0Poster Session Abstracts
THURSDAY, OCTOBER2, 2008 POSTER SESSION I
Poster 1
AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF THE STARTLE REFLEX IN SPECIFIC PHOBIA
Maria Isabel Viedma-del Jesus1, Luis Carlos Delgado-Pastor1, Izabela Mocaiber2, Mercedes Martinez1, Martina Carmona1, & Jaime Vila1 1University of Granada, 2Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Descriptors: affective modulation, EMG, specific phobia
It has been demonstrated that humans reliably show augmented probe reflex responses when they look at pictures of unpleasant objects or events and when they imagine fearful scenarios. Furthermore, when confronting images of the phobic object, individuals with phobias show significantly greater startle probe potentiation than nonfearful participants. Within this framework, the present study is aimed at examining affective modulation of the startle reflex in two groups: specific phobics (n 5 15) and nonphobic controls (n 5 15). Both groups were shown pictures of different emotional content: pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, personal fear images and fear images not related to their phobias. Acoustic startle probes consisting of a 50 millisecond presentation, 100 dB and instantaneous rise time, were administered occasionally during the presentation of pictures and the eyeblink component of the startle reflex was measured. The results showed significantly greater startle potentiation to personal fear images compared to the other categories in phobics than controls. Fear pictures resulted in a greater startle potentiation than did pleasant (p < .026), neutral (p < .019) and unpleasant (p < .031) pictures in the specific phobia group. The data are consistent with previous research that suggests a heightened defensive reactivity in phobics and that the distress of this individuals is well organized around specific cues.
Poster 2
THE MODULATION OF SKIN CONDUCTANCE RESPONSE TO A DEFENSE STIMULUS BY AFFECTIVE SOUNDS
Marlene Figueroa, Jose L. Mata, Sonia Rodriguez-Ruiz, Miguel A. Munoz, & M. Carmen Fernandez University of Granada
Descriptors: SCR, IADS, defense
Eye-blink startle and Cardiac Defense Response induced by an intense white noise (500 ms duration) has been shown to be modulated by hearing affective sounds (Vila et al., 2008). However, no data have been reported concerning modulation of skin conductance response (SCR) by affective sounds when induced by a defense noise (500 ms duration). The present study aimed at examining the effect of listening to three types of emotional sounds (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant), selected from the IADS, on the subsequent evocation of the SCR by an intense white noise. Participants were 90 students. The psychophysiological test consisted of a 10 minute rest period followed by 3 blocks of affective sounds. Each block consisted of 2 trials presenting the same affective sound during 6 s, either followed or not followed by the defense noise that appears at the end of the affective sound (5.5 s), in counterbalanced order. Order of block presentation was also counterbalanced. Results showed a significant SCR (F(19, 1596) 5 80.821, p < 0.000): (a) greater when defense noise
is present (F(19, 1596) 5 74.203, p < 0.000), and (b) greater when pleasant and unpleasant affective sounds (compared to neutral) are accompanied by a defense noise (F(38, 3192) 5 2.521, p < 0.025). These data extend the affective modulation of SCR, by hearing affective sounds, to defense stimuli and confirms previous findings.
Poster 3
IMPAIRED PERCEPTION OF DYSPNEA AND PAIN AFTER RIGHT INSULAR CORTEX LESIONS
Daniela Schon1, Michael Rosenkranz2, Jan Regensberger2, Bernhard Dahme1, Christian Biichel2, & Andreas von Leupoldt3 1University of Hamburg, 2University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 3University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf of Hamburg
Descriptors: dyspnea, insular cortex lesion, pain
The perception of dyspnea and pain share many similarities. First imaging studies suggested an important conjoint role of the insular cortex in perceiving both unpleasant sensations. However, little is still known about the cortical processing of dyspnea compared with pain. In this study we investigated the impact of clinical lesions of the insular cortex on the perception of dyspnea and pain. In four patients with right-hemispheric insular cortex lesions and four matched healthy controls dyspnea was induced by resistive loaded breathing and pain by a cold-pressor test. Perceived intensity and unpleasantness of both sensations were rated on visual analog scales. In contrast to healthy controls, lesion patients showed reduced perceptual sensitivity for dyspnea, especially for the unpleasantness of dyspnea (p<0.05) and also a reduced perceptual sensitivity for pain as reflected by ratings of intensity and unpleasantness of pain, higher sensory pain-thresholds and, in particular, higher affect-related pain-tolerance times (p<0.05). The results evidence that lesions ofthe right insular cortex are associated with reduced sensitivity for the perception ofdyspnea and pain, in particular for their perceived unpleasantness, underlining the impact of the insular cortex in the perception of both sensations.
Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG LE 1843/6-1).
Poster 4
LINKS BETWEEN THE PERCEPTION OF DYSPNEA, PAIN AND NEGATIVE AFFECT
Daniela Schon1, Bernhard Dahme1, & Andreas von Leupoldt2 1University of Hamburg, 2University of Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
Descriptors: dyspnea, emotion, pain
The perception of dyspnea shares many characteristics with the perception of pain and both sensations might be linked to affective states. Therefore, the present study investigated the association between perceived dyspnea, pain and negative affect during resistive load breathing, the cold-pressor test and affective picture viewing in 22 healthy volunteers. Physiological and psychological measures confirmed successful experimental manipulation in inducing dyspnea, pain and negative affect during picture viewing. We found a positive correlation between perceived dyspnea and pain in the unpleasantness-dimension (r 5 .47, p<.05), but not in the intensity-dimension. Unpleasantness of pain and unpleasantness (r 5 .39, p < .05), as well as heart rate (r 5 — 0.38, p < 0.05)
during affective picture viewing and intensity of pain with unpleasantness during picture viewing (r 5 .50, p < .05), also were correlated. These associations might be explained by similarities in the cortical processing of dyspnea, pain and negative affect. The present findings extend the knowledge on similarities between dyspnea and pain and provide support for theories focusing on the perception of physiologic sensations in the development of affective states.
Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG LE 1843/6-1).
Poster 5
NEURAL CORRELATES OF SELF-ENHANCEMENT IN NARCISSISTS AND NON-NONARCISSISTS
Elizabeth A. Krusemark, W. Keith Campbell, & Brett A. Clementz University of Georgia
Descriptors: ERP, attribution, narcissism
Studying the neural correlates of self enhancement is useful for understanding self-regulatory mechanisms associated with narcissism. Previous research demonstrates that non-self serving attributions (i.e. overcoming making a self-serving attribution) is associated with enhanced neural activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (Krusemark et al., 2008), suggesting that it requires greater controlled processing to make unbiased attributions. The present study compared ERP responses of 20 narcissists and 20 non-narcissists during the same task. Participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI, Raskin & Hall, 1979) and then engaged in a facial recognition task during which they made attributions about their performance and received false feedback on whether they were correct or incorrect. Study 1 demonstrated that both positive and negative feedback elicited self serving attributions. Narcissism moderated the self-serving bias with higher narcissism resulting in more self-enhancing/self-serving attributions after positive feedback. A subsequent ERP study had high and low narcissism subjects make attributions using the same paradigm. Sensor and source analyses of ERP data on self-serving and non-self serving trials were evaluated for between-group differences. Significant differences were observed on self-serving trials subsequent to positive feedback, with lesser activity emanating from prefrontal regions in those higher in narcissism. Implications for self enhancement and narcissism affecting controlled processing are discussed.
response; (ii) there was a strong relationship between the speed of visual orienting (saccade latencies on pro-trials) and failed inhibition (increased errors on antitrials) for the simultaneous condition only; (iii) task switch costs (latency and error rate) were only observed for the simultaneous condition. These data indicate that some interleaved designs require multiple complex cognitive functions for their successful performance, which may complicate interpretation of results.
Poster 7
NEURAL CONSEQUENCES OF INTEGRATING SPACE- AND OBJECT-BASED VISUAL ATTENTION REQUIREMENTS IN A SINGLE TASK
Jun Wang1, Andreas Keil2, & Brett Clementz1 1University of Georgia, 2University of Florida
Descriptors: visual attention, EEG, SSVEP
Many studies have shown there are at least two ways visual attention operates: one space-based and other object-based. It is not clear; however, how space and object-based attention interact in a single task (when requiring subjects to attend to both space- and object-cues for successful performance) even though this is the typical requirement when navigating the visual world. In the present experiment participants viewed bilateral pairs of superimposed images. Each pair included five horizontal and five vertical bars (1 deg separation). The bilateral superimposed images had the same color pattern (e.g., red horizontal and green vertical bars). During the task participants were required to maintain central fixation and pay attention to one of four images (e.g., the left red horizontal bars) to identify bar width changes (targets). Participants, therefore, had to use both space (visual field) and object cues (red horizontal bars) to identify target events while ignoring distracting targets in other spatial locations and among competing objects. Individual images were frequency tagged and 256-channel EEG was used to record steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP). SSVEP to the attended images had the highest amplitude among the four concurrently flickering images. However, unattended images in the opposite visual field that shared features with attended image also had enhanced SSVEP amplitudes. These results demonstrate that object- and space-based attention work synergistically, but imperfectly, which may partially explain the allure of distracting visual stimuli.
Poster 6
TASK PARAMETERS AND TASK-SWITCHING: NOT ALL SACCADE PARADIGMS ARE CREATED EQUAL
Lauren E. Ethridge1, Shefali Brahmbhatt2, Yuan Gao1, Jennifer E. McDowell1, & Brett A. Clementz1 1University of Georgia, 2Washington University
Descriptors: saccade, task-switching
Recent work indicates that behavioral and brain-imaging conclusions about the cognitive and neural requirements of saccade control differ as a function of stimulus presentation method. This study further examined this issue using behavioral differences in pro- and anti-saccade responses (correct response percentages and response latencies) as a function of variations in paradigmatic manipulations among 12 healthy young adults in a repeated measures design. Data were analyzed to evaluate the effects of task presentation method (blocked versus interleaved), length of cue to target interval in interleaved designs (1 sec lead time versus simultaneous presentation), and previous trial type (pro- versus anti-saccade). Three results are of primary interest: (i) The 1 sec delay between presentation of a trial type cue to presentation of the peripheral target was sufficient to foster goal neglect, as measured by a sharp increase in the percentage of uncorrected errors for this condition alone and reaction times for 'error' saccades that were consistent with subjects believing they made the correct
Poster 8
HOW DOES NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY AND LEXICALITY MODULATE REPETITION EFFECTS IN THE READING OF CHINESE? AN ERP STUDY
Chun-Hsien Hsu1, Chia-Ying Lee2, & Jie-Li Tsai3 1National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, 2Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 3National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Descriptors: word repetition, neighborhood density, chinese characters
Studies using repetition-priming paradigms have demonstrated that the magnitude of the repetition priming effect depends on neighborhood density. This finding suggests that orthographic neighbors seem to play an inhibitory role in the selection process. Current ERP studies have demonstrated the neighborhood size effect on N400. However, it is not clear whether the N400 indexes the global activity of lexical processing or the selection process of semantic competition. To address this question, this ERP study examines both repetition effect for character and pseudocharacters. The phonetic combinability (the number of characters that share the same phonetic radical) was further manipulated for characters to see if the repetition effect will be modulated by the phonetic combinability. The data revealed a larger positivity at P200 and the smaller amplitude of N400 for the second than the first presentation of character.
However, the interaction between phonetic combinability and repetition was only found in N400. The repetition effect was larger in reading characters with large phonetic combinability than those with small phonetic combinability. The results suggest the N400 to reflect the lateral inhibition among neighbors at a semantic level. Characters with larger neighborhood elicit greater lateral inhibition for suppressing the activity of other neighbors at the first presentation and thus demonstrate greater benefit from repetitions for the reduced semantic competition in the second presentation than those with smaller neighborhood.
Poster 9
ERP EVIDENCE OF EARLY SEMANTIC ACCESS WITH A RANDOMIZED SEMANTIC PRIMING PARADIGM
Xin Zheng, & Sidney J. Segalowitz Brock University
Descriptors: ERPs, reading, semantics
Using two versions of a lexical decision task in a blocked design, we had previously demonstrated that lexical semantic access occurs well within 170 ms of stimulus onset, with a greater N1 amplitude for the primed condition. In the current study, we further explored the issue by having 14 participants perform a randomized semantic priming task, in which a prime (word or pseudoword) was followed by a target stimulus (word or pseudoword). When both prime and target were words, they could be either semantically related (e.g., dog-cat) or unrelated (e.g., son-plant). Trials were randomized and the same words and pseudowords were used in all experimental conditions across subjects. As before, a semantic effect was found at about 160 ms in the N1 component, but with its amplitude being greater for unprimed words than for primed words. This semantic priming effect was only found at left hemisphere sites. At right hemisphere sites, the N1 was affected by the lexicality status of the target stimulus, being larger for pseudowords than for words. With regard to the P1, neither semantic effect nor lexicality effect was found. Conclusion: While our current data further supported early lexical semantic access, different patterns of ERP results were observed, possibly due to the more 'bottom-up' nature of priming in a randomized design compared to the 'top-down' nature of priming in a blocked design. NSERC.
Poster 10
AGING DECLINE IN CARDIAC VAGAL REGULATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR COMPLEX COGNITION?
Karen J. Mathewson, Jane Dywan, William J. Tays, & Sidney J. Segalowitz Brock University
Descriptors: RSA, aging, source memory
Phasic cardiac vagal control has been inconsistently implicated in the modulation of affective and cognitive functions. To learn more about the specificity of these relations with respect to aging, resting cardiac measures from older and younger adults were compared with ERPs and performance in two contrasting tasks. Participants had to differentiate between target information (study words) and salient nontarget information (memory lures and foils) in a complex source memory paradigm and in a standard letter flanker task. Aging was associated with a threefold increase in the tendency to respond incorrectly to memory lures and with a less differentiated late positive component (LPC) to target and nontarget stimuli. In addition, the relative failure of older adults to suppress inappropriate responses to nontarget information was specifically predicted by cardiac vagal control. Lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) predicted greater memory lure and foil error as well as the reduced ability to suppress the LPC response to salient nontarget information in older adults. These
relations were not seen as reliably in younger adults. They were also not seen in the letter flanker task, even when younger adults were given a more difficult version. These data suggest that cardiac vagal control is particularly relevant in supporting performance that requires the suppression of prepotent response tendencies in higher level cognitive tasks. Thus, age-related decline in cardiac control through the parasympathetic system may affect complex cognition in older adults.
Poster 11
SUBCLINICAL LEVELS OF PSYCHOPATHY ASSOCIATED WITH AN AFFECT-SPECIFIC PROCESSING DEFICIT
Gillian E.S. Munro1, Jane Dywan2, Weimin Lim1, & Sidney J. Segalowitz2 1University of Waterloo, 2Brock University
Descriptors: psychopathy, ERPs, emotion
Despite generally intact information-processing abilities, psychopaths demonstrate apparent deficits in the processing of affectively-relevant stimuli such as emotional facial expressions. Previous work has shown that psychopathic offenders show normal error monitoring during a standard speeded response task (Eriksen Letter Flanker) but show deficits when such tasks have an emotional component. The goal of the current study was to replicate and extend these findings to a nonclinical population. EEG was collected while healthy undergraduates with a range of psychopathic traits responded to a face flanker task requiring discrimination between angry and fearful expressions, and to easy and difficult versions of the Eriksen Letter Flanker. Psychopathy was associated with decreased ERN and Pe amplitude during the face flanker task, but not during either of the affectively-neutral tasks despite variation in difficulty level. Psychopathy also positively correlated with the proportion of errors made when identifying fearful facial expressions, but not angry expressions. These findings indicate that even subclinical levels of psychopathy may be specifically associated with deficits in the processing of emotionally-relevant information and that these effects can not easily be attributed to task difficulty. These results are not consistent with theories of information processing deficits in this population but are consistent with the presence of limbic and paralimbic dysfunction.
Poster 12
DYNAMIC MEASURES OF RSA, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND REGULATION IN TODDLERS
Rebecca J. Brooker, Benjamin N. Deweese, Karyn A. Hartz, & Kristin A. Buss The Pennsylvania State University
Descriptors: RSA, emotion, toddlers
Methods of studying emotion regulation do not capture the dynamic nature of the process (Thompson, 1994). Here, we have attempted to move beyond traditional measures of RSA suppression, a common index of physiological regulation. Growth-curve modeling was used to capture patterns of RSA, emotional distress, and regulation in two samples of 2-year-olds. Sample 1 included 52 toddlers during a stranger approach laboratory episode. Sample 2 is ongoing and includes toddlers similarly observed. We calculated both RSA suppression scores (task-baseline) and individual estimates of linear and quadratic trends in RSA across 30-second epochs. Four groups emerged from the dynamic patterns of RSA: 1) late decreases, 2) early decreases, 3) early increases, and 4) late increases. There was no correlation between RSA suppression and RSA trends or between RSA suppression and distress and regulation composites. In contrast, significant differences emerged for both distress (F5 5.84, p < 0.01, eta2 5 0.30) and regulation (F5 10.27, p < 0.01, eta2 5 0.43) based on the groups representing patterns of dynamic change in RSA. Follow-up tests showed that children in group 4 showed higher levels of distress and more attempts at regulation than children in each ofthe other groups.
In addition, differences in freezing (F 5 6.21, p < 0.01, eta2 5 0.31) emerged such that children in group 2 showed significantly less freezing than children in groups 3 and 4. These RSA trend analyses revealed group differences of unique patterns of reactivity to threat in toddlers that were not detected with RSA suppression scores.
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health MH075750 to K.A. Buss.
was larger than description type, it was possible to increase response to neutral images by describing them more negatively. Self-report ratings of valence and arousal were similarly influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors; notably, neutral images were more affected by description type than were unpleasant pictures. Results are discussed with regards to the regulation of motivated attention.
Poster 13
IS HE MAD AT ME: PERCEIVED DEGREE OF FACIAL ANGER AND POTENTIATION OF THE STARTLE RESPONSE
Anthony L. Auriemmo, & Greg Hajcak Stony Brook University
Descriptors: startle, anger, faces
The magnitude ofthe defensive startle reflex is potentiated while participants view threatening stimuli such as angry faces. It remains unclear, however, whether this reflects a threshold effect or if startle modulation is sensitive to the degree of anger in facial expressions. To examine this issue, 52 participants (29 female) viewed a series of faces which varied in their expression of anger; six neutral and angry males faces weremorphed to create 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% angry facial expressions. Each expression was presented once for 10 seconds and startle probes were presented on each trial between 3 to 5 seconds following stimulus presentation. Following this portion of the experiment, participants rated each face on a continuous scale from neutral to angry. Results confirmed that participants rated faces as increasingly angry as percent anger increased from 0% to 100%. However, startle was only potentiated (relative to completely neutral or 0% faces) by maximally angry (100%) faces; along similar lines, maximum corrugator activity only differed from neutral (0%) for 80% and 100% angry faces. There were no differences on any measure between male and female participants. These results indicate that startle potentiation does not vary linearly with amount of threat conveyed by facial expressions of anger; rather, there appears to be a threshold necessary for startle potentiation. Future studies might examine individual differences in threshold required to potentiate startle.
Poster 14
PICTURE AND CONTEXT: THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC FACTORS ON THE LATE POSITIVE POTENTIAL
Annmarie MacNamara, Dan Foti, & Greg Hajcak Stony Brook University
Descriptors: emotion, attention, erps
In the context of goal-directed behavior, attention aids in the selection of goal-relevant stimuli. A number of lines of research suggest that humans respond preferentially and automatically to emotional stimuli. For example, using ERPs, the Late Positive Potential (LPP) tracks increased and sustained attention to emotional pictures. Recent evidence, however, demonstrates that attention is modulated by both intrinsic (stimulus-driven) and extrinsic (context-driven) factors, yet the relative contribution of these effects is not well understood, and the influence of extrinsic factors on neutral stimuli has not been examined. In the present study, ERPs were recorded while participants viewed unpleasant and neutral pictures that were described more negatively or more neutrally prior to presentation. This allowed for a direct comparison of intrinsic (picture type) and extrinsic (description type) effects on neural response (i.e. the LPP). Results indicated that intrinsic and contextual factors elicit comparable topographic effects on ERPs, and that these effects are additive. Although the influence of picture type
Poster 15
THE NUMBER OF ERRORS AND STABILITY OF THE ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY
Doreen M. Olvet, & Greg Hajcak Stony Brook University
Descriptors: error-related negativity, trial number
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an event related potential (ERP) that presents as a negative deflection approximately 50-100 ms following an erroneous response and is typically largest at midline frontal or central sites. In speeded response tasks, participants typically perform between 250 and 1500 trials in relatively rapid succession, however errors are relatively rare which can make it difficult to obtain a sufficient number oferror trials. The number oferror trials included in grand averages varies from study to study; ranging from an average of 5 to 300. There has not been a systematic investigation to determine the minimum number of trials required to obtain a stable ERN. Twenty-eight undergraduate students performed an arrow version of the Flankers task. We used methods reported by Polich and colleagues in which successive blocks oftwo trials were added (i.e. trials 1-2, 1-4, 1-6 ...) to determine the stability of the ERN as more trials are successively added to the average. Both the average and standard deviation of the ERN appear to stabilize after 6 errors. This finding was consistent when we divided participants using a median split based on the total number of errors that participants made (i.e. low number of errors vs. high number of errors) and by overall ERN amplitude (i.e. small vs. large ERN amplitude). These data indicate that 6 error trials is a reasonable lower-limit when assessing the ERN.
Poster 16
PARSING EMOTION: A TEMPOROSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF ERPS DURING AFFECTIVE PICTURE PROCESSING
Dan Foti1, Greg Hajcak1, & Joseph Dien2 1Stony Brook University, 2University of Louisville
Descriptors: ERP, emotion, PCA
Consistent with the notion that emotional stimuli receive preferential attention and perceptual processing, studies have found that many event-related potential (ERP) components are sensitive to emotional versus non-emotional stimuli, including the P1, N1, P2, early posterior negativity (EPN), P3, and late positive potential (LPP). It remains unclear, though, the extent to which these differences reflect unique or overlapping components modulated by emotion. In an effort to differentiate components sensitive to emotional versus non-emotional stimuli, the current study applied temporospatial principal components analysis to ERPs collected from a relatively large sample (N 5 82) while pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images were passively viewed for 2000 ms. Several factors sensitive to emotional stimuli were identified, including two early (< 300 ms) relative negativities corresponding to the N1 and EPN, a parietal positivity corresponding to the P3, and five later (> 300 ms) positivities resembling the LPP. The LPP factors encompassed a range of posterior and superior positivities, which is consistent with previous observations that the spatial distribution of the LPP broadens over time, and three of the five LPP factors showed an additional enhancement for unpleasant relative to pleasant pictures. These results provide evidence that the
emotional modulation of the N1, EPN, P3, and LPP can be considered independent effects, and that the LPP may represent a number of processes sensitive to emotion.
processing stream. Thus we have shown that both visual awareness and the level of elicited neural activity depend on the brain state of activation at the moment the target is presented.
Poster 17
EARLY AND LATE EFFECTS IN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS DIFFERENTIATE VISUAL OBJECT PRIMING AND ANTIPRIMING
Vaughn R. Steele1, Rebecca G. Deason1, Edward M. Bernat1, Christopher J.
Patrick1, David M. Schnyer2, & Chad J. Marsolek1 1Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 2Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
Descriptors: object priming, antipriming, ERP
Recent behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) work suggests that representations of objects are strengthened via small representational changes after object identification. Because representations of different objects are overlapping, these changes are responsible for facilitating identification of repeated objects (repetition priming) and for impairing identification of other objects (antipriming). We examined whether priming and antipriming are associated with differential timing of the neural response as measured with event-related potentials (ERPs). First, participants performed a baseline task in which they identified briefly presented (16 ms) familiar objects. Second, participants viewed and rated a new set of objects for 3 s each in an encoding phase. Finally, they again identified briefly presented (16 ms) objects, half of which were the same as those just seen in the preceding phase (primed condition) and the other half of which were new objects that were not presented previously (antiprimed condition). Replicating prior repetition priming ERP studies, a positive deflection (around 250 ms post-stimulus) was observed for primed items relative to baseline items. More importantly, waveforms elicited by antiprimed items did not differ from those elicited by baseline or primed items until much later (a positive deflection around 1100 ms post-stimulus). Results suggest that antiprimed items elicit increased activity, after identification, for the purpose of reestablishing their previously weakened representations.
Poster 19
AGING AND COGNITIVE CONTROL: HEMISPHERIC DIFFERENCES AND WHITE MATTER INTEGRITY IN GLOBAL/LOCAL PROCESSING
Echo E. Leaver, Gabriele Gratton, & Monica Fabiani University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: aging, preparatory processing, white matter
Age-related changes in cortical processing have been associated with white matter as well as gray matter decline. It is known that anterior regions of the corpus callosum (aCC) decline with advanced age. It is thought that this may affect the ability of the pre-frontal cortices to coordinate their activity and successfully engage in top-down control of posterior regions. It has also been suggested that the right hemisphere (RH) ages more quickly than the left hemisphere. This would indicate that older adults would have more impairment in RH tasks. The current study explored the relative contributions of these two mechanisms in cognitive changes in aging. Electrophysiological (ERP) data were recorded from 48 subjects who were divided into 4 groups (young with large aCC, young with small aCC, old with large aCC, old with small aCC). ERP data was collected while participants engaged in a task in which they were required to switch between processing global and local aspects of congruent and incongruent stimuli. The presentation of a precue informed them on which aspect (global or local) of the following imperative stimulus to focus on. Behavioral data revealed the predicted main effects for all subjects: decreased accuracy and longer reaction times on local, incongruent, and switch trials. Behavioral and ERP data indicated that decline in aCC and in right hemisphere function play important roles in age-related changes in cognitive control.
Poster20
Poster 18
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T: PRE-STIMULUS ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL PREDICTORS OF SUBSEQUENT VISUAL AWARENESS IN METACONTRAST MASKING
Kyle E. Mathewson1, Gabriele Gratton1, Monica Fabiani1, Diane M. Beck1, &
Tony Ro2
1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2Rice University Descriptors: visual masking, EEG/ERP, awareness
Visual targets that at times can be readily detected can, under identical circumstances, remain unseen. The present study sought to identify activity prior to the onset of such stimuli that reliably predicts subsequent awareness. Both the event-related potential (ERP) and the spectral properties of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in the pre-stimulus activity of a metacontrast masking paradigm were considered. Targets that were later detected by subjects were preceded by increased visual ERP amplitude to the onset of a fixation cross and decreased alpha band power directly before target onset. Most importantly, the phase of the alpha power at target onset revealed a 180 degree difference between later detected and undetected targets. Specifically, detected targets had occurred more often at the peak of an alpha cycle, whereas undetected targets had often occurred in the trough. This enhancement of awareness, related to the phase of oscillatory alpha activity, was further associated with enhanced ERP amplitude elicited by the targets beginning as early as 100 ms, and continuing throughout the visual
OPTICAL CHANGES DURING A MEMORY SEARCH TASK: LOAD EFFECTS ON ENCODING, MAINTENANCE, AND RETRIEVAL PROCESSES IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULT
Brian A. Gordon, Nils Schneider, Gabriele Gratton, & Monica Fabiani University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: working memory, aging
Neuroimaging studies have shown that tasks requiring working memory (WM) are supported by a variety of cortical regions, including secondary sensory areas and several regions in frontal and parietal cortex. These regions may be involved in different aspects of WM, including encoding information, keeping it active, and retrieving it for the purpose of a particular behavior. Mapping these structures onto specific WM functions has been hindered by the limited temporal resolution of most brain imaging techniques, thus requiring the use of paradigms with relatively long intervals. Such experimental conditions lead to the use of variable rehearsal strategies, which may further complicate the picture, and make it difficult to separate different processing phases. Here we use a brain imaging method with high spatial and temporal resolution, optical imaging, to measure brain activation during each of these phases in a highly-practiced, fast-paced memory search task. Experimental manipulations included load (2-6 items) and age (young: 18-30; old: 65-85). We found activations in dorsal frontal and lateral parietal cortices during each of the phases. The activities were graded as a function of load in both latency and amplitude during the encoding and maintenance phases, but not during the test phase. Older adults showed more bilateral activations compared to
young adults. The data support the idea that a network of dorsal fronto-parietal structures is involved in maintaining information in WM (Corbetta & Shulman, 2002).
Poster 21
MOVEMENT ARTIFACT DETECTION AND CORRECTION IN SLOW AND FAST OPTICAL IMAGING
Nils Schneider, Edward L. Maclin, Gabriele Gratton, & Monica Fabiani University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: working memory, aging, fMRI
Optical imaging can be used to record hemodynamic (near-infrared spectro-scopy; NIRS) and neuronal signals (event related optical signals; EROS) from the brain. Movement artifacts, arising from variations in the interfaces between sources and detectors and the scalp, can pose problems, especially for the measures of light intensity used to derive hemodynamic (NIRS)signals, whereas phase measures (used to compute EROS) are largely insensitive to movements. Although movement artifacts can be greatly reduced by good interface design and recording procedures, in large data sets they will inevitably occur. We have developed an algorithm for detecting and either correcting or rejecting data segments affected by movement artifacts. Abrupt changes in the data, likely due to movement, are detected and classified as either spikes or steps. Spikes are replaced with interpolated data, and steps are corrected by subtracting the difference between the pre- and post-movement means. Finally, as the data are averaged, channels whose range within a given trial after correction exceeds a specified value are discarded. The number of accepted trials is accumulated separately for each channel. We investigated the utility of this program in a large dataset (10 blocks of 4 minutes with 1024 channels, in 48 subjects). We compared main effects in the NIRS data across subsamples of clean and noisy subjects before and after artifact cleaning and found the algorithm to improve the consistency of results between the clean and noisy groups, without introducing noticeable spurious effects.
parietal and frontal regions during the maintenance phase compared to the resting period. This result demonstrates the feasibility of applying frequency analysis to fast optical data to localize the brain regions where frequency changes occur.
Poster 23
EFFECTS OF TARGET PROBABILITY ON RESPONSE-RELATED OSCILLATIONS
Yordan Hodzhev, Juliana Yordanova, Plamenka Nanova, & Vasil Kolev Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Descriptors: correct response negativity, executive functions, ERP
The objective was to assess the effects of target probability on (1) motor generation processes as reflected by motor response potentials (MRPs), and (2) performance monitoring as reflected by the correct-response negativity (CRN). EEG was recorded from 28 scalp electrodes while subjects performed auditory Go-NoGo tasks, in which targets and non-targets were presented with different probabilities (p 5 0.15, 0.50, and 0.85). In addition to time-domain analysis, complex Morlet wavelet transform was applied to extract time-frequency components. Results showed that (a) the amplitude of MRPs was significantly larger for low than for equal and high target probabilities, and (b) CRN amplitude did not depend on target probability. However, in the time-frequency domain, two CRN sub-components, one from delta (1.6-2.4 Hz) and the other from theta (4 - 6 Hz) frequency bands were observed. The power ofphase-locked delta CRN component peaked later for low- and equal- than for the high-probability conditions. The total power of theta CRN component reached a maximum earlier for the low- and equal- than for the high-probability condition. These results demonstrate that the functional modulation of the contralateral motor cortices depends on target probability and that performance monitoring may be delayed and accompanied by a greater re-allocation of processing resources as reflected by the delta and theta CRN components.
Poster 24
Poster 22
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF FAST OPTICAL SIGNALS IN A WORKING MEMORY TASK
Chun-Yu Tse, Brian A. Gordon, Monica Fabiani, & Gabriele Gratton University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: optical imaging, frequency analysis, working memory
Fast optical signals measure the change in optical properties of the brain associated with neuronal activity. Most studies using these signals have focused on event-related responses, which may not be suitable to measure brain activities sustained over a period of time. For example, during the maintenance phase of a memory task, brain activity may not be time-locked to any particular event. Although frequency analysis of EEG can show frequency changes in brain activity over time, it cannot provide detailed information about where these changes occur. In the current study, we investigated the feasibility of applying frequency analysis to fast optical signals measured during a working memory task. Specifically, we examined the frequency spectra obtained during the encoding, maintenance, and retrieval phases of a Sternberg task. Due to the high spatial resolution of fast optical imaging, the brain regions associated with these frequency changes can also be identified. Participants (N 5 16) were presented with 2 - 6 items, and, with 1 second delay, were required to make an old/new response to a probe. Frequency analysis of the fast optical signal showed an increase in theta and beta frequencies, and a reduction in alpha frequency in
THE TIMECOURSE OF PRESACCADIC PREDICTIVE REMAPPING IN HUMANS
Nathan A. Parks, & Paul M. Corballis Georgia Institute of Technology
Descriptors: predictive remapping, saccades, presaccadic potentials
Saccadic eye movements rapidly displace visual input yet the visual field is perceived as constant across saccades. A receptive field property known as predictive remapping has been proposed as one possible mechanism of such spatial constancy. In predictive remapping, visual responsive cells shift their receptive fields to new regions of space in anticipation of an impending eye movement. A previous study (Parks & Corballis, 2008) found evidence of human presaccadic remapping in the presaccadic potential beginning as early as 300 ms before saccadic onset. Here, we examine the time course of predictive remapping with greater temporal resolution. In the presence of a unilateral square wave grating, subjects maintained central fixation until cued to execute a horizontal saccade. In one condition, subjects were cued to saccade across the grating ('across' condition) such that the grating crossed the horizontal meridian and moved into the opposite hemifield. In this condition the grating must be remapped between the two cerebral hemispheres. In a second condition ('away' condition) a saccade was cued to the hemifield opposite the square-wave grating, thus requiring predictive remapping within a single hemisphere. We examined presaccadic potentials for evidence of inter-hemispheric remapping over several time windows. The remapping response was found to vary between time windows rather than steadily increasing over time.
COMPETITIVE INTERACTION DEGRADES TARGET SELECTION: AN ERP STUDY
Matthew R. Hilimire1, Jeffrey R.W. Mounts2, Nathan A. Parks1, & Paul M. Corballis1 1Georgia Institute of Technology, 2SUNY Geneseo
Descriptors: attention, neural competition, ERP
Localized attentional interference (LAI) occurs when attending to a visual object degrades processing of nearby objects. Competitive interaction accounts of LAI explain the phenomena as the competition for visual representation within extrastriate cortex. Extrastriate neurons have large receptive fields and when multiple objects fall within a receptive field, the items mutually suppress each other until the selected item alone is represented. The competitive strength of a given object in these interactions is determined by both bottom-up (stimulus salience) and top-down (attentional set) factors. We examined the N2pc as a neural correlate of LAI because it reflects processes related to target selection and has been localized to extrastriate visual areas. Participants responded to the orientation of a target (a green or orange T) while ignoring a decoy (an L of the other color) among gray distractors. Separation between target and decoy was varied systematically. Results indicate that N2pc amplitude was attenuated at smaller target/decoy separations. The N2pc may be larger with increased target/decoy separation because there is less competition between the attended items allowing more extrastriate neurons generating the N2pc to fire in phase.
THREAT OF SUFFOCATION? DEFENSIVE ACTIVATION AND RESPIRATORY LOAD
Bethany C. Wangelin1, Francesco Versace2, Margaret M. Bradley1, Paul Davenport1, & Peter J. Lang1 1University of Florida, 2M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Descriptors: emotion, threat, respiratory load
When threatened with the possibility of receiving an electric shock, physiological reactions occur that are indicative of strong defensive activation. The current study examined defensive reactivity when participants were under the threat of experiencing a more naturalistic aversive event: difficulty breathing. Participants respired during the experiment through a mouthpiece connected to a non-rebreathing valve equipped with a 3-way stopcock device that controlled inspiratory resistive load. After a brief initial exposure to breathing under increased resistive load, participants were instructed that visual cues would signal periods (12 s) when the load might be reinstated (threat) and specific periods of normal non-restricted breathing (safe). Results indicated that, compared to safe cues, threat cues elicited greater startle reflex potentiation, increased skin conductance, and cardiac deceleration, suggesting strong defensive activation when threatened with the possibility of difficult breathing. Subjective ratings of arousal and fearfulness were consistent with this interpretation. These data suggest that defensive mobilization occurs when under the threat of experiencing respiratory distress, and provide a basis for future investigations of emotional reactivity in anxiety and panic.
Poster 26
FROM BAD TO WORSE: MUTUAL EFFECTS OF THREAT OF SHOCK AND AVERSIVE PERCEPTION
Vincent D. Costa, Margaret M. Bradley, & Peter J. Lang University of Florida
Descriptors: fear, startle, conditioning
Both threat of shock and viewing unpleasant pictures prompts defensive activation in body and brain. The present study examined the combined effects of instructed fear and unpleasant picture processing on the startle reflex, heart rate and skin conductance. Threat of electric shock or safety was cued by frames of color that surrounded grayscale pictures depicting unpleasant or neutral people. Compared to safety cues, threat of shock potentiated the startle reflex, elicited increased skin conductance responses, and prompted larger heart rate deceleration. Compared to neutral pictures, unpleasant pictures prompted a similar pattern of heightened defensive reactivity, marked by increased startle potentiation and skin conductance responses, as well as larger heart rate deceleration. Threat condition and picture valence did not result in a significant interaction for any measure, indicating that effects of picture emotionality were consistent regardless of whether picture presentation co-occurred with a threat or safety signal. Planned contrasts confirmed that defensive reactivity was maximal when viewing unpleasant pictures in a threatening context and minimal when viewing neutral pictures in the context of safety. These results suggest that when threat and hedonic valence are separable aspects of a cue there is a weighted, combinatorial effect on defensive reactivity. More generally, they suggest that instructed fear and unpleasant picture processing engage a common neural fear-circuit through either top-down or bottom-up control.
