brain activation in fNIRS studies are mainly caused by automatic emotion regulation processes. Therefore this work tried to distinguish emotion induction from regulation via fNIRS of the prefrontal cortex. 20 healthy women viewed neutral pictures as a baseline condition, fearful pictures as induction condition and reappraised fearful pictures as regulation condition in randomized order. As predicted, the view-fearful condition led to higher arousal ratings than the view-neutral condition with the reappraise-fearful condition in between. For the fNIRS results the induction condition showed an activation of the bilateral PFC compared to the baseline condition (viewing neutral). The regulation condition showed an activation only of the left PFC compared to the baseline condition, although the direct comparison between induction and regulation condition revealed no significant difference in brain activation. Therefore our study underscores the results of previous fNIRS studies showing prefrontal brain activation during emotion induction and rejects the hypothesis that this prefrontal brain activation might only be a result of automatic emotion regulation processes. KW - fNIRS KW - Emotional processing KW - emotional regulation Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-97437 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Andreatta, Marta A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Glotzbach-Schoon, Evelyn A1 - Pauli, Paul T1 - Pain predictability reverses valence ratings of a relief-associated stimulus JF - Front in Systems Neuroscience N2 - Relief from pain is positively valenced and entails reward-like properties. Notably, stimuli that became associated with pain relief elicit reward-like implicit responses too, but are explicitly evaluated by humans as aversive. Since the unpredictability of pain makes pain more aversive, this study examined the hypotheses that the predictability of pain also modulates the valence of relief-associated stimuli. In two studies, we presented one conditioned stimulus \((_{FORWARD}CS+)\) before a painful unconditioned stimulus (US), another stimulus \((_{BACKWARD}CS+)\) after the painful US, and a third stimulus (CS−) was never associated with the US. In Study 1, \(_{FORWARD}CS+\) predicted half of the USs while the other half was delivered unwarned and followed by \(_{BACKWARD}CS+\). In Study 2, all USs were predicted by \(_{FORWARD}CS+\) and followed by \(_{BACKWARD}CS+\). In Study 1 both \(_{FORWARD}CS+\) and \(_{BACKWARD}CS+\) were rated as negatively valenced and high arousing after conditioning, while \(_{BACKWARD}CS+\) in Study 2 acquired positive valence and low arousal. Startle amplitude was significantly attenuated to \(_{BACKWARD}CS+\) compared to \(_{FORWARD}CS+\) in Study 2, but did not differ among CSs in Study 1. In summary, predictability of aversive events reverses the explicit valence of a relief-associated stimulus. KW - threat unpredictability KW - implicit and explicit responses KW - forward conditioning KW - backward conditioning KW - pain relief Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129275 VL - 7 IS - 53 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Winkler, Markus H. A1 - Li, Yonghui A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas T1 - Modulation of smoking cue reactivity by social context—Implications for exposure therapy in virtual reality JF - Frontiers in Virtual Reality N2 - Rationale: Social factors are considered important for the initiation and maintenance of drug abuse. Virtual reality (VR) research on cue reactivity and exposure frequently incorporates social stimuli as part of complex drug-intake scenarios. Attempts are rarely made to dissect the impact of the different components and their interactive effects. The present study critically extends this line of research by investigating the modulatory effects of social context on the reactivity evoked by proximal smoking cues. Methods: Thirty-two smokers and 33 never-smokers were presented in VR with proximal cues and neutral stimuli, embedded in a social context or a neutral context. A virtual hand model was used to translate real hand movements into VR. Each trial started with the presentation of the different stimulus–context combinations. Discrete stimuli were presented on the table in front of the participants, and contextual stimuli were presented at the end of the table. Afterward, participants were instructed to grasp the target stimulus (a cigarette vs. a pencil) in front of them. After successful contact, the stimulus appeared in the virtual hand. Modulation of cue reactivity by social context was assessed by self-report, physiological measures, and overt approach behavior. Results: The results revealed modulatory effects of social context on the responses to proximal smoking cues in smokers. In contrast to never-smokers, smoking cues evoked craving in smokers, which was attenuated in a social context. Furthermore, social context increased the latency to approach and contact the cigarette in the group of smokers but did not affect behavioral approach responses in never-smokers. Other data provided indications for interactive, but also main effects of cues and contexts. Interestingly, cue-evoked craving was increased after contact with the virtual cigarette. Conclusion: The present study critically extends previous research by providing evidence for the modulation of cue reactivity by social context. The results are particularly important given the well-established role of drug-associated environmental contexts in the stimulus control of addictive behaviors. Our results emphasize the need to address social context effects on cue reactivity in basic research and treatment and further suggest that changes in the perceived availability of smoking might enhance or inhibit cue-evoked reactivity. KW - cue reactivity KW - social context KW - cue exposure therapy KW - cue availability KW - smoking KW - substance use disorders KW - addiction KW - virtual reality Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-306199 VL - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gromer, Daniel A1 - Madeira, Octávia A1 - Gast, Philipp A1 - Nehfischer, Markus A1 - Jost, Michael A1 - Müller, Mathias A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Pauli, Paul T1 - Height Simulation in a Virtual Reality CAVE System: Validity of Fear Responses and Effects of an Immersion Manipulation JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience N2 - Acrophobia is characterized by intense fear in height situations. Virtual reality (VR) can be used to trigger such phobic fear, and VR exposure therapy (VRET) has proven effective for treatment of phobias, although it remains important to further elucidate factors that modulate and mediate the fear responses triggered in VR. The present study assessed verbal and behavioral fear responses triggered by a height simulation in a 5-sided cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) with visual and acoustic simulation and further investigated how fear responses are modulated by immersion, i.e., an additional wind simulation, and presence, i.e., the feeling to be present in the VE. Results revealed a high validity for the CAVE and VE in provoking height related self-reported fear and avoidance behavior in accordance with a trait measure of acrophobic fear. Increasing immersion significantly increased fear responses in high height anxious (HHA) participants, but did not affect presence. Nevertheless, presence was found to be an important predictor of fear responses. We conclude that a CAVE system can be used to elicit valid fear responses, which might be further enhanced by immersion manipulations independent from presence. These results may help to improve VRET efficacy and its transfer to real situations. KW - anxiety KW - fear behavior KW - virtual reality KW - presence KW - immersion KW - acrophobia Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196113 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 12 IS - 372 ER -