TY - JOUR A1 - Biehl, Stefanie C. A1 - Dresler, Thomas A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Scheuerpflug, Peter A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. T1 - Dopamine Transporter (DAT1) and Dopamine Receptor D4 (DRD4) Genotypes Differentially Impact on Electrophysiological Correlates of Error Processing JF - PLoS One N2 - Recent studies as well as theoretical models of error processing assign fundamental importance to the brain's dopaminergic system. Research about how the electrophysiological correlates of error processing—the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe)—are influenced by variations of common dopaminergic genes, however, is still relatively scarce. In the present study, we therefore investigated whether polymorphisms in the DAT1 gene and in the DRD4 gene, respectively, lead to interindividual differences in these error processing correlates. One hundred sixty participants completed a version of the Eriksen Flanker Task while a 26-channel EEG was recorded. The task was slightly modified in order to increase error rates. During data analysis, participants were split into two groups depending on their DAT1 and their DRD4 genotypes, respectively. ERN and Pe amplitudes after correct responses and after errors as well as difference amplitudes between errors and correct responses were analyzed. We found a differential effect of DAT1 genotype on the Pe difference amplitude but not on the ERN difference amplitude, while the reverse was true for DRD4 genotype. These findings are in line with predictions from theoretical models of dopaminergic transmission in the brain. They furthermore tie results from clinical investigations of disorders impacting on the dopamine system to genetic variations known to be at-risk genotypes. KW - haplotypes KW - electroencephalography KW - basal ganglia KW - reaction time KW - dopaminergics KW - dopamine KW - ADHD KW - research errors Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-137930 VL - 6 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hahn, Tim A1 - Karolien, Hilde A1 - Dresler, Thomas A1 - Kowarsch, Linda A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Fallgatter, Andreas J. T1 - Linking online gaming and addictive behavior: converging evidence for a general reward deficiency in frequent online garners JF - Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience N2 - Millions of people regularly play so-called massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Recently, it has been argued that MMORPG overuse is becoming a significant health problem worldwide. Symptoms such as tolerance, withdrawal, and craving have been described. Based on behavioral, resting state, and task-related neuroimaging data, we test whether frequent players of the MMORPG "World of VVarcraft" (WoW) similar to drug addicts and individuals with an increased risk for addictions show a generally deficient reward system. In frequent players of the MMORPG "World of VVarcraft" (WoW-players) and in a control group of non-gamers we assessed (1) trait sensitivity to reward (SR), (2) BOLD responses during monetary reward processing in the ventral striatum, and (3) ventral-striatal resting-state dynamics. We found a decreased neural activation in the ventral striatum during the anticipation of both small and large monetary rewards. Additionally, we show generally altered neurodynamics in this region independent of any specific task for WoW players (resting state). On the behavioral level, we found differences in trait SR, suggesting that the reward processing deficiencies found in this study are not a consequence of gaming, but predisposed to it. These findings empirically support a direct link between frequent online gaming and the broad field of behavioral and drug addiction research, thus opening new avenues for clinical interventions in addicted gamers and potentially improving the assessment of addiction-risk in the vast population of frequent gamers. KW - behavioral activation system KW - video-game KW - drug-addiction KW - sensitivity KW - dopamine KW - anticipation KW - massively multiplayer online role playing games KW - world of warcraft KW - resting-state fMRI KW - monetary incentive delay task KW - reward deficiency syndrome Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114737 SN - 1662-5153 VL - 14 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kopf, Juliane A1 - Dresler, Thomas A1 - Reicherts, Philipp A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. A1 - Reif, Andreas T1 - The Effect of Emotional Content on Brain Activation and the Late Positive Potential in a Word n-back Task JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Introduction There is mounting evidence for the influence of emotional content on working memory performance. This is particularly important in light of the emotion processing that needs to take place when emotional content interferes with executive functions. In this study, we used emotional words of different valence but with similar arousal levels in an n-back task. Methods We examined the effects on activation in the prefrontal cortex by means of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and on the late positive potential (LPP). FNIRS and LPP data were examined in 30 healthy subjects. Results Behavioral results show an influence of valence on the error rate depending on the difficulty of the task: more errors were made when the valence was negative and the task difficult. Brain activation was dependent both on the difficulty of the task and on the valence: negative valence of a word diminished the increase in activation, whereas positive valence did not influence the increase in activation, while difficulty levels increased. The LPP also differentiated between the different valences, and in addition was influenced by the task difficulty, the more difficult the task, the less differentiation could be observed. Conclusions Summarized, this study shows the influence of valence on a verbal working memory task. When a word contained a negative valence, the emotional content seemed to take precedence in contrast to words containing a positive valence. Working memory and emotion processing sites seemed to overlap and compete for resources even when words are carriers of the emotional content. KW - analysis of variance KW - electrode recording KW - electroencephalography KW - emotions KW - eyes KW - near-infrared spectroscopy KW - reaction time KW - working memory Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-96687 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kopf, Juliane A1 - Glöckner, Stefan A1 - Althen, Heike A1 - Cevada, Thais A1 - Schecklmann, Martin A1 - Dresler, Thomas A1 - Kittel-Schneider, Sarah A1 - Reif, Andreas T1 - Neural responses to a working memory task in acute depressed and remitted phases in bipolar patients JF - Brain Sciences N2 - (1) Cognitive impairments such as working memory (WM) deficits are amongst the most common dysfunctions characterizing bipolar disorder (BD) patients, severely contributing to functional impairment. We aimed to investigate WM performance and associated brain activation during the acute phase of BD and to observe changes in the same patients during remission. (2) Frontal brain activation was recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during n-back task conditions (one-back, two-back and three-back) in BD patients in their acute depressive (n = 32) and remitted (n = 15) phases as well as in healthy controls (n = 30). (3) Comparison of BD patients during their acute phase with controls showed a trend (p = 0.08) towards lower dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation. In the remitted phase, BD patients showed lower dlPFC and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) activation (p = 0.02) compared to controls. No difference in dlPFC and vlPFC activation between BD patients’ phases was found. (4) Our results showed decreased working memory performance in BD patients during the working memory task in the acute phase of disease. Working memory performance improved in the remitted phase of the disease but was still particularly attenuated for the more demanding conditions. KW - verbal n-back KW - fNIRS KW - prefrontal cortex KW - cognitive deficits KW - bipolar disorder KW - remitted/acute phase Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313509 SN - 2076-3425 VL - 13 IS - 5 ER -