Poster 28
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN ERROR-RELATED ERPS IN COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH AND WITHOUT ADHD
Wen-Pin Chang, William J. Gavin, & Patricia L. Davies Colorado State University
Descriptors: ERN, ADHD, regulation
Individuals with ADHD have shown dopamine regulation deficits. Previous studies have linked error processing to the mesencephalic dopamine system. Moreover, studies have found that impulsive behaviors, anxiety, and personality traits contribute to individual differences in error processing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the differences in error processing among college students with and without ADHD. A second purpose was to investigate how impulsive behaviors, anxiety, and personality traits account for individual differences in error processing as measured by ERPs. We examined 31 control (age: 23.48 + 3.53) and 36 ADHD (23.69 + 3.73) students using the visual letter flanker task. The results revealed a significant group difference in the ERN amplitude, t(59) 5 2.697, p 5 0.01, but not the Pe amplitude. A multiple regression procedure using Impulsivity/Emotional Liability, DSM ADHD Hyperactivity/Impulsivity, DSM Anxiety, and DSM Avoidant Personality scores as four predictors did not significantly account for variance in the ERN amplitude in either group. However, these predictors accounted for 21.3% variance in the Pe amplitude in controls, r 5 0.325, F(4, 24) 5 2.895, p 5 0.044, and 20.7% in ADHD students, r 5 0.309, F(4, 27) 5 3.023, p 5 0.035. DSM Anxiety was the only significant predictor for the control group whereas Impulsivity/Emotional Liability and DSM ADHD Hyperactivity/Impulsivity were the significant predictors for the ADHD group. These results verify group and individual differences in error processing in students with and without ADHD.
Colorado State University Helen F. McHugh Graduate Fellowship.
RELIABILITY OF P50 SENSORY GATING MEASURES IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS
Carly A. Yadon, Wen-Pin Chang, Patricia L. Davies, & William J. Gavin Colorado State University
Descriptors: p50 suppression, development, psychometrics
The study of the developmental progression of P50 sensory gating has recently received increased interest. If P50 gating is to be used as a diagnostic marker for clinical populations, its psychometric properties should be investigated. The present study examined test-retest reliability of P50 sensory gating in both children and adults using a T/C ratio, the second/Test (T) click divided by the first/Conditioning (C) click and a difference score (C-T). Participants were 37 adults and 47 children who volunteered for two sessions (1 or 2 weeks apart). A P50 event-related potential gating paradigm was conducted while they watched a silent cartoon. Paired clicks (3 ms each, separated by 500 ms) were presented 60 dB above auditory threshold every 8 s via insert earphones. All data were measured from Cz. Pearson's r was used to examine test-retest reliability. The Conditioning click demonstrated high test-retest reliability in both children, r (43) 5 .64, p < .001, and adults, r (34) 5 .76, p < .001. Reliability for the Test click followed a similar pattern in children, r (42) 5 .58, p < .001 and adults, r (35) 5 .81, p < .001. T/C ratios shared no relationship between the two sessions for both children r (40) 5 .24, NS, and adults r (34) 5 .12, NS. However, difference scores showed significant reliability in both children r (40) 5 .41, p < .001 and adults r (34) 5 .40, p < .001. Consistent with previous findings with adults, these results indicated that difference scores were more reliable than T/C ratios, even in children.
NICHD to P. Davies and W. Gavin.
QUICK PICS: BLOCKED VS RANDOMIZED VALENCE IN SUSTAINED EMOTIONAL PICTURE PRESENTATION
Daniel J. Goldman, Michelle A. Roth, Julia K. Langer, & Bruce N. Cuthbert University of Minnesota
Descriptors: affect, ERP, anxiety
Affective physiology varies systematically in response to both slow (e.g., 6 sec/ picture) and very rapid (e.g., 3 pictures/sec) presentation of emotional pictures. Further, recent work has shown that responding to sustained presentations of unpleasant contents can differentiate low and high anxious individuals, suggesting an approach for assessing implicit emotion dysregulation. The present study employed a picture presentation rate (1 sec/picture) that would permit recording of the Late Positive Potential (LPP) to emotional pictures while providing enough trials to analyze ERP responses across sustained presentation. EEG was recorded from 128 channels while undergraduates viewed 648 IAPS images in three series that were either random (N 5 33) or blocked (N 5 41) with respect to emotional valence. In early emotional processing, unpleasant and neutral pictures in the random (but not blocked) condition elicited more positivity in the occipital P2 component. Replicating prior work, the LPP at parietal sites was larger for emotional than for neutral images (p< .01). In the blocked condition, parietal LPPs late in each series were larger than early LPPs (p<.05); also, differences between LPPs to emotional and neutral pictures emerged at the middle and end of each series, but not at the beginning (ps < .05). Occipital and parietal LPPs also varied with emotional arousal (p<.05), with larger LPPs to emotional pictures only at medium and high levels of arousal (ps < .01). This paradigm appears to be a promising method for rapid assessment of emotional responding.
Poster 30
NEED A SMOKE? MOTIVATED ATTENTION IN ABSTINENT SMOKERS
Jeffrey M. Engelmann, & Bruce N. Cuthbert University of Minnesota
Descriptors: tobacco, abstinence
New paradigms to measure negative affect and craving in abstinent smokers are important for understanding the process of quitting. We recruited nonsmokers (N 5 15) and smokers (N 5 20) to participate in an affective picture viewing task. Half the smokers were 24 h into a 48 h abstinence period, while others were instructed to follow their normal smoking behavior. Eyeblink startle reflex, facial EMG, skin conductance, heart rate, and EEG were recorded while participants viewed a series of emotional pictures from 4 categories: tobacco, pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. Startle probes were presented during the pictures and ITIs. Preliminary results indicate that startle magnitude followed the familiar pattern of affective modulation, with elevated startle to unpleasant pictures, relative to neutral pictures, in all three groups (p< .001). This unpleasant-neutral difference appeared to be slightly larger for abstinent smokers than for nonabstinent smokers or nonsmokers. Similarly, corrugator EMG responses were greater for unpleasant pictures than neutral pictures (p< .05). Relative to neutral pictures, corrugator responses to tobacco pictures were elevated in abstinent smokers. ERPs to the startle probe showed the familiar pattern of decreased positivity 200-400 ms after probe onset with increasing affective arousal of the pictures, and appeared to be slightly larger for tobacco pictures in abstinent smokers, compared to other contents. These results suggest that it is possible to observe reliable affective changes during tobacco withdrawal using the current paradigm.
Supported by T32-HD007151 and the University of Minnesota.
Poster 32
DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS OF EMOTION REGULATION CAPABILITIES AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Cory A. Burghy-Jackson, Nicholas Schwab, Nicole K. Trautman, Jennifer Gray, Narina Nunez, Maurissa Radakovich, & Daren C. Jackson University of Wyoming
Descriptors: emotion regulation, ERP, development
The capacity to effectively modulate emotion is crucial to one's ability to function efficiently and competently in everyday life. Affect dysregulation is often cited as evidence for psychopathology (e.g., depression and anxiety). Within developmental science, emotion regulation (broadly-defined) continues to receive a great deal of attention. Despite this, very little is known about the functional neuroanatomy underlying the development of emotion regulation efficacy in children and adolescents. In the current study, we are examining age-related changes in neural processes involved in affect and behavioral regulation, as a first step in the construction and validation of a comprehensive developmental model of an individual's ability to modulate their emotions. Twenty participants (5 female) ages 6 - 15 years-old were recruited and asked to complete several tasks designed to explore their ability to regulate both emotion and behavior. High-density 128-channel EEG data were collected during each task, allowing us to examine both changes in continuous EEG and event-related brain potentials associated with emotional reactivity and affect regulation. A near-significant trend indicating a reduction in ERN amplitude was found suggesting that the ERN is reduced when children and adolescents were asked to suppress their negative emotional response during a go-no go task. Ongoing data collection and analyses are being conducted to further explore regulatory processes across childhood and adolescence.
STRUCTURED EMOTION REGULATION TASK ALLOWS DEPRESSED PARTICIPANTS TO DOWN-REGULATE UNPLEASANT EMOTIONS
Christen M. Deveney, Daniel G. Dillon, & Diego A. Pizzagalli Harvard University
Descriptors: emotion regulation, ERP, depression
The recent use of structured paradigms requiring participants to regulate emotions can be viewed as an effort to better understand emotion regulation (ER) processes in clinical populations. However, few studies have been conducted with clinical populations, none have utilized physiological measures to directly assess affect changes in these populations, and none have examined the impact of ER strategies on the cognitive processing of stimuli presented after the ER period in clinical populations. In the present study, currently depressed (MDD), remitted depressed (RD), and never-depressed participants regulated emotions elicited by unpleasant pictures using cognitive reappraisal strategies and performed a valence identification task. Electromyographic activity was used to ascertain ER success. P300 amplitudes assessed brain activity to words presented after the ER period. Results indicate that healthy controls were able to up- and down-regulate unpleasant emotions. Surprisingly, both RD and MDD populations exhibited intact down-regulation but impaired up-regulation of unpleasant emotions. In addition, RD participants failed to maintain unpleasant emotions and MDD individuals decreased unpleasant emotions to a greater degree than the RD and healthy control participants. Smaller P300 amplitudes were observed in response to words presented after participants up-regulated unpleasant emotions; however, no group differences emerged. Results are discussed in the context of the developing ER literature, theories of resource allocation, and the clinical research literature.
This research was supported by the a Sackler Scholar in Psychobiology Research Grant, a McMasters Fund Harvard University Research Grant and NIH pre-doctoral NRSA (F31 MH7424601) to CMD. DAP was supported by grants from NIMH (R01 MH68376) and NCCAM (R21 AT002974).
Poster 34
RESTING ANTERIOR CINGULATE GAMMA ACTIVITY AND ADAPTIVE STROOP PERFORMANCE: FURTHER EVIDENCE OF FRONTOCINGULATE DYSREGULATION IN MAJOR DEPRESSION
Avram J. Holmes, & Diego A. Pizzagalli Harvard University
Descriptors: major depressive disorder, resting gamma activity, anterior cingulate cortex
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been associated with impaired executive functioning, particularly in situations requiring rapid behavioral adjustments. Prior research has emphasized the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in both depression and action monitoring. The present study extends upon this previous work by investigating whether resting, task-free ACC activity predicts Stroop task performance, and if such a link might be disrupted in MDD. To this end, 128-channel resting EEG data were collected in healthy controls (n 5 20) and unmedicated participants with MDD (n 5 20) prior to the completion of a Stroop task. Based on prior findings, source localization analyses using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) focused on the theta (6.5-8 Hz) and gamma (36.5-44 Hz) bands. Whole-brain Fisher tests revealed that the relationship between incongruent trial accuracy and resting gamma activity within the ACC/medial PFC (BA 9/32) significantly differed between healthy controls and MDD participants. In controls, increased tonic resting gamma activity in the rACC/mPFC predicted better performance (i.e., higher accuracy on incongruent trials), whereas in MDD participants this relationship was reversed. The present data indicate that individual differences in tonic activity
within rACC/medial PFC regions predict adaptive performance in trials involving response competition and offer further evidence of a dysregulated action monitoring system in MDD.
Supported by a National Institute ofHealth Training Grant 1 F31MH078346 (AJH), and NIMH Research Grant R01MH68376 (DAP).
Poster 35
EMOTIONAL NUMBING SYMPTOMS PREDICTS CORTISOL AWAKENING RESPONSES
Andre: Vieira1, Nastassja L Fischer1, Ana Carolina F Mendonca-de-Souza1, Evandro Coutinho2, Ivan Figueira1, & Eliane Volchan1 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Descriptors: PTSD, Cortisol, emotional numbing
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by re-experiencing, arousal, avoidance and numbing symptoms. Several studies have associated PTSD with dysfunctions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Still, their exact nature and direction are unclear. We studied the association of PTSD symptoms clusters with the awakening cortisol response in victims of urban violence. Participants were 14 PTSD patients and 14 trauma-exposed matched controls. They collected 4 saliva samples at home: immediately after awakening,+30,+45 and+60 minutes. Psychometric scales assessed affective traits (Positive and Negative Affective Schedule), depression (Beck inventory) and PTSD symptoms (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist: Civilian Version). Linear regression models revealed that, among the other clusters of symptoms, numbing was the most robust predictor of higher awakening cortisol response, even after controlling for presence or absence of PTSD, depression and negative affect trait (coefficient 5 0.65 p < 0.05). Numbing symptoms could be associated with implicit and explicit efforts to suppress emotional reactions to trauma reminders. We hypothesize that this could increase stress markers such as the awakening cortisol response. Further, the intensity of numbing symptoms could vary among different trauma-exposed samples leading to the reported discrepancies in studies of cortisol reactivity.
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); Projeto Institutos do Milenio (CNPq # 420122/2005-2).
Poster 36
IMMOBILITY REACTIONS MODULATE CORTISOL RESPONSE TO A PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESS TASK IN PEACEKEEPERS
Ana Carolina F. Mendonca-de-Souza1, Wanderson Souza2, Nastassja L. Fischer1, Andre: Vieira1, Antonio F.A. Duarte3, Evandro Coutinho2, Ivan Figueira1, & Eliane Volchan1 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, 3Physical Research Institute of Brazilian Army
Descriptors: stress, cortisol, peacekeepers
Glucocorticoids responses to stressful events are known to vary substantially among individuals. Higher levels of those hormones were found in animals that react with more fear paralysis (tonic immobility) under life threat. Here we investigated if cortisol response to an acute psychosocial stress task would be related to the degree of immobility felt during its performance. We tested 52 Brazilian peacekeeper militaries 4 months after returning from a mission in Haiti. Psychometric scales estimated PTSD symptoms, anxiety and negative affect traits. We used an adapted version of the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) for militaries. Saliva samples were collected at — 25, — 10,+ 10,+25,+40 minutes relative to the beginning of the stress task. Three questions assessed the intensity of paralysis/immobility during the task. We used linear regression model to test the impact of immobilization during stress on the cortisol response. Immobility reports significantly predicted cortisol increase in response to the stress task
(coefficient5 0.28, p<0.05). This association remains significant after controlling for anxiety trait, negative affect trait and PTSD symptoms (coefficient 5 0.49, p<0.01). The results showed that, in a sample of militaries previously exposed to chronic stressors, proneness to react with immobility predicts cortisol increase to acute stress. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating somato-motor reactions to stress and its connections with cortisol reactivity in humans.
CNPq; CAPES—Projeto Pro-Defesa and Projeto Institutos do Milenio (CNPq # 420122/2005-2).
Poster 37
MODULATION OF ATTENTIONAL BRADYCARDIA BY DISTRACTIVE AFFECTIVE PICTURES
Izabela Mocaiber1, Pandelis Perakakis2, Mirtes G. Pereira3, Walter M. Pinheiro3, Eliane Volchan1, Jaime Vila2, & Let'cia Oliveira3 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2University of Granada, 3Federal Fluminense University
Descriptors: emotion, attention, heart rate
Previous studies showed that distractive aversive stimuli interfere with the performance of a relevant task. Here we studied the effects of attenuating the affective content of aversive distractive pictures on cardiac reactivity during the performance of an attentional task. Participants (N 5 25) judged the orientation of two peripheral bars (0.31/4 x 3.01/4) presented bilaterally with a simultaneous central picture (91/4 x 121/4) for 200ms. They had to ignore the central picture and attend to the peripheral bars, pressing one of two keys as quickly and accurate as possible as to whether the bars were in the same or different orientation. The pictures could display either injured or non-injured people. Participants performed the task in two contexts. In the 'Fictitious' one, instructions read were that the injuries resulted from cinema make-up; while in the 'Real' one, instructions were that they were taken from real scenes. The electrocardiogram was recorded. Results showed a deceleration of heart rate in response to the relevant attention task. This cardiac deceleration was more pronounced in the 'Fictitious' condition (p 5 0.03), when the relevance of the aversive pictures was attenuated. This result suggests that the deceleration to the attention task was more prone to interference when the pictures were real. In this vein, the aversive real pictures drove resources away from the task, reducing the attention orienting bradycardia. This study highlights the impact of an implicit emotional regulation strategy on attentional engagement, assessed by cardiac reactivity.
Poster 38
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T: AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF PICTURE VIEWING AND MENTAL IMAGERY
Elizabeth R. Duval, Diane L. Filion, Melisa Rempfer, & Tamera Murdock University of Missouri, Kansas City
Descriptors: emotion, imagery, EMG
There is a disagreement in the literature about whether perception of emotional pictures and generation of emotional mental images elicit the same emotional states. The purpose of the current study is to directly compare emotional states during emotional picture perception and emotional mental imagery. Startle eyeblink responses were elicited while participants either (a) viewed an emotion-eliciting picture from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) or (b) created a mental image of the same picture. Thirty-one college student participants viewed and memorized pictures from the IAPS that were matched on valence and arousal. Participants then completed a task requiring them to view and imagine the pictures in a pseudo random order, with half of the trials accompanied by a 50ms, 105dB startle probe. It was hypothesized that if emotional picture perception and emotional mental imagery both elicit the same emotional states, the startle response will reveal equivalent valence-specific
patterns for both conditions. However, if the two conditions do not elicit the same emotional states, the startle response should indicate differential response patterns for emotional picture perception and emotional mental imagery. Preliminary results reveal a valence (positive, negative, neutral) x trial type (perception, imagery) interaction suggesting that picture perception and mental imagery tasks are not equivalent in eliciting emotional states.
Poster 39
AN ERP STUDY OF PLACEBO ANALGESIA
Per M. Aslaksen, Elisabeth Sj0lie, Line Solbakken, Sara M. Vambheim, & Magne Arve Flaten University of Troms0
Descriptors: placebo analgesia, ERP, response bias
Placebo analgesia refers to reductions in pain due to the expectation that the individual is receiving effective treatment. Thus, when a placebo is administrated with the information that it is a powerful painkiller, many individuals report that the pain has been reduced. It has been hypothesized that placebo analgesia is due to a reporting bias; i.e., individuals who are told they are receiving a painkiller may report less pain due to the social context, and not because the pain has been reduced. The present study investigated this issue by recording ERPs to repeated contact-heat painful stimulation to the lower arm. In the Placebo condition the volunteers received two capsules with the information that it was a powerful painkiller. In the Natural history condition the volunteers received the painful stimulation, but no capsules and no information. It was predicted that pain should be reduced in the Placebo condition compared to the Natural history condition; i.e., a placebo analgesic response should be seen. If the placebo analgesic response was due to a response bias, there should be no difference in the ERPs to painful stimulation in the two conditions. However, ifplacebo analgesia was due to a biological process that reduced the cortical response to pain, then the ERPs to painful stimulation should be reduced in the Placebo condition. Preliminary data suggest that the P2 component was reduced in the Placebo condition. This implies that placebo analgesia could be due to reduced pain transmission to the brain, and is not due to a reporting bias.
Norwegian Research Council; Bial Foundation.
Poster 40
MOOD AS MOTIVATION? SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE REACTIVITY INDICATES 'NO'
Joana de Burgo, & Guido H.E. Gendolla University of Geneva
Descriptors: mood, motivation, cardiovascular reactivity
There are several theories about the influences of mood on cognitive processes and on behavior. One point that distinguishes some of them is whether they consider mood as having stable motivational implications (e.g., Schwarz, 1990) or not (e.g., Martin etal., 1993). Based on the Mood-Behavior-Model (Gendolla, 2000), this experiment tested the assumption that mood has no stable motivational implications on resource mobilization (effort) but that moods can influence resource mobilization by their informational impact on experienced demand in contexts that call for effort. 50 university students were randomly assigned to a 2 (mood: negative vs. positive) x 2 (memorizing: intentional vs. incidental) x 2 (time: mood inductions vs. task performance) mixed model design. The procedure consisted of (1) a habituation period, (2) mood manipulations with movies, and (3) performance of a mental task. Effort mobilization was operationalized as systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity. As expected, in the intentional memorizing condition, SBP reactivity was stronger in a negative mood than in a positive one, reflecting mood effects on experienced demand. But in the incidental memorizing condition, mood had no impact since almost no effort was mobilized in both positive and negative moods. Therefore, mood seems
to have no imminent and stable motivational effect on resource mobilization for mental challenges.
Poster 41
DEPRESSION AND INHIBITION ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED ACC THETA AND PFC ALPHA
Rebecca L. Levin1, David N. Towers1, J. Christopher Edgar2,1, Anna S. Engels1, Wendy Heller1, & Gregory A. Miller1 1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Descriptors: ERP source analysis, ERP source time-frequency, depression
Resting EEG studies have shown that depression is related to a leftward bias in prefrontal cortex (PFC) alpha (more 8 -13 Hz activity). Depression has also been associated with anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) hypoactivity. ACC is thought to generate theta (4-7 Hz) that is enhanced during tasks requiring selective attention and effortful processing. It follows that decreased theta and/or increased alpha may predict executive impairments commonly observed in depression. In the present study, fMRI and high-density EEG data were collected from participants with depression or comorbid depression/anxiety during a color-word Stroop task. Using an fMRI-based source model, ERP data were transformed into the time-frequency domain. Compared to controls, a bilateral reduction in PFC alpha (increase in activity) and a reduction in ACC theta (likely decrease in activity) were observed in the depression but not the comorbid group. Decreased theta was associated with more depression but not anxiety symptoms. Alpha and theta were also related to measures of inhibition across groups: decreased theta was associated with more errors and faster RT, and increased right PFC alpha was correlated with Stroop interference scores. These results show that pure depression and comorbid depression/anxiety differ in regional brain activity. Additionally, this is the first study to show that ACC theta is related to inhibition measures.
Primary funding from NIMH, NIDA, and NARSAD.
Poster 42
DIFFERENTIAL FUNCTIONAL LATERALIZATION IN ANXIETY
Anna S. Engels1, Jeffrey M. Spielberg1, Stacie L. Warren1, Bradley P. Sutton1,
Marie T. Banich2, Wendy Heller1, & Gregory A. Miller1 1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2University of Colorado Boulder
Descriptors: anxiety, lateralization, emotion
The present study pursued the hypothesis that anxious apprehension involves more left- than right-hemisphere activity, whereas anxious arousal involves the converse. Behavioral and fMRI responses to threat stimuli in an emotional Stroop task were examined in nonpatient groups reporting anxious apprehension (N 5 12), anxious arousal (N 5 17), or neither (N 5 26). As predicted, brain activation distinguished anxious groups in a left inferior frontal region associated with speech production and in a right-hemisphere temporal area. A second hypothesis about left-frontal involvement in emotion was also supported, with distinct left frontal regions associated with anxious apprehension versus processing of positive information. Results support the proposed distinction between the two types of anxiety and resolve an inconsistency about the role of left-frontal activation in emotion and psychopathology. As an extension of Engels et al. (2007), which reported similar differentiation of anxiety types, the effects of comorbid depression were explored in this new sample, revealing interactive effects in left and right frontal regions. Results suggest that comorbidity complicates laterality findings and should be carefully considered in studies of emotion.
NIMH, NIDA, University of Illinois Beckman Institute.
THE EFFECTS OF HABITUATION AND NOVELTY ON AMYGDALA BOLD-ACTIVITY EVOKED BY EMOTIONAL AROUSAL
Julia Wendt, Almut I. Weike, & Alfons O. Hamm University of Greifswald
Descriptors: habituation, novelty, amygdala activity
While the overall magnitude of the startle response generally habituates, emotional startle modulation by different affective picture categories is maintained during repeated picture presentation. These findings suggest that those neural networks regulating defensive and appetitive response mobilization show slow habituation. Animal models imply that the amygdala is the core structure ofthese neural networks. In the present experiment, participants viewed 12 repeated presentations of 6 different stimuli (2 pleasant, 2 neutral, 2 unpleasant), followed by 4 presentations of novel stimuli of each of the affective categories during event-related fMRI scanning. The amygdala showed an initial increase in BOLD-signal during viewing of emotionally arousing (pleasant and unpleasant) relative to neutral picture contents and a general habituation during repeated picture presentation with a rapid decline of discrimination between emotionally arousing and neutral pictures. During viewing novel pictures, participants showed heightened amygdala BOLD-responses again and a clear emotional-arousal-dependent discrimination. These data support the idea that detecting potentially significant novel stimuli in a changing environment is an important function of the amygdala. However, the observed dissociation of amygdaloid BOLD-responses and startle modulation during repeated picture presentation needs further investigation.
Poster 44
LOW RESTING HEART RATE VARIABILITY PREDICTS INCREASED FEAR-POTENTIATED STARTLE DURING ANTICIPATION OF SHOCK
Christiane A. Melzig1, Almut I. Weike1, Julian F. Thayer2, & Alfons O. Hamm1 1University of Greifswald, 2The Ohio State University
Descriptors: HRV, anxious apprehension, startle
Decreased prefrontal inhibition over networks responsible for regulating anxiety has been implicated in the etiology of exaggerated fearful responding as found in anxiety disorders. Heart rate variability (HRV) is emerging as a physiological marker of prefrontal activation and thus is suggested to also reflect inhibitory control over anxiety networks. The present study tested whether anxious responding to a threat of shock task, an experimental paradigm to study anxious apprehension, would be associated with the magnitude of HRV. 22 students low and 21 students high in HRV were exposed to an anticipation of shock period as well as a safe comparison condition. Throughout the experiment auditory startle responses were elicited to index defensive mobilization. While persons with high and low HRV did not differ in their startle response magnitude in the safe condition, group differences emerged in the threat of shock phase. During the first half of the threat of shock period both groups showed an equally strong threat-induced potentiation of startle responses. However, during the second half of the anticipation period persons with high HRV showed a clear reduction in startle potentiation, indicating a decrease in anxious activation. In contrast, in persons with low HRV threat-induced startle potentiation did not decrease over time. Low HRV though proves to be a marker of prolonged anxious responding probably due to a decreased ability to successfully downregulate the response of the defense system.
This study was supported by the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Greifswald and by a grant from the federal government of Germany (Improving the Treatment of Panic Disorder DM3-FNEU02).
CARDIAC VAGAL REACTIVITY AND DUAL-PROCESS REASONING
Karim S. Kassam, Katrina R. Koslov, & Wendy Berry Mendes Harvard University
Descriptors: RSA, decision making
Anchoring and adjustment is a common mode of interaction of conscious and unconscious processing, we frequently make conscious adjustments to our beliefs, estimates and opinions based on information and social context. Our research investigates the relationship between stress, physiological indicators ofstress, and our ability to make those adjustments. We placed participants in a stressful situation and manipulated social feedback to engender either challenge or threat stress responses. Participants then completed a number of trivia questions involving adjustment from self-generated anchors (e.g. What is the freezing point of vodka?). Adjustment from anchors on such questions has been shown to require conscious processing: participants generate intuitive answers they know to be incorrect but close to the right answer (e.g. 32 degF), and then serially adjust in the direction of the correct answer. We found that participants in the challenge condition made greater adjustments and were more accurate in their answers than participants in the threat condition. Physiological reactivity during the decision making tasks sheds further light on the physiological pathways through which decisions are influenced. We found robust negative correlations between amount of adjustment and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which has been found to index parasympathetic activity. Typically, tasks that require intense focus and attention result in a decrease in RSA. Participants who showed increased RSA during the decision task made smaller adjustments and were therefore less accurate.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF DYNAMIC ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES TO MECHANSIMS OF TEMPORAL REPRESENTATION: A MISMATCH NEGATIVITY STUDY
Molly A. Erickson, & William P. Hetrick Indiana University, Bloomington
Descriptors: MMN, attention
The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) event-related potential component is a negative deflection observed when a sequence of identical tones is infrequently interrupted by a tone that deviates in one or more stimulus dimensions, such as pitch or duration. As an index of pre-attentive change detection, it is thought to reflect both a 'comparison' process (whereby the present tone is compared to the one preceding it along the relevant dimension) and an 'amplification' process (which is modulated by attention). A recent model of Stimulus-Driven Attention proposes that auditory attention is involuntarily driven by the pace of environmental events (Jones et al., 2002). That is, auditory neurons begin to synchronize firing to the anticipated onset of the stimulus. The present study hypothesized that this anticipatory synchronized neural firing is largely responsible for the pre-attentive change detection indexed by MMN. Stimuli consisted of standard tones (100 ms in duration) that were infrequently interrupted by deviant tones (60 ms in duration). In one condition, the tones were delivered at fixed SOA's of 800 ms. In a second condition, the tones were delivered at variable SOA's, ranging from 500 ms to 1100 ms, to prevent anticipatory attending. A clear MMN waveform is seen in the fixed SOA condition; however, the variable SOA condition produced a severely attenuated MMN. The results of this initial experiment lend support to the model of Stimulus-Driven Attention and implicate temporal attention as a crucial contributor to the auditory change detection process.
Poster 46
SOCIAL SENSITIVITY: THE EFFECT OF VAGAL MODULATION ON PERSON PERCEPTION
Katrina R. Koslov, & Wendy Mendes Harvard University
Descriptors: RSA, vagus, social
Polyvagal theory (Porges, 2003) suggests that flexibility in activation of the vagus nerve is an important trait underlying social perception and behavior. One way to measure that flexibility is to measure the extent to which people experience context-appropriate changes in heart rate variability. Two studies investigated the hypothesis that people who are able to withdraw the vagal brake on their hearts during attention tasks are more sensitive to cues of rejection or acceptance in stressful social interactions. In both studies, participants were exposed to a social stress task: giving a speech in front of two evaluators. The evaluators gave nonverbal feedback consistent with either social rejection or acceptance. We hypothesized that participants who had greater vagal modulation would have more sensitive person perception, as reflected in their physiological and emotional reactions. In study 1, we found that participants with greater vagal modulation had more context-appropriate responses in blood pressure: greater blood pressure reactivity to rejection and lower reactivity to acceptance. In study 2, we found that greater vagal modulation was associated with context-appropriate endocrine responses: greater anabolic (DHEAs) hormone reactivity to acceptance and greater catabolic (cortisol) hormone reactivity to rejection. In both studies, greater vagal modulation was also associated with more context-consistent responses in self-conscious emotions (shame and pride). These studies offer preliminary evidence that vagal modulation is a predictor of sensitivity to social cues.
Poster 48
N2 AMPLITUDE REFLECTS PARAMETRIC MANIPULATION OF CONFLICT AND SUBSEQUENT CONTROL ADJUSTMENT
Sarah E. Forster1, Jonathan D. Cohen2, Cameron S. Carter3, & Raymond Y. Cho1 'University of Pittsburgh, 2Princeton University, 3University of California at Davis
Descriptors: N2, conflict, cognitive control
Mechanisms by which the brain monitors and modulates performance are an important focus of recent research. The conflict-monitoring hypothesis proposes that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) signals for enhanced control when conflict between competing response pathways is detected. The N2, an ERP component consistently localized to the ACC, has been observed following stimuli associated with high levels of response conflict. As a proposed index of the conflict signal, the N2 should be sensitive to the degree of response conflict present, a factor that depends both upon the features of external stimuli and the internal control state. In the present study, we sought to explore the relationship between N2 amplitude and these variables through use of a modified Eriksen flankers task in which target-distracter compatibility was parametrically varied. We hypothesized that greater target-distracter incompatibility would result in higher levels of response conflict. Consistent with this prediction, response time, error rate, and N2 amplitude were found to parametrically increase with increasing incompatibility. Following presentation of incompatible stimuli, control state adaptation was indicated by enhanced performance and reduced N2 amplitudes on subsequent incompatible trials. Behavioral indices further indicated that control adjustments depended upon the level of target-distracter incompatibility on the previous trial. These findings indicate that the N2 is sensitive to the degree of response conflict present and suggest that this information guides control adjustment.
NEURAL MECHANISMS IN THE REGULATION OF RACIALLY-BIASED BEHAVIOR: THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF FACIAL EXPRESSION
Jeni Kubota, Jordan Wood, & Tiffany A. Ito University of Colorado Boulder
Descriptors: ERN, expression, bias
Past research demonstrates that there is greater recruitment of conflict monitoring processes following errors indicative of racial bias. This has been seen in a sequential priming task, with larger ERNs (error-related negativity) when people erroneously classify tools as guns following a Black as compared to a White prime. Subsequent behavioral research indicates that the emotional expression of the prime can succeed in attenuating racial bias on this same task. When primes are angry we observe racial bias in the form of faster and more accurate responding to guns following Black faces than White faces. When primes are happy, this effect is eliminated. One possible explanation for this attenuation might be in differential recruitment ofcognitive control as a function ofprime race and emotion. The present study used a sequential priming task, with participants viewing pictures of angry and happy Black and White faces priming guns or tools. Participants showed race bias both in errors and ERNs to Black compared with White faces when primes were angry. By contrast, there was no bias in behavior or ERNs when primes were happy, suggesting that participants recruited behavior regulation mechanisms similarly for both Black and White targets when they displayed happy expressions. These results suggest that cues integral to a target can modify the recruitment of behavior regulation processes and additionally demonstrate that a feature present in many everyday encounters (a smile) can succeed in attenuating racial bias.
USING THE STARTLE REFLEX TO ASSESS EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO GOAL-ORIENTED MEDIA USE
Wendy Maxian Texas Tech University
Descriptors: startle reflex, emotion, media use
Media systems dependency theory suggests that individuals' interactions with mediated messages are goal-oriented. Individuals seek to achieve three goals with media: play, orientation and understanding. Because media are a key source of individuals' information, individuals are heavily dependent upon media to achieve their goals. Thus, individuals should exhibit negative emotional responses to the cessation of their media use. Negative responses should also result if individuals think their goals are unattainable. The current study used active imagery generation to manipulate the startle reflex. 41 participants were presented with 24 stimulus statements and asked to imagine that each was happening directly to them. Positively valenced stimuli described continued media use for each goal and negatively valenced stimuli described termination of use. Stimuli were presented in random order, and acoustic startle probes were placed 3s after active imagery began. Results indicate a main effect for valence across media and goals with negative statements yielding greater magnitude startle reflexes than positive ones. Interactions between goal and valence were also present. When individuals imagined not using media for entertainment or to learn about themselves, a larger startle response was elicited. In sum, results suggest that termination of goal-oriented media use increases startle potentiation. Just imagining that media cannot be used to achieve informational goals causes emotional distress.
Poster 50
PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE PERCEIVED REALITY OF FICTIONAL NARRATIVES
Wesley T. Wise, Elizabeth N. Siegrist, Jessica D. Freeman, Wendy Maxian, & Samuel D. Bradley Texas Tech University
Descriptors: perceived reality, typicality, signal detection
Humans have enjoyed fictional narratives for centuries. Within a fictional story, however, we can distinguish what is likely to happen from what is unlikely to happen. In this sense, perceived reality refers to the ability to judge events as likely or unlikely to occur. Research into the psychological processes underlying perceived reality suggests that how typical an event is (i.e., typicality) is strongly related to its perceived reality. Past research has shown that atypical events are remembered differently than typical events. In the current study, heart rate and skin conductance were measures as participants heard events that varied from typical, moderately typical, to atypical. Participants rated the perceived reality of each event. Past research has indicated that moderately typical events require the greatest amount of cognitive effort to process. Consistent with past work, response latency data that showed that participants took the most time in assessing the perceived reality of moderately typical events. In addition, heart rate data suggest that typicality affects cardiac deceleration, an indication of increased cognitive effort. As with the response latency data, moderately typical events produced the greatest amount of deceleration. Skin conductance measures showed that atypical events elicited greater physiological arousal than either typical or moderately typical events. Measures of signal detection memory indicated that atypical events led to greater recognition sensitivity and a more conservative criterion bias, than typical events.
Poster 52
NEURAL EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO EMOTIONAL FACES: HUMAN AND ANIMAL CARTOONS VS. HUMAN AND ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Sungkyoung Lee, Sunah Kim, Ryan A. Stevenson, Thomas W. James, & Annie Lang Indiana University
Descriptors: face processing, emotion, media
Research demonstrates that humans have specialized cognitive and neural mechanisms devoted to face perception. The posterior fusiform gyrus (also known as the fusiform face area or FFA) is a human brain region that is specialized for face perception. The right superior temporal sulcus (STS) has been known to respond more to faces than to non-face stimuli. In addition, Amygdala activates more to negative emotions. This study investigates how neural substrates involved in emotion and face perception activate differently to different kinds of emotional faces. Participants viewed pictures of faces of which half were animals and half were humans. Within each half, half were cartoon faces and half were photographs. Within each type of face group, 8 of the pictures were pleasant, 8 were neutral, and 8 were unpleasant emotional faces. Activation in the FFA, STS, and amygdala was examined using a region of interest (ROI) analysis. The BOLD signal was acquired while subjects (N 5 11) viewed blocks of positive, negative and neutral cartoons or photos of either humans or animals. Photographs of human faces activated the amygdala more than cartoon human or either type of animal faces; Amygdala activation was greater for unpleasant compared to pleasant and neutral faces, regardless of type of face. STS responded more strongly to photographic compared to cartoon human faces but showed no difference between cartoon and photographic animal faces or as a function of emotion. None of the independent variables (form, animal/human, or emotion) elicited any differences in the FFA.
Support provided by Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences.
