TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grossheinrich, Nicola
A1  - Firk, Christine
A1  - Schulte-Rüther, Martin
A1  - von Leupoldt, Andreas
A1  - Konrad, Kerstin
A1  - Huestegge, Lynn
T1  - Looking while unhappy: a mood-congruent attention bias toward sad adult faces in children
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - A negative mood-congruent attention bias has been consistently observed, for example, in clinical studies on major depression. This bias is assumed to be dysfunctional in that it supports maintaining a sad mood, whereas a potentially adaptive role has largely been neglected. Previous experiments involving sad mood induction techniques found a negative mood-congruent attention bias specifically for young individuals, explained by an adaptive need for information transfer in the service of mood regulation. In the present study we investigated the attentional bias in typically developing children (aged 6–12 years) when happy and sad moods were induced. Crucially, we manipulated the age (adult vs. child) of the displayed pairs of facial expressions depicting sadness, anger, fear and happiness. The results indicate that sad children indeed exhibited a mood specific attention bias toward sad facial expressions. Additionally, this bias was more pronounced for adult faces. Results are discussed in the context of an information gain which should be stronger when looking at adult faces due to their more expansive life experience. These findings bear implications for both research methods and future interventions.
KW  - eye tracking
KW  - emotion regulation
KW  - mood induction
KW  - attention bias
KW  - major depression
KW  - adaptive role
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177688
VL  - 9
IS  - 2577
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ventura-Bort, Carlos
A1  - Wirkner, Janine
A1  - Genheimer, Hannah
A1  - Wendt, Julia
A1  - Hamm, Alfons O.
A1  - Weymar, Mathias
T1  - Effects of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) on the P300 and Alpha-Amylase Level: A Pilot Study
JF  - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
N2  - Recent research suggests that the P3b may be closely related to the activation of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system. To further study the potential association, we applied a novel technique, the non-invasive transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), which is speculated to increase noradrenaline levels. Using a within-subject cross-over design, 20 healthy participants received continuous tVNS and sham stimulation on two consecutive days (stimulation counterbalanced across participants) while performing a visual oddball task. During stimulation, oval non-targets (standard), normal-head (easy) and rotated-head (difficult) targets, as well as novel stimuli (scenes) were presented. As an indirect marker of noradrenergic activation we also collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) before and after stimulation. Results showed larger P3b amplitudes for target, relative to standard stimuli, irrespective of stimulation condition. Exploratory post hoc analyses, however, revealed that, in comparison to standard stimuli, easy (but not difficult) targets produced larger P3b (but not P3a) amplitudes during active tVNS, compared to sham stimulation. For sAA levels, although main analyses did not show differential effects of stimulation, direct testing revealed that tVNS (but not sham stimulation) increased sAA levels after stimulation. Additionally, larger differences between tVNS and sham stimulation in P3b magnitudes for easy targets were associated with larger increase in sAA levels after tVNS, but not after sham stimulation. Despite preliminary evidence for a modulatory influence of tVNS on the P3b, which may be partly mediated by activation of the noradrenergic system, additional research in this field is clearly warranted. Future studies need to clarify whether tVNS also facilitates other processes, such as learning and memory, and whether tVNS can be used as therapeutic tool.
KW  - EEG
KW  - P300
KW  - tVNS
KW  - norepinephrine
KW  - locus coeruleus
KW  - salivary alpha-amylase
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-196129
SN  - 1662-5161
VL  - 12
IS  - 202
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  - Hammer, Eva M.
A1  - Halder, Sebastian
A1  - Kleih, Sonja C.
A1  - Kübler, Andrea
T1  - Psychological Predictors of Visual and Auditory P300 Brain-Computer Interface Performance
JF  - Frontiers in Neuroscience
N2  - Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) provide communication channels independent from muscular control. In the current study we used two versions of the P300-BCI: one based on visual the other on auditory stimulation. Up to now, data on the impact of psychological variables on P300-BCI control are scarce. Hence, our goal was to identify new predictors with a comprehensive psychological test-battery. A total of N = 40 healthy BCI novices took part in a visual and an auditory BCI session. Psychological variables were measured with an electronic test-battery including clinical, personality, and performance tests. The personality factor “emotional stability” was negatively correlated (Spearman's rho = −0.416; p < 0.01) and an output variable of the non-verbal learning test (NVLT), which can be interpreted as ability to learn, correlated positively (Spearman's rho = 0.412; p < 0.01) with visual P300-BCI performance. In a linear regression analysis both independent variables explained 24% of the variance. “Emotional stability” was also negatively related to auditory P300-BCI performance (Spearman's rho = −0.377; p < 0.05), but failed significance in the regression analysis. Psychological parameters seem to play a moderate role in visual P300-BCI performance. “Emotional stability” was identified as a new predictor, indicating that BCI users who characterize themselves as calm and rational showed worse BCI performance. The positive relation of the ability to learn and BCI performance corroborates the notion that also for P300 based BCIs learning may constitute an important factor. Further studies are needed to consolidate or reject the presented predictors.
KW  - predictors
KW  - visual P300-BCI
KW  - auditory P300-BCI
KW  - NVLT
KW  - emotional stability
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-369207
VL  - 12
ER  -