THE CARDIOVASCULAR AND MEMORY EFFECTS OF CAROTID BARORECEPTOR STIMULATION
Victoria B. Egizio, & J. R. Jennings University of Pittsburgh
Descriptors: carotid baroreceptor stimulation, verbal memory
Clinically, vagus nerve stimulation is associated with memory changes and it appears to have unique influences on memory for words with different affective valences. We employed indirect vagus nerve stimulation through use of carotid baroreceptor stimulation and assessed memory for positive, negative, and neutral words. 61 undergraduates were randomly assigned to receive — 50 mmHg suction (30 seconds on/30seconds off cycle) via a laboratory-built device to the carotid sinus (active suction; 5 male, 27 female) or back of the neck (control suction; 13 male, 16 female). Memory was compared for non-suction, suction at encoding, and suction at consolidation conditions while ECG and blood pressure were monitored. For the suction at encoding condition, active suction increased the interbeat interval (IBI) from its mean in the non-suction condition (F(1, 55) 5 4.19, p< .05) and the mean IBI upon suction was higher than it was during the non-suction phase of the cycle (F(1, 55) 5 2.48, p 5 .12). Similar effects were observed for active suction during the consolidation condition; parallel (though less striking) changes were also observed with control suction. With active suction, systolic blood pressure (SBP) was lower during suction at consolidation than it was at baseline (F(1, 26) 5 9.00, p < .01). Most notably, active suction was associated with higher memory scores overall and with the suggestion ofa greater effect on negative words (F(1, 54) 5 2.88, p<.05). In sum, baroreceptor stimulation slowed heart rate and decreased SBP to some extent. Effects on memory were present, but not robust.
PRELUDE AND REQUIUM TO AN ERROR: EEG SYNCHRONY REVEALS THE ONGOING DYNAMICS OF PERFORMANCE MONITORING
James F. Cavanagh, Mike X. Cohen, & John J.B. Allen University of Arizona
Descriptors: ERN, wavelet, coherence
The error-related negativity (ERN) is an electrophysiological signature of response errors thought to be generated by phase resetting of theta (4-8 Hz) in the medial frontal cortex, especially anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). It is thought that the ACC works in conjunction with lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) to maintain cognitive control. To date, the neural mechanism by which this ACC-LPFC interaction occurs remains unknown. It was hypothesized that transient synchronous oscillations between ACC and LPFC, particularly in the theta range, reflect the mechanism by which these structures interact. EEG was recorded from subjects while they engaged in a speeded Flanker task. EEG data were first transformed to Laplacian surfaces via current-source-density analysis, and oscillations (from 3-50 Hz) were extracted via complex Morlet wavelet convolution. Inter-trial phase coherence at FCz (mid-frontal electrode) was maximal during error trials, sharply reduced on trials preceding errors, and enhanced on post-error trials. Phase synchrony between FCz and F5 (lateral frontal electrode) was maximal during error trials, and enhanced cross-channel synchrony was also enhanced on trials prior to errors. These novel findings suggest that the dynamic oscillatory interplay between medial and lateral frontal regions underlies our ability to detect errors and adjust our behavior accordingly.
Poster 54
BEATING HEARTS AND SWEATY PALMS: MEAN SKIN CONDUCTANCE RESPONSE DURING FEAR CONDITIONING IS LARGER FOR THOSE WITH LOWER RESTING RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA
Colleen A. Ray, Brad H. Sokal, John J.B. Allen, & Alfred W. Kaszniak University of Arizona
Descriptors: cardiac vagal control, skin conductance response, emotion
Cardiac Vagal Control has been associated with a diverse range of processes including attention and affect regulation. Thayer and Brosschot (2005) suggest that individuals with greater heart rate variability should recovery more quickly from emotional or physiologically demanding situations. The present study sought to examine the relationship between cardiac vagal control, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and subsequent sympathetic arousal during fear conditioning, as indexed by skin conductance response (SCR). Ninety-three female participants underwent habituation training to a picture of a snake and a spider. This was followed by fear conditioning training involving pairing a loud noise blast (UCS) with the offset of one picture (CS+) but not the other picture (CS — ). Resting EKG was obtained for 4 minutes before habituation training, from which RSA was derived. Skin conductance was recorded during image presentation. Results showed that during habituation and conditioning trials, participants with lower resting RSA had larger mean SCRs as compared to those with higher resting RSA. In addition, participants with lower RSA showed larger mean SCR reactivity following UCS presentation to both the CS+ and CS1, suggesting that those with the lower RSA initially differentiated less between the CS + and CS — . The findings are consistent with models that posit that prefrontal cortical activity modulates subcortical motivation circuits.
Poster 56
THINGS ARE GOING WORSE THAN EXPECTED: AN EXAMINATION OF NEURAL SYSTEMS ALTERED BY STRESS
James F. Cavanagh, Michael J. Frank, & John J.B. Allen University of Arizona
Descriptors: FRN, stress, reinforcement
There are myriad ways by which stress may become internalized to affect cognitive functioning. Learning to seek reward and avoid punishment are examples of core adaptive behaviors which are compromised by stress and stress-related mental illnesses. This ongoing study aims to elucidate the influence of stress reactivity on the distributed neural systems of reinforcement learning. To this end, we utilized a probabilistic selection task with concurrent EEG recording. All participants performed one version of the learning task before being randomly assigned to take another learning task under stress (social evaluative threat) or control conditions. Because this task requires the integration of probabilistic valenced cues, it was hypothesized that stress condition would be characterized by an altered negative prediction error and corresponding learning rate. An increased negative prediction error would indicate that punishment feedback was 'worse than expected', and a higher learning rate would implicate greater utilization of this prediction in the ultimate integration of reinforcement cues. An objective correlate of the neural computation of negative prediction error, the Feedback Related Negativity, was significantly larger in the stress condition. In addition, the degree of retrospective negative self-evaluation correlated with an increased learning rate only for the stress condition. These indices may be used to reveal a possible mechanism by which stress reactivity alters the neural systems of reward and punishment learning.
THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF TERROR MANAGEMENT: MORTALITY SALIENCE DECREASES RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA
Spee Kosloff, John J.B. Allen, & Jeff Greenberg University of Arizona
Descriptors: terror management theory, respiratory sinus arrhythmia
Terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski & Solomon, 1986) is a social psychological framework developed to explain how humans regulate implicit concerns with personal mortality. Research on TMT has shown that individuals respond to reminders of death (mortality salience; MS) with efforts to maintain a view of the world as meaningful and a sense of themselves as valued contributors within that meaningful scheme. Research implicates death concerns in processes by which prejudicial attitudes and aggressive behaviors emerge, however, very few studies have examined the psychophysiological impact of mortality reminders. In this study, to better understand this influence, the effect of MS on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed. RSA, as an index of cardiac vagal control, is implicated in self-regulation and thus individual differences in RSA to reminders of death may be important in understanding MS-induced defensive responses. University students either contemplated their mortality or, in the control condition, contemplated a non-death-related future-oriented, fairly certain and potentially anxiety-provoking event (an important upcoming exam), and levels of RSA were assessed before and after this manipulation. Post-manipulation RSA scores were residualized on the pre-manipulation RSA scores; after accounting for variance in baseline RSA, participants contemplating death had lower RSA compared to control participants. Subtle alterations in cardiac vagal function may thus be implicated in well-documented cases of MS-induced defensive responding.
AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE USE OF SENTENTIAL CONTEXT
Edward W. Wlotko1, Kara D. Federmeier1, & Marta Kutas2 'University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2University of California, San Diego
Descriptors: aging, sentential constraint, event-related potentials
Normal aging has been associated with changes in online language processing. In particular, older adults differ from younger adults in how they use context, particularly rich contexts from sentences or discourses. We investigated this issue further by examining event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as older adults read strongly or weakly constraining sentence frames completed by expected or unexpected, but plausible, sentence endings. Overall, responses to the sentence endings were similar to those of young adults for the N400 component, an index of semantic processing. However, a late frontal positivity that has hypothetically been linked to semantic revision processes was qualitatively different for younger and older adults. Whereas young adults showed an enhanced positivity selectively for unexpected endings in strongly constraining contexts, suggesting a need to revise the sentence representation when a word mismatches expectations, older adults showed an enhanced positivity for all conditions relative to strongly expected endings. These data suggest that normal age-related changes in the online use of contextual information may involve the recruitment of more resources to process words that are not supported by a strong context.
Supported by grants AG26308 to K.F. and HD22614 & AG08313 to M.K.
Poster 58
EVALUATING YOURSELF: WHAT'S EPISODIC MEMORY GOT TO DO WITH IT?
Heather Henkell1, Elizabeth J Simon2, Margo Kakoullis3, Elizabeth Diamond3, Elizabeth Murray2, & Ray Johnson3 1The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 3Queens College/CUNY
Descriptors: social neuroscience, episodic memory, ERP
The role of episodic memory in evaluative judgments is poorly understood. According to the 'computational view,' these evaluations rely on episodic memory retrieval. By contrast, the 'abstraction view' proposes that evaluations rely on retrieval of trait summaries, which are independent of the episodic memory system. Distinguishing between these theories is difficult using behavioral data. Therefore, we assessed the role of episodic retrieval processes using event-related potentials (ERPs). To determine if episodic memories were recollected during the evaluations, we looked for the presence of a parietal episodic memory (EM) effect, an ERP component shown to reflect the use of recollective processes. A week prior to the recording session, we obtained participant's ratings on traits (e.g., honest), values (e.g., abortion) and their personal facts (e.g., occupation). Individualized stimulus lists containing the items rated most important were created. Recordings were made from 83 sites while participants made 3 types of self-referential evaluations: 1) whether traits described themselves, 2) whether they agreed/disagreed with values and 3) whether personal facts described themselves. Additionally, non-evaluative judgments (active/passive) were made as a control. Personal facts elicited the typical parietal EM effect. However, there was no comparable EM effect elicited during evaluations of traits or values, which argues that these evaluations do not rely on recollection of episodic memories. Hence, these results support the 'abstraction view' of self-referential decisions.
Poster 60
UNCOVERING THE FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE P2 REPETITION EFFECT
Karen M. Evans, & Kara D. Federmeier University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: verbal memory, ERP, P2
The frontal P2 is an early (~ 175ms) component of the brain's electrical response to visual stimuli that is enhanced during target detection in visual search tasks. Recent discoveries of the P2's sensitivity to higher-level cognitive functions such as sentence processing and memory retrieval have prompted a reanalysis of its functional significance. Here, we report findings from a series of experiments that reveal conditions under which the P2 is enhanced with word repetition. Using visual half-field presentation to bias the processing of study words, we found P2 repetition effects to hits encoded by the right hemisphere (RH), but not to hits encoded by the left hemisphere or to forgotten words. With central presentation, the P2 was enhanced for recognized words, suggesting that the RH-specific cognitive operations signified by P2 repetition effects are shared during central encoding. Given evidence that the RH is biased to process even verbal stimuli in a manner that emphasizes physical form, we examined whether P2 repetition effects depend upon the ability to use physical form details of the study item during analysis of the test probe. In support of this hypothesis, we have found conditions in which recognized words elicit enhanced P2s only when repeated in the same form (i.e., same letter case at study and test) but not when repeated in a different form (opposite letter case). However, this pattern was not consistent across conditions, indicating that such effects are highly sensitive to the task relevance of form information as well as attention to form during encoding.
NIA grant AG26308.
MODERATING EFFECTS OF HEART RATE ON THE PREDICTION OF FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Jane C. Sun1, Michael F. Green1, Keith Nuechterlein1, Kimmy S. Kee1, Mark Sergi2, Junghee Lee1, Gerhard Hellemann1, Tyrone Cannon1, Kenneth
Subotnik1, & Cindy M. Yee1 1University of California at Los Angeles, 2California State University Northridge
Descriptors: schizophrenia, ANS
Patients with schizophrenia demonstrate profound impairments in everyday functioning, but how functional outcome relates to cognitive and psychophysio-logical dysfunction in schizophrenia is less well-defined. The present study examined the association between social cognition and daily living skills as a function of resting heart rate (HR). Schizophrenia patients in the prodromal or ultra high-risk (n 5 21), first episode (n 5 28), and chronic (n 5 41) phases of the illness completed multiple measures of social cognition and functional outcome and, along with healthy controls (n 5 70), provided HR data during a resting condition. Among the entire diverse sample of schizophrenia patients, lower resting HR was found to be associated with better functional outcome. Importantly, resting HR moderated the relationship between social cognition and functional outcome. Social cognitive skills were found to be important for better functional outcome among patients with a high resting HR, whereas this relationship did not hold for patients with a resting HR that fell within the normal range. Replicating and extending prior findings, schizophrenia patients across all phases of illness showed a higher resting HR compared to healthy control subjects. These results could not be accounted for by the presence or severity of negative symptoms or trait anxiety, and appear to be fairly robust. The moderator effect was found in every measure of social cognition assessed in this study and the pattern of findings extended across three dimensions of everyday functioning and the three phases of illness.
NIMH Center for Neurocognition and Emotion in Schizophrenia.
Poster 62
SIGH RATE DURING MENTAL STRESS
Elke Vlemincx, Katrien Van Damme, Tine Adriaensen, Joachim Taelman, Ans Wittebrood, Anouk Peeters, Steven De Peuter, Ilse Van Diest, Arthur Spaepen, & Omer Van den Bergh University of Leuven
Descriptors: respiration, sighing, mental stress
Paradoxically, sighing has been related both to stress and anxiety, and to relief and relaxation. The hypothesis that sighing relieves tension predicts that sighing is increased (a) following brief periods of stress, and (b) during more sustained stress periods as an attempt to reduce tension. Previous experiments have confirmed that sighing occurred more frequently during brief periods of relief compared to brief periods of stress. The present study aimed to examine the occurrence of sighing during more sustained periods of stress. Each participant (N 5 43) went through a 6-min baseline trial, followed by three trials (presented in randomized order) consisting of a 6-min. task followed by a 6-min. recovery phase. The three tasks consisted of two mental arithmetic tasks (MAT, involving 3-digit number calculations) and one postural task (PT, indicating the largest number in a series with a mouse). One of two MAT was followed by the instruction to sigh within the next 20 sec. Respiration was recorded using the LifeShirt System. The MAT elicited an increased minute ventilation and a higher mean proportion of rib cage inspiratory contribution to tidal volume ratio compared to the subsequent recovery phases, suggesting that stress was successfully induced. In addition, sighing occurred more frequently during MATcompared to the other phases. These results are consistent with the idea that sighing relieves tension during mental stress.
VISUAL SCANNING OF EMOTIONAL FACES AND EMOTION RECOGNITION IN FRONTOTEMPORAL LOBAR DEGENERATION
Joyce W. Yuan, Janet Eckart, Madeleine Goodkind, Virginia E. Sturm, & Robert W. Levenson University of California at Berkeley
Descriptors: emotion, eye movements, dementia
Recognizing emotion in facial expressions is an important skill that appears to be damaged in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). However, little is known about why FTLD patients have difficulty recognizing emotion. The eyes convey important information about internal states and attending to the eyes seems to be particularly important for identifying emotion (Adolphs et al., 2005). Thus, FTLD patients' impairments in emotion recognition may be related to aberrant visual scanning of the eye region in faces. In the present study, we used a head-mounted infrared camera to monitor eye movements of FTLD patients (n 5 9) and neurologically healthy controls (n 5 10) while they viewed six photographs of emotional faces (happy, sad, afraid, disgusted, angry, and neutral). After viewing each photograph, participants identified the target emotion from a list of emotion terms. The percentage of time participants spent looking at the eyes, nose, and mouth regions were calculated. Consistent with our hypotheses, FTLD patients looked significantly less at the eye region of sad and angry faces and made more sad recognition errors than controls. Across groups, increased time spent looking at the eyes was associated with fewer sad recognition errors, but this relationship did not reach significance, p 5 .11, in this small sample. These data indicate that FTLD patients tend to neglect visual information important for the recognition of emotion.
Poster 64
MALE STONEWALLING VS. AVOIDANCE DURING MARITAL CONFLICT: DISTINCT BEHAVIORS, DISTINCT CONSEQUENCES
Sarah R. Holley, Lian Bloch, & Robert W. Levenson University of California at Berkeley
Descriptors: relationships, physiology, marital satisfaction
There is debate in the marital literature as to whether withdrawing from conflict is detrimental (e.g., disrupts ability to problem-solve; Fincham, 2003) or helpful (e.g., men withdraw from conflict to reduce physiological arousal; Gottman & Levenson, 1988). We hypothesized that two variants of withdrawing behavior may account for these different outcomes. Specifically, we predicted that stonewalling (nonverbal disengagement) would be associated with greater negative outcomes and avoidance (verbal redirection) would be associated with greater positive outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 156 couples in long-term marriages engaged in a 15-min conversation about a marital conflict during which autonomic and somatic physiological measures were obtained. Subsequently, spouses watched a video of their interaction and used a rating dial to indicate how positively or negatively they felt during the conversation. Independent observers coded the videos for stonewalling and avoidance behaviors. Analyses, which were limited to husbands' data, showed that higher levels of stonewalling behavior were associated with more self-reported negative affect and lower self-reported marital satisfaction, both interpretable as negative outcomes. Conversely, higher levels of avoidance behavior were associated with less physiological arousal and less self-reported negative affect, both interpretable as positive outcomes. These findings underscore the importance ofdistinguishing between different kinds of withdrawing behaviors because they appear to have quite different effects upon the marriage.
BIG HEARTS, BIG POCKETS: GREATER HEART RATE REACTIVITY PREDICTS GREATER GIVING
Jocelyn A. Sze, Madeleine S. Goodkind, Anett Gyurak, & Robert W. Levenson University of California at Berkeley
Descriptors: prosocial emotion, heart rate reactivity
Prosocial responding plays a crucial role in our interactions and relationships with others. When witnessing others in need, the magnitude of our own physiological response could be an indicator of the likelihood of offering help. Twenty-one young (age 20-30), 21 middle-age (age 40-50), and 20 elderly (age 60-80) participants watched two films depicting individuals in need (autistic children in an activities program and victims of atrocity in Darfur) while cardiac interbeat interval was monitored continuously. After viewing the films, participants were given the option of making charitable donations ($0 - $10) to causes supporting these individuals. Results indicated that greater heart rate increases predicted greater donations, STB 5 .26, F(1, 60) 5 4.2, p< .05. There were no age or sex differences in this relationship (Fs< 1). We believe this finding underscores the power of psychophysiological responses to provide clues to subsequent behaviors. In this case, those who had the largest physiological responses to the suffering of others were the most likely to contribute to causes that addressed that suffering. The lack of age and sex differences underscores the robustness of this relationship between physiology and giving behavior in this sample.
AUTONOMIC SPECIFICITY OF BASIC EMOTIONS
Chad L. Stephens, Rachael E. Ramsey, & Bruce H. Friedman Virginia Tech
Descriptors: autonomic specificity, emotion, multivariate statistics
The notion that basic emotions have distinct physiological patterns has been a topic of great interest since it was first proposed by James (1884) in his influential theory of emotion. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) specificity of emotion remains controversial in contemporary models of emotion, and has received mixed empirical support over decades of research. This study was designed to replicate and extend contemporary psychophysiological studies that have used multivariate pattern classification analysis (PCA) in support of ANS specificity (Christie & Friedman, 2004; Kreibig et al., 2007; Nyklicek et al 1997; Rainville et al., 2006). The sample consisted of 50 healthy undergraduates (27 women) who listened to emotion inducing music and viewed affective films. A montage of ANS variables, including heart rate variability indices and systolic time intervals, were derived from the electrocardiogram, impedance cardiogram, blood pressure, respiration, and skin conductance data acquired during stimulus presentation. Evidence for autonomic discrimination of emotion was found via PCA with 44.03% of overall observations correctly classified into the predicted emotion conditions, using all ANS variables (z 5 15.34, p< .01). Cluster analysis of these data indicated a lack of distinct clusters, which suggests that ANS responses to the stimuli were nomothetic in nature and conformed to Lacey's (1967) principle of stimulus-response specificity. Collectively these results further confirm and extend James' original proposition that basic emotions have distinct bodily expressions.
Poster 66
EXPLORING VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY AUTONOMIC RESPONSES
Thomas J. Pardikes, Bruce H. Friedman, Ben Allen, Chad L. Stephens, Rachael Ramsey, & Laura Tiffin Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Descriptors: coactivation, inhibition, volition
The behavior of complex organisms can be explained by voluntary and involuntary actions. This relationship can be represented by activity of the autonomic nervous system, which integrates conscious and non-conscious information in an anatomical hierarchy ascending from autonomic reflexes to cortical control. This arrangement affords conscious actions the ability to inhibit reflexes. This model was examined by pairing intentional and reflexive tasks that varied in their autonomic underpinnings. 56 female and 55 male undergraduates engaged in four voluntary/reflexive task combinations: facial cooling/mental arithmetic, facial cooling/relaxation, hand cold pressor/mental arithmetic, and hand cold pressor/relaxation. Electrocardiogram, impedance cardiogram, blood pressure, and skin conductance were recorded over three minute baseline, task, and recovery periods. Discriminant function analysis revealed significant (p< .05) classification ratings of 60.6% among combination tasks, 63% between reflexive tasks and 88.5% between voluntary tasks. Tasks evoked specific autonomic states but voluntary tasks dominated autonomic responses. Mental arithmetic, a beta-adrenergic sympathetic stressor, inhibited the normative cardiac vagal action of facial cooling, and guided relaxation, which elicits parasympathetic activity, dampened the alpha-adrenergic pressor response of the cold pressor. These findings are consistent with neurovisceral integration and hierarchical models of stress responding, which emphasize the primacy of conscious cortical processes over lower regulatory mechanisms.
Poster 68
THE LONGITUDINAL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN P3 BRAIN AMPLITUDE IN SUBJECTS DIAGNOSED WITH CHILDHOOD DISRUPTIVE DISORDERS DURING PREADOLESCENCE
Henry H. Yoon, Stephen M. Malone, & William G. Iacono University of Minnesota
Descriptors: p300 brain amplitude, childhood disruptive disorders, longitudinal
Cross-sectional findings from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS) revealed that in 11- and 17-year old participants, the visual P300 (P3b) wave of the brain event-related potential is significantly reduced in ADHD youth presenting with comorbid childhood disruptive disorders (conduct disorder, CD; Oppositional defiant disorder, ODD). In this study, we examined 1,136 11-year old children to determine whether this association was apparent longitudinally. Subjects were divided into two DSM-III-R diagnostic groups consisting of 'ADHD-pure' (i.e., ADHD excluding ODD and CD) and 'ADHD-comorbid' (ADHD including ODD or CD) groups. Comparisons were made against controls free of childhood disruptive disorders on P3 amplitude derived from a visual oddball task using a longitudinal repeated-measures design spanning 9 years. Results extend previous cross-sectional findings in demonstrating that ADHD-comorbid, but not ADHD-pure youth, maintained significant reductions in P3 amplitude compared to controls, even up to age 20. Overall, these findings suggest that reduced P3 is a neuro-developmentally stable brain feature underlying ADHD disruptive comorbidity, perhaps tapping a neural substrate for behavioral disinhibition.
P300 AMPLITUDE REDUCTION AS AN INDEX OF EXTERNALIZING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS USING TIME-DOMAIN PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS ANALYSIS
Greg Perlman, Ed M. Bernat, Steve M. Malone, & William G. Lacono University of Minnesota
Descriptors: ERP, psychopathology, neurodevelopment
Evidence suggests that P300 amplitude reduction indexes risk for a broad range of disinhibatory, externalizing (EXT) psychopathology. It is unclear if P300 amplitude is unique in this regard, or whether other components of the ERP waveform might also index risk for EXT across childhood and adolescence. To examine this question, we recorded EEG data during a visual oddball task from 1375 male and female adolescent twins at age 11 and during follow-up assessments at age 14, 17, and 20. Time-domain principal components analysis was utilized to isolate significant contributors to the ERP waveform (P3b, slow wave, P2, and N2/P3a) at each age. A factor score indexing lifetime symptoms of conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, licit substance dependence, and illicit substance dependence by age 20 served as an outcome measure of EXT. As expected, reduced P300 amplitude predicted future EXT across late childhood and adolescence. In addition, earlier components appearing prior to the P300 (P2, N2/P3a) were also negatively associated with EXT. These results corroborate other studies implicating P300 amplitude reduction as a biological marker or endophenotype for EXT but suggest neurobiological processes indexing EXT may emerge prior to the P300 complex that are not captured by traditional peak scoring methods. Gender differences and the influence of task difficulty will also be discussed.
THE INFLUENCE OF MTBI HISTORY ON THE COGNITIVE CONTROL OF CONFLICT MONITORING
Matthew B. Pontifex, Phillip M. O'Connor, Steven P. Broglio, & Charles H. Hillman University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: concussion, ERP, cognition
The influence of multiple mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) on neuroelectric and task performance indices of the cognitive control of conflict monitoring was assessed in sixty-six athletes (19.6 + 1.2 yrs) separated into groups according to their self-reported number of physician-diagnosed concussions (0, 1+). Participants completed a standard clinical neurocognitive assessment and the error-related negativity (ERN) of the response-locked event-related brain potential was recorded during performance of a modified flanker task. Analyses revealed no significant differences between groups on the standard clinical neurocognitive assessment. However, task performance findings revealed increased response accuracy across conditions of the flanker task and a larger interference effect for RT in those athletes with a history of mTBI. Decreased ERN amplitude was also observed in individuals reporting one or more mTBIs, relative to those without a history of mTBI. Further, ERN amplitude was inversely correlated with the number of sustained mTBIs. These findings demonstrate that those individuals with a history of mTBI may demonstrate certain failures in cognitive control, and further indicate that a greater number of mTBIs may relate to poorer integrity in the evaluation or signaling for control during instances of conflict. Given that these neuroelectric differences exist in the absence of disparities in standard clinical assessment, the findings indicate that measures of the neuroelectric system may be more sensitive to signs of chronic cognitive dysfunction resulting from mTBI.
Funded by the Mary J. Neer Foundation.
Poster 70
THE EFFECTS OF ACUTE AEROBIC EXERCISE ON THE COGNITIVE CONTROL OF ATTENTION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PREADOLESCENT CHILDREN
Matthew B. Pontifex1, Lauren B. Raine1, Brian N. Witten1, Darla M. Castelli1, Eric E. Hall2, & Charles H. Hillman1 1University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2Elon University
Descriptors: exercise, cognition, children
This study examined the effects of an acute bout of aerobic exercise on event-related brain potential and task performance indices of the cognitive control of attention and performance on academic achievement tests of reading, spelling, and mathematics in 9-10 year old children. Twenty children performed a modified flanker task and the Wide Range Achievement Test III during two separate, counterbalanced sessions using a within-subjects design. The baseline session consisted of cognitive testing followed by a cardiorespiratory fitness assessment (i.e., graded exercise test to determine VO2max). The exercise session consisted of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise on a motor-driven treadmill at 60% of their age-predicted maximum heart rate, followed by cognitive testing once heart rate returned to within 10% of their baseline level. Results indicate improvements in response accuracy and larger P3 amplitude following the exercise relative to the baseline session, suggesting increased allocation of attentional resources and better task performance. Further, better cognitive performance was also observed on the Wide Range Achievement Test III in the exercise relative to the baseline session, indicating that acute bouts of exercise may improve academic performance. These findings indicate that single, acute bouts of moderately-intense aerobic exercise may improve the cognitive control of attention through an increase in attentional resource allocation in children, and further supports the use of acute exercise as a means for increasing attention and improving academic performance.
Poster 72
TIME-FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF ERROR RESPONSE- AND FEEDBACK- LOCKED BRAIN POTENTIALS IN A REINFORCEMENT LEARNING TASK
Lindsay D. Nelson, Luke A. Kane, Justin L. Jobelius, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: performance monitoring, time-frequency analysis, error-related negativity
Prior research has shown that the response-locked error-related negativity (ERN) increases in amplitude relative to the feedback-related negativity (FRN) as subjects learn the correct responses in a learning task (Holroyd & Coles, 2002). We implemented a version of this task in order to evaluate the learning process using time-frequency (TF) analysis. Subjects used feedback to learn, by trial and error, the correct responses to a set of stimuli. We replicated the finding that the time-domain ERN (correct-error difference) increased with learning, and we observed a P3e (response-locked P300 on error trials) increase during learning, consistent with hypotheses that the P3e reflects error awareness. Using TF analysis, we parsed the response- and feedback-locked ERPs into two components each: theta and delta. Theta is known to be related to the ERN/ FRN (e.g., it has a frontocentral distribution and is greater in amplitude following errors or negative feedback), while delta, which has a more posterior distribution, is more related to the P300. Additionally, these TF measures are relatively independent as compared to their more highly correlated time-domain counterparts. Using these measures, we found significant relationships of learning on delta and theta. Interestingly, delta manifested strong effects such that the response-locked delta increased significantly for both error and correct trials during the course of learning whereas the feedback-locked delta component
decreased. Results suggest that theta and delta may index separable processes involved in this learning task.
Poster 73
AFFECTIVE PICTURES PRESENTED AS UNEXPECTED STIMULI IN AN ODDBALL TASK PRODUCE AN INCREASED LATE POSITIVE POTENTIAL (LPP)
Corinne Harrison, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: emotion, EEG/ERP, time-frequency
Recent research has found that affective pictures are associated with an increase in the late positive potential (LPP), relative to neutral (cf. Cuthbert et al., 2000). These affective increases in amplitude have been understood to be related to increased attention to pictures with high emotional arousal. This effect has been most often reported in a standard picture viewing task where stimuli are presented for 6s. Schupp et al. (2000) showed that the LPP component is present even when affective pictures are presented for only 1s, suggesting that modulation of attention did not qualitatively change the effects. Still, substantial questions remain as to how robust the LPP is against stronger manipulations of attention. In the current study, attentional involvement was modulated by presenting IAPS pictures as unexpected novel stimuli during a standard oddball task. In keeping with previous findings, the results showed that affective pictures showed a significantly greater LPP for affective versus neutral pictures. Additional time-frequency analyses decomposed the signal into slow-wave/ LPP activity (subdelta, near or below 1 Hz), delta activity (1 - 3 Hz) more closely associated with the time of the P300, and theta activity (3 - 7 Hz) preceding P300. Primary affective-neutral differences were observed in the subdelta range. These results further support the idea that the LPP may reflect a lower level affective response, in that it is robust against this relatively strong attentional manipulation.
Poster 74
SOURCE LOCALIZATION OF TIME AND TIME-FREQUENCY MEASURES OF THE ERN
Uma Vaidyanathan1, Edward M. Bernat1, Selin Aviyente2, & Christopher J.
Patrick1
1University of Minnesota, 2Michigan State University Descriptors: time frequency, source localization, ERN
Time-frequency (TF) analyses of event-related potentials (ERP) aid in decomposing overlapping brain-wave activations. They have helped clarify the error-related negativity (ERN) component and demonstrated that theta oscillations (3 - 7 Hz) are a dominant frequency during the ERN. A recent TF decomposition utilizing PCA (Bernat, et al., 2005) supports this characterization (Hall et al., 2007). This report evaluates source localization of time and TF-PCA measures of both response-ERN (rERN; cf. Gehring, et al., 1993) and feedback-ERN data (fERN; cf. Gehring and Willoughby, 2002). Resulting time and TF components were compared using a single-source equivalent dipole solution. After TF-PCA analysis determined TF-location of the component, the original time-domain signals were band-pass filtered to obtain ERN activity that corresponded to TF-PCA components. Single-source dipole models were fit to these components using BESA software. Filters varying in theta energy were used to compute the rERN and fERN, including the unfiltered time-domain signal. Resulting dipole fits were compared using location of dipole and percentage of unexplained residual variance in the time-domain signal. Results for both rERN and fERN suggested that the best source models were obtained when the upper- and lower-bound for filters for the time-domain signals corresponded directly to maximal theta energy in the TF components. Unfiltered time domain components proved to have the worst fit
out of all source models. Findings are discussed in terms of benefits of TF decomposition of ERPs.
Poster 75
RECIPROCAL AUTONOMIC REGULATION IN MOTHER-CHILD DYADS DURING THE STILL FACE PARADIGM
Senta A. Furman, Keri Heilman, Rodolfo Gatto, Greg Lewis, Mika Handelman, Emily Harden, & Stephen W. Porges University of Illinois at Chicago
Descriptors: respiratory sinus arrhythmia, still face paradigm, mother-child interaction
Mothers play a unique and important role regulating physiological state in their young children. However, there are individual differences both in how the infant uses the interaction with the mother to regulate state and how the mother's physiological state reacts to her infant. These differences may impact the developmental trajectory of the infant's emotional and social development. The current study recorded autonomic activity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)and heart period) in mothers and their children (between ages 3 and 36 months) during two administrations of the Face-to-Face Still Face (FFSF) paradigm, one in which the researcher administered the social challenge and one in which the mother administered it. During the researcher administration, the mother watched the interaction from an adjacent room and continuously rated her anxiety level throughout the FFSF. This novel research paradigm allows us to determine whether infants have increased behavioral and autonomic reactivity to the mother still-face, compared to the researcher still-face; whether autonomic reactivity to and recovery from the FFSF is related between mother and child; and how a mother's subjective anxiety is related to her neurophysiology. Preliminary results demonstrate depressed RSA and decreased heart period in the child during both FFSF procedures, and most mothers exhibited a similar response profile when observing their distressed children in both procedures. In addition, there was a parallel between the temporal pattern of the mother's subjective anxiety and her autonomic state.
NICHD R01: Infant Crying and Developmental Outcome: A Biobehavioral Approach (PI: Stephen W. Porges).
Poster 76
VIDEO THERMOGRAPHY FOR CARDIOPULMONARY SIGNAL EXTRACTION
Gregory F. Lewis, Rodolfo G. Gatto, & Stephen W. Porges University of Illinois at Chicago
Descriptors: thermography, respiration, heart rate
Passive infrared thermography is a non-contact monitoring technique suitable for observation of dynamic physiological processes in naturalistic settings. We present novel analysis techniques to extract three physiological signals from thermographic video of the head and face. Using a commercially available thermographic camera we extract temperature changes within the region of interest (ROI) and perform analysis with custom software designed in MATLAB. Each reconstructed signal is compared to a standard measure (Vivometrics LifeShirt, BioPac). Cardiac output is measured within an ROI on the neck directly above the carotid artery and compared to a finger-tip plethysmograph. Facial muscle activity in several ROIs is compared to EMG. Respiration induced temperature changes are extracted from ROIs over the nostrils. Preliminary results show strong correlations between these signals and the standards during spontaneous activity. With adaptive filtering based on the characteristics of the
signal of interest, the quality of these signals can be improved and more signals can be captured. These techniques could be integrated with automated identification and tracking of the regions of interest to facilitate observation of subjects without human supervision.
This research was funded by the Department of Defense, Contract Number W911NF-07-1-0669.
Poster 77
AFFECTIVE PROCESSING IN MIGRAINE-TYPE HEADACHE: PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED STIMULI
Emily J. Bartley1, Emily J. Main2, Amy E. Williams1, Klanci M. McCabe1, Jennifer L. Russell1, Mary C. Chandler1, Carl P. Lattimore1, Kara L. Kerr1, & Jamie L. Rhudy1 1The University of Tulsa, 2University of Tulsa
Descriptors: pain, startle, motivation
Migraine-type headache (MTH) is a common neurovascular disorder often associated with affective distress. Unfortunately, little well-controlled research has been conducted to characterize emotional processing in this group. The aim of the present study was to assess if disruptions in emotional processing exist in MTH. To do so, emotionally-charged picture stimuli (IAPS) were utilized to assess the impact of emotion on the acoustic startle reflex, facial (corrugator) EMG, skin conductance, heart rate, and subjective emotion ratings in a group of MTH and gender- and age-matched healthy control participants. A structured diagnostic interview was used to verify ICHD-IIR1 headache diagnosis. Acoustic startle probes were delivered during 66% of pictures during experimental testing and participants rated their emotional valence (unpleasantness-pleasantness) and arousal (calm-excited) after presentation of affective picture stimuli. Data indicate abnormalities in physiological and subjective emotion responses in the headache group, suggesting MTH is associated with deficits in emotional processing. Given research that suggests affective processing can impact pain, altered emotional reactivity may ultimately contribute to MTH pain. This work was partially supported by student research grants from The University of Tulsa.
Poster 78
PHYSIAWELOGY: AWE AND THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
Samantha L. Neufeld, Stephanie E. Moser, Wan H. Yeung (Ellen), & Michelle N. Shiota Arizona State University
Descriptors: emotion, awe, ANS
Though much is known about the psychophysiology of negative emotions, few studies have examined the effects of state positive emotion on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Existing data conflict: Some findings suggest that positive emotion reduces arousal, while others suggest that some positive emotions involve high arousal. One possibility is that different positive emotions, serving different fitness-enhancing functions, have different ANS profiles. The present study offers initial data regarding the ANS features of awe: the emotion elicited by a stimulus that challenges one's worldview or frame of reference ('vastness'), and which facilitates cognitive accommodation. As part of a larger study of positive emotions, we examined changes in peripheral measures of ANS activity while participants viewed sets of Neutral (household objects) and Awe-eliciting (panoramic views) slides, each after a 60s baseline. Participants also completed a self-report measure of 'Big Five' personality. Relative to Neutral slides, Awe slides produced greater increases in cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP), suggesting that awe involves sympathetic withdrawal. Also, PEP increases were positively correlated with BFI Openness to Experience, indicating enhanced sympathetic withdrawal among more 'Open' participants. Awe slides also led to decreased
RSA, although this was accounted for by non-significant increases in respiration rate. Effects of awe on IBI did not differ significantly from those of neutral slides. Implications for future work on awe and positive emotion psychophysiology are discussed.
Poster 79
THE N400 EFFECT: SEMANTIC VS. EVALUATIVE INCONGRUITY
Jennifer H. Taylor, Stephen L. Crites, Guadalupe Corral, & Katherine R. White University of Texas at El Paso
Descriptors: N400, semantic congruity, evaluative congruity
The objective of this research is to explore similarities and differences for semantic and evaluative incongruities by using a word pair priming paradigm. This study examined whether the N400 is more sensitive to semantic or evaluative incongruities while controlling for semantic and evaluative differences between word pairs. Semantic differences were controlled by manipulating animals and person roles (e.g., butterfly-friend or thief-scorpion) while also manipulating evaluative congruency (e.g., champion-wasp). In order to increase the likelihood of finding an evaluative effect, the participants (N = 20) were asked to complete an evaluative task by indicating if the second word in the pair was good or bad. This evaluative task showed a significant behavioral effect where evaluatively incongruent word pairs were responded to slower than congruent pairs when they were semantically matched (e.g. scorpion-butterfly) but no significant N400 effect was found. Even though semantic congruency was irrelevant to the task, N400 peak amplitude was significantly larger when word pairs were semantically incongruent. These findings suggest that semantic and evaluative processes may be operating under different systems and that evaluative priming affects response selection processes.
Poster 80
DISTINGUISHING VISUAL SEARCH AND WORKING MEMORY VIA CORTICAL AND HEART-RATE RESPONSES
Pandelis Perakakis1, Jaime Vila1, Walter Machado-Pinheiro2, Pedro Guerra1, Aydamari Faria2, Isabel Antunez2, & Lourdes Anllo-Vento1 1University of Granada, 2Federal Fluminense University
Descriptors: visual search, working memory
In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of visual search (VS) and visual-spatial working memory (WM) with cortical potentials (ERPs) and phasic heart-rate changes. Previous studies demonstrated that these cognitive operations were associated with distinct heart-rate response patterns. Thirty-four volunteers engaged in VS or WM tasks, in blocks with or without a loud sound eliciting the cardiac defense response (CDR), in counterbalanced order. Each trial included two visual displays separated by 900 ms. In the WM task, subjects held in working memory the colors of 4 squares in the visual field signaled by a central arrow cue1. During VS, subjects searched the cued visual field to detect a line crossing one of the squares. Following the second display, subjects reported either a color change in one of the squares (WM), or a change in line orientation (VS). Continuous EEG, horizontal EOG, and ECG were recorded throughout the experiment. Reaction times and percentage of correct responses were obtained following change and no-change trials. Percentage of correct responses did not differ across tasks, though there were more errors and faster RTs on WM trials. The amplitude of the N2pc component, a neural index of VS and filtering of irrelevant stimuli, and the CDA, a contralateral parietal wave reflecting WM load, were greater under the VS condition. Evoked heart-rate deceleration was faster under WM conditions. Overall, these findings demonstrate that, though tightly coupled, VS and WM constitute distinct cognitive and neural operations.
THE EFFECTS OF THREAT ON TASK-SWITCHING IN ANXIETY: EVIDENCE FROM EYE-MOVEMENTS DURING AN ANTISACCADE TASK
Tahereh L. Ansari, & Nazanin Derakshan Birkbeck University of London
Descriptors: anxiety, task-switching, antisaccade
Evidence for an anxiety-modulated attentional bias for threat has been substantiated (Bar-Haim et al. 2007). According to the attentional control theory of anxiety (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007) anxiety affects cognitive performance especially on tasks that require the inhibition and shifting functions of the central executive component of working memory (Derakhshan, et al in press; Ansari et al in press). The present study examined how anxiety affected task-switching in the presence of threat. Low and high anxious individuals performed 'single-task' and 'mixed-task' versions of the mixed antisaccade task. In the single task participants performed separate blocks of anti- and pro-saccade trials whereas in the mixed-task anti- and pro-saccade trials were presented randomly within the block. Each trial began with a coloured central fixation (threat-related or neutral word, or control non-word). Participants were told to ignore the word in both tasks. However, in the mixed task the colour of the word signalled an anti or a prosaccade trial. Analyses of saccade latency switch cost showed that the performance of high-anxious individuals was adversely affected when the central fixation was threat-related, but no group differences were observed with neutral or non-word fixations. No group differences were observed on saccadic error rates as a function of valence. These findings are the first to show that anxiety affects task switching performance in the presence of threat related material. The findings are discussed within the framework of attentional control theory.
ESRC Studenship awarded to Tahereh L. Ansari, supervised by Dr. Nazanin Derakshan.
ACC BOOSTED!—IMPROVEMENTS OF GO/NOGO PERFORMANCE BY SHORT TERM REALTIME NEUROFEEDBACK
Tilman J. Gaber1, RalfVeit2, Sitaram Ranganatha2, EvaEngel2, KamilUludag3, & Niels Birbaumer2 1Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, 2Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tuebingen, 3Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Descriptors: real time fmri, biofeedback, anterior cingulate
The aim of the study is to determine whether the application of a real time feedback training can effectively improve executive and attentional control in subjects with and without attentional deficits. The (dorsal) Anterior Cingulate Cortex is known to be a functional key structure in critical cognitive processes such as reward based decision making, error monitoring, motor control and executive control of attention (e.g. Carter & vanVeen, 2007 for review). Volumetric and functional abnormalities in the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex have been reported in functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging studies on adults (e.g. Seidman et al. 2006), adolescents and children (e.g. Konrad et al. 2006) with ADHD. By now, several studies using real time fMRI feedback have shown that individuals are able to acquire stable self control BOLD-activity in various parts of the brain (Weiskopf et al. 2007). A group of 16 healthy volunteers was randomly selected from a student sample and diagnosed for (subclinical) ADHD. Subjects were subsequently tested in a Go/NoGo task before and after an ACC real time fMRI feedback training. Most subjects gained stable control over their ACC activation after an intensive one day training. An ever more increased and more focused ACC activation during regulation trials was established over time. The mean Go/NoGo performance was significantly improved after successful acquisition of regulatory control of the ACC.
Poster 82
PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSURE: FRONTAL ASYMMETRY AND EMOTION REGULATION
Ron N. Goodman, Jeremy C. Rietschel, Li-Chuan Lo, Nimish Sane, Michelle Costanzo, & Brad D. Hatfield University of Maryland
Descriptors: performance, under, pressure
Satisfactory human performance (adaptive, moment to moment decision making) demands the complex integration of multiple factors such as motivation, emotion expression and regulation, and intricate synchronization of central and peripheral motor processes. As a viable metric of emotion regulation, the frontal asymmetry difference score has traditionally been utilized to index certain trait predispositions within the approach/withdrawal dimension of emotion/motivation. Researchers have begun to make a case for an acute or state difference in frontal asymmetry. This 'Capability Model' posits the neural underpinnings of the relative difference in electrical activity between the left and right frontal lobes as a phasic mechanism possibly sub-serving the integration of emotion and cognition during challenge. Results of the current study support this situational model of frontal asymmetry. Thirty channels of EEG were collected along with, skin conductance, heart rate and acoustic startle amplitudes while subjects were engaged in two levels of a working memory task under three increasing levels of stress (final level 5 shock/threat of shock). Hierarchical regression results implicate state frontal asymmetry differences as having a mediating role in the adaptive regulation of emotion and enhanced performance but only in the high stress condition. During shock/threat of shock participants with higher state asymmetry scores showed significant attenuation of eyeblink startle magnitudes, faster reaction times and increased accuracy. This suggests an integration of emotion and cognition.
Poster 84
COMING UP NEXT! EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL EVIDENCE FOR WORD LEVEL PREDICTION IN THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES
Padmapriya Kandhadai, & Kara D. Federmeier University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: ERPs, hemispheres, lexical association
The prediction/integration (PARLO) account of hemispheric differences in language comprehension posits that the left hemisphere (LH) actively predicts upcoming information based on the linguistic context whereas the right hemisphere (RH) integrates incoming information with prior context. To examine this, a word-priming study was designed using the visual half-field technique in conjunction with event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants saw word pairs (e.g., vent-air) that were strongly associated in one direction (forward) but weakly associated in the reverse (backward) direction. For the forward pairs, the lateralized target was the most predicted word given the central prime context. For the backward pairs, the target was unexpected but plausible given the prime. ERPs to targets revealed a P2 enhancement for forward pairs limited to the LH, consistent with the hypothesis that the LH uses the context information to prepare for likely upcoming words. Further, enhancement of the late positive complex to the backward targets (relative to an unrelated baseline) in the LH suggests the use of controlled processing to deal with relatively less expected information. For both hemispheres, N400 amplitudes were graded, smallest to forward pairs and largest to unrelated pairs, suggesting that the RH is also sensitive to the order of information in some circumstances. These results provide support for the PARLO account while also pointing to additional sources for hemispheric asymmetries in language comprehension.
Support from NIA grant AG026308 to Kara D. Federmeier is gratefully acknowledged.
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR HEART IS: AFFECTIVE INFLUENCES ON FINANCIAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS
Julie L. Hall, Richard Gonzalez, & Oliver C. Schultheiss University of Michigan
Descriptors: emotion, decision making, neuroeconomics
Traditional economic models assume that individuals are always rational when they make decisions. However, the current study suggests that emotions may play an important role in financial decisions. Using fMRI, 24 participants viewed happy, angry, and neutral affective primes presented under subliminal and supraliminal conditions followed by an investment task where they had to decide between risky, high-payoff stocks and safe, low-payoff bonds. Our results suggest that both subliminal and supraliminal presentations of facial expressions of emotion influence financial investment choices and the neural circuits involved in financial risk taking. As predicted, participants showed greater nucleus accumbens activation and were more likely to make risky investment decisions after happy versus neutral faces in both the subliminal and supraliminal presentation conditions. Our findings demonstrate that facial expressions of emotion, even when they are not consciously perceived, can influence investment behavior and suggest that the inclusion of affect may lead to more accurate models of economic decision making.
Poster 86
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO THE MANIPULATION OF VIOLENCE DURING A PRIMETIME DRAMA
Soyoung Bae, Andrew J. Weaver, & Robert F. Potter Indiana University, Bloomington
Descriptors: arousal, SCL, television
An accepted media psychology theory purports enjoyment of violent television is due to resulting increases in arousal. However, no physiological data have directly tested the relationship between media violence, arousal, and enjoyment. The current experiment investigates the link between arousal and emotion in response to televised violence by measuring SCL, corrugator EMG and heart rate. Three versions of a popular crime drama were created: one with the original graphic violence, another with images of blood removed from violent scenes, and a third with all violence removed. Participants (n = 150) were randomly assigned to condition and physiology data collection time-locked to the episode. Data from the final 300s were analyzed, representing the climactic scenes in the narrative across conditions. Results show a significant main effect in SCL change scores with viewers in both the graphic and nonviolent conditions exhibiting greater arousal than viewers watching sanitized violence. Viewers of graphic and nonviolent episodes were not significantly different from each other in SCL change. Significant Time X Condition interactions in both heart rate and corrugator data show increased negative affect in response to the graphic violence but increased attention to the version where violence was absent. Although main effects for trait motivation system activation were found in physiological reactions, these did not interact across levels of the violence condition.
Poster 87
LAG-1 SPARING EFFECT DURING ATTENTIONAL BLINK INFLUENCES P3 COMPONENTS
Fumihito Morimoto, & Akihiro Yagi Kwansei Gakuin University
Descriptors: attentional blink, lag-1 sparing, P3
Perceivers often miss a distinct target presented in a sequence of distracters. One of the remarkable examples of this is the attentional blink phenomenon. This
phenomenon occurs when participants are asked to report two targets embedded in rapid serial visual presentation and if a temporal lag between the first target (T1) and the second target (T2) is short (0-600 ms). In such a paradigm, participants often miss T2. However, in many of the above experiments, both targets are likely to be reported when T2 immediately follows T1. This effect is called lag-1 sparing. It is often observed, when T1 is the same as the definitive feature of T2. In the present study, T1 and T2 were white digits and the other stimuli were black letters and participants were asked to report both T1 and T2 at the end of the stream. We examined a P3 component of the event-related potential time-locked to T2 onset. As a result, typical attentional blink and lag-1 sparing effect were observed. Missed targets presented at Lag-1 did not elicit a P3. In contrast, detected targets evoked a P3, however, the P3 was suppressed and delayed compared with the one elicited by T2 presented after the attentional blink period. Our results suggest that brain processing to T2 at Lag-1 is different from the one at lag-7 (after attentional blink period) though the correct answer rate is the same.
Poster 88
THREATS FROM WITHIN THE BODY: INTEROCEPTIVE CONDITIONING OF FEAR
Meike Pappens, Ilse Van Diest, Deb Vansteenwegen, Steven De Peuter, & Omer Van Den Bergh Catholic University of Louvain
Descriptors: fear conditioning, EMG, SCR
Interoceptive fear conditioning to respiratory cues in humans has hardly been investigated, despite its great potential to understand the relationship between respiration and fear, particularly panic. We investigated whether loaded breathing can be applied to establish interoceptive conditioning of fear. The interoceptive aversive US consisted of 30 s of restricted breathing as induced by adding a resistive load of 40 cmH2O/l/s to the breathing circuit. This US was consistently preceded by a 8 s picture in one group (extero-intero pairing), and by a weak load (8 s, 10 cmH2O/l/s; interoceptive CS) in another group (intero-intero pairing). Control groups received the same amount of CSs and USs in an unpaired fashion. Self-reported fear, electrodermal responses and startle blink EMG responses were assessed during 6 acquisition and 6 extinction trials. The interoceptive CS evoked overall larger electrodermal responses than the exteroceptive CS. Conditioning of electrodermal responses (paired > unpaired), however, occurred for the extero-intero, but not for the intero-intero pairings. Startle blinks were larger throughout the entire experiment in the unpaired compared to the paired conditions. Intragroup comparisons showed that blinks during CS presentations were enhanced relative to intertrial intervals (ITI's).This was more the case for the paired compared to the unpaired group, and for the exteroceptive compared to the interoceptive CS. Overall, results suggest that fear conditioning was established with the extero-intero, but not with the intero-intero pairings.
Poster 89
DROP-OUTS IN EXPERIMENTAL PAIN RESEARCH: ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EMOTIONAL PROCESSING?
Kara L. Kerr, Emily J. Bartley, Mary C. Chandler, Emily J. Main, Klanci M. McCabe, Jennifer L. Russell, Carl P. Lattimore, Amy E. Williams, & Jamie L. Rhudy The University of Tulsa
Descriptors: startle, pain, nociception
Drop-outs are a potential threat to the validity of experimental pain research. Indeed, the possibility of important differences between those who complete the study and those who do not could present a selection bias in the available data. For example, group differences in emotional processing could confound the interpretation of pain outcomes, because emotion is known to modulate pain and
nociceptive processes. The present study examined the differences between dropouts and completers from a study describing the relationship between emotion and nociceptive processing. In the first phase of the experiment, modulation of startle by IAPS picture-viewing was examined. Next, pain/nociceptive sensitivity (nociceptive flexion reflex threshold, pain threshold, pain tolerance) was assessed by delivering noxious electric stimuli to the sural nerve. After sensitivity testing, emotional modulation of nociception was assessed by delivering noxious electrodermal stimuli during picture-viewing. Of the 62 participants who completed startle modulation, 12 dropped out during subsequent pain testing. Results suggest that there were no group differences in emotional processing as assessed by corrugator EMG, SCR, initial HR deceleration, HR acceleration, or startle modulation (ps> .05). Implications of results are discussed.
This work was funded by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
Poster 90
EMOTIONAL CONTROLS (ECON) OF PAIN AND THE NOCICEPTIVE FLEXION REFLEX: IS RESPONSE HABITUATION A PROBLEM?
Mary C. Chandler, Emily J. Bartley, Amy E. Williams, Klanci M. McCabe, Jennifer L. Russell, Carl P. Lattimore, Emily J. Main, & Jamie L. Rhudy The University of Tulsa
Descriptors: pain, nociception, motivation
Our laboratory has shown that emotionally-charged pictures reliably modulate pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR, a physiological measure of spinal nociceptive processes). Like other defensive responses (e.g., startle reflex), pain and NFR are inhibited by pleasant pictures and augmented by unpleasant pictures. As a result, we have argued that the picture-viewing paradigm is a reliable method ofstudying supraspinal modulation ofnociception. However, the validity of this paradigm hinges on the notion that affective modulation does not interact with habituation processes. The present study presented 4 blocks of 27 pictures that contained equal numbers of pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant pictures. During each block, 9 noxious electric stimulations were presented to the sural nerve to elicit NFR and pain (rating: 0 -100), with shock distributed equally across picture valence. Responses were averaged by picture valence and block, and then analyzed. Significant main effects of Picture Valence suggest emotion modulated pain and NFR as predicted. The main effect of Block was only noted for NFR, suggesting significant habituation over time. However, the Picture Valence x Block interaction was non-significant for both responses. These results suggest habituation is not a significant problem for assessing affective modulation of nociception, as long as the picture presentation design takes into account NFR habituation.
This research was supported by a grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
Poster 91
IMPULSIVITY, GENDER, AND DIFFERENTIAL SYMPATHETIC ACTIVITY
Ben Allen, Bruce H. Friedman, Thomas J. Pardikes, Laura E. Tiffin, & Chad L. Stephens Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Descriptors: impulsivity, pre-ejection period, systolic blood pressure
Impulsivity and the inattentive subtype of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been linked to diminished activity in the mesolimbic dopamine system and sensation-seeking behaviors due to insensitivity to reward. Heightened beta-adrenergic sympathetic activity as evidenced by shorter cardiac pre-ejection periods (PEP) has been demonstrated during reward-based tasks in healthy individuals. Conversely, impulsive individuals exhibit longer PEP than controls at rest and during reward-based tasks. This study demonstrates that attention impulsivity can be marked by both increased and decreased levels of sympathetic
arousal in men. Attention impulsivity was assessed by a short form of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Basal levels of sympathetic activity were estimated in 101 undergraduates (51 women) by recording systolic blood pressure (SBP) and PEP (derived from the impedance cardiogram) during a 3-minute seated resting baseline. Separate regression analyses were conducted for men and women to test for an interaction between SBP and PEP when predicting impulsivity scores. A significant interaction was found for men (p 5 .008), but not for women. PEP was the only significant predictor of impulsivity for women (beta 5 .295, p 5 .03). Post hoc probing showed that the positive relation between PEP and impulsivity in men was only present with individuals who had normal to high blood pressure. Impulsivity and PEP were actually negatively related for men with low blood pressure.
Poster 92
PREDICTING STARTLE LATENCY TO THREAT-RELEVANT STIMULI FROM INFANT TEMPERAMENT
Cat Thrasher, Vanessa Lobue, James A. Coan, & Judy S. Deloache University of Virginia
Descriptors: infant, startle, attention
Research suggests infant startle responses are modulated by attention: when attending, infant startle amplitudes are potentiated. Attentional affects on infant startle latencies suggest infants may startle more quickly to threatening stimuli. Interestingly, substantial evidence suggests infant attention may be associated with childhood temperament. This study examined associations between infant temperament and attention-modulated startle in 6 to 9 month old infants in response to videos of evolutionarily relevant threat visual stimuli and emotional auditory stimuli. Temperament was assessed via parental reports on the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ). Infants were presented with four stimulus presentations: a snake video paired with a fearful voice, a snake video paired with a happy voice, an elephant video paired with a fearful voice, or an elephant video paired with a happy voice. Startle latency and amplitude to a visual probe were obtained during each 6-second video/voice condition. Results revealed a significant 3-way interaction between parental reports of fear, animal (snake, elephant) and voice (fearful, happy) on startle latency. Deconstruction of this interaction revealed that startle latency was negatively correlated with fear ratings during the snake video and positively correlated with fear ratings during the elephant video. These results suggest individual differences in temperament guide attention as a means of self-regulation and detection sensitivity to evolutionarily relevant stimuli may emerge in infancy.
Poster 93
THE NEGATIVITY BIAS IN THE LATE POSITIVE POTENTIAL (LPP) IS PREDICTED BY EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN OLDER ADULTS
Shannon M. Foster, Hasker P. Davis, & Michael A. Kisley University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Descriptors: aging, emotion, late positive potential
Recent electrophysiological studies from our laboratory have provided evidence that aging is associated with decreased brain responding to negative stimuli, and that this contributes to observed age-related reductions in the so-called negativity bias. It has been argued that older adults purposefully attend less to negative information in an effort to regulate their emotions. Others have suggested that decreased processing of negative information results from declining cognitive abilities. In a study designed to directly compare these two alternatives, we found evidence in support of the latter model. We studied 37 older adults (mean 5 68.76 yrs) recruited from a memory clinic. Visual ERPs were recorded in response to affectively positive, negative, and neutral images during an emotion categorization task. Neuropsychological measures of attention, memory, and executive functions were collected. Amplitude of the LPP in response to negative images was correlated with two measures of executive functioning (Tower of London,
TOL: r 5 — .36, p 5 .03; Trail Making B: r 5 — .36, p 5 .03), such that poorer performance was associated with lower amplitude. LPP amplitude elicited by positive images was not significantly correlated with the cognitive variables. Using a standard regression analysis, processing speed, executive functioning, and a sociocognitive measure of time perspective marginally predicted the LLP amplitude for negative images (F[3, 33] 5 2.72, p 5 .06), accounting for 19.8% of the variance. Executive function was the only significant predictor.
Poster 94
COMPARISON OF THE ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY AND THE MEDIAL FRONTAL NEGATIVITY: A PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS
Siri-Maria Kamp1, Geoffrey F. Potts1, Laura E. Martin2, & Emanuel Donchin1 1University of South Florida, 2University of Kansas Medical Center
Descriptors: error related negativity, reward prediction, event related potentials
We compared two event-related potential (ERP) components, the error-related negativity (ERN) and the feedback-related medial frontal negativity (MFN). Both components respond to negative events, the ERN to errors and the MFN to negative outcome feedback, and have a medial frontal scalp distribution suggesting that they are the same ERP component. One model of the ERN proposes that its neural basis is in the brain's dopaminergic reward prediction system projecting to the anterior cingulate cortex, engaged when action or choice outcomes fail to meet reward expectation. If this model is correct the response-locked ERN elicited by performance errors should share variance structure with the stimulus-locked MFN elicited by reward prediction violations. To test this, we recorded electrical brain activity from 24 participants in two experimental sessions, including a flanker task that typically elicits performance errors and a passive S1/S2 reward prediction design in which S1 predicted and S2 delivered or failed to deliver a reward. For each design, principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the subject ERPs from 129 electrodes. The first four spatial components obtained from each design included a medial frontal component that indexed both performance errors and reward prediction violations, an inferior posterior component, an inferior prefrontal component and a right frontal component. The scalp distributions of these components were highly correlated between the two experimental designs, supporting the hypothesis that the ERN and the MFN are the same ERP component.
Poster 95
MOTIVATIONAL CONTEXT AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES MODULATE THE NEURAL UNDERPINNINGS OF RISK
Hani D. Freeman, & Jennifer S. Beer University of Texas at Austin
Descriptors: risk taking
Not all risk is created equal. Some risks provide the potential for some benefit whereas others are purely for thrills. Extant neural research has identified a neural system that supports risk by focusing on gambling tasks where risk has some potential for benefit (e.g., monetary gain). Is this system also activated when risk is taken in a context with no benefit except thrills? We conducted an fMRI study to assess differences in adaptive (e.g., potential for benefit) and maladaptive risk-taking behavior. Participants were presented with scenarios that were equally risky but had the potential for adaptive benefits (e.g., taking an experimental drug that might kill you or save your life) or potential for thrills (e.g., taking a recreational drug that might kill you or give you a pleasurable experience). Consistent with previous neural research on risk, the study found that adaptive risks were associated with significant activation in caudate, insula, and middle temporal gyrus. However, risks that were taken purely for thrills engaged different neural systems depending on the individual's level of thrill seeking. Individuals high in sensation seeking significantly activated putamen and insula whereas individuals low in sensation seeking significantly activated anterior cingulate gyrus and prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that our under-
standing of the neural mediation of risk must take into account the motivation context of risk and individual interest in thrill seeking.
Poster 96
IS THE N400 MOODY? AN ERP INVESTIGATION OF HOW AFFECT AFFECTS LANGUAGE PROCESSING
Kim Sweeney, & Marta Kutas University of California, San Diego
Descriptors: emotion, event-related potentials, N400
While advances have been made in understanding how the human brain processes emotional faces, words, pictures and prosody, relatively little work has addressed how the experience of affect might influence other aspects of cognitive processing. This study used ERPs to investigate whether positive and negative affect differentially influence language processing. After positive and negative musical mood inductions, 15 female participants read category statements and opposites while performing a semantic judgment task. Category statements were followed by targets that were high-typicality, low-typicality or non-members of the category (e.g. 'a kind offruit: apple/kiwi/desk'), while opposites were followed by correct or incorrect targets (e.g. 'the opposite of digital: analog/forward'). Targets were matched for length, frequency and part of speech. Overall, ERPs elicited by the targets revealed the expected pattern of N400 amplitudes in both mood conditions (N400s to non-members > low-typicality members > high-typicality members, and N400s to incorrect opposites > correct opposites). However, there was a clear effect of mood on the processing of low-typicality items, which elicited a smaller N400 in the positive compared to the negative mood condition. None of the other target types were affected by mood. These findings suggest that positive and negative moods differentially affect the processing even of words that lack affective value, with positive mood facilitating access to items that are distantly related to the context.
This work was supported by grants AG08313 and HD22614 to M.K.
Poster 97
AFFECTIVE STARTLE MODULATION WITH IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT VIEWINGS OF EMOTIONAL FACES
Adrian Chapman, & Anita Miller Skidmore College
Descriptors: emotion, startle, implicit
Startle is an alarm reaction to potential danger, and affective contexts can reliably modulate startle magnitude. The current study examined whether affective startle modulation can happen without explicit awareness of contextual emotional stimuli. The paradigm used white noise startle probes following brief fearful, neutral, or happy emotional facial images. Facial display durations included a 33 millisecond masked condition (targetl 166 millisecond neutral mask), a short 16 millisecond condition, and a longer 150 millisecond condition. Startle blink magnitude was measured with electromyography (EMG) over the left and right orbicularis oculi muscles, and behavioral ratings assessed participants' awareness of the faces. Results showed a significant Emotion x Duration interaction (p<0.012). Most notably, left startle magnitude increased linearly across the happy, neutral, and fearful face conditions specifically in the 16 millisecond condition (p<0.027). Rating data revealed that participants could distinguish facial features during this condition. However, masking the brief trace stimuli blocked both declarative awareness and affective startle modulation. Such observations were striking, because the 16 millisecond condition was actually shorter than the 33 millisecond masked condition. Yet, no masking stimulus interfered with the perceptual elaboration process in the 16 millisecond condition when startle was modulated most clearly. Thus, perceptual elaboration in the absence of external stimuli may be essential to the affective startle modulation observed in this study.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF PERFORMANCE ANXIETY DURING A PUBLIC CONCERT AND A PUBLIC SPEECH
Susanne Gorges, Georg W. Alpers, & Paul Pauli University of Wurzburg, Germany
Descriptors: performance anxiety, heart rate, cortisol
Few studies have measured psychophysiological responses of performance anxiety outside of the laboratory, and the correspondence of psychophysiological responses across different performance situations has not yet been documented. Because physiological changes within musical performances often impair performance quality and are reported to be a critical point within musical performance anxiety (MPA), they are of special interest. In the current study we compared subjective and physiological responses in 31 music students while playing in a concert and giving a speech in front of an audience and within two baselines without an audience on four different days. Within a period of 90 minutes, participants repeatedly rated their performance anxiety and further positive and negative emotions. In addition, heart rate (HR), heart rate variability and cortisol were measured. HR and anxiety ratings were significantly higher in the public performances compared to the baselines, and similar in both public performances. The overall time course of HR was similar, but during the performance HR decreased only in the speech. HR of high anxious participants increased more prior to the concert than HR of low anxious participants. Whereas HR in the speech condition only correlated with anxiety ratings, HR changes in the concert condition were also associated with positive emotions. Detailed analyses of further physiological data are currently under way. In sum, we documented sensitive psychophysiological measures for performance-related arousal across different situations.
Poster 99
ERPS WAVEFORMS ARE MODULATED BY STIMULI MOTIVATIONAL VALUE INDEPENDENTLY FROM ITS PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE IN WHAT CONCERNS LOVE EMOTIONS
Luciana R. Gomes1, Isabel B. Fonseca2, Armando M. Oliveira3, & Nuno F. Costa4
1Faculty of Psychology, Lisbon University, 2Faculty of Psychology, Lisbon University, 3Faculty of Psychology, Coimbra University, 4Faculty of Medicine, Lisbon University
Descriptors: emotion, attention, EEG/ERP
Using oddball classical P300 experimental paradigm, ERPs correlates of positive emotional stimuli with equivalent valence and arousal levels belonging to different emotional categories, namely erotic emotions and excitement seeking emotions (stimuli were selected from IAPS), were studied in two experimental conditions, in which the probability of occurrence of each emotional category was varied. In the first condition, the erotic couples stimuli category was the most frequent (probability of occurrence 0.8) and the other category—excitement seeking emotions such as sports and amusing situations—occurred with complementary probability. In the second condition the probabilities of occurrence of each stimuli category were reversed. During stimuli presentation EEG was recorded in Fz, Cz and Pz leads referenced to the left mastoid. After visual inspection for artifact rejection, EEG samples occurring in the interval of 150ms prior and 1s during stimuli presentation were averaged and corrected to the 150ms baseline. Maximum positive amplitude and latency of waveforms in the time interval of 350-700ms post-stimuli were measured. In both conditions, both occurring with high or low probability, erotic stimuli elicited the heist Late Positive Potentials amplitude recorded on Fz and Pz leads (10/20 IS). This is a case where stimuli motivational value predominates over the effects of stimuli/ background deviance in what concerns LPP waveform amplitude.
This research was partially supported by grant POCI/PSI/60769/2004 (FCT).
RSATOOLBOX: A MATLAB TOOLBOX FOR CONTROLLING INDIVIDUAL EFFECTS OF BREATHING FREQUENCY AND VOLUME ON RESPIRATORY SINUS ARRHYTHMIA
Stefan M. Schulz1, Georg W. Alpers1, Alexander L. Gerlach2, Bernhard Dahme3, & Thomas Ritz4 1University of Wurzburg, Germany, 2University of Muenster, 3University of Hamburg, 4Southern Methodist University
Descriptors: respiratory sinus arrhythmia, individual respiratory influences, matlab toolbox
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is commonly used as an estimator of vagal outflow to the heart. However, its interpretation is complicated by additional influences of breathing frequency and volume, which varies between individuals. Therefore, exploration of correction procedures of RSA for respiratory influences has been recommended (e.g. Berntson et al.; Psychophysiology 1997; 34: 623-48). Here, we present an interactive program that allows for a within-individual correction of the RSA peak-valley index for tidal volume and total respiratory cycle time. RSAToolbox is a MATLAB toolbox including a graphical user interface for scoring of respiration corrected RSA by measurements of the cardiac interbeat-interval, respiratory cycle time, and tidal volume, recorded at different breathing frequencies. The within-individual regression of RSA divided by tidal volume upon total respiratory cycle time is used to estimate baseline vagal tone for each breath of a given total respiratory cycle time. In a subsequent experiment the slope and intercept of this regression are then used to calculate participants' deviation from the expected RSA index corrected for respiration. The program was successfully tested using paced breathing periods (8, 12, and 16 breaths per minute) for deriving individual regression parameters and subsequently calculating experimental RSA outcome measures with and without respiration correction. Reporting both corrected and uncorrected RSA indices is recommended for future experiments.
Preparation of this work was in part funded by a full stipend to the first author from the Gottlieb Daimler- and Karl Benz-Foundation, Germany.
Poster 101
AFFECTIVELY MODULATED POSTAURICULAR RESPONDING AND DYSPHORIA
Arthur R. Sandt1, & Denise M. Sloan2 1Temple University, 2National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System
Descriptors: postauricular reflex, depression, startle
Previous research suggests that the postauricular reflex (PAR) may be an index of appetitive responding in healthy adults. This study examined the extent to which attenuated PAR responses are related to depression symptom severity. Affectively modulated PAR was examined in 53 undergraduate students (28 females) who reported varying levels of depressive symptom severity. Participants viewed 60 pictures that systematically varied in valence while PAR and eyeblink startle responses to acoustic probes were recorded. Separate standard multiple regressions were performed using the eyeblink startle reflex and the PAR as outcome variables. In both regressions the predictor variables were Valence, Depression Severity, and the Valence X Depression Severity interaction. Regression analyses indicated that depression symptom severity significantly predicted the magnitude of PAR responses, b 5 — .251, po.01, and eyeblink startle responses, b 5 — .199, po.05. Specifically, greater depression symptom severity was associated with both attenuated PAR and eyeblink responses. However, the Valence X Depression Severity interactions were not significant. Several explanations might account for the attenuated startle reflex findings among dysphoric participants, including emotional context insensitivity theory and rapid habituation of startle responding among dysphoric participants. Both theories were examined and implications are discussed.
FRONTOLIMBIC RESPONSES IN EARLY ADOLESCENT SELF-EVALUATION
Ida Moadab1, Tara Gilbert1, Thomas J. Dishion1, & Don M. Tucker2 1University of Oregon, 2Electrical Geodesics, Inc.
Descriptors: self-evaluation, MFN
Children's use of positive self-schemas when evaluating themselves has been shown to predict higher self-esteem and prosocial functioning. In the transition to adolescence, states and traits of positive and negative affect may play a role in biasing children's self-perceptions. In adults, the medial frontal negativity (MFN) 250-350 ms post-stimulus discriminates between good and bad trait descriptors during self-evaluation (Tucker et al, 2003). In pilot work, normal adolescents endorsed good traits and rejected bad ones, showing a strong positive self-decriptive bias. Nonetheless, we predicted that the MFN be enhanced for traits in conflict with the child's dominant affect, even when this was not reflected in self-report. Dense array EEG was collected from fifty-eight 9-14 year-old children as they responded to whether trait words described them or not. Parent-report (but not child-report) of the child's positive and negative affect was related to the difference between the child's MFN amplitude when they responded yes to positive trait descriptors versus when they responded no to negative trait descriptors. As predicted, children higher in positive affect showed larger MFN amplitudes when rejecting negative words than when endorsing positive words. Children higher in negative affect, on the other hand, showed larger MFN amplitudes when endorsing positive words than when rejecting negative descriptors. These results suggest that trait levels of positive and negative affect bias the decision process in evaluation even when this bias is not reflected in overt self-report.
DIFFERENCES IN CEREBRAL LATERALIZATION OF HEART RATE AND TIME ESTIMATION AS A FUNCTION OF HOSTILITY LEVEL
Alissa Kate Holland, Joseph E. Carmona, David Flaherty, Thomas Belcher, Robert Walters, & David W. Harrison Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Descriptors: cerebral lateralization, heart rate, hostility
The notion of an internal clock was first proposed by Gibbon and Church (1984) and is hypothesized to be influenced by the right frontal region of the brain. The right frontal region has also been known to regulate sympathetic control (Wittling, 1998). It was predicted that high and low hostile men would differ on measures of time estimation, and physiological measures of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR). High and low hostile participants were administered the Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT), which was used as a right frontal stressor. Baseline measurements of time estimations were taken at the beginning of the experiment and after completion of the RFFT. Participants were requested to estimate the passage a 30-second time period. Blood pressure and heart rate recordings were obtained between each experimental manipulation. A main effect for Hostility was found (F(1, 47) 5 4.13, p < .05), indicating longer time estimation in high hostile men. A Hostile x Condition interaction was found for heart rate (F(1, 47) 5 3.8, p < .05), indicating a decrease in HR for high hostile men, and an increase in HR for low hostile men in the post stress condition. The results indicate an inability for high hostile men to accurately estimate time after exposure to a right-lateralized cognitive stressor relative to low hostile men and concurrently regulate sympathetic tone. As follows, the function of an internal clock (Gibbon & Church, 1984) may be related to diminished right frontal capacity in high hostile men, leading to less accurate time estimations.
Poster 103
REDUCED ERROR-RELATED PHASE SYNCHRONY IN EXTERNALIZING
Noah C. Venables1, Edward M. Bernat1, Selin Aviyente2, & Christopher J. Patrick1 1University of Minnesota, 2Michigan State University
Descriptors: phase synchrony, ERN, externalizing
Externalizing (EXT) is conceptualized as an underlying vulnerability to a broad range of problems involving behavioral disinhibition, including antisocial-aggressive deviance of various kinds and substance abuse and dependence. Previous research by our lab (Hall et al., 2007) demonstrated reduced amplitude of error-related negativity (ERN) following performance errors in a sample of undergraduate students high in externalizing tendencies as indexed by a new self-report inventory (Krueger et al., 2007), with ERN reduction attributable specifically to decreased amplitude of oscillatory activity in the theta (4 -7 Hz) frequency range. To further investigate the neural dynamics underlying impaired error monitoring in EXT, we undertook a time-frequency (TF) phase synchrony (PS) analysis of the EEG data reported by Hall et al. (2007). Cohen's class of TF distributions, which provides uniform TF resolution, was utilized to assess the degree of synchrony in phases of oscillatory activity between two brain regions (Aviyente et al., 2007). Synchronous activity was assessed between the frontal midline recording site (FCz; where ERN and theta amplitudes were maximal) and various other scalp sites from a 64-channel montage. EXT was associated with reduced error-related theta PS between FCz and motor cortex recording sites at the time as the peak ERN amplitude. These findings suggest that reduced ERN in EXT may reflect impairments in the normal functional coupling between anterior executive circuitry and motor cortices involved in endogenous action monitoring.
Poster 105
THE NOT SO ITSY SPIDER: TODDLERS' CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY AND FEAR BEHAVIORS IN RESPONSE TO A SPIDER APPROACH
Amy E. Dribin, Rachel L. Hutt, John R. Interrante, & Kristin A. Buss Pennsylvania State University
Descriptors: cardiovscular, emotion, developmental
Inefficient patterns of cardiovascular reactivity and recovery contribute to the development and maintenance of behavior problems in childhood (Forbes et al., 2006). Little research has explored relationships between RSA activity and distress behaviors during and following stressors in young children. This project seeks to determine how RSA changes across a threat task and a recovery period, and if those dynamic changes are associated with toddlers' approach and withdrawal behaviors. Ambulatory ECG was collected from 2-year-olds participating in an ongoing study of emotion development. Toddlers watched a large fake spider approach (SA) and were then invited to touch the spider. ECG was collected during a pre-task baseline, a 2 minute recovery after the SA, and a post-task baseline. Mean Heart Period (MHP) and RSA were calculated in 12 continuous 30sec epochs for children who did not cry. Repeated Measures ANOVAs examining average changes in RSA across the 12 epochs showed a significant quadratic changeover time (F5 33.38,p < .01). Thus, most toddlers' RSA values decreased and reached their lowest levels (most suppression) immediately following SA and returned to pre-SA levels within 3.5 minutes. Contrary to expectations, suppression did not peak during the most threatening portion of the task. As expected, children with a longer MHP during the SA displayed more withdrawal behaviors (r 5 — .34) and fewer approach behaviors
(r 5 — .54). Results will discuss individual differences accounting for RSA and MHP change.
This study was supported by a grant from NIH (MH075750) to Kristin A. Buss.
Poster 106
WHAT ATTENTIONAL BLINK CAN TELL US ABOUT DISSOCIATION
Aileen Echiverri1, Lori Zoellner1, Tiffany Mueller2, & Kendra Cornik1 'University of Washington, 2University of Missouri
Descriptors: dissociation, attention
Individuals with high dissociative tendencies show an enhanced ability to shift away from the focusing of attention. Attentional blink measures an individual's ability to direct attention to multiple stimuli by examining how the individual distributes attention in the initial stages of information processing, which may be influenced by dissociation. To investigate the effect of dissociation on attention, we examined attentional processing in 66 participants who were classified as either being high in dissociation or low in dissociation using a median split on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). The attentional blink paradigm (AB) was used to assess temporal effects on attention. AB (Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992) embeds a rapid serial visual presentation of targets (letters) within a series of distractors (numbers) in a visual stream at a high speed of 6-30 items per second. In AB, attentional resources are directed to one target thereby affecting the processing of a subsequent target. Participants were instructed to identify the targets that are presented from a larger set of possible targets that are separated by intervening distractors also referred to as a lag. Overall, there was a DES by lag interaction, such that, while low dissociators showed the typical U-shaped temporal attentional blink pattern of responding, high dissociators showed a flattened attentional response, showing no evidence of the typical AB effect. This impairment in AB potentially argues for lack of shift in attention in individuals high in dissociation.
NIMH Predoctoral Research Supplement (R01MH066347).
Poster 107
EVENT-RELATED FUNCTIONAL MRI ACTIVATION DURING GUIDED FACIAL MOVEMENTS
Hillary S. Schaefer, & James A. Coan University of Virginia
Descriptors: emotion, social, facial expression
The mechanisms linking affective and social responding to the generation of facial displays of emotion are not well understood. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study 16 participants performed four discrete facial movements associated with emotional facial expression: 1. Eyebrows up and together (sadness), 2. Eyebrows down and together (anger), 3. Cheeks up (as in smiling) and 4. Upper eyelid up (fear). Each movement and a comparison gaze condition were held for 12 six-second periods in an event-related design, and each expression was compared to the gaze condition for analysis. Video recording of the face confirmed the target movements were achieved. As compared to a neutral gaze, sad expressions were associated with activation in the anterior cingulate, supplementary motor area and bilateral precentral gyri. Moreover, activation in the sad minus gaze condition correlated positively with participants' responses on the BIS questionnaire and negatively with the BAS. Angry expressions were associated with predominantly left-sided activation including the left anterior insula. Movements associated with authentic smiling activated bilateral insula, putamen, precentral and inferior frontal gyri. Moving the upper eyelid up was associated with activation in the supplementary motor area, bilateral inferior frontal gyri, insula and anterior cingulate, and activation in
these regions correlated negatively with BAS scores. Results are discussed in terms of Facial Feedback theories as well as social functions of emotional facial expressions.
Poster 108
AN INFLUENCE OF TASK SWITCHING ON ERROR PROCESSING
Asuka M.A. Murata, & Jun'ichi Katayama Hokkaido University
Descriptors: error-related negativity (ern), error processing, task switching
Our action should be optimized to adapt to changing environments. When the goal of our action is changed, cognitive demands increase activity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). To examine how activity of the ACC relates to task switching influences on the action-monitoring system, especially error processing, we examined the error-related negativity (ERN) from an arrowhead version of Eriksen flankers paradigm. Participants were required to respond with the right or left thumb in accordance with the direction of the central arrowhead in the stimulus array in the central task, whereas they were asked to respond to the direction of the surrounding arrowheads in the surrounding task. Central and surrounding tasks were implemented separately in a no-switch session or randomly in a switch session. A cue presented before each stimulus showed which task participants should perform for the upcoming stimulus. Performance and ERN for repeat trials in the no-switch session and those for switch trials in the switch session were analyzed. Compared to repeat trials, error rate was higher and ERN was smaller in switch trials. These results indicated that task switching decreased the activity of error processing. In repeat and switch trials, there was no difference in the degree of mismatch between correct and error responses and in motivational factors. Therefore, it is suggested that high cognitive control caused by task switching degrades the saliency of error detection processes.
Poster 109
EMOTION REGULATION AND CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSE IN PATIENTS WITH SEIZURE DISORDERS
Michael J. Devine, Dana J. Weber, Kristin Sergeant, Amy Larson, Mary H. Burleson, & Nicole A. Roberts Arizona State University
Descriptors: emotion, cardiovascular, seizure
Seizures are involuntary episodes of movement, sensation, or behavior. Although epilepsy is the cause of the majority of seizures, a significant minority stem from unknown causes. Those suffering from these non-epileptic seizures (NES) often report more psychiatric conditions than epileptics; emotion dysregulation may underlie these co-occurring psychiatric conditions. The present study examines psychiatric distress, perceived stress, emotion regulation, and cardiovascular activity in NES patients compared with epilepsy patients and control participants. As expected, we found that NES patients report more psychiatric distress in general than epilepsy patients or control participants, and report more difficulties with emotion regulation strategies. When simply sitting and resting in the laboratory, however, non-significant trends suggest that NES patients show slower heart rate and longer cardiac pre-ejection period, indicating lower levels of cardiovascular activation than controls, and that epilepsy patients show greater respiratory sinus arrhythmia than NES patients or controls, based on EKG and impedance recording. Thus, both seizure disorders evidenced trends toward lower cardiovascular activation. Taken together, these findings suggest that NES is a-behavioral syndrome paradoxically accompanied by a physiologically calm profile in this otherwise-distressed group of individuals.
Arizona State University Multidisciplinary Grant-in-Aid.
TRAIT APPROACH/AVOIDANCE MOTIVATION AND NEURAL PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH COGNITION
Jeffrey M. Spielberg, Wendy Heller, Anna S. Engels, Rebecca L. Levin, & Gregory A. Miller University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: motivation, cognition
Research has explored the intersection of the neural systems involved in state motivation and in cognition. Emerging evidence suggests that a set ofbrain areas is associated with the influence of reward motivation on cognition, including middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The present study contrasted neural mechanisms recruited during selective attention associated with approach vs. avoidance motivation traits. Participants completed the color-word Stroop task during fMRI. Questionnaire measures of approach and avoidance temperament (Elliot & Thrash, 2002; Spielberg, Heller, Levin, Stewart, & Miller, in prep.) were correlated with regional activation. Elevated approach temperament predicted greater activation to incongruent than to congruent stimuli in left MFG and left IFG. Thus, the previously observed overlap in cognition and motivation activation patterns appears to reflect a causal relationship between them. Approach temperament also showed a stronger association with activation in bilateral insula and opercular cortex than did avoidance. Given research associating insula with the representation and evaluation of emotional significance, present findings suggest that approach temperament is associated with assigning increased emotional salience to putatively cognitive stimuli. These results blur the boundary between what are traditionally considered cognitive and emotional/motivational processes.
NIMH, NIDA, University of Illinois Beckman Institute.
REDUCED P300 AMPLITUDE IN CRIMINAL PSYCHOPATHY IS RELATED TO EXTERNALIZING TENDENCIES
Noah C. Venables, Elizabeth Reich, Edward M. Bernat, Jason R. Hall, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: psychopathy, externalizing, P300
In contrast with research on community samples, which shows consistent evidence of reduced P300 response in individuals with externalizing problems, findings from studies of the association between P300 and psychopathy in incarcerated samples have been mixed. Psychopathy as measured by Hare's (2003) Psychopathy-Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) includes separable affective-interpersonal and behavioral deviance factors, with recent research demonstrating a close selective link between the latter of these factors and externalizing psychopathology. The current study extended prior work by assessing differential relations between these two factors of PCL-R psychopathy and P300 amplitude in a sample of male prisoners. EEG was recorded from 54 scalp sites in a visual oddball task in which schematic heads served as targets, simple ovals as nontargets, and emotional and neutral IAPS pictures as novel stimuli. P300 responses to both target and non-target stimuli were reduced at anterior scalp sites in relation to scores on the behavioral deviance factor of the PCL-R, but not the affective-interpersonal factor. Individuals high in PCL-R behavioral deviance also showed reduced P300 response to novel pictures that were neutral, but not those that were affectively arousing. Direct measures of externalizing psycho-pathology were also available for this sample, and supplementary analyses indicated that the association of PCL-R behavioral deviance with P300 was mediated by its relationship to externalizing. Findings are discussed in relation to a two-process model of psychopathy.
Poster 111
TRAINING ON FOREIGN ACCENTS AND PRIOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TRAINING INFLUENCE TOPOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES DURING LEXICAL DECISION
Chelsea D. Fenush, Victoria A. Kazmerski, Dawn G. Blasko, & Samantha M. DeDionisio Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Descriptors: accent normalization, musical training, ERPs
Difficulty in comprehending foreign-accents poses communication barriers in situations such as computer help lines and college classrooms. Musicians have increased sensitivity in tasks involving acoustic analysis such as judging pitch, timbre, and speech prosody. We investigated the effect of training on accent normalization. ERPs were recorded while participants completed a lexical decision task (word, nonword). The lexical strings were spoken by a native speaker of American English or a native speaker of Cantonese. The training block included feedback and the orthographic presentation of the string that was spoken. The experimental group received training with the words spoken by the Cantonese-accented speaker. Participants were more accurate for non-accented English words than those spoken with a Cantonese accent. Musicians showed more improvement for accented words after training. The ERPs showed clear differences based on both training and prior musical experience. The N1 was more pronounced for musicians. Training with the Cantonese-speaker and prior musical experience exhibited separate effects throughout the recording epoch in the topographical distribution of ERPs to the English and Cantonese-accented words. For example, musicians' ERPs were more lateralized at 500 ms for the Cantonese-accented words. These data are consistent with prior reports that musical training improves general perceptual processing, not just that related to music. Furthermore it suggests that specific training on foreign accents improves accuracy of auditory perception of the accent.
Poster 113
DUAL PATHWAYS TO PSYCHOPATHY: RELATIONS WITH SKIN CONDUCTANCE REACTIVITY
Lilian N. Dindo, & Don C. Fowles University of Iowa
Descriptors: skin conductance, psychopathy, temperament
Psychopathy is a personality disorder consisting of affective interpersonal features (Factor 1) and impulsive-antisocial behavior (Factor 2), hypothetically reflecting low-fear and regulatory control deficits, respectively, which may relate differently to palmar skin conductance (SC) reactivity. The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) assessed these temperament risk factors (PPI-1 and -2) in college students. SC reactivity was hypothesized to differentially relate to the factors during four tasks previously used in studies of incarcerated psychopaths: concealed information task, picture viewing, presenting a speech about one's faults, and anticipation of aversive noise. PPI-1 was associated with reduced SC in anticipation of noise, PPI-2 with enhanced SC reactivity during the speech. Additional analyses explored alternative assessments of psychopathy risk-factors. They suggest that Factor 1, best captured with assessments of behavioral fearlessness, related to SC hyporeactivity to aversive stimuli - consistent with a weak defense system. Factor 2, best captured by dimensions reflecting externalizing, disinhibited forms of negative temperament, related to enhanced SC reactivity to a social stressor and unpleasant pictures along with reduced reactivity to pleasant pictures—consistent with high stress reactivity and low positive emotionality. Factor 2 pathway dimensions also related to SC hyporeactivity to significant names—consistent with a regulatory dysfunction process that inefficiently allocates attention to significant stimuli.
FEEDBACK-RELATED NEGATIVITY REFLECTS THE EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES EFFECTED ON ''ME''
Shun Itagaki1, Jun'ichi Katayama2, & Kazuo Hiraki1 1The University of Tokyo, 2Hokkaido University
Descriptors: feedback-related negativity, evaluation of outcome, action and outcome
The evaluation of whether the outcome is good or bad is reflected in feedback-related negativity (FRN) which is an event-related brain potential (ERP) component that is elicited by bad events. It is still uncertain, however, how the FRN reflects the outcomes induced by others, including interaction between action and outcome. Two conditions were conducted to investigate this issue (N 5 12). ERPs were recorded during the alternative gambling task performed by two players (participant and virtual partner). In congruent condition, the relation of action and outcome was congruent and relationship between two players was cooperative, where partner's choice of gain/loss, as well as the participant's, resulted in monetary gain/loss for participant. The FRN was elicited not only by participant's losses but also by the partner's losses, suggesting that the FRN reflects evaluation of outcomes of others as well as one's own. The results replicated that of Itagaki and Katayama (2008, NeuroReport). In incongruent condition, the relation of action and outcome was incongruent, where the participant's choice of gain/loss resulted in partner's outcome and partner's choice of gain/loss resulted in participant's outcome. In contrast to congruent condition, the FRN was elicited by the observation of partner's choice of losses, but not elicited by participant's own choice of losses. These results indicate that the FRN reflects the evaluation that the outcome is good or bad for one's own evaluative criteria, regardless of the difference of chioce agent.
Poster 115
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY DURING EMOTIONAL STROOP PERFORMANCE IN CHRONIC PAIN AFTER TRAUMATIC MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS
Sandra Schonfelder1, Christina Liossi2, Anna Jepson2, Victoria Rose2, Clemens Kirschbaum1, Lusia Stopa2, & Anke Karl2 1University of Technology Dresden, 2University of Southampton
Descriptors: ERP, chronic pain, emotional stroop
CONTEXT Previous research on somatic and mental health complaints among survivors of severe motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) has emphasized the frequent occurrence of chronic physical pain. The present study aimed to ascertain whether MVA survivors with chronic pain display differential neural processing patterns towards pain- and accident-related verbal material as an indicator of more elaborate pain memories. METHODS We recruited a sample of accident survivors with (n 5 11) and without (n 5 7) chronic pain as a consequence of their MVA. EEG was recorded from 28 scalp positions whilst they carried out a computerized emotional counting Stroop paradigm. Counterbalanced blocks consisting of four experimental word categories (neutral, accident, pain, general negative) were presented. RESULTS A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant word-type x group interaction for the time between 280-450 ms (P300) after stimulus onset on the scalp location Pz (F(3,14) 5 8.26, p 5 .002). Contrary to our expectations, no group differences for the P300 amplitude with respect to pain-related words were found. However, chronic pain participants displayed an enhanced amplitude towards neutral words and a reduced amplitude towards accident-related words compared to healthy controls. Analyses of covariance revealed that these findings were not accounted for by differences in anxiety sensitivity or severity of concomitant PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSION The electrophysiological findings will be discussed in terms of mutual maintenance concepts of chronic pain and PTSD.
This study is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD,D/ 07/50080).
Poster 116
COGNITIVE STYLE AND FRONTAL EEG ASYMMETRY DURING INCREASED GOAL-STRIVING IN BIPOLAR DISORDER
Kim E. Goldstein1, Carly K. Peterson2, Eddie Harmon-Jones2, Lauren B.
Alloy1, Evan M. Kleiman1, Robin Nusslock3, Daniel Reilly1, Lyn Y.
Abramson3, Wayne G. Whitehouse1, & Shimrit Koren1 1Temple University, 2Texas A&M University, 3University of Wisconsin-Madison
Descriptors: EEG alpha power, bipolar disorder, behavioral approach system
According to the behavioral approach system (BAS) dysregulation model, bipolar disorder individuals experience extreme activation of the BAS, a psychobiological system that regulates approach motivation in response to reward, which may lead to mood episodes. Research has examined BAS on a neurophysiological level, focusing on left frontal cortical activity as an index of this weak regulatory system in bipolar disorder during goal-striving. Studies have also looked at cognitive styles underlying BAS dysregula-tion. This study examined relations between BAS-relevant/irrelevant cognitive styles and asymmetrical frontal brain activation. Right-handed individuals with bipolar disorder (n 5 43) and no major affective psychopathology (n 5 62) participated in an easy/medium/hard anagram task with win/lose trials. EEG alpha power was measured (8 - 13Hz), and hemispheric asymmetry indexes were computed. Participants received the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scales and Depressive Experiences Questionnaire to assess dependency and self-criticism. Within the bipolar group, controlling for mood, self-criticism was significantly positively related to greater relative left lateral-frontal activation (F7/F8) in response to hard-win and lose trials. We did not find this relationship for the BAS-irrelevant cognitive style of dependency. Scores on the BAS-irrelevant sociotropy scale were negatively related to greater relative left mid-frontal activation (F4/F3). Our findings highlight the relation between neurophysiolo-gical processes and cognition during goal-striving and their influence on bipolar disorder.
Poster 117
TWO INDEPENDENT COMPONENTS RELATED TO THE ERN
Bai Yu1, Matsumoto Atsushi2, Kimura Motohiro1, Miyakoshi Makoto3, Kanayama Noriaki1, & Ohira Hideki1 1Nagoya University, 2National Institute for Physiological Sciences, 3National Institute for Longevity Sciences
Descriptors: EEG, ERN, ICA
The error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential that is maximal approximately 50 ms after the commission of an error. The ERN is generated in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region of the medial prefrontal cortex implicated in both cognitive and emotional processing. In the present study a linear decomposition technique, independent component analysis (ICA), is applied to multichannel EEG data from an ERN experiment in which subjects performed a flanker task. We found that two independent components are separated from the ERN. Source analysis indicate that one component is localized in the dorsal, the other one is localized in the rostral of ACC. This suggests that the ERN can be separated into a cognitive-related component and emotional-related component by ICA.
THE LATENCY OF THE INSTRUCTED AND CONDITIONED FEAR REACTION TO STIMULI SIGNALLING PAIN
Ole Sli, & Magne A. Flaten University of Troms0
Descriptors: startle, conditioning, fear
Two experiments investigated the latency of the fear reaction. A fear reaction mediated by preattentive automatic processes would have a latency of about 100 ms or less, while a fear reaction due to controlled cognitive processes would have a longer latency. The latency of the fear reaction was tested by fear potentiated startle: startle-eliciting noise was presented at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) from 10 to 1000 ms after tone onset. Experiment 1: A tone conditioned stimulus (CS) signalled a heat pain unconditioned stimulus (US) presented 1000 ms after CS onset. The CS and US were explicitly unpaired in a control group. It was hypothesized that the CS would increase startle in the paired group compared to the unpaired group, and the point in time when startle was significantly increased in the paired group defined the latency of conditioned fear. Experiment 2: The participants were told that the tone predicted a painful heat pulse to the arm in one condition (threat condition), and that no heat pulses would be presented in the no-threat condition in a within subject design. Potentiated startle was assessed the same way as in Experiment 1, and the predictions were similar. Preliminary analyses revealed a latency of about 100 ms for conditioned fear of pain and a latency of about 500 ms for instructed fear of pain. These results indicate that automatic and preattentive processes underlie the conditioned fear reaction, while the instructed fear reaction is dependent on controlled cognitive processes.
WORKING 'HARDER' BUT NOT 'SMARTER': ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR CORTICAL INEFFICIENCY IN DEPRESSIVE PARTICIPANTS
Jason W. Krompinger, Jacqueline M. Kostelec, Ashley M. Malooly, Jennifer L.
Petrongolo, & Robert F. Simons University of Delaware
Descriptors: event related potentials, cognitive control, psychopathology
Evidence from neuroimaging studies indicates that depressive symptomatology is associated with inefficient recruitment of prefrontal brain regions while performing tasks that tax executive function. Such an effect has been explained as indicative of a general cognitive dysfunction in depression that gives rise to commonly observed symptoms, such as difficulties regulating emotion and excessive rumination. In the current study, we investigated the time-course and ERP signature of inefficient executive functioning using a verbal Stroop color-naming task. Twenty-one (21) undergraduates with moderate to severe BDI-II depression scores and 20 low-scoring controls completed the task. Overt reaction and P3 latencies indicated that all subjects showed prominent Stroop effects, such that incongruent responses were delayed compared to congruent, though performance between the two groups did not differ. A frontal negativity occurring as early as 300 ms post-stimulus revealed a trial X group interaction which indicated depressive subjects differentiated congruent and incongruent trials earlier than did controls. Following this effect, depressive subjects showed larger and more frontally distributed P3s, indicating an over-commitment of cognitive control resources was necessary for the depressive subjects to perform comparable to controls. These data lend further evidence to the cortical inefficiency hypothesis and extend the literature by indicating possible improper timing of neural activations during an executive task in depressive subjects.
Poster 119
CHILDREN'S PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIVITY TO FEEDBACK: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERNCES IN PERFORMANCE AND TEMPERAMENT
Jennifer M. McDermott, & Nathan A. Fox University of Maryland
Descriptors: FRN, children, flanker
Throughout development children become more capable of utilizing a variety of forms of feedback to initiate self-reflection, alter behavior patterns, and guide future actions. As such, this study examined the impact offeedback on children's task performance and explored the relation between individual differences in temperament and reactivity to feedback. Results demonstrate that feedback increased children's task engagement as evidenced by fewer errors of omission (F(1,65) 5 9.62, p< .01) and faster reaction times (F(1,65) 5 13.92, p<.01). Physiological reactivity varied as a function of feedback type with a more pronounced feedback-related negativity (FRN) on incorrect, as compared to correct, trials at sites Fz, Cz, and Pz (Fs(1,57)>25.29, ps<.05). Larger FRN responses were also associated with fewer errors of commission (Fs(1,50) > 4.10, ps < .05). In addition, FRN amplitude was moderated by individual differences in temperament. Specifically, children high in temperamental approach showed greater reactivity to positive (correct) feedback than children low in approach (is>2.13, ps<.05). In sum, feedback had a significant impact on children's behavioral and physiological reactivity to feedback. These data also illustrate the utility of performance feedback for young children in regard to engaging cognitive control processes and suggest that temperamental differences modulate reactivity to performance feedback.
Poster 121
POSTERIOR P2 REFLECTS THE COMPLEXITY OF MENTAL IMAGERY REPRESENTATION
Keiko Yamazaki, & Jun'ichi Katayama Hokkaido University
Descriptors: mental imagery, posterior p2
Our previous study showed that P2 ERP reflects some process involved in mental imagery generation. However, it was possible that P2 reflects attentional shift associated with the imagery generation. Thus, we reanalyzed the data to examine this possibility. We also analyzed complexity of imagery related to imagery representation per se. Participants memorized four kinds of shapes with order of the segments to be drawn, two of which were SIMPLE shape composed of three segments, and the others were COMPLEX shape of five segments. When the first segment of the shape was placed on left, the memory direction was from left to right, and vice verse. In the experiment, 5x5 grids with the name of shape in the central cell, and with an ''X'' probe mark in another cell, were presented. Participants decided whether or not the probe mark fell on the visualized shapes. Half of the trials were EARLY trials when the marks were placed on a segment early in the memory sequence, and the other half were LATE trials. Choice RT was shorter in the EARLY than in the LATE, and shorter in the SIMPLE than in the COMPLEX trials. These results indicated that participants visualized shape in the order to be memorized, and imagery generation followed to memory direction. The P2 amplitude was larger in the complex trial than in the simple trial, but direction of imagery generation did not have any effect. The P2 reflected the complexity of imagery representation rather than direction of attention. This result indicated that posterior P2 reflected re-entrance of visual signal to the early visual areas.
BASELINE RSA PREDICTS SPONTANEOUS AND LEARNED REAPPRAISAL TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL STIMULI
Rachael N. Volokhov, & Heath A. Demaree Case Western Reserve University
Descriptors: emotion, RSA
This study was designed to examine two questions: 1) can a specific emotion regulation strategy be taught and 2) do individual characteristics influence strategy selection. The regulation strategy taught to participants was 'reappraisal', a cognitively oriented strategy that redefines an emotional stimulus to reduce emotional impact (Gross & John, 2003). A total of 113 healthy undergraduate participants watched negative and positive two minute film clips, the experimental group received reappraisal training, and participants watched two more negative and positive film clips. Heart rate and electrodermal responses were measured for the two minutes preceding the clip and during the clip itself. Facial expressions were videotaped during the clip and coded for emotional content and self-reports of participants' emotional experiences were collected. Participants with high baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) spontaneously used reappraisal more than those with low baseline RSA in response to both the negative and positive emotional stimuli. While reappraisal training increased subsequent use of this strategy for all participants, it was those with low baseline RSA who benefited the most from reappraisal training.
Poster 123
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE CONTROL ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CORTISOL REACTIVITY
Alexandra Amen, Jessica Dodd, Stephanie L. Fineman, & Rebecca J. Compton Haverford College
Descriptors: cognitive control, ERN, emotion regulation
This study investigated therelationship between cognitive control and stress reactivity, motivated by the hypothesis that effective cognitive control predicts effective emotion regulation. Cognitive control systems were assessed through measurement of the error-related negativity (ERN) and post-error changes in behavior during a Stroop task. Stress reactivity was measured by changes in salivary cortisol during the Stroop task and during a subsequent stress manipulation that included public speaking and mental arithmetic components. Cortisol changes during the Stroop task were significantly correlated with the amplitude of the ERN (r 5 — 0.44, p< .01, n 5 37), such that individuals with smaller ERNs showed greater cortisol increases during the Stroop task. Cortisol changes during the Stroop task were also significantly correlated with overall task accuracy (r 5 — 0.40, p< .05) and marginally correlated with posterror accuracy change (r 5 — 0.28, p<.10); participants with worse overall accuracy and with a greater post-error decline in accuracy showed greater cortisol increases during the task. However, neither the ERN nor behavioral measures of cognitive control predicted the cortisol response to the subsequent stress manipulation. Results offer partial support for the hypothesis that individual differences in cognitive control predict individual differences in stress reactivity.
Poster 124
TRACKING AUDITORY PATTERN LEARNING WITH SINGLE-TRIAL EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS
Rune A. Eikeland, Kristiina Kompus, & Tom Eichele University of Bergen
Descriptors: ERP, single-trial, pattern-learning
The study investigate the dynamics of auditory pattern-learning using a single-trial analysis of event-related EEG (1, 2). We used an auditory target detection
experiment, where the standard was a mid-panned sound and the targets were left or right panned, at varying target-to-target intervals (TTI). Series of eight successive target stimuli were presented in four conditions with varying levels of predictability: 1. Target side and TTI were random, 2. Target side fixed, 3. TTI fixed, and 4. both side and TTI fixed. EEG was collected from 64 channels, preprocessed with individual independent component analysis (ICA) for artifact correction and wavelet denoising, and then subjected to group temporal ICA (3). The resulting temporally independent factors (IC) related to the N1, N2 and P3 sub-components of the auditory ERP. The ICs were modulated by TTI and by varying levels of predictability. For later ICs, the modulation was also related to the speeding of response times with increasing predictability. The single-trial event related EEG decomposition shows a number of ICs at different peak latencies with a common sensitivity to TTI and stimulus patterns. 1.Jongsma, M. L., Eichele, T., Van Rijn, C. M., Coenen, A. M., Hugdahl, K., Nordby, H., & Quiroga, R. Q. (2006) Clin Neurophysiol 117, 1957-1973 2.Eichele, T., Specht, K., Moosmann, M., Jongsma, M. L., Quiroga, R. Q., Nordby, H., & Hugdahl, K. (2005) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, 17798-17803 3.Eichele, T., Rachakonda, S., & Calhoun, V. (2008) Psychophysiology submitted.
Poster 125
IMAGINE THAT! ERPS PROVIDE EVIDENCE FOR DISTINCT HEMISPHERIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROCESSING OF CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
Hsu-Wen Huang1, Chia-Lin Lee2, & Kara D. Federmeier3 1National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, 2Unversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: erps, hemispheric asymmetries, language
Behavioral and neuropsychological evidence suggest that abstract and concrete concepts may be represented, retrieved, and processed differently in the human brain. However, the underlying nature of those differences remains in dispute; in particular, it is not clear whether such differences are better thought of as quantitative (e.g., concrete concepts have more associations in semantic memory) or qualitative (e.g., imagery is used in the processing of concrete but not abstract concepts). The current study examined this question by taking advantage of polysemy and using adjectives to elicit concrete and abstract meanings of the same lexical item (e.g., 'green book' versus 'interesting book'). In addition, visual half-field (VF) presentation methods were used in conjunction with ERP measures to test the idea that concreteness effects may arise from multiple mechanisms distributed across the left (LH) and right (RH) hemispheres. With presentation to the left VF (RH), nouns used in a concrete sense elicited a sustained frontal negativity (500 -900 ms) that has been previously linked to imagery. In contrast, with presentation to the right VF (LH), nouns preceded by concrete modifiers (related or unrelated to the noun) were associated with more positivity on the P2 and N400, and no frontal negativity was observed. The results thus suggest multiple sources for concreteness effects, with the LH sensitive to the differential contextual constraint provided by concrete and abstract modifiers and the RH playing a critical role in linking language input to sensory imagery. NSC GSSA grant to HWH and NIA grant AG026308 to KDF.
Poster 126
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS IN A NON-INCARCERATED COLLEGE SAMPLE
Nathaniel E. Anderson1, Li Wan2, Jessica D. Davies1, Keith A. Young2, & Matthew S. Stanford1 1Baylor University, 2Texas A&M Health Science Center
Descriptors: psychopathy, eye blink startle, P3
Previous research has demonstrated a variety of psychophysiological characteristics (e.g., differences in eye blink startle and P3 amplitude) common to
psychopathy; however, these differences have rarely been examined in non-incarcerated samples. Only a few recent studies have attempted to replicate these findings in individuals scoring high for psychopathic traits, and consistent results have been elusive. The present study examined eye blink startle to affective pictures and P3 event-related potentials among a sample of college students grouped for psychopathic traits using factor scores from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI). Consistent with previous work in incarcerated psychopaths, the present study found that students scoring high on the interpersonal/affective factor of the PPI (fearless dominance) did not show the expected augmented eye blink startle following emotional priming with negative pictures. In addition, a difference in P3 amplitude among those scoring high on the PPI social deviance factor (impulsive antisociality) was also found. Previous examinations of the relationship between psychopathy and the P3 amplitude in incarcerated populations have been equivocal. Together, these results support the notion of psychopathy as a normal-range personality disorder marked by measurable differences in emotional reactivity and information processing.
Poster 127
THE EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON THE LATE-POSITIVE POTENTIAL EVOKED DURING AFFECTIVE PICTURE VIEWING
Morgan Shields, Qu Tian, Jennifer Payton, & J. Carson Smith University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Descriptors: exercise, emotional picture viewing, ERP-late positive potential
Despite being known to enhance mood, little is known regarding the effect of exercise on brain motivational circuits, or brain processing of emotional stimuli. The aim ofthis study was to compare event-related potentials recorded during the viewing of affective pictures after moderate intensity exercise to those recorded after a seated rest control condition. On separate days, six healthy college students completed counterbalanced conditions of 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise and a seated rest control condition. 128-channel electroence-phalographic (EEG) recordings were obtained after each condition while subjects viewed 30 pleasant, 30 neutral, and 30 unpleasant IAPS pictures (4 s on, 12 s off). EEG data were low-pass filtered at 30Hz, segmented (— 100 ms to 1500 ms post picture onset), corrected for artifacts, transformed to an average reference, baseline corrected, and averaged for each picture valence. The late-positive potential (LPP; 400-700 ms) during unpleasant picture viewing was significantly reduced at centro-parietal sensors after exercise compared to after rest (p< .05). There were no significant differences between the exercise and rest conditions for the LPP evoked during the viewing of pleasant or neutral pictures. Based on these preliminary results, cortical activation during exposure to unpleasant emotional stimuli may be reduced after a single session of moderate intensity exercise in healthy college students. This suggests that reduced reactivity to unpleasant stimuli may be related to the short-term mood enhancing effects of acute exercise.
Poster 128
NEUROELECTRIC ASSESSMENT OF BINGE DRINKING
Kelly E. Courtney1, & John Polich2 1San Diego State University, 2The Scripps Research Institute
Descriptors: binging, alcohol, ERP
Young male adult university students were assessed with a battery of electroencephalographic (EEG) and event-related brain potential (ERP) tasks to assay the effects of 'binge drinking' in non-binge drinking controls, low-binge drinkers, and high-binge drinkers. Resting EEG mean power was greater in high-bingers compared to non- and low-binger subjects, with the largest group difference at 25 - 35 Hz. A mental head rotation task found high-bingers produced smaller P300 amplitudes for both easy and hard conditions than non-and low-binge subjects. A polygon shape matching task yielded a group by condition interaction, such that high-bingers exhibited smaller P300 amplitudes than the non- and low-bingers in the match condition but similar amplitudes in the mismatch condition. A memory scanning task demonstrated that the high-
bingers yielded lower P300 amplitudes than the non- and low-bingers for the largest memory condition. A Stroop ERP task produced similar outcomes for the congruent and incongruent stimuli. No binge group effects were obtained for the distracter or target stimulus in a visual three-stimulus oddball task. The findings suggest that high-binge drinking is associated with subsequent neuroelectric changes relative to non- and low-binge drinking. Neuropsychological implications will be discussed. NIAAA 3 P50 AA06420.
Poster 129
THE P3A AS AN INDEX OF TASK SWITCHING: EVIDENCE FROM NOVEL, TASK SWITCH, AND NO-GO STIMULI
Aminda J. O'Hare, Cody Wolcott, & Joseph Dien University of Kansas
Descriptors: task switching, p3a, componentry
It has been reported that the P3a is the same for novel and task switch responses, as well as no-go responses (Barcelo, et al., 2006; Barcelo, Perianez & Nyhus, in press). It is possible that these responses are simply similar. The present study used high-density electroencephalography systems and principal component analysis (PCA), which allow the P3a response to be separated from the P3b response that occurs during the same time frame, to examine these reponses. A more detailed comparison of the P3a-like activity in these tasks allows what cognition the P3a represents to be better interpreted. In the current study, 24 participants completed an auditory novelty-oddball task, an auditory go/no-go task, and a Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) with auditory feedback in a single session while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a high-density, 128 channel system. The P3a components produced by each task were found via separate PCAs to have virtually the same source localization and thus virtually the same scalp topography. These results strongly suggest that the P3a is the same component for each of these tasks. Therefore, it would seem likely that the P3a reflects the maintenance and updating of task sets, as this is the common cognition across these three tasks. What part of task switching the P3a reflects still needs to be determined. A P283 that seems to truly be responding to novelty was found in the novel oddball paradigm but must be considered tentative at this point.
Poster 130
DIFFICULTY DISENGAGING FROM AFFECTIVE STIMULI IN ANXIETY: CONVERGING EVIDENCE OF REACTION TIME AND EYE MOVEMENT
Ryan B. Matlow1, David E. Gard2, David J. Berg3, Margareta Krausova2, & Rachel Jones2
1University of Denver, 2San Francisco State University, 3University of Southern
California
Descriptors: attention, anxiety
Preliminary evidence in cognitive research in anxiety has indicated an attention bias for affective information consisting of a difficulty in disengaging from affective stimuli. This evidence comes from reaction time tasks such as the probe detection task where individuals high in trait anxiety (HTA) have been shown to be slower to respond to a probe when it is in a location different from an affective stimulus, relative to a neutral one. This has been interpreted as HTA individuals being 'caught' on the affective stimulus. The present study is the first to pair reaction time and eye movement (EOG) measures simultaneously to test this difficulty disengaging hypothesis in individuals with high and low trait anxiety. 69 participants of varying trait anxiety levels completed a standard probe detection task while eye movements were monitored. Threatening, positive, and neutral images were viewed for 500 and 2000 ms intervals during the probe detection task. EOG analyses revealed early preferential attention for affective stimuli in all participants, while reaction time measures detected a difficulty disengaging from affective stimuli in the HTA group only. In other words, regardless of trait
anxiety all participants' visual attention was drawn to affective stimuli, but only the HTA group had a delayed response when the probe was located in a position different from the affective stimulus. Further, results indicated an increased average length of fixation on affective images in the HTA group only. Implications for the understanding and treatment of anxiety are discussed.
Poster 131
ACTIVATION OF THE REFLEXIVE AND REFLECTIVE SYSTEMS WHILE VIEWING MEMBERS OF ARTIFICIAL AND NATURALLY OCCURRING GROUPS: AN FMRI STUDY
John P. Ryan1, Tricia Z. King1, David A. Washburn1, Richard T. Amoss1, & Eric J. Vanman2 1Georgia State University, 2University of Queensland
Descriptors: social neuroscience
Dual process models of social neuroscience propose distinct systems for automatic (reflexive) and controlled (reflective) processes. To date, studies have used naturally occurring groups, such as race or sex, to examine the neural systems involved in social categorization. In the present study, artificial groups were constructed and neural responses to these groups were measured. Twenty-eight college students participated in a team-building exercise and completed a social categorization task in a 3T fMRI scanner. Photographs of team members included African-American and White individuals, thus allowing activation differences to be compared for explicit (team) and implicit (race) categorization. We hypothesized that team categorizations would show greater activation in regions proposed to be involved in controlled processing when viewing members of the outgroup team, whereas race categorizations would show greater activation of suggested automatic systems when viewing members of the outgroup race. During both explicit and implicit categorization, regions involved in reflexive and reflective processes exhibited activation to outgroup stimuli. These findings suggest that social categorization recruits separate neural regions during explicit and implicit categorization, but both tasks involve components of the proposed automatic and controlled processes.
Poster 132
ACUTE STRESS MODULATES VISUAL EVOKED FIELDS TO EMOTIONAL AND NEUTRAL STIMULI
Ludger Elling1, Markus Junghofer1, Harald Schupp2, & Christian Putsche1 'University of Muenster, 2University of Konstanz
Descriptors: acute stress
The Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) ofthe Event Related Potential is a negative deflection over temporo-occipital sensor sites in a [150:300] ms time range. It has been suggested to reflect a feed-forward call for visual attention based on parallel processing. Along with its according field, it is the first robust electrophysiolo-gical correlate of emotional processing. Yet, pending on attentional load, modulations have been demonstated at [80:140] ms and, under certain conditions, in the C1 and N1. In recent time, novel interest on the central nervous effects of acute processive stress has motivated studies demonstrating its impact on several processes of sensation and cognition and on neurocrine states. We assumed acute stress to modulate passive attention to behaviorally relevant, but task irrelevant visual stimuli. Healthy subjects were exposed to a mild mental stressor while presenting them with emotional slides. Event Related Fields were recorded. Peripheral, endocrine and self-assessment data were used to stratify our sample with respect to stress responsiveness. As a main effect of stress, we observed a strikingly rapid polarity change for source space difference waveforms in the topographic and temporal range of the P1 and EPN, with a positivity [100:120] ms at occipito-temporal sources and a subsequent negativity [140:160] ms at the same site. The effect was largely lateralized to the left hemisphere and attenuated for subjects oflow stress responsiveness. Our data may be interpreted in terms of attraction of attention and competence for processing resources.
This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR 751).
Poster 133
NEURAL NETWORKS UNDERLYING NARRATIVE EMOTIONAL IMAGERY
Vincent D. Costa, Versace Francesco, Bradley M. Margaret, & Peter J. Lang University of Florida
Descriptors: imagery, amygdala, fmri
Heightened efferent output in cardiovascular, autonomic, and somato-motor systems during the vivid recollection of emotional events is theorized to result from activation of sensorimotor programs that are consistent with experience of the event and that engage the brain's motivational circuitry. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of narrative emotional imagery in 32 healthy participants, and explored how functional neural connectivity relates to coincident cardiac output. Participants were prompted by visually presented texts and instructed to imagine themselves as actors in the described emotional events. Emotional imagery triggered increased activation of brain areas involved in semantic processing (left ventrolateral inferior frontal gyrus) and in those mediating anticipation of action (premotor cortex, caudate, thalamus and cerebellum). Increased blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes were also found in the amygdala and nucleus accumbens that varied with emotional arousal and hedonic valence, respectively. Emotional imagery elicited sustained heart rate acceleration relative to imagery of neutral contents. Functional connectivity analyses indicate that imagery involves processing within a premotor-basal ganglia loop and that increased connectivity between the amygdala and this premotor circuit is highly predictive of heart rate reactivity. These findings support the idea that emotional imagery recruits motivational circuits that mobilize the individual for action.
Poster 134
PERSEVERATIVE RESPONDING AND P3 LATENCY IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE
Whitney R. Creager1, Nicolas J. Schlienz2, & Rebecca J. Houston1 1Research Inst on Addictions/University at Buffalo, 2University at Buffalo, SUNY
Descriptors: alcoholism, impulsivity, P3
Impaired response inhibition has long been associated with alcoholism, but studies using neuropsychological measures have yielded mixed results. This study focused specifically on perseverative responding (PR) and examined its association with the P3 event-related potential. Men and women (N 5 55) were recruited via substance abuse treatment facilities and newspaper advertisements into either the alcohol dependence positive (ALC+; n 5 28) or negative (ALC-; n 5 27) group. Participants completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; 128 card version) and an auditory perseveration (AP) task. The median number of perseverative responses on the WCST was used to split the sample into low (LPR; n 5 26) and high (HPR; n 5 23) PR groups. In the AP task, rare stimuli (i.e., white noise burst) that signaled a change in stimulus-response mapping were used to elicit the P3. Repeated measures analyses of P3 variables, controlling for self-reported aggression, revealed a significant PR x ALC interaction [F(1,44) 5 7.0, p 5 .01] for P3 latency. Follow-up analyses indicated that within the ALC+group, HPR participants exhibited significantly shorter P3 latencies [F(1,22) 5 6.73, p 5 .02] compared to LPR participants. This effect was not found in the ALC- group. No significant effects for P3 amplitude were detected. These results support prior work indicating that impulsivity is a signficant factor for some alcohol dependent individuals. Further, this effect is manifested at both physiological and behavioral levels, which may have important implications for assessment and treatment strategies.
NEURAL PHASE SYNCHRONY DURING RESTING STATE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS AND THEIR UNAFFECTED BIOLOGICAL RELATIVES
Seung Suk Kang1, Noah C. Venables1, Edward M. Bernat1, Aviyente Selin2, & Scott R. Sponheim1 1University of Minnesota, 2Michigan State University
Descriptors: schizophrenia, resting eeg, phase coherence
Abnormal resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) activities have been observed in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected biological relatives, suggesting that the abnormality may reflect genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. To investigate the underlying neural dynamics, we analyzed EEG phase synchrony (PS) measured during resting states. PS is a measure of interregional functional coupling, reflecting the degree of synchrony in phases of oscillatory neural activities in two brain regions. In preliminary analyses, we evaluated PSs between frontal and parietal electrodes (Fz and Pz) in two resting states (eyes-closed [EC] and eyes-open [EO]) for 40 schizophrenia patients, their 52 first-degree biological relatives, and 54 control subjects. In EC condition, patients had lower PS in alpha (9 ~ 13 Hz) and beta (14~23 Hz) bands than controls and relatives. In EO condition, relatives had higher PS in all frequency bands than controls, while patients failed to differ from controls. In comparisons of PSs between EC and EO conditions, both patients and relatives had higher PSs of all frequency bands in EO than in EC, which was absent in controls. These results suggested that the reduced fronto-parietal PS in alpha/beta bands during EC might be specific to affected states of schizophrenia, which might reflect less functional integration in schizophrenic brain.
THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND SEX ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PTSD STATUS AND CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONDING
Alison Eonta1, Scott R. Vrana2, Jean C. Beckham3, & Michelle F. Dennis4 1Virginia Commonwealth University, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3Duke University Medical Center and Durham VAMC, 4Durham
Descriptors: cardiovascular, PTSD
Past research has found inconsistent effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) status on baseline cardiovascular responding. These inconsistencies may be explained by demographic differences in study samples. In this study, the influence of sex and race on the relationship between PTSD status and cardiovascular baseline was examined. Demographic effects on response to anger imagery were also explored. The sample consisted of men with (n 5 61) and without PTSD (n 5 56) and women with (n 5 61) and without PTSD (n 5 67), with about equal numbers of Blacks and Whites in each group. Participants' heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) readings were taken continuously throughout a 10-minute baseline period and 20-seconds ofanger recall. For all sex by race groups, baseline HR was higher in PTSD participants than in non-PTSD participants, except for black men, who showed the opposite pattern. Lower baseline SBP and DBP were observed for Whites with PTSD than for Whites without PTSD, while for Blacks the opposite is true. Men and Black subjects with PTSD had a larger HR increase during anger imagery than men and Blacks without PTSD, whereas women and White subjects showed the opposite pattern. White subjects displayed greater DBP and SBP increases during anger imagery than Black subjects regardless of PTSD status; in fact the SBP levels of Black females actually decreased during anger imagery. Results suggest that demographic variables may account for inconsistent effects of PTSD on cardiovascular responding in the literature.
Poster 136
THE HEART RECOGNIZES VALENCE WHEN RECOGNITION DOES NOT: A CONFIRMATION OF BINDING THEORY WITH HOMOGENOUS LISTS OF POSITIVE, NEGATIVE AND NEUTRAL IMAGES
Gregory E. Devore1, Brenda Aguirre2, Derek Becker2, & Paul Haerich1 1Loma Linda University, 2California State University San Bernardino
Descriptors: memory, heart rate
According to Binding Theory, a list of words is learned by the formation of associative links between the lexical node and its episodic context. The strength of this binding is increased by emotional salience. Therefore, taboo words are preferentially remembered to the neutral words comprising the remainder of the list. Counterintuitively, no difference in memory performance is predicted for lists of all neutral or emotional items. We tested this prediction with lists of IAPS images. Each list was composed of images of one valence (positive, neutral, negative). Each subject viewed 3 emotion lists (negative or positive valence) and 3 neutral lists (9 images/list, 1 image/second) presented in balanced order during the study phase. During the test phase, subjects viewed 108 images (54 studied images again plus 54 new) presented in random order indicating whether each was a new or old image and their confidence. Subsequently, subjects indicated the list (first, second, or third) in which each old image of a given valence was presented. Heart rate decelerated during list presentation with the deceleration greatest for negative lists and least for positive lists (ps < .02). During recognition, cardiac deceleration was observed for negative images, particularly new images (p 5 .004). Although cardiac data indicated differential processing of emotional and neutral images both during study and recognition, the prediction of Binding Theory was confirmed; recognition accuracy did not differ between neutral and emotional lists (ps > .37).
Poster 138
THE COLLISION OF EFFICACY AND EMOTIONAL TONE IN ANTI-SMOKING MESSAGES
Stephanie Miles, & Paul D. Bolls University of Missouri
Descriptors: emotion, health communication
This study explored how efficacy-related copy points and emotional tone affect cognitive/emotional processing of anti-smoking messages. A within subjects experiment was conducted in which smokers (N 5 32) watched sixteen, 30-second anti-smoking ads that had been coded in a pretest as having positive or negative emotional tone. Half of these messages contained efficacy-related copy points. Heart rate, skin conductance level, and corrugator activity were measured during message exposure. An audio recognition test was conducted at the end of the experiment. The analysis found significant efficacy X emotional tone X time interactions on heart rate (F(23,690) 5 5.539, p < .001), skin conductance (F(24,648) 5 4.040, p < .001), and corrugator activity (F(24,720) 5 2.010, p < .01). Negative and positive messages that contained efficacy-related copy points had increased attention. Negative messages with efficacy-related copy also evoked less arousal, while positive messages with efficacy-related copy led to increased arousal. Further, negative messages with efficacy-related copy elicited less negative affect, while positive messages with efficacy-related copy increased negative affect. There was also an emotional tone X efficacy interaction on audio recognition (F(1,31) 5 9.681, p < .01). Negative messages with efficacy-related copy had significantly increased audio recognition compared to the other types of messages, Efficacy-related copy points appear to dampen negative emotional responding and increase recognition in negatively toned anti-smoking ads.
RAPID DIFFERENTIATION OF NOVEL INGROUP VS. OUTGROUP MEMBERS REVEALED BY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
Kyle G. Ratner, Kandy A. Bahadur, & David M. Amodio New York University
Descriptors: social perception, ERP
Past event-related potential studies suggest that perceivers detect social group categories (e.g., based on race or gender) within a few hundred milliseconds after viewing a picture of a group member. However, it is unclear whether the rapid detection of ingroup vs. outgroup targets is driven by previously-learned group associations or by mere group membership. To address this ambiguity, we examined the timecourse ofsocial perception in the absence of prior knowledge about the groups being viewed. Using the classic 'minimal group' procedure, subjects were arbitrarily identified as members of a novel group. Participants then categorized faces as belonging to their newly formed ingroup (vs. outgroup) while electroencephalography was recorded. Despite the lack of objectively meaningful group differences, amplitudes of the early posterior negativity (EPN) were larger to ingroup vs. outgroup targets. In addition, past theorizing suggests that greater attention to ingroup members is associated with higher self-esteem. Consistent with this idea, larger EPN effects for ingroup vs. outgroup targets were observed for participants reporting higher self-esteem. These results identify the earliest stages of novel group perception, and suggest that these early group detection processes are associated with self-evaluation.
EEG-CORRELATES OF MOOD INDUCTION IN OLDER ADULTS
Christiane Berndt1, Romola S. Bucks2, Ulrich Buhss1, Sirko Rabe3, & Anke
1Technical University of Dresden, 2University of Western Australia, 3Saxonian Hospital Groschweidnitz, 4University of Southampton
Descriptors: mood induction, aging, EEG
Music can markedly enhance the emotional reactivity evoked by affective pictures in EEG as well as in fMRI investigations. Studies on mood induction procedures with elderly people yielded mixed results. In this study 21 elder and 17 younger participants listened to sad, neutral, and happy pieces of music while watching emotion-matched pictures. Psychometric measures differed very little between age groups showing a tendency to higher emotional reactivity in the older adults. EEG records, analysed for alpha power density using repeated-measures ANOVA, showed no differences between anterior and posterior regions in the elder group, whereas for the younger participants increased alpha power density was found in posterior regions. Lower alpha power density is interpreted as higher brain activity and morphological studies revealed greater age-related white matter loss in frontal rather than in posterior regions. Thus our results may indicate a compensation for white matter loss through redistribution of activity between anterior and posterior regions in older age.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008 POSTER SESSION II
Poster 140
THE IMPACT OF CHOICE ON THE AFFECTIVE STARTLE MODULATION: EVIDENCE FOR DECREASED DEFENSIVE RESPONSE
Alexander Genevsky, David E. Gard, Shanna Cooper, Rose Broome, Shannon L. Washington, & Lily Shehabi San Francisco State University
Descriptors: affective startle, choice, emotion
Research on the affective startle modulation has almost entirely utilized a 'passive' viewing paradigm, in which emotion-eliciting stimuli are randomly chosen for participants. This is in contrast to daily life where much of emotion and emotion regulation involves some active choice or agency. Since the affective startle modulation has been crucial to both basic and applied research we investigated how choosing an emotional stimulus might influence motivational activation. The present study randomized 84 participants into either a 'choice' or 'no-choice' condition. In both conditions participants were presented with 3 small thumbnail pictures from a given image category (e.g., threat, victim, neutral, action, erotic) followed by an anticipation and a full image viewing period. In the choice condition participants chose one of the 3 thumbnails and that image was presented to them. The no-choice condition was identical except the image was randomly selected. Skin conductance and eyeblink EMG were measured. Startle probes were presented during the anticipation (3500ms) or viewing (3000ms) periods. Results indicated typical linear valence effects during viewing. Of note, there was a significant attenuation of the startle magnitude for the choice condition (relative to the no-choice condition) across all image categories and probe times. We conclude that having a choice over an emotional stimulus impacts motivational state activation perhaps by creating an overall dampening of the defensive response. Implications for basic and psychopathology research are discussed.
Poster 1
DIFFERENTIAL ELECTROCORTICAL RESPONSE TO DRUG STIMULI BETWEEN COCAINE ADDICTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS
Jonathan P. Dunning1, Greg Hajcak1, Muhammad A. Parvaz2, Thomas Maloney2, Nelly Alia-Klein2, Patricia A. Woicik2, Frank Telang2, Gene-Jack Wang2, Nora D. Volkow3, & Rita Z. Goldstein2 1Stony Brook University, 2Brookhaven National Laboratory, 3National Institute on Drug Abuse
Descriptors: addiction, LPP, ERP
Event-related potentials (ERPs) are increasingly being used in addiction research to assess reactivity to drug-related stimuli. An ERP component called the late positive potential (LPP) reflects increased attention to motivationally significant stimuli, and has been shown to be enhanced following cocaine-related compared to neutral stimuli in abstinent cocaine users. However, past studies have been inconsistent in their use of control groups and use of comparison stimuli (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, or drug-related). The current study examined ERPs in 32 individuals with current cocaine use disorders (CUD) and 20 healthy control subjects while they performed a passive picture viewing task that included pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and cocaine-related pictures. In controls, LPPs elicited by neutral and cocaine pictures were comparable in magnitude and were significantly smaller than LPPs elicited by both pleasant and unpleasant pictures. In CUD, magnitude of LPPs elicited by pleasant, unpleasant, and cocaine pictures was equivalent, and each was significantly larger than the LPP magnitude elicited by the neutral pictures. These findings suggest that for CUD, but not controls, cocaine pictures capture motivated attention in ways similar to arousing pleasant and unpleasant pictures. Current results corroborate and add to past findings showing that drug cues are highly salient and have significant motivational relevance among substance dependent individuals.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO GRADED THREAT CUES
Claude Castille, & Greg Hajcak Stony Brook University
Descriptors: startle, fear, generalization
In the present study, we examined stimulus generalization in a differential fear conditioning study. On each of thirty-six trials, participants (N 5 59) were presented with one of seven red rectangles for 8 seconds that were identical in height but varied in length. The mid-length rectangle was identified as a threat cue and was always followed by a mild electric shock. Other stimuli varied proportionally in width from the threat cue by +/ — 20%, +/ — 40%, and +/
— 60% and were never followed by a shock. Heart rate and corrugator activity were examined in response to each type of stimuli (CS+, CS+/ — 20%, CS+/
— 40%, and CS+/ — 60%); startle probes were presented 5 to 7 sec following each stimulus. Following the study, participants rated shock likelihood for each of the seven stimuli. Results demonstrated that participants believed shock was increasingly likely as stimuli were more similar to the CS+; moreover, startle response was largest (and equally large) for the CS+and CS+/ — 20% trials, and was progressively smaller from CS+/ — 40% to CS+/ — 60%. Corrugator activity was increased for both the CS+and CS+/ — 20% stimuli compared to CS+/ — 40% and CS+/ — 60% stimuli; heart rate was not reliably different across stimuli. Collectively, these results indicate that multiple measures can be used to index fear generalization in the laboratory, and that shock expectancy and the degree of fear-potentiated startle vary directly with perceptual similarity to the CS + . Future directions for research on pathological fear and anxiety are discussed.
Poster 3
ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN MATERNAL DEPRESSION, THE
SEROTONIN TRANSPORTER PROMOTER REGION POLYMORPHISM, AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC ASYMMETRIES IN PRESCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN
Dana C. Torpey1, Gerard E. Bruder2, Lea R. Dougherty1, Elizabeth P. Hayden3, Jiyon Kim1, Flannery E. Murphy1, Jennie Park4, Stewart A. Shankman5, Craig
E. Tenke2, & Daniel N. Klein1 1Stony Brook University, 2New York State Psychiatric Institute, 3University of Western Ontario, 4Drexel University, 5University of Illinois at Chicago
Descriptors: hemispheric asymmetries, psychopathology, development
Frontal and posterior activity asymmetries, as measured by electroencephalo-graphy (EEG), have been identified in subclinically, clinically, and remitted depressed individuals, as well as in infants and children of depressed mothers. While these data suggest that hemispheric activity asymmetries could be a biological marker for risk for depression, further research is needed to clarify the origins and nature of these asymmetries in at-risk populations. Specifically, the impact of two variables that are associated with increased liability for depression, maternal history of depression and serotonin transporter promoter (5-HTTLPR) genotype, on EEG asymmetries is unknown. The current study examined associations between maternal depression, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and resting EEG asymmetries in 168 right-handed, Caucasian preschool-aged children. Preliminary results indicated that children who were homozygous for the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR gene and whose mothers had a lifetime history of depression demonstrated greater right than left parietal alpha power, while children who were homozygous for the short allele but did not have depressed mothers, and children who were either heterozygous for the short allele or homozygous for the long allele of the gene showed no hemispheric asymmetries, regardless of maternal depression. This effect was not associated with depression in fathers. The implications of the interaction between 5-HTTLPR genotype and
stressors in the early family environment will be discussed in terms of the development of the right hemisphere. NIMH Grant RO1 MH 069942 NIH GCRC Grant #MO1RR10710.
Poster 4
AUTONOMIC ACTIVITY IN BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Anna Weinberg, E. David Klonsky, & Greg Hajcak Stony Brook University
Descriptors: borderline personality disorder, RSA, ANS
Recent research suggests that many psychiatric disorders characterized by difficulties with emotion regulation might be explained in part by deficits in autonomic functioning. Emotion dysregulation is currently conceptualized as a core deficit in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); therefore the present study examined activity of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) in individuals with BPD. Parasympathetic activity was indexed by Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), and sympathetic activity by Cardiac Sympathetic Index (CSI). Both were measured in 11 BPD participants and 19 healthy controls before, during, and after a stressful task. At each stage of the study, BPD participants exhibited decreased parasympathetic control compared to controls; BPD participants were lower at baseline, and their RSA did not change significantly over the course of the study. During the stressor, BPD and control participants exhibited different sympathetic trajectories: CSI progressively increased for BPD participants but decreased for controls. At the same time, there was a trend for diverging RSA trajectories, such that controls exhibited increasing RSA from the first to the second half of the stressor, while BPD participants showed no change from their initial low levels. Furthermore, BPD participants reported the task (but not baseline or recovery phases) to be more frustrating than did controls. Findings help clarify autonomic and emotional functioning in BPD.
Poster 5
EXACT DIFFERENCES PROCESSING INEXACT SYMMETRY
Rudolph L. Mappus, Kenneth Czechowski, Paul Corballis, & Ronald Ferguson Georgia Institute of Technology
Descriptors: EEG, symmetry
Symmetry is a fundamental quality of many objects in the visual environment, playing an important role in perceptual organization and object recognition. However, many objects in the visual environment display approximate or inexact symmetry. Is the human visual system sensitive to these differences in approximate symmetry in higher level processing? Previous behavioral experiments from our lab have found significant differences in response accuracy and eye fixation patterns between different conditions of approximate symmetry. In this work, we investigated the hypothesis that neural activity in the extrastriate visual cortex would differentiate between different types of approximate symmetry, characterized by the presence of 'qualitative' and 'quantitative' asymmetries. To test this, we created a set of stimuli based on planar, two-dimensional polygons defining four stimulus conditions (symmetric, approximately symmetric containing qualitative and quantitative asymmetries, and asymmetric). We recorded ERPs from the posterior scalp in response to the presentation of these stimuli during a speeded symmetry-judgment task. Results indicate significant differences in the amplitude of the N2 component of the visual evoked potential as a function of symmetry type, suggesting that the early visual system is sensitive to categorically different violations of symmetry.
RSVP, PLEASE: BLOCKED VS RANDOMIZED VALENCE IN RAPID SERIAL VISUAL PRESENTATION OF EMOTIONAL PICTURES
Daniel J. Goldman, Julia K. Langer, Michelle A. Roth, & Bruce N. Cuthbert University of Minnesota
Descriptors: affect, ERP, rapid serial visual presentation
ERPs in response to rapid serial visual presentation of emotional pictures (3/sec) demonstrate early selective processing of emotional stimuli, as seen in enhanced negativity to high- versus low-arousal images over occipital sites at both P200 and N260 components. As picture series in prior studies were randomly ordered with respect to valence, the purpose of this study was to compare ERPs in such random series to those with sustained presentation of a single valence category. Undergraduates (N 5 26) viewed four counterbalanced presentations of 648 IAPS pictures, two in the usual random order and two blocked with respect to valence (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant). Area measures of P200 and N260 were computed from 128-channel EEG recordings for occipital and parietal sites. A Valence X Condition interaction was observed for the P200 effect. For random orders, the occipital P200 to pleasant pictures was more negative than to neutral and unpleasant content (ps< .001), while the latter two did not differ; in contrast, for blocked orders the P200 ERPs to both pleasant and neutral pictures were more negative than for unpleasant (p< .01). In a similar interaction, the random-order occipital N260 ERPs to pleasant and unpleasant pictures were more negative than for neutral pictures (ps<.01); however, in blocked orders, only pleasant pictures showed more negativity compared to neutral (p<.05). Similar interactions were observed parietally. These results suggest that sustained exposure to emotional content ofone valence substantially alters early emotional processing.
Poster 7
ANXIETY AND EMOTIONAL FACE PROCESSING: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE N170 TO FEARFUL FACES AND ATTENTION PERFORMANCE
Beylul Solomon1, Jennifer M. Augello2, Melanie Hong3, & Tracy A. Dennis3 1Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, 2Graduate Center, CUNY, 3Hunter College, The City University of New York
Descriptors: erps, attention, emotion
The N170 ERP has been linked to automatic emotional face processing, but evidence is mixed about whether it is related to processing facial affect. If the N170 is sensitive to affect, then it could be a useful marker for attentional biases in anxiety and be related to attention interference. The present study examined whether the N170 is differentially sensitive to threat-relevant emotional faces among those reporting clinically significant symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and whether it predicts attention performance. Participants (N 5 50) completed the Attention Network Test, which yields alerting, orienting, and executive attention scores. Participants were classified as high or low anxious based on clinical cutoff scores from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (high 5 11). Threat-relevant (fearful) and irrelevant (sad) faces were presented prior to each trial while EEG was recorded. No between-group differences in N170 amplitudes emerged. However, in the high anxiety group, N170 amplitudes were significantly greater to fearful (M 5 — 2.40, SD 5 4.55) versus sad faces (M 5 — 1.77, SD 5 3.86; t(10) 5 — 2.23, po .05). The N170 was also related to attention performance only among those reporting relatively high anxiety: as N170 amplitudes to fearful faces increased, alerting performance decreased (r 5 .73, po.01). Results suggest the N170 is sensitive to discrete emotional characteristics of faces and the processing of fearful faces may rapidly recruit attentional resources, thus interfering with attention performance among those showing high anxiety.
THE LATE POSITIVE POTENTIAL PREDICTS LONG-TERM MEMORY FOR EMOTIONAL PICTURES VIEWED DURING A DIRECTED EMOTION REGULATION TASK
Jennifer M. Augello1, Laura J. O'Toole1, Chao-Chang Chen2, Gregory Hajcak3,
George Bonnano4, & Tracy A Dennis2 1The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2Hunter College, The City University of New York, 3Stony Brook University, 4Columbia Teacher's College
Descriptors: emotion regulation, late positive potential, memory recognition
Research has shown that the late positive potential (LPP) reflects attention to emotional stimuli: it is enhanced in the right hemisphere when processing affective, particularly unpleasant, stimuli and reduced by emotion regulation (ER) strategies. Suppression as an ER strategy has been shown to decrease memory recognition. However, it is unknown whether emotional processing during memory encoding influences associations between suppression and long-term memory recognition. The present study (N 5 20) explored whether emotional processing, measured by the LPP, during suppression influenced long-term memory. Participants viewed unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System. EEG was recorded as participants viewed, suppressed or enhanced emotions to unpleasant pictures. After one week participants performed a memory recognition task. Results show the amplitude of late LPP (1300-1600 ms) in frontal midline leads (Fz) was larger in the suppress versus enhance condition, t(19) 5 2.01, p< .06. The amplitude of the LPP was larger in the right hemisphere (F6) and was associated with more correct responses on the memory task (r 5 .50, p< .03). These results suggest as the late LPP amplitude increases when suppressing, it facilitates encoding and long-term memory recognition. Although previous studies reported impaired memory when suppressing emotions, these results are consistent with research showing suppression may actually be associated with increased affective reactivity and emotional processing, and could be associated with enhanced memory performance.
Poster 9
EVIDENCE OF SEMANTIC CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN A STROOP MATCHING TASK: AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY
Isabel A. David1, Eliane Volchan1, Jaime Vila2, Aydamari Faria-Jr3, Pandelis Perakakis2, Let'cia Oliveira4, Mirtes G. Pereira4, & Walter Machado-Pinheiro4 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2University of Granada, 3Federal University of Amapa, 4Federal Fluminense University
Descriptors: stroop effect, ERP, attention
The Stroop effect is a well known phenomenon in which naming the color ofan incongruent color-word stimulus (e.g., the word YELLOW printed in blue) is slower than naming the color of a congruent color-word stimulus (e.g., the word YELLOW printed in yellow). It has been discussed whether Stroop interference occurs prior to the response stage. In this study we used a variation of the Stroop task, the Stroop matching task, in which the first stimulus (S1) was a color-word printed in yellow, red or blue ink (the Stroop stimulus) and the second (S2) was a color-word in white ink. Volunteers (n 5 40) were told to compare the color ink of S1 to the word of S2 and to press a key if they had the same meaning. Time intervals were introduced between both stimuli and it was hypothesized that subjects would use the interval to solve the semantic conflict of S1 before response conflict elicited by S2 onset. Event-related potentials demonstrated that S1 elicited frontocentral negativity compatible with N450, a component previously described as an indicator of Stroop conflict processing. Mean peak amplitude analysis revealed that N450 was greater after incongruent S1 in relation to congruent ones; F(1,39) 5 5.49, po .05. The results highlight the importance of semantic conflict in the Stroop effect interference.
This research was supported by grants from CAPES, CAPES-GDU/MECD n1/4086/05, PRONEX-FAPERJ and PROPP-UFF.
IMPACT OF CBT ON AUTONOMIC AND NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS: DECREASE IN PTSD SYMPTOMS AND ENHANCEMENT OF RESILIENCE-RELATED FACTORS
Carlos E. Norte, Gabriela G.L. Souza, Ana L. Pedrozo, Ana Carolina F.
Mendonca-de-Souza1, Tania Macedo, William Berger, Ivan Figueira, Eliane Volchan, & Paula Rui Ventura Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Descriptors: posttraumatic stress disorder, autonomic, neuroendocrine
Resilience, as an outcome variable, has been largely neglected in the field of therapeutics. Our aim was to investigate the effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT ) on neurobiological markers of resilience in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients. We acessed physiological (Heart Rate, Respiratory Frequency, Cardiac Vagal Tonus, Skin Conductance), neuroendocrine (Cortisol and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)) variables, and psychometric self-report measures (negative affect, resilience, PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and social support). The patient was a 45-year-old man who had suffered two armed robberies and failed to respond adequately to pharmacological treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. His physiological and psychometric responses at rest were measured before and after four months of CBT. CBT led to a reduction of heart rate, respiratory rate, skin conductance, and cortisol as well as an increase of cardiac vagal tone and DHEA. Furthermore, CBT promoted reduction of PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and negative affect scores and enhancement of resilience and social support scores. Therefore, our data suggest that as CBT enhances resilience-related factors (DHEA, Vagal tonus, self-reported resilience and social support), it is not only 'anti' pathology but 'pro' wellness in nature. Our results show the relevance of investigating the effects of psychological treatments in multiple neurobiological systems in the same PTSD patients to unveil the neurobiological underpinnings of resilience factors.
This research was partially supported bt the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq).
Poster 11
NUMBING SYMPTOMS IN PTSD PATIENTS: A PREDICTOR OF CHANGES IN DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE LEVELS?
Nastassja L. Fischer1, Andre Vieira1, Ana Carolina F. Mendonca-de-Souza1, Evandro S. Coutinho2, Ivan L.V. Figueira1, & Eliane Volchan1 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2Escola Nacional de Saude Publica FIOCRUZ
Descriptors: dehydroepiandrosterone, post-traumatic stress disorder, numbing
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has long been associated with a dysregulation of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis. Here we investigated the dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a putative anti-glucorticoid hormone secreted by the adrenal cortex in response to adrenocorticotrophin. Morning secretory activity of salivary DHEA was measured in 10 PTSD patients and 10 trauma-exposed controls. Four samples were collected (at awakening, + 30,+45, + 60 minutes) and analyzed by enzyme-immunoassays. Psychometric scales assessed personality traits and PTSD symptoms. Results showed that morning levels of salivary DHEA were higher in the PTSD patients (t 5 2.61; df 5 18; p 5 0.01). In addition, hormone levels in patients showed a negative correlation (Spearman r 5 — 0.81; p 5 0.004) with numbing symptoms. Moreover, multiple regression analysis showed that even after controlling for group (patients and controls), depression and anxiety, numbing symptoms were still a predicting factor of the changes in hormonal levels (beta 5 — 1.69; p<0.001). Our results indicate that numbing symptoms, an indicator of poor PTSD prognosis, have a significant influence on the DHEA morning secretory activity. The results of this study should therefore encourage the investigation of the neuroendocrine profile that develops in response to extreme stress and its relation to the pattern of neuropsychiatric and behavioral sequelae.
This research was partially supported by the National Counsel of Technological and Scientic Development (CNPq).
Poster 12
MULTIMODAL ASSESSMENT OF ANXIETY DURING A STANDARDIZED BAT IN PATIENTS WITH PANIC DISORDER AND AGORAPHOBIA - A MULTI-CENTRE STUDY
Jan Richter1, Christiane A. Melzig1, Georg W. Alpers2, Volker Arolt3, Thomas Fydrich4, Alexander L. Gerlach3, Tilo Kirchers, Andreas Stroehle6, Hans-Ulrich
Wittchen7, & Alfons O. Hamm1 1University of Greifswald, 2University of Wuerzburg, 3University of Muenster, 4Humboldt University of Berlin, sUniversity of Aachen, 6Charite University Medicine Berlin, 7Technical University of Dresden
Descriptors: panic disorder and agoraphobia, behavioral avoidance test, anxiety
Exposure to a small and dark, locked chamber can be used as a standardized behavioral avoidance test (BAT) for patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia. In a multi-center psychotherapy study eighty patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia were, after an anticipation period, instructed to remain in the chamber for as long as possible (max ten minutes). Anxious activation was indexed by 1) subjective reports of anxiety, 2) skin conductance level, heart rate and startle response magnitudes, and 3) the duration they stayed in the chamber. Compared to the end of anticipation patients showed significant increases in all anxiety related variables during exposure. One third of the patients did not complete the entire exposure period. These escapers reported more anxiety, exhibited larger heart rate accelerations and no habituation of skin conductance level. In both escapers and non-escapers, positive correlations between difference values of reported anxiety and both heart rate and skin conductance level during the last minute of exposure were observed. In contrast, startle blink magnitude was negatively correlated with reported anxiety in the first minute. Taken together, the data indicate that this BAT is a useful tool to study anxiety in patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia, and also separates subgroups of patients that show different behavioral and physiological response patterns.
Funding provided by German federal government, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (DM3-FNEU02).
Poster 13
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PORTRAYALS OF CHARACTERS WITH AND WITHOUT MENTAL ILLNESS
Pamela G. Nadorff, Sungkyoung Lee, Annie Lang, Bernice Pescosolido, & Jack Martin Indiana University
Descriptors: stigma, media
This study investigated how people respond differently to positive and negative portrayals of leading characters in television and movie dramas who do or do not have a mental illness. Participants viewed 24 scenes selected from TV or movie dramas while SC and HR were recorded. Each clip had a main character who was portrayed positively or negatively. Within each portrayal group half of the characters had a mental illness and half did not and half the dramas were arousing and half were calm. 76 adults age 19-82 were recruited from respondents to a random digit dial telephone survey. Participants viewed the messages. Following each message they rated their emotional responses in terms of negativity, positivity, and arousal. After all the clips had been viewed they rated all 24 main characters on 6 semantic differential scales. Results showed that regardless of tone of portrayal or level of arousing content HR was slower and SCL was lower when a character with mental illness was included in the clip. However, viewers rated the clips containing characters with mental illness as both more negative
and more arousing than those without. Participants had lower cued recall for messages with compared to messages without characters with mental illness and participants rated characters with mental illness to be significantly more clumsy, ugly, untrustworthy, dangerous, and antisocial.
This research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH R01 MH-065950).
Poster 14
THE EFFECT OF AVATAR CUSTOMIZATION ON CHILDREN'S COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO BRANDED ONLINE GAMES
Rachel L. Bailey, Kevin Wise, Paul D. Bolls, & Glenn Leshner Missouri School of Journalism
Descriptors: avatar, children, HRV
The purpose of this study was to determine whether customization of game avatars affects cognitive and emotional responses of children to branded, online games. Participants (N5 22) ages 8-12 were asked to play three online games with differing levels of avatar customization (assignment, choice from a pool, self-design). Interbeat interval data were recorded during exposure to these games. A preliminary analysis of these data revealed a significant effect of customization level on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). When participants were allowed to design an avatar in their own likeness, they exhibited more parasympathetic activity than when they were assigned an avatar or were asked to choose an avatar from a pool of previously created avatars. Analyses also revealed an effect of level of customization on CSI that approached significance. Participants exhibited the most sympathetic activity (CSI) when they were asked to choose an avatar from a pool of previously created avatars. This pattern of results suggests that the way an individual is embodied within an online game affects the pattern of autonomic activation.
SEROTONERGIC RECEPTOR GENETICS: CONTRIBUTIONS TO EEG ASYMMETRY
Andrew W. Bismark1, Jennifer L. Stewart1, James A. Coan2, & John J.B. Allen1 1University of Arizona, 2University of Virginia
Descriptors: serotonin, EEG asymmetry, genetics
Given serotonin's dominant role in pharmacological treatment of psychopathol-ogy, it is thought to be an important neuro-modulator of mood and arousal. It has been hypothesized that variations in certain serotonin genes (via 'risk' alleles) can convey subtle changes in serotonin system architecture that may place an individual at risk for psychopathology when faced with life stressors. The current study investigated the relationship between allele variations in the serotonin receptor gene 5HT1aand frontal brain electrical asymmetry. It was hypothesized that as the number of risk alleles (0,1 or 2 copies) increased there would be a relative right shift in EEG activity regardless of current clinical state. The sample consisted of 144 Caucasian non-hispanic college age participants, spanning a range of depressive severity from no symptoms to clinical levels. Resting EEG was recorded from 64 scalp sites on four days (two 8-min periods each day). Alpha asymmetry scores between homologous sites were calculated for each session and then averaged to form a trait metric of asymmetry for each pair. The results provided support for a genetic contribution to a trait-like EEG asymmetry. Those subjects with more 5HT1a risk alleles had greater relative right frontal EEG activity at sites F7/F8, F5/F6, & F1/F2; with marginal significance at F3/F4, and the largest effect at F5/F6. These results support the hypothesis that variation in serotonin genetics (5HT1a) can influence trait level brain activity which may ultimately be indicative of risk for psychopathology.
Poster 15
THE EFFECTS OF CONTROLLED ATTENTION TO TELEVISION ON PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL AND HEART RATE
Jessica D. Freeman1, Wes T. Wise2, Wendy Maxian2, Kelli R. Brown2, Brandon H. Nutting2, & Samuel D. Bradley2 1University of Missouri, 2Texas Tech University
Descriptors: heart rate, arousal, television
Research has demonstrated that heart rate (HR) decelerates over time as participants view television thought to elicit more attention. Given the dual innervations of the heart, this deceleration could be due to decreased activation by the sympathetic nervous system, increased activation by the parasympathetic nervous system, or a combination of the two. However, this same research consistently shows that arousing television content not only elicits cardiac deceleration but also increased amplitude or frequency of skin conductance responses. Given that eccrine sweat glands are innervated solely by the parasympathetic nervous system, the pairing of cardiac deceleration with increased physiological arousal provides evidence that the cardiac deceleration is due to increased parasympathetic activity. Previous research relied upon the assumption that participants did pay greater attention when logic dictated they do so. The current study manipulated attention by instructing participants to pay close attention or watch normally during eighteen 60s television clips. Participants watched four practice clips, and instructions stressed the crucial importance of paying attention in the respective condition. Each participant viewed 9 clips in each condition. Clips were balanced such that an equal number of participants saw each clip in each condition. Cardiac deceleration and SCR frequency were greatest in the attention condition. These data provide further evidence that greater attention to television content - even arousing content -elicits sustained cardiac deceleration.
Poster 17
ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY IS ASSOCIATED WITH RESTING HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRY
Antonia N. Kaczkurkin1, James F. Cavanagh1, Theo O.J. Grundler2, & John J.B. Allen1
1University of Arizona, 2Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research Descriptors: ERN, asymmetry
Previous research has shown that negative affect is associated with larger error-related negativity (ERN) amplitudes. Resting frontal brain asymmetry, also a correlate ofindividual differences in affective and motivational tendencies, might thus moderate ERN amplitudes. Relatively greater left frontal activity is proposed to be associated with approach-motivated behaviors while greater right frontal activity is hypothesized to index withdrawal-motivated behaviors. Such findings suggest that frontal brain asymmetry might predict variance in affective and cognitive responses during error-monitoring. In this study, a sample of undergraduates was selected over a range of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, a known correlate of both negative affect and heightened error monitoring. Greater relative right frontal and frontal central activity at rest was associated with larger ERN amplitudes in a probabilistic learning task. This hemispheric asymmetry pattern reversed in the posterior regions. However, comparable effects were not observed for frontal or parietal asymmetry on ERN amplitude from a standard flankers task. These results suggest that frontal brain asymmetry may moderate response monitoring processes in implicit learning tasks but not explicit forced-choice paradigms. The utility of using resting frontal asymmetry metrics to predict neural responses during future tasks will be discussed, as will the influence of OC symptoms on both frontal asymmetry and the ERN.
CARDIAC VAGAL CONTROL AS A PREDICTOR OF OUTCOME IN A STRESS REDUCTION INTERVENTION DURING PREGNANCY
Andrea S. Chambers1, & John J.B. Allen2 1University of Arizona & University of Virginia, 2University of Arizona
Descriptors: respiratory sinus arrhythmia, pregnancy, relaxation
Thirty-two moderately anxious pregnant women participated in a study examining whether relaxation training could improve mood and reduce the incidence of complications over the course of pregnancy and during labor and delivery. Women were between 14 and 20 weeks gestation when they completed the baseline laboratory questionnaires and psychophysiological assessment. They were randomized to receive six weeks of relaxation training or to receive a list of tips for reducing stress (control). Women repeated the laboratory tasks post-treatment and again between 34 and 36 weeks gestation (3rd trimester). Higher baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia predicted lower levels of trait anxiety and stress post-treatment for those receiving relaxation training but not for those in the control condition. For all subjects, higher baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia predicted lower 3rd trimester levels of depression, state anxiety, and trait anxiety. At the 3rd trimester, participants in the relaxation group had higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia than those in the control group. More frequent relaxation practice among those in the relaxation group predicted lower levels of self-reported stress post- treatment and at the 3rd trimester assessment, and lower salivary cortisol upon awakening at the 3rd trimester assessment. Findings are interpreted in light of Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2007) and the Neurovisceral Integration Model (Friedman, 2007).
EEG SOURCE LOCALIZATION OF P50 SUPPRESSION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Terrance J. Williams, Cindy M. Yee, Keith H. Nuechterlein, & Kenneth Subotnik
University of California at Los Angeles Descriptors: schizophrenia, p50 suppression, EEG source localization
Despite progress in identifying the neural regions underlying P50 and its suppression, neuroimaging methods and their associated results have been quite varied. The goal of the present study was to utilize high-density EEG dipole source analysis to clarify the neural sources underlying P50 suppression in 13 schizophrenia patients and 13 healthy individuals. Participants were presented with paired auditory stimuli during a standard P50 paradigm while EEG recordings were obtained from a 128-channel array. Based on prior research, four distinct constellations of neural sources and their dipole moments were evaluated with CURRY V5.0 software. Fixed dipoles were seeded in: 1) the superior temporal gyrus (STG), 2) STG and hippocampus, 3) STG and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and 4) STG, hippocampus, thalamus, and DLPFC. Across both groups, a distributed neural network involving the STG, hippocampus, thalamus, and DLPFC provided the best goodness-of-fit in modeling P50 amplitudes to Stimulus 1 and 2. The hippocampal dipole moment ratio was positively correlated with the P50 suppression ratio in healthy individuals, but not in the patient group. Instead, patients with schizophrenia showed a positive correlation between the DLPFC dipole moment ratio and the P50 suppression ratio. Findings suggest that hippocampal abnormalities are part of a larger neural network underlying the P50 suppression deficit in schizophrenia patients. Future directions include further examination of the role of the DLPFC in modulating P50 suppression.
Poster 19
USING ALPHA AND THETA POWER TO ASSESS THE INDIRECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STEREOTYPE THREAT, SELF-DOUBT, AND THE ALLOCATION OF ATTENTION AND MEMORY ENCODING PROCESSES
Chad E. Forbes, Toni Schmader, & John J.B. Allen University of Arizona
Descriptors: stereotype threat, alpha and theta power, memory and attention
Stereotype threat engenders negative cognitions and emotions that interfere with one's ability to remain focused during a performance. Little is known however about how these processes interfere with attention and memory encoding processes during the performance itself. The present study measured White and minority students' EEG activity while receiving error induced feedback on a response-conflict task described as either a perceptual task or an intelligence task. Alpha and Theta power was isolated via wavelet analyses, providing an on-line neuronal index of attention and encoding of error feedback on the task. The relationship between alpha, theta, self-reported error estimates, and self-doubt was then examined. Results revealed that minorities under stereotype threat demonstrated a decrease in alpha power and an increase in theta power in response to errors compared to Whites in both conditions and minorities in the control condition. The decrease in alpha power predicted overestimation of errors made on the supposed intelligence test which in turn predicted increased feelings of self doubt. This indirect relationship was significant. This relationship was not present among Whites or minorities in the control condition. These results suggest that stereotype threat may interfere with one's ability to efficaciously attend to and encode feedback that would be important for success. These perceptions of underperformance may in turn lead stigmatized minorities to make negative internal attributions.
Poster 21
AGE DIFFERENCES IN SADNESS AND ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL
Benjamin Seider, Patrick Whalen, & Robert W. Levenson University of California at Berkeley
Descriptors: aging, sadness, autonomic nervous system
Old age is a time of increased exposure to loss. This may lead to sensitization (losses become increasingly powerful elicitors of sadness) or habituation (losses become less powerful elicitors of sadness). We examined the impact of two different films that portrayed loss of a loved one in 75 young (20-30 yrs), 73 middle-aged (40-50 yrs) and 72 older (60-70 yrs) adults. Physiology (electrodermal, somatic, cardiovascular) was measured continuously and reports of emotional experience were obtained following each film. Results indicated that older participants reported more sadness and were more physiologically reactive (change from pre-film baseline in electrodermal, somatic, and cardiovascular measures) than young adults (with middle-aged adults falling in between). These age differences in self-report and physiology were consistent across both loss-themed films. An additional analysis found that the greater physiological reactivity (for somatic and cardiovascular measures, but not for the electrodermal measure) in older adults still held after controlling for age differences in self-reported sadness. This finding suggests that the physiological 'cost' of sadness may be greater for older adults than for younger adults. These results support the sensitization model in that self-report and physiological concomitants of sadness were greatest for older subjects.
CARDIOVASCULAR AROUSAL DURING SHARED AND NON-SHARED LAUGHTER IN MARITAL CONFLICT
Patrick K. Whalen1, & Robert W. Levenson2 1University of California at Berkeley, 2University of California at Davis
Descriptors: laughter, cardiovascular, emotion
In close relationships, laughter plays an important role in attachment maintenance, communication, and emotion regulation. In prior research studying psychotherapy, moments where both clients and therapists laughed were associated with greater electrodermal activity than non-shared laughs. We explored the cardiovascular effects of shared versus unshared laughter in a sample of 67 middle-aged (40-50 yrs, N5 32) and older (60-70 yrs, N5 35) couples, who engaged in a 15-minute videotaped conflict conversation. A cardiovascular composite score (based on heart inter-beat interval, finger pulse amplitude, finger pulse transit time, and ear pulse transit time) was computed on a second-by-second basis. A team of trained raters coded the videotapes for shared laughs (both spouses laugh with an overlap of at least 2 seconds) and unshared laughs (one spouse laughs, but the other does not). For each shared and unshared laugh the cardiovascular composites were averaged for each spouse for: (a) 20-seconds before the laugh, (b) during the laugh, and (c) 20-seconds following the laugh. Analyses revealed: (a) shared laughs were associated with greater cardiovascular arousal than non-shared laughs, (b) wives were more aroused by laughs (both shared and non-shared) than husbands, and (c) cardiovascular arousal followed a pattern of being lowest before laughs, highest during laughs, and in between following laughs. No age differences were found. These results provide support for the association between shared laughter and autonomic nervous system activation.
National Institute on Aging.
PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF AFFECTIVE SOUNDS IN AUSTRALIAN ADULTS AND INFANTS
Nicole S. Erlich, Ottmar V. Lipp, & Virginia Slaughter University of Queensland
Descriptors: affective sounds, environmental sounds, infants
Despite there being a large body of research on the physiological correlates of emotional picture stimuli, relatively little research has been conducted exploring whether these same correlates can be found for emotional auditory stimuli (Thierry & Roberts, 2007; Gomez P, Danuser B; Bradley & Lang, 2000). The present series of studies attempted to replicate findings from the original Bradley and Lang (2000) study in an Australian population, extend the stimuli content to include a larger variety of biological and social sounds, and test the effectiveness of a unimodal startle proble. A subset of these measures and stimuli were then used to investigate whether infants show similar patterns of responses. Among the adult participants (N 5 38), Bradley and Lang's (2000) findings were largely replicated, with similar patterns of responses found for zygomaticus, corrugator, and skin conductance measures. Significant differences between content categories were found for both ECG and Startle responses, although the differences did not directly correspond to those of the original experiment. ECG and Startle responses were also measured in 9-month-old infants (N 5 61), whose results were compared to those in the adult study.
Poster 23
ATTENTIONAL STARTLE MODULATION: EFFECTS OF TRIAL STRUCTURE AND CUE-TARGET INTERVAL
Sakinah S.J. Alhadad, Ottmar V. Lipp, & Bronwyn M. Massavelli University of Queensland
Descriptors: attention, startle reflex
Previous research has yielded evidence for modality specificity of attentional startle modulation (ASM) in a continuous performance task (CPT), and for modality non-specificity in trial-structured tasks. Modality specific ASM was found also in a modified CPT in which a trial structure had been imposed. Experiment 1 provided converging evidence by inserting a trial structure in a spatial attention task. Participants monitored movements across LEDs illuminated for 3 s and, in different task blocks, presented at interstimulus intervals of 0, 3 or 9 seconds. Relative to baseline, acoustic startle at lead intervals of 600 and 2,600 ms was inhibited in all 3 blocks, indicating modality specific ASM. Taken together, these results suggest that the continuous nature ofa task is not critical for determining modality specificity of ASM. Experiment 2 assessed whether the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between cue and target affects the nature of ASM. In one task block, the SOA was 5,050 ms, with startles elicited at 3,500 or 4,500 ms, to resemble a differential RT paradigm. In the second, the SOA was 1,700 ms, with startles elicited at 120 or 1,200 ms, to resemble a CPT. The modality non-specific ASM seen previously in the differential RT paradigm was replicated. However, there was no evidence for modality specificity of ASM in the short SOA condition. Thus, the cue-target SOA does not seem to be critical for determining the modality specificity of ASM.
Poster 25
MODELING THE FEAR-POTENTIATED STARTLE RESPONSE AS AN INDICATOR OF TRAIT FEAR USING ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
Mark D. Kramer, Uma Vaidyanathan, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: fear, startle, item response theory
Fear and fearlessness are related trait dispositions that have been investigated at their extremes with respect to distinctive forms of psychopathology. Delineation of the covariance among self-report measures previously associated with the fear-potentiated startle (FPS) response in a community-based sample of twins (N 5 2,491) revealed a hierarchical structure of fear and fearlessness, while retaining close ties to an underlying defensive reactivity system (Kramer, Bayevsky, Krueger, & Patrick, manuscript in preparation). In the current study, a subset of items from the self-report inventories were identified that showed strong relationships with the bipolar fear/fearlessness dimension and submitted to analyses classified under the rubric of Item Response Theory (IRT ). Included in this sample were additional undergraduates (N 5 1,403), 96 of whom participated in a visual startle paradigm. IRT parameters were estimated using the full twin and undergraduate samples for self-report items, and the undergraduate sample of 96 for polytomized FPS scores. FPS provided information across a broad range of the latent fear/fearlessness dimension and, despite the disparate measurement modalities, yielded comparable or better information than some self-report items. Taken together, these findings suggest FPS indexes the full range of individual differences in trait fear, and highlight a means by which physiological measures may be psychometrically linked to the phenotypes they index.
INFLUENCE OF REWARD CONTEXT ON THE FEEDBACK-RELATED NEGATIVITY AND P300 IN A SIMULATED GAMBLING TASK
Lindsay D. Nelson, Luke A. Kane, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: performance monitoring, time-frequency analysis, feedback-related negativity
This study examined the effects of reward conditions on the feedback-related negativity (FRN; an ERP component tied to performance monitoring) and P300. Initial data indicated that the FRN was amplified by loss feedback per se (vs. gain), but later work (Holroyd et al., 2004) suggested that the FRN reflects a context-dependent good/bad evaluation (i.e., it is more negative following feedback that is 'bad' relative to other possible outcomes). We further evaluated the effects of context on the FRN and feedback-P300 in a gambling task with 3 blocked conditions: Even (5 points either won or lost per trial), Loss (5 or 15 points lost per trial), and Gain (5 or 15 points won). Subjects earned 1 cent per 5 points. To separate these components that overlap in time, we extracted theta and delta time-frequency (TF) components corresponding to FRN and P300, respectively. Matching prior claims that the FRN does not reflect loss/gain but rather a contextual good/bad evaluation, theta-FRN was larger following Bad versus Good feedback in Gain and Even blocks. The TF measures also yielded new insights. Specifically, unlike the Gain and Even conditions, theta-FRN did not differ for Good versus Bad feedback in the Loss condition, suggesting that a lesser loss was not processed as 'good' in terms of the FRN in this context. In addition, Delta-P300 showed unique effects in the reward conditions. Our findings demonstrate that separate neural processes can be isolated using TF and that isolation of these processes can advance our understanding of effects previously observed in the time domain.
Poster 27
MATLAB TOOLBOX FOR FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY
Dongli Zhou, Wesley S. Thompson, & Greg J. Siegle University of Pittsburgh
Descriptors: functional connectivity, depression, fmri
Functional connectivity is defined to be the statistical association among two or more anatomically distinct time-series. Evaluating associations among time-series is critical for understanding how peripheral physiological, EEG, and neuroimaging measures are related. For example, researchers have used functional connectivity to examine relationships among anatomically distinct brain regions assessed with fMRI. Yet very different measures have been used to quantify these relationships, and the extent to which they index the same constructs is unclear. To compare these measures we developed a new MATLAB functional connectivity toolbox including whole-time series approaches (zero-order correlation, cross-lagged correlation and partial cross-spectral analysis) and event-related approaches (peak and lag-within-trial correlation and functional canonical correlation). We will describe the toolbox, and simulations showing which measures behave best for detecting different simulated patterns of functional connectivity, yielding recommendations for using each measure. We will also describe application of these measures to a published fMRI data set (Siegle et al, 2007) in which activity in the amygdala and DLPFC was evaluated in 32 unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder and 24 healthy controls. We will suggest that functional connectivity exists between the time-series of amygdala and DLPFC activity during event-related tasks using all of our measures, but only some of these measures reveal differences among depressed and control subjects.
INCLUDING EFFECT SIZE MEASURES IN ERP-DATA EXPLORATION
Florian Strelzyk, Patrick Britz, & Ewald Naumann University of Trier
Descriptors: EEG/ERP, effect size, methodology
When working with event related potentials (ERPs), there are several interchangeable and combinable ways to explore ERP data and to find effects in spatial temporal areas: i) a thorough review of existing findings; ii) expecting effects around the peaks of the ERPs; iii) visually comparing the ERPs; iv) inspecting the difference wave; v) converting the difference wave into t-values or p-values. The latter four strategies are techniques for data exploration. We would like to present an additional approach for exploring ERP-data. Using effect size measures - such as omega-square or eta-square - it is possible to create easy to understand effect-size plots that allow an estimate of the dependent variance accounted for by the independent variable in ERP planned comparisons, for both the time and space-domain. Planned comparisons break down complex experimental designs into single comparisons and make it possible to calculate the effect size measures. For ERPs, those effect sizes display where and when we find experimental effects, and they can be used to compare the effects between different conditions within the same experiment and between different experiments. Our poster will display the general advantages of effect size measures when exploring ERP-data together with specific examples of omegasquare effect size applications.
Poster29
EFFECTS OF CHOCOLATE CONSUMPTION ON ENHANCING COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE
Daniel Felbaum, Alex Reed, Lauren Matthews, Rosanna Drake, & Bryan Raudenbush Wheeling Jesuit University
Descriptors: cognition, chocolate, mood
The nutrient content (carbs, sugars, etc.) and stimulating ingredients (caffeine, theobromine, etc.) of foods such as chocolate aid in glucose release and increase blood flow. These findings have subsequently been implicated in augmenting cognitive performance. The present study assessed the effects of chocolate types on cognitive performance, mood, and task workload. In a within-subjects design, participants completed the protocol under four conditions: 85g milk chocolate (total fat 26g, saturated fat 18g, carbohydrates 50g, fiber 2g, sugar 44g, protein 6g), 85g dark chocolate (total fat 34g, saturated fat 20g, carbohydrates 46g, fiber 6g, sugar 34g, protein 4g), 85g carob (total fat 20g, saturated fat 14g, carbohydrates 45g, fiber 11g, sugar 40g, protein 11g), and a non-consumption control condition. After a 15 minute digestive period, participants completed a variety of computer-based physiological and neuropsychological tests assessing word discrimination, verbal memory, design memory, attention span, reaction time, problem solving, and response variability. Mood and task workload were also assessed via the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Gender and age served as co-variates for the analyses. Composite scores for verbal and visual memory were significantly higher for milk chocolate than the other conditions. Consumption of milk or dark chocolate showed improved impulse control and reaction time. These findings provide support for nutrient release and stimulation via chocolate consumption to enhance cognitive performance.
EFFECTS OF VIDEO GAME PLAY ON SNACKING BEHAVIOR, CALORIC BURN, AND PHYSIOLOGY: NINTENDO WII VS. MICROSOFT X-BOX
Jared Bloom, Ryan Hunker, Kristin McCombs, Tim Wright, & Bryan Raudenbush Wheeling Jesuit University
Descriptors: video games, caloric burn, food consumption
Prior research has investigated the link comparing childhood obesity with activity participation, television viewing, and video game use. The current study compared performance, mood, cognition, physiological measures, snacking behavior, and caloric burn between the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft X-Box gaming systems. Each participant played a boxing game on both the Wii and the X-Box and completed a control condition where no game was played. During play, participants wore an Actiwatch monitor, which measured their movement and caloric expenditure. The results showed that there was a significantly higher blood pressure and pulse with the Wii than with either the X-Box or control conditions. Furthermore, there were greater total and mean activity scores in the Wii condition which led to a greater caloric expenditure. Finally, when a snack food (M&Ms) was available during game play, those participants in the Wii condition ate the least amount of the snack. These results are particularly salient regarding the positive benefits of video game play, the reduction of snacking behavior during certain gaming conditions, and the possibility of weight loss through games requiring additional physical activity.
EFFECTS OF PEPPERMINT SCENT ADMINISTRATION ON REDUCING HUNGER RATINGS, FOOD CONSUMPTION AND WEIGHT
Alex Reed, Jude Almeida, Ben Wershing, & Bryan Raudenbush Wheeling Jesuit University
Descriptors: health, scent, calories
Previous research indicates that inhalation of certain scents may reduce hunger levels. The present study evaluated hunger levels during peppermint inhalation vs. non-inhalation, in addition to actual food consumption and dietary evaluation (e.g., fat intake, caloric intake, vitamin and mineral intake, etc.) over a period of two weeks. In a within-subjects design, participants completed a peppermint inhalation condition (administered every 2 hours) and a noninhalation condition. Each condition was performed for 5 days during separate weeks. During the protocol, participant rated their hunger level every two hours and completed a food diary listing everything they consumed for the two five-day periods. Results indicate participants consumed significantly fewer total calories, calories from saturated fat, total fat, and sugar during the peppermint inhalation condition. The fewer number ofcalories consumed equated to a weight loss ofone pound per week. Participants also rated their hunger level significantly lower during peppermint inhalation. The primary implication of these results is that peppermint scent can be used as an effective adjunct to decrease appetite, decrease hunger cravings, and consume fewer calories, which may lead to weight reduction and greater overall health.
Poster 31
EFFECTS OF PEPPERMINT SCENT INHALATION ON SMOKING CESSATION
Trevor Cessna, Drake Rosanna, Daniel Felbaum, Bloom Jared, & Raudenbush
Wheeling Jesuit University Descriptors: smoking, health, withdrawal effects
A variety of pharmacological methods have been proven effective in alleviating the physical and physiological symptoms of smoking cravings and withdrawals. The present study assessed a more natural approach by using peppermint scent inhalation as a potential craving, urges, and physical/ physiological withdrawal symptoms inhibitor. In a within-subjects design, participants completed three conditions: peppermint inhalation (PI) use in lieu of smoking, control ad-lib smoking (CS), and abstinence from smoking (AS). While undergoing each of these conditions, participants completed a series of surveys three times each day. The surveys included the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Cigarette Craving Survey (CCS), Smoking Urges Survey (SUS), and Cigarette Withdrawal Scale (CWS). Results indicated significant differences in smoking urges, cravings, and physical/physiological withdrawal symptoms, such that CS<PI< AS. In terms of anxiety, vigor, anger, and confusion, there was no significant difference between the CS and PI conditions, indicating that peppermint scent inhalation was equivalent to actually smoking. Thus, these results provide support for the use of peppermint inhalation as an effective substitution for smoking.
Poster 33
HYPERVENTILATION DURING EMOTION INDUCTION IN BLOOD PHOBIA: SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF DISGUST AND DISEASE-RELEVANT FILMS
Erica S. Ayala, Jennifer Rosemore, Alicia E. Meuret, & Thomas Ritz Southern Methodist University
Descriptors: blood phobia, respiration, emotion induction
Past research has shown that patients with blood-injury-injection (BII) phobia tend to hyperventilate when exposed to BII stimuli. Patients also experience high levels of anxiety and disgust in exposure, and disgust has been found to be associated with hypocapnia. This study compared respiratory responses to BII-relevant vs. disgust stimuli. Patients viewed six film clips (2.5-5 min each) pre-evaluated for inducing happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, and a neutral state, as well as a surgery film. Films were followed by a recovery period. Respiration, including end-tidal pCO2, was measured throughout films and recovery. Patients showed significantly lower end-tidal pCO2 levels during the surgery film compared to happiness, sadness, anger, and neutral films. PCO2 levels were also reduced during the disgust film but tended to be lower during the surgery film. Respiration rate remained largely unchanged throughout the films, suggesting that deeper breathing was the cause of hyperventilation. For the surgery film, low pCO2 continued throughout an extended 5-min recovery period, whereas it returned to baseline levels within 1 min for the disgust film. Thus, while disgust stimuli may also trigger hyperventilation in BII phobia, more persistent hypocapnia is only elicited by BII stimuli. Further research is needed to explore the role of hypocapnia in BII-phobia specific fainting responses.
HYPERINFLATION OF THE LUNGS INDUCED BY INTERCOSTAL EMG BIOFEEDBACK PROVOKES PRONOUNCED DYSPNEA IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS
Sibylle Petersen1, Lavanya Bhaskara2, Catherine P. Seger2, Alicia E. Meuret2, & Thomas Ritz2
1University of Hamburg, 2Southern Methodist University Descriptors: hyperinflation, dyspnea, EMG
We explored whether hyperinflation of the lungs can be induced by biofeedback of the electromyographic activity of the intercostal muscles and the extent to which this would lead to feelings of dyspnea in healthy individuals. 62 participants completed two biofeedback tasks targeting 1) respiratory, and 2) leg muscles, as well as a paced breathing condition. Participants were asked to alter the EMG signal for one minute, to rest for one minute and to repeat this procedure four times. Dyspnea was rated on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and with a list of items reflecting different qualities of dyspnea. Tidal volume, respiratory rate and inspiratory flow were recorded using respiratory inductive plethysmography. Two independent raters evaluated changes in end-expiratory volume levels between task and rest sequences in the recorded tidal volume signal (mean kappa 5 .84). Respiratory muscles biofeedback induced abrupt increases in end-expiratory volume levels in all but 7 subjects. No such changes were observed in the other tasks. This hyperinflation was accompanied by significant increases in VAS ratings, respiratory rate and inspiratory flow. Ratings of qualities of dyspnea revealed that this procedure led to higher feelings of obstruction than the other tasks. Thus, hyperinflation of the lungs can be induced experimentally in healthy individuals using biofeedback of the intercostal muscles. This is accompanied by breathlessness, in particular sensations of obstruction. Further studies could test this technique for reducing end-expiratory volume levels in patient groups.
This research was partly supported by a grant of the Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) of the first author.
Poster 35
MOCK CRIME APPLICATION OF THE COMPLEX TRIAL PROTOCOL P300-BASED CONCEALED INFORMATION TEST
Michael R. Winograd, & J. Peter Rosenfeld Northwestern University
Descriptors: P300, deception, ERP
Rosenfeld et al. (Psychophysiology, in press) introduced the Complex Trial Protocol CTP), a P300-based test used to detect concealed knowledge of personal information. The CTP was found to be sensitive, accurate, and resistant to countermeasures (CMs). In the current study, a mock-crime scenario was used to assess whether the CTP would be equally effective at detecting incidentally acquired knowledge in a mock crime scenario, and whether or not it would be as resistant to CMs as in the previous study. There were three conditions used: simple guilty (SG), guilty CM, and innocent. Upon completion of a baseline RT test, subjects participated in a mock crime. After its completion, participants completed the CTP procedure for knowledge of the item stolen. Those assigned to the CM condition were also instructed to make a unique covert CM response (e.g., a toe wiggle) to each irrelevant stimulus presented in an attempt to evoke irrelevant P300s, so as to beat the diagnostic probe vs. irrelevant comparison. A peak-to-peak bootstrap at a 90% confidence level of probe vs. average of all irrelevant stimuli correctly classified 10/12 (83%) SG subjects, 12/12 (100%) CM subjects, and 11/12 (92%) innocent control subjects. Average probe P300 amplitude in the CM condition (14.7 microvolt) was significantly greater than in the SG condition (8.5uV), t(11) 5 3.577, p 5 .004. CM use was diagnosed in all 12 subjects in the CM condition using an RT analysis. This study showed that in detecting incidentally acquired knowledge, the CTP is both highly sensitive and resistant to CMs.
A MODIFIED COMPLEX TRIAL PROTOCOL P300 TEST WITH RANDOM RESPONSES
Alexander R. Haynes, Elena B. Labkovsky, & J.P. Rosenfeld Northwestern University
Descriptors: P300, deception
We recently introduced a novel P300-based CIT, the Complex Trial Protocol (CTP). In each trial a rare probe or frequent irrelevant stimulus appears and then is followed by either a target or non-target stimulus. Four different irrelevant stimuli and one probe were included. In the original version of the CTP, subjects pressed one button when presented with a probe or irrelevant stimulus and then one of two buttons when presented with a target or non-target stimulus (Rosenfeld etal., Psychophysiology, in press). In the present study, subjects made one additional response when presented with the probe or irrelevant stimuli. Subjects pressed one of five buttons at random using a separate response box when presented with the probe or irrelevant stimuli. All further instructions were identical to the former CTP study. We tested two groups: a simple guilty (SG) group where one of the stimuli was a subject's birth date (probe), and an innocent (IN) group where all the stimuli were irrelevant to subjects. Bootstrapped individual hit rates in the SG group yielded 11 out of 12 (91.7%) positive hits when comparing the probe P300 amplitude to the maximum irrelevant amplitude at a confidence level of 95%. Zero false detections were made in the IN group (0 out of 12) using the same criteria as the SG group. A 2 (Probe versus Irrelevant) x 2 (SG versus IN) ANOVA yielded F(1,22) 5 9.5, p< .005 for the group factor, F(1,22) 5 20.9, p< .001, and significant interaction of groups and stimulus type F(1,22) 5 54.0, p<.001.
Poster 37
EFFECTS OF REFRESHING MEMORY ON P300-BASED GKT ADMINISTERED ONE MONTH AND ONE YEAR AFTER A MOCK-CRIME
Yuki Hamamoto1, Shinji Hira1, & Isato Furumitsu2 1Fukuyama University, 2University of East Asia
Descriptors: deception detection, guilty knowledge test, context-dependency effect
The present study was designed to test whether refreshing memory of mock-crime details prior to administration of a P300-based guilty knowledge test (GKT) would enhance GKT accuracy in a laboratory setting. P300 amplitude was used as a dependent variable while the context-dependency memory effect (central vs. peripheral memory) and periods of GKT administration (one month vs. one year after a mock crime) were manipulated as independent variables. The mock crime involved entering a room and stealing a ring from one of five desk drawers (central memory). Beside the ring there was a clip of stationery (peripheral memory). These two items were used as critical items in the GKT that was administered approximately one month or one year after the mock crime. Prior to the GKT, the refreshing-memory (RM) group viewed a videotape that depicted the room in which they had committed the mock crime, while the participants in the no-RM (NRM) group viewed a videotape of the same length that depicted scenes from other parts of the college. Both the critical items elicited significantly larger P300 amplitudes regardless of the memory manipulation and gaps in time of the GKT administration. These results suggest that the field applications of the GKT may be feasible, with P300 as the dependent variable.
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 18530553, 2007.
ERROR OBSERVATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Monica C. Mann-Wrobel, & Sarah E. Morris University of Maryland
Descriptors: schizophrenia, ERN, social functioning
The error-related negativity (ERN) is consistently reduced in schizophrenia patients compared with healthy controls. Potential implications of impairment in the conflict/error monitoring system for social functioning have not yet been elucidated. Prior studies have documented the presence of ERNs in psychia-trically healthy individuals when they observe someone commit errors. It is presently unknown whether this 'observation ERN' is present in individuals with broad social deficits (such as schizophrenia patients), how it may be impaired in such populations, and whether it is related to symptoms or functional deficits. The present study examines the ERN in schizophrenia patients and psychia-trically healthy comparison subjects as they perform a flanker task and as they observe a confederate perform the task. It was hypothesized that schizophrenia patients would show reduced ERN amplitude compared to controls while executing and observing the task. It was also hypothesized that ERN deficits in patients would be related to social functioning deficits, theory-of-mind impairment, and exacerbated symptomatology. Preliminary analyses suggest the presence of a robust ERN in control subjects and reduced differentiation of ERP activity following errors and correct responses in patients while performing the task. Similarly, during observation, controls showed differentiation of the ERN; however, similar activity was not observed in the patients. Implications of these findings and the relationship of the observation ERN with ratings of social functioning will be discussed.
Research funded by an Individual Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award #1F31MH079535-01A1.
Poster 39
THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNATURE OF EMOTION REGULATION: COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL VERSUS BEHAVIORAL SUPPRESSION
Jason S. Moser, Jason W. Krompinger, Ashley Malooly, Natalie Shroyer, Jenna Dietz, & Robert F. Simons University of Delaware
Descriptors: emotion regulation, ERP, ANS
Gross and colleagues identify cognitive reappraisal and behavioral suppression as two primary strategies for regulating emotion. Reappraisal is considered to be more adaptive because of its associations with decreased behavioral and physiological indicators of emotion processing whereas suppression shows a lack of change or an increase in such measures. We sought to extend these findings by measuring the late positive potential (LPP), an event related potential (ERP) indexing motivated attention and arousal, and peripheral physiology in two groups of subjects instructed to either reappraise or suppress emotional responses to unpleasant pictures. Replicating our previous work, the LPP was significantly reduced during reappraisal beginning 300 ms post-picture onset and lasting several seconds. Interestingly, suppression resulted in similar reductions of the LPP. Similar decreases in corrugator EMG during picture viewing were also found for reappraisal and suppression. Differences between the two groups emerged in ERPs and skin conductance (SC) responses prior to picture onset, however. The suppression group showed enhanced ERP and SC responses, compared to the reappraisal group, indicative of heightened anticipation of and effort towards the upcoming emotional picture. SC and heart rate (HR) responses elicited during picture viewing indicated altered orienting in the suppression compared to the reappraisal group. These findings highlight the similarities and differences between reappraisal and suppression across measures of central and peripheral psychophysiology.
Funding provided by the National Institute of Mental Health.
ALCOHOL, ERN AMPLITUDE, AND STATE AFFECT: UNHAPPY DRUNKS STILL EXPERIENCE DISTRESS
Erika A. Henry, Bruce D. Bartholow, & Sarah A. Lust University of Missouri
Descriptors: alcohol, ERN, affect
Ridderinkhof et al. (2002) found that alcohol significantly decreases the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN). They attributed this effect to alcohol impairing the ability to detect errors. However, this conclusion does not account for affective/motivational factors that are known to contribute to the size of the ERN. As alcohol is known to dampen negative affective states, and the ERN is known to be enhanced for participants high in negative affectivity (Bush et al., 2000), this study tested the role that mood may play in the dampening of the ERN by alcohol. Forty adults (age 21-35) were randomly assigned to consume either alcohol (target BAC 5 .09%) or a placebo beverage. They completed a priming task in which a picture of a man's face (black or white) was followed by an image of a gun or hand tool (i.e., target), which participants categorized as quickly as possible (within 500 ms) via button press. Participants also completed a state affect measure (PANAS) at multiple times during the experiment. Consistent with Ridderinkhof et al., the ERN was smaller in the alcohol group than the placebo group. However, this pattern held only for alcohol participants whose affective state was relatively positive. That is, participants whose postdrinking PANAS scores indicated a relatively negative affective state showed ERNs similar to those of placebo participants and larger than alcohol participants whose PANAS scores were positive. These findings suggest that the extent to which alcohol decreases the ERN depends upon alcohol's dampening of negative affect.
This research was supported by a Research Board Grant from the University of Missouri.
Poster 41
LOADED: A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY OF ALCOHOL AND IMPLICIT RACIAL BIAS
Sarah A. Lust, J. Scott Saults, Erika A. Henry, & Bruce D. Bartholow University of Missouri
Descriptors: ERPs, alcohol, inhibitory conflict
Previous research has established that implicit racial bias is apparent in tasks where participants are asked to quickly categorize stereotype-consistent and inconsistent objects following briefly presented primes of black or white faces (e.g., Amodio et al., 2004; Payne, 2005). Previous work from our lab indicates that alcohol can enhance expressions of race bias by impairing cognitive control of inhibition. The N2 component can serve as an indicator of inhibitory conflict in such paradigms. Here, 67 adults (age 21-35) recruited from the community were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 beverage groups: alcohol (target BAC 5 .09%), placebo (9:1 tonic to 100 proof vodka), or control (no alcohol). They completed the weapons identification priming task (see Payne 2001) in which a picture of a man's face (black or white) is followed by an image of a gun or hand tool (i.e., target). Participants' task was to categorize the target as quickly as possible (within 500 ms) via button press. Results showed that participants were more accurate overall in the placebo and control groups (Ms 5 .90 & .88, respectively) than in the alcohol group (M 5 .79), (po. 01). Ps were also more accurate at identifying tools following white faces (M 5 .85) than black faces (M 5 .82), but were more accurate identifying weapons following black faces (M 5 .89) than white faces (M 5 .87), (po .01). Process dissociation procedure analyses (Jacoby, 1991) suggest that automatic bias is not affected by alcohol. However, control of bias was significantly worse in the alcohol condition (M 5 .58) compared to placebo.
MODERATING EFFECTS OF DYSPHORIA ON THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE EYEBLINK RESPONSE DURING ANGERING PICTURES
Carly K. Peterson, Laura Gravens, & Eddie Harmon-Jones Texas A&M University
Descriptors: startle, anger, depression
Much past research has demonstrated that the startle eyeblink response is potentiated during viewing of unpleasant pictures, but reduced during viewing of pleasant pictures. This difference in magnitude, while widely found in normal populations, has not been consistently replicated in dysphoric individuals (e.g. Cook, Davis, Hawk, & Spence, 1992; Dichter, Tomarken, Shelton, & Sutton, 2004; Larson, Nitschke, & Davidson, 2007). Additionally, no research has examined the startle eyeblink response during angering pictures, an unfortunate fact due to anger's negative valence yet approach-oriented motivational qualities. The present study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by presenting angering (anti-U.S./anti-patriotism), unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral pictures to dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals. After controlling for eyeblink during neutral pictures, dysphoric individuals evidenced significantly greater startle eyeblink magnitudes during angering pictures than did non-dysphoric individuals. No differences in self-reported ratings of anger were found between groups, and the groups did not differ in response to unpleasant and pleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System. These results suggest that dysphoric individuals respond to angering stimuli in a fearful/withdrawal (internalizing) manner as opposed to an angering/approach (externalizing) manner.
PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO NURTURANT LOVE STIMULI
Stephanie E. Moser, Samantha Neufeld, Wan H. Yeung, & Michelle N. Shiota Arizona State University
Descriptors: ANS, nurturant love, positive emotion
Little research currently addresses the autonomic nervous system (ANS) aspects of positive emotion. In particular, few studies have examined changes in ANS physiology associated with discrete positive emotion states following a neutral, non-emotive state. The present study examined cardiovascular responses associated with the experience of nurturant love: affection and concern for another's well-being that motivates one to provide care for significant others, particularly offspring and vulnerable kin. Because nurturant love is thought to facilitate active caregiving behavior, we hypothesized that participants viewing nurturant love stimuli would display increased cardiovascular arousal, and that the extent of this arousal would be predicted by trait measures of emotional involvement in close relationships. Undergraduate participants completed questionnaires assessing dispositional experience of several positive emotions, and adult attachment style. Participants then viewed a 90-second set of emotionally neutral slides, and a set of slides depicting baby animals, each after a 60-second baseline. Consistent with hypothesized increase in cardiovascular arousal, participants' cardiac interbeat interval (IBI) decreased from baseline while viewing the nurturant love slides. This change was significantly different from the effects of neutral slides. Greater decreases in IBI were observed among participants reporting higher dispositional nurturant love and lower attachment avoidance. Implications for the development of theories and measurement of nurturant love are discussed.
Poster 43
UNPACKING MIRROR NEURONS: CONTRALATERAL EEG MU RHYTHM SUPPRESSION ON OBSERVING UNILATERAL MOVEMENT
Laura Gravens, Rebecca Simmons, Holly Albert, Michael Schmerber, Philip A.
Gable, & Eddie Harmon-Jones Texas A&M University
Descriptors: mu rhythm, mirror neurons, laterality
Mirror neurons are postulated to underlie several social psychological processes. Empirical support for mirror neurons has been garnered from a variety of methodological approaches and from a variety of species. In humans, suppression of the EEG mu rhythm over the motor cortex has been associated with observing another person engage in motor behavior. The current research was designed to extend past research by examining whether such activations were lateralized. That is, would observation of another person making right-hand movements activate contralateral motor cortical activity and vice versa? In addition, would such lateralized motor cortex activations spread to the prefrontal cortex, as has been recently observed in research on actor hand contractions and motivation? To test these questions, participants observed another person moving an object with a right or left hand; they also observed the object move without the actor's assistance from the right or left side. Results indicated that the observation of object movement on the right (vs. left) side caused greater activation of the left motor cortex. Interestingly, these effects emerged regardless of whether the object movement was caused by the actor or by remote control. However, a right/left movement by actor/remote interaction emerged at lateral frontal sites, suggesting that right vs. left hand actor movements caused greater relative left lateral frontal activation. Discussion will focus on the integration of research on mirror neurons with research on asymmetrical frontal cortical activity and motivation.
Poster 45
SPARK OF LIFE: AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM ASPECTS OF ANTICIPATORY ENTHUSIASM
Wan (Ellen) H. Yeung, Samantha L. Neufeld, Stephanie E. Moser, & Michelle N.
Shiota Arizona State University
Descriptors: positive emotion, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (rsa)
Remarkably little is known about the autonomic nervous system (ANS) aspects of positive emotion. Previous studies have often emphasized a 'soothing' or 'undoing' effect, finding that some positive emotions involve low cardiovascular arousal, and promote speedy recovery from arousal associated with negative emotion. However, different positive emotions likely serve different fitness-enhancing functions, which may require different patterns of ANS activity. The present study investigates the ANS aspects of Anticipatory Enthusiasm (AE) - a positive emotion experienced in response to environmental cues of reward, and which facilitates behavioral activation to acquire those rewards. Participants viewed a set of AE eliciting slides, which presented a lottery-like sequence of number matches leading to an unexpected monetary reward, as well as a set of emotionally neutral slides. Several peripheral indices of participants' ANS activity were measured during each slide set and a corresponding baseline period, and subjective experience of emotion was assessed after each slide set. Our findings indicated that, relative to the emotionally neutral task, AE induction resulted in physiological arousal rather than soothing, including decreased cardiac interbeat interval, increased respiration rate (RR), and decreased RSA, although the RSA reduction was accounted for by the increase in RR. In addition, these responses were enhanced among participants reporting stronger subjective experience of AE. Implications for research on the functions and measurement of positive emotions are discussed.
ASSESSING SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION PROCESSES AND THE CROSS-RACE EFFECT USING EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS
Guadalupe Corral1, Stephen L. Crites2, Christian A. Meissner2, Jennifer H.
Taylor2, & Katherine R. White2 1University of Texas at Austin, 2University of Texas at El Paso
Descriptors: ERPs, categorization, cross-race
The automatic categorization of gender and race was examined using event-related potentials. Automatic categorization refers to instances in which a person's explicit task does not call for the categorization of stimuli but instead the stimuli are processed along certain dimensions without intent. Fifty-five participants completed a task in which they were asked to closely view pictures of individuals in preparation for recognition tests. The pictures of individuals appeared in sequences of fifty and varied by both gender (male/female) and race (same race as participant/other race). We employed a paradigm in which a rare stimulus (e.g., other-race female) appeared in a sequence of frequent stimuli (e.g., same-race male). Results revealed that gender inconsistency (e.g., female within a series of males) had a significant effect on P3 amplitude. On the other hand, P3 amplitude to racial inconsistency (e.g., other-race male embedded within a series of same-race males) was conditioned by other factors. Findings suggest that gender is automatically processed while race is activated only under certain conditions.
Partially funded by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship.
ERP COMPONENTS OF A CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE TASK IN ADHD FAMILIES WITH 4Q13.2 AND 11P15.5 LOCI LINKAGE
Natalia Trujillo1, Yanely Acosta2, Maria Antonieta Bobes2, David Pineda1, Francisco Lopera1, & Mauricio Arcos-Burgos3 1Universidad de Antioquia, 2Cuban Neuroscience Center, 3University of Miami
Descriptors: event related potential, neuropsychology, attention deficit hyper-activity disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) includes several neuropsy-chological impairments. Recently, some cognitive dysfunctions have been recognized as endophenotypes. Sustained attention is one of the most commonly described. The continuous performance test (CPT ) is a measure of sustained attention, which is highly sensitive to brain damage or dysfunction. It has been evaluated using behavioral recordings and ERPs. CPTs are generally characterized by rapid presentation of continuously changing stimuli with a designated "target" stimulus or ''target'' pattern; duration of the task varies but is intended to be sufficient to measure sustained attention. The goal of this study was to determine a relation between electrophysiological responses and genotype. Twenty individuals from extended and multigenerational families with ADHD bearing a genetic isolate with linkage to loci at 11p15.5 participated. Significant differences in N200 and P300 components were shown in frontal, central, and parietal sites. These results point to effect of genotype in frontal systems.
Poster 47
WAIT, WHAT? ASSESSING STEREOTYPE INCONGRUITIES USING THE N400 ERP COMPONENT
Katherine R. White1, Stephen L. Crites1, Jennifer H. Taylor1, & Lupe Corral2 1The University of Texas at El Paso, 2University of Texas at El Paso
Descriptors: N400, stereotypes, erps
Priming research traditionally considers stereotypes their own class of semantic associations and often utilizes word pair reaction times to study stereotype activation. While reaction time research has supplied numerous insights on this topic, a more direct, online measure, such as event-related potentials (ERPs), may provide further clarification. Modulation of the N400 ERP component is thought to reflect activation of semantic information, and is elicited by semantic or associative incongruities between word pairs. The present study sought to combine stereotype priming techniques with physiological measures to determine whether the N400 ERP component is elicited by incongruities between stereotype word pairs, while a secondary goal was to replicate stereotype priming behavioral results. Event related brain potentials were recorded from 23 participants while they made match/mismatch judgments about stereotype word pairs (e.g. Congruent 5 women : nurturing/Incongruent 5 women : aggressive). Results revealed that an N400 effect is elicited by stereotype word pairs, such that incongruent word pairs elicit a significantly larger N400 amplitude compared with congruent word pairs. Behavioral effects replicated findings from previous research, with faster reaction times to congruent word pairs than incongruent. The present results indicate that perhaps the N400 component may be used as a more direct measure for the assessment of stereotypes.
Poster 49
NEURAL CORRELATES OF GAZE-DIRECTED REAPPRAISAL IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS
Philipp C. Opitz, Heather L. Urry, & Lindsay C. Rauch Tufts University
Descriptors: reappraisal, gaze, age
Recent evidence suggests that, in studies of visually-evoked emotion, brain activation during cognitive reappraisal used to regulate emotion may be accounted for in part by eye gaze shifts. In addition, there is evidence that younger and older adults may exhibit differences in cognitive control and emotional functioning. The purpose ofthis study was to examine brain activation while independently manipulating reappraisal and gaze, as well as to examine possible age differences. Sixteen college-aged and 15 older adults (55-65 years) increased and decreased their emotional responses to unpleasant photos using reappraisal, or simply viewed unpleasant and neutral photos in a randomized, event-related fMRI study. On each trial, gaze was directed to a square portion of the photo that was either relevant or irrelevant to the emotional meaning of the image. In preliminary analyses, we found no modulation of amygdala activation due to reappraisal. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation was only evident in the decrease condition, with no corresponding decrease in subjective ratings of intensity. Reappraisals focused on increasing and decreasing yielded anterior cingulate and ventrolateral PFC (vlPFC) activation. Older adults tended to show less activation in vlPFC, and they rated trials as more intense. This evidence suggests that dlPFC and amygdala reappraisal effects may depend on ad lib gaze behavior. In addition, older adults use vlPFC less during gaze-directed reappraisal, and may display heightened reactivity to visual stimuli as a consequence.
RELATIVELY GREATER LEFT PREFRONTAL ACTIVITY MITIGATES THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LOW SOCIAL SUPPORT
Amanda R.W. Steiner, Cara R. Damiano, & James A. Coan University of Virginia
Descriptors: frontal eeg asymmetry, social support, adjustment
Perceived social support serves as an important buffer against the stress associated with potentially difficult life transitions. Additional research suggests relatively greater left prefrontal activity indexes approach-related emotionregulation strategies that serve as a buffer against withdrawal-related negative affect. In this study, we used perceived social support and prefrontal asymmetry (pFA) to predict first semester homesickness in college freshmen. Specifically we hypothesized that pFA would moderate the relationship between perceived social support and subsequent homesickness reports. Results indicated that pFA did indeed interact with perceived social support to predict homesickness six weeks after brain and perceived support measures were obtained. Decomposition of this interaction revealed that relatively greater left pFA was associated with lower levels of homesickness in individuals who perceived themselves as having low levels of social support. By contrast, individuals reporting high levels of perceived social support showed no relationship between pFA and homesickness. These findings suggest that an approach-related emotionregulation style, indexed by relatively greater left pFA, buffers individuals from adjustment risks associated with low perceived social support during stressful life transitions.
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL REGULATION DURING INHIBITORY CONTROL TASK PERFORMANCE IN AGGRESSIVE YOUNG CHILDREN
William T. Utendale, Paul D. Hastings, Arnaud B. Saint-Pierre, & Michele Hubert Concordia University
Descriptors: aggression, inhibitory control, child development
Neurophysiological substrates associated with self-regulation develop rapidly during early childhood. However, specific physiological mechanisms sub-serving behavioral phenotypes in aggressive young children remain unspecified. Delayed maturation of the prefrontostriatal system may underlie deficits in executive functioning (EF), particularly inhibitory control (IC). In this investigation Porges' polyvagal theory of parasympathetic regulation was tested as one possible model of EF development. Poor vagal modulation during periods of focused attention in children with prefrontal deficits may be associated with particularly poor IC. Vagal efference was indexed through respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in 40 4 - 5 and 40 6 - 7 year-old children with low and clinical levels of externalizing problems (EP). Mothers reported on children's behavior using the CBCL. RSA was examined at baseline and during two IC tasks, the day-night task and tapping test. Regulation was calculated as reduction in RSA (vagal suppression; VS) from baseline to IC. Analyses demonstrated that VS predicted performance accuracy more strongly for older than younger children. Older children with clinical EP performed worse on IC tasks than all other children, beta 5 .62, t 5 3.45, p< .01. Children with clinical EP who manifested little VS performed particularly poorly. These results provide insight into children's normative and dysregulated neurocognitive and behavioral development, and serve as a critical test of the polyvagal theory and the role of parasympathetic regulation in children's EF processes.
Poster 51
THE AUTONOMIC PHENOTYPE OF RUMINATION AND DAILY BLOOD PRESSURE
Cristina Ottaviani1, David Shapiro2, Dmitry M. Davydov3, & Iris B. Goldstein2 1University of Bologna, 2University of California at Los Angeles, 3Department of Neurophysiology, Moscow Research Center of Narcology
Descriptors: rumination, autonomic dysregulation, ambulatory blood pressure
Recent studies suggest that ruminative thoughts are a moderating variable in the relationship between personality and cardiovascular health. We hypothesize that the autonomic dysregulation that characterizes rumination may serve as a moderator in the relationship between anxiety, depression, anger, and ambulatory blood pressure (BP). Rumination was induced by an anger-recall task in 45 healthy subjects. Heart rate variability (HRV), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), and baroreflex effectiveness index (BEI) change scores were derived to obtain the autonomic phenotype of rumination. Systolic and diastolic BP (SBP, DBP) were recorded on a workday and a nonwork day. Personality traits were not directly related to ambulatory BP. However, higher levels of anger-in and depression were associated with larger decreases in High Frequency-HRV (HF-HRV) during rumination and anxiety was negatively related to BRS activation. BEI inhibition was positively related to anger-in, anxiety, and depression. Lower HF-HRV reactivity during the rumination task was associated with higher DBP during wake (r 5 .43). BRS inhibition during the task was associated with higher SBP during wake (r 5 .33) and higher SBP (r 5 .35) and DBP during sleep (r 5 .32). BEI inhibition was related to higher DBP during wake (r 5 .43). Findings suggest that individuals with certain traits are more likely to experience vagal withdrawal and baroreceptor dysregulation during rumination. This autonomic imbalance is a potential risk factor for elevated BP and hypertension.
Poster 53
USING ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES TO COMPARE ERPS TO SEMANTICALLY INCONGRUENT & SUBJECTIVELY INCONGRUENT SENTENCES
Ty Brumback, Yael Arbel, & Emanuel Donchin University of South Florida
Descriptors: P300, N400, alcohol
Expectations that individuals hold about the outcomes of consuming alcohol influence their information processing and drinking behavior (Goldman et al, 2006). Fishman et al (2006) reported that sentence terminations that violate a subject's alcohol expectancies elicit a P300. We revisited Fishman's paradigm to determine whether the subjectively unexpected sentence endings also elicit an N400. Twenty-one undergraduates completed the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (Brown et al, 1987). A median split of the Global Positive subscale was used to determine group membership. Participants attended to three categories of sentences: Alcohol Positive/Arousing (e.g., 'Alcohol makes me feel happy'), Alcohol Negative/Sedating (e.g., 'Alcohol makes me feel sick'), & Semantically Incongruent. The ERPs were elicited by the target word, which was always the terminal word in the sentence. We hypothesized that the semantically incongruent sentences would elicit the N400, while the alcohol-related sentences would elicit the P300 only in relationship to the individual's subjective expectations. EEG data were recorded using 128-channelhydrocelnets. A spatio-temporal Principal Component Analysis (Spencer et al, 2001) was utilized to reduce the dimensionality of the large dataset, and to parse the complex waveforms into components. Alcohol-related sentences elicited both the P300 and the N400 ERP components. The P300 amplitude appeared to differ as a function of one's subjectively held expectancies; however, the N400 showed no such differences.
CHANGE OF EEG CHARACTERISTICS IN EPILEPTIC CONTINGENT AT THE BACKGROUND OF ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS
Irma Khachidze, Victor Maloletnev, & Manana Gugushvili Georgian I. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology
Descriptors: digital eeg, human psychophysiology
The influence of Antiepileptic Drug Carbamazepine (CBZ) was studied regarding the dynamics of quantitative (absolute Value of Power spectra AVP, density of epileptiform activity, mean frequencies) as well as qualitative (epileptiform graphoelements) characteristics of EEG during the treatment of 47 patients, aged 3-16 years with epilepsy (partial, localization-dependent forms and partial with secondary generalization). The findings obtained before and 3-6 months after the commencement of CBZ monotherapy were compared. The most expressed and persistent effect of CBZ on EEG characteristics manifested itself in a considerable increase of AVP activity in the low frequency and alpha regions of the spectrum. Decrease of average alpha rhythm was observed in occipital and parietal zones. Alteration of AVP and the frequency characteristics of beta activity spectrum did not show any steady dynamics. The qualitative analysis showed at the background of CBZ administration diminution of spontaneous epileptiform graphoelements density (78% average) was seen on the EEGs recorded at rest with closed eyes. Complete normalization of resting EEGs was registered in 39% and 47% of patients after 3 and 6 months, correspondingly. There was a certain decrease of the intensity in the patients response to functional tests. The results obtained allow us to conclude that the use of any type of Antiepileptic Drugs should be accomplished with maximal caution and under regular EEG control. Based on our results such a control must be performed not rarely than once in three months.
AUTONOMIC DIFFERENCES AMONG SUPPRESSED, EXAGGERATED, AND NATURAL AMUSEMENT
David R. Herring, Michael Devine, Megan Davidson, Melissa Wilson, Amy Larson, Nicole A. Roberts, & Mary H. Burleson Arizona State University
Descriptors: emotion regulation, ANS, postive emotions
Previous studies examining the cardiovascular consequences of response-focused emotion modulation techniques (i.e., suppression and exaggeration) have focused primarily on negative emotional contexts (e.g., disgust). The current study examined cardiovascular responses to suppressed and exaggerated amusement. Forty undergraduates viewed a neutral video followed by two comedy videos: the first with no instructions (natural condition) and the second with instructions to either suppress or exaggerate their emotions (regulation condition). Heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) were recorded. After watching, participants rated the videos' pleasantness, joyfulness, happiness, amusement, and interest. Comedy videos were higher than neutral videos on all ratings. Participants instructed to exaggerate reported higher ratings of joy and marginally more happiness (p 5 .054) than those instructed to suppress. There were no differences in ratings between the regulation conditions and the natural condition. RSA was greater for exaggeration compared with the natural condition, but did not differ from suppression. Suppression led to HR deceleration that was larger than the deceleration of HR in the natural condition and acceleration of HR in the exaggeration condition. There were no differences among the conditions for PEP. Overall, these results differ from previous findings on response-focused emotion modulation with regard to sympathetic arousal and changes in subjective experience.
Poster 55
QUANTITATIVE SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM IN VIOLENT RECIDIVISTIC OFFENDERS
Ana Agustina Calzada Reyes1, & Alfredo Alvarez Amador2 1Legal Medicine Institute, 2Cuban Neuroscience Center
Descriptors: EEG, frequency analysis
The aim of the investigation was to contribute to electrophysiological characterization in violent recidivistic offenders. The resting electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded in 15 violent recidivist offending evaluated for forensic psychiatrics (Experimental Group). They were compared with 12 offenders matched in age and gender (Control Group). The features at visual inspection of the EEG and the use of frequency domain quantitative analysis techniques (Broad Band and Narrow Band Spectral Parameters) are described. 60% of recidivistic offender subjects had electroencephalographic abnormalities. Most frequent were the background activity organizational alterations, low amplitude signal, an attenuated alpha rhythm and global theta and delta slow activities. The quantitative analysis showed differences between the frequency spectrums and between the Broad Band Spectral Parameter between both groups and the Cuban normative database. Theta and delta frequencies were increased and alpha activity in left parietal-occipital was decreased in the Experimental Group. High incidences of electroencephalographic abnormalities were found in individuals who committed serious and repetitive antisocial acts. The most frequent were: electrognesis alterations, attenuated alpha rhythm and global theta and delta slow activities. In the quantitative analysis the theta and delta frequencies were increased and alpha activity was decreased in the experimental group.
Poster 57
SUSTAINED PUPIL DILATION AND REACTION TIME MEASURES OF EMOTIONAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN DYSPHORIA: GENDER MATTERS
Steven L. Bistricky, & Rick E. Ingram University of Kansas
Descriptors: pupil, dysphoria, gender
Problem: Dysphoria confers increased risk for developing depression and can lead to deleterious outcomes similar to those associated with depression. Thus, investigating relationships between cognitive processing and dysphoria is important. Studies utilizing sustained pupil dilation (PD) as a psychophysiolo-gical index of processing have suggested that depressed individuals process emotional and perhaps specifically negative information for longer than nondepressed individuals. Method: In the current study, 29 dysphoric and 33 nondysphoric individuals completed an emotional word valence identification task, and PD and reaction time (RT) data were compared to examine whether depressotypic phenomena might be detectable prior to first onsets. Results: The predicted dysphoria status by stimulus valence interaction was not supported. Unexpectedly, dysphoria status interacted with gender to account for variance in PD and RT, F(1, 2184) 5 29.03, p< .001. Exploratory analyses revealed that in males, dysphoria had a facilitative effect on early processing of emotional information, F(1, 2184) 5 26.98, p<.001, and appeared to decrease late processing (10- 12s post-stimulus) associated with positive words, t(19) 5 3.00, p 5 .01. However in women, dysphoria briefly interfered with the typical female advantage for emotional information processing, F(1, 2184) 5 3.89, p< .05, and showed a trend toward increased sustained processing following negative words. Conclusion: Increased risk for depression may be expressed via non-identical cognitive mechanisms in dysphoric men and women.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? PUPIL DILATION, SELF-REPORTED OFF-TASK THINKING, AND INCIDENTAL RECALL FOLLOWING ATTENTIONAL FOCUS ON EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF INFORMATION
Steven L. Bistricky, & Rick E. Ingram University of Kansas
Descriptors: pupil, off-task thinking, attention
Problem: Pupil dilation (PD) reliably indexes cognitive load, but content inferences are usually speculative. Task-unrelated thought (TUT) and task-related interference (TRI) are types of off-task thinking that disengage or reengage task-related attentional resources, respectively (Smallwood, et al., 2004), however their relationships with physiological indicators of cognitive processing and memory have yet to be delineated in the context of a cognitive emotional processing task. Method: Participants (N 5 61) performed a word valence identification (VID) task while PD was measured, then completed the Dundee Stress States Questionnaire Thinking Content scale and a delayed incidental recall task of VID task words. Regression analyses controlling for sex and dysphoria examined associations among off-task thinking (TUT, TRI, and subscales, negative TUTand self-critical TRI), recall, and PD during six cognitive components across the 12s waveform. Results: TUT correlated with a general decrease in initial load for the first two components [(standardized betas; p) bs all < — .216, ps all < .05]. Negative TUT was associated with decreased load on positive word trials on the latter five components (bs all < — .287, ps all < .05) and with increased positive word recall, b 5 .417, t(59) 5 3.26, p<.01. Conclusions: TUT was linked to less pre-attentive/early attentional processing, whereas negative TUT may have related to efforts to re-focus attention on positive words via rehearsal. Explicit thought measures can help account for psychophysiological variance within cognitive tasks.
A METHODIC GUIDELINE FOR FMRI CONNECTIVITY ANALYSIS: ARE IDENTIFIED CONNECTIVITY NETWORKS PLAUSIBLE?
Balint Varkuti, Ranganatha Sitaram, Ralf Veit, & Niels Birbaumer Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tuebingen
Descriptors: methods, connectivity, fmri
The purpose of this work was the evaluation of the plausibility of multiple effective connectivity (EC) models, estimated by employing an in-house implementation of multivariate Granger Causality Modeling to BOLD fMRI data. Our in-house toolbox for fMRI EC analysis incorporates state-of-the-art processing techniques for inclusion and shaping of task-related 'regions of interest' which has proven to be a critical precondition for the identification of 'connectivity of interest'. These techniques include not only the univariate Statistical Parametric Mapping but a data-driven multivariate method - Independent Component Analysis - as well. The benefit in the use of mutual information from these different analysis methods is demonstrated and the derived EC models are assessed with respect to their plausibility using Diffusion Tensor Imaging based Fiber Tractography. The potential of this method is demonstrated by presenting whole-brain-connectivity results from an fMRI face recognition experiment in which subjects had to either determine sex or rate the familiarity of faces. Differing connectivity networks for the two conditions could be identified. After a brief discussion of the benefits and disadvantages of the methods, solutions are proposed for the imminent challenges and hurdles in EC analysis and fit into a proposed guideline for appropriate design and analysis of fMRI connectivity experiments. Finally, the implications of a possible diagnostic use of connectivity analysis are briefly discussed.
Poster 59
PERITRAUMATIC TONIC IMMOBILITY IN PTSD: A VOXEL BASED MORPHOMETRY (VBM) STUDY
Vanessa Rocha-Rego1, Mirtes Pereira2, Mateus Joffily1, Leticia Oliveira2, Adriana Fiszman2, Carla Marques-Portella1, Mauro Mendlowicz2, Ivan
Figueira1, & Eliane Volchan1 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2Federal Fluminense University
Descriptors: voxel-based morphometry, PTSD, tonic immobility
Tonic immobility, the last-ditch defense under mortal threat, is characterized by reflexive profound motor inhibition and is known to increase the chances of surviving an attack, but also to have hazardous consequences. Psychometric measures have indicated the occurrence of peritraumatic tonic immobility in humans and its link with PTSD symptoms severity. This study employed VBM to detect brain anatomical differences in PTSD patients (n 5 16) relative to traumaexposed controls (n 5 17) by analysing T1-weighted magnetic resonance images. The intensity of paralysis/immobility during trauma was assessed retrospectively. Direct group comparisons using t test showed reduced grey matter volume in prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, bilateral superior frontal cortex, right parietal cortex (p< 0.001, uncorrected) of PTSD patients. We observed an inverse correlation of grey matter volume and intensity of reported motor symptoms of peritraumatic tonic immobility in the orbital (BA11) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9) (p< 0.0001 r 5 — 0.85 and p< 0.0001 r 5 — 0.85, respectively). In conclusion, aside from a brain volume reduction in several regions of PTSD patients, these findings provide evidence that brain morphology in specific prefrontal regions is associated with peritraumatic tonic immobility. They could either reflect a predisposition to react with tonic immobility or a result of having exhibited this reaction.
Brazilian National Research Foundation (CAPES).
Poster 61
THE EVALUATION OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL AND EEG PARAMETERS IN FORMER PARTICIPANTS OF LOCAL WARS
Elena Mikhaylova, Andrey Ratchin, & Larisa Simonenkova Smolensk State Medical Academy
Descriptors: EEG, psychopathology, war participants
EEG is known as a nosologically unspecific method of examination because it shows the functional condition of nervous tissue, which does not directly depend on the character of pathological processes. However, the analysis of the EEG data and clinical investigation allows testing whether the EEG delay is connected with the disturbance of blood circulation. In the case of war participants the vascular changes are summarized with the consequences of brain injuries and combat stress, which also can cause functional and even morphological changes in the brain. Seventy men from 20 to 60 years old (mean: 40.7 years) were examined. We used the K. Leonhard questionnaire, and measured levels of depression (BDI) and anxiety (Spielberger score). EEG was measured in all patients. Results showed that 78.1% of patients showed accentuation on one or several scores of the questionnaire. Also the subdepressive condition and moderate levels of anxiety were revealed. There was the tendency for anxiety to increase with the age of the patients, especially in persons with brain injury in anamnesis. During the EEG examination the attributes of paroxysmal activity were originally revealed only in one patient with resistant posttraumatic epilepsy. But in the majority of patients evidence of moderate changes of bioelectrical activity of the brain were registered. The normal type EEG was registered in only 18 out of 70 men.
EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SMOKING STATUS AND RISK OF AN ALCOHOL USE DISORDER
Valerie L. Hobson1, Jared P. Dempsey2, Lee M. Cohen1, & Noreen Watson3 1Texas Tech University, 2Oklahoma State University, 3Charleston College
Descriptors: alcohol, nicotine, cardiovascular
It is well documented that regular consumption of alcohol can increase blood pressure in humans but that this increase may be fairly benign. Research has shown that the cardiovascular benefits from alcohol tend to outweigh the risk of mortality that exists from increased blood pressure. However, the combination of smoking and drinking has been proven to increase blood pressure. The current study examined whether high blood pressure in young adult smokers (N 5 27) vs. non-smokers (N 5 25) is associated with risk of an alcohol use disorder. Overall, there was a positive correlation between systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and AUDIT score (r 5 .29, p<.05; r 5 .33, p<.05; r 5 .31, p<.05; respectively). Concurrent with our hypothesis, the relationship between risk of an alcohol use disorder and blood pressure was only significant among smokers. Bivariate correlational analyses, assessing only the smoking participants, showed a strong relationship between scores on the AUDIT and SBP (r 5 .48, p<.05), DBP (r 5 .61, p<.001), and MAP (r 5 .63, p< .001). The same analyses, conducted with non-smokers were all non-significant (all correlations p>.38). The results indicate that increased blood pressure is not only associated with simple alcohol consumption but also with the risk ofan alcohol use disorder. Further, for this sample ofyoung, healthy adults, smokers were in the prehypertensive range and smokers scoring above cut-off for likely having an alcohol use disorder were in the hypertensive range.
AMYGDALA ACTIVATION TO FEARFUL FACES: EFFECTS OF STIMULUS DURATION VS. LOW SPATIAL FREQUENCIES FILTERING
Cristina Ottaviani, Daniela Cevolani, Raffaele Agati, Marco Leonardi, Valeria Nucifora, & Gianni Brighetti University of Bologna
Descriptors: amygdala, backward masking, spatial frequencies
Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the amygdala activates in response to fearful faces even when presented below the threshold of conscious visual perception. It has also recently been proposed that distinct neural pathways in the visual system are selectively sensitive to different ranges of spatial frequencies; specifically, lower spatial frequencies (LSF) information seems to project chiefly to subcortical regions. Given their common association with subcortical functioning, our aim was to investigate the differences in the amygdala responses between a masked and a LSF facial stimuli conditions. A sample of ten healthy adult volunteers underwent the following two passive viewing tasks during a 3T fMRI scanning: 1) presentation of human faces with fearful vs. neutral expressions (17 ms) using a backward masking procedure and 2) presentation ofthe same faces whose spatial frequency contents had been manipulated by low-pass filtering (200 ms). Awareness was confirmed according to objective criteria by a forced-choice fear detection task. Both masked and LSF fearful faces were associated with significant bilateral activation within the amygdala. In a direct comparison, masked fearful faces yielded significantly greater activation in the amygdala relative to LSF fearful faces (p 5 .01 and p 5 .02 for right and left amygdala). Our findings showed enhanced amygdala activation to LSF fear faces, but suggested that broad LSF fearful faces, even when presented below the threshold of conscious visual perception, are more effective in determining amygdala responses.
Poster 63
HOW SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR AND
HORMONES IN COMMON MARMOSETS, CALLITHRIX JACCHUS DURING PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS SITUATIONS
Nicole Leite Galvao-coelho, & Bernardete Cordeiro Sousa Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
Descriptors: stress, hormones, non- human primates
The main social indicator of ranking in human occidental societies is the socioeconomic gradient. Low socioeconomic status is associated with an increased risk of acquiring stress-related illnesses. This phenomenon is also observed in some species of non-human primates, where the subordinate presents with high levels ofcortisol and increased risk ofdeveloping pathologies associated to stress. However, in species considered cooperative breeders, the dominant have higher cortisol levels. In this study we investigated in a small cooperative breeding primate, Callitrix jacchus, the behavioral and endocrine (fecal cortisol) reaction of 4 female dyads showing clear dominance (ClD) and 4 contested dominance (CoD) to psychosocial stressors (separation and reunion, 7 days each). ClD dyads, showed a less competitive response profile when submitted to the stressful situation. The social behaviors between dominant and subordinate increased significantly during the reunion. CoD dyads showed high competition scores, increasing scent marking and cortisol in both isolation and reunion phases. These findings suggest that when social dominance hierarchy is established between females, they try to compensate the challenging situations by providing mutual social support and, consequently try to reduce the risks of becoming vulnerable to the pathological consequences of chronic stress. On the other hand, if the social relationship remained undefined, as between the CoD dyads, females expressed signs of tension and an increase in allostatic load due to the instability of the social position.
Poster 65
GENDER IDENTIFICATION MODERATES PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION
Dina Eliezer1, Brenda Major1, & Wendy Berry Mendes2 University of California, Santa Barbara, 2Harvard University
Descriptors: cardiac output and total peripheral resistance, challenge and threat reactivity, sexism
Perceiving discrimination against one's ingroup may lead to adverse psychological outcomes. Individuals who highly identify with their ingroup are especially likely to experience negative outcomes as group discrimination may pose a threat to the self (McCoy & Major, 2003). The current investigation examines whether perceiving discrimination against the ingroup also elicits maladaptive cardiovascular (CV) responses, especially for individuals high in identification. Female participants, who previously completed a measure of gender identity, were randomly assigned to orally summarize an article that described sexism as either prevalent or rare. CV responses during and after the speech, self-reported emotion, and self-esteem were assessed. During the speech, participants in the sexism prevalent condition exhibited a physiological pattern of reactivity more indicative of threat (decreased cardiac and increased vascular activity) (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996) and reported greater uneasiness and lower self-esteem compared to participants who spoke about sexism as rare. However, during the recovery period after the speech, there was an interaction between gender identification and condition. Participants high in identification who previously spoke about sexism as prevalent exhibited a prolonged threat response and reported higher uneasiness and anxiety compared to participants low in identification in the same condition. Psychological and physiological data converge to suggest that highly identified individuals may experience greater negative responses to perceived discrimination.
ISOLATING THE CONTRIBUTION OF CORRECT AND INCORRECT RESPONSE ACTIVATION IN THE LATERALIZED READINESS POTENTIAL
Emily S. Kappenman, & Steven J. Luck University of California at Davis
Descriptors: LRP, response activation
The lateralized readiness potential (LRP) is a useful tool for studying response-related activity in a variety of domains. Typical LRP paradigms use lateralized motor responses to isolate the LRP difference wave. However, the LRP elicited in typical paradigms only provides a measure of the difference in activation between the correct and incorrect responses. Although this differential activation can be very informative, the ability to assess the level of activation of correct and incorrect responses separately would be valuable for answering many important questions. We developed a new experimental paradigm to separate the contribution of correct and incorrect response activation in the LRP using a combination of motor and vocal responses. Participants responded to one stimulus category with a lateralized motor response as in typical LRP experiments and to the other stimulus category with a vocal response. The left and right hands were used for the lateralized motor responses in different trial blocks. Using a difference wave approach, the activation of the correct and incorrect responses can be isolated separately to compare the differential contribution of these two factors to response preparation. We report an experiment that used this approach and successfully isolated activation of the correct and incorrect responses.
The first author is funded by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Poster 67
IN WHOLE OR IN PART? AN ERP ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL/ LOCAL PROCESSING ASYMMETRIES WITH NATURALISTIC OBJECTS
Caterina Gratton, Sarah Laszlo, & Kara D. Federmeier University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: erps, hemispheric asymmetry, global/local
Hemispheric differences in the tendency to process global (whole object level) versus local (feature level) aspects of visual stimuli have been linked to biases in perception and/or attention. However, most studies examining this issue have used relatively unnatural, hierarchical figures. We tested whether biases could be found with more naturalistic objects that are linked with semantic knowledge. Participants learned about novel object categories and were then asked to perform a cued parts detection task ('Are all the parts of the cued category present?') with new exemplars from the categories while ERPs were recorded. Cues were lateralized to either the left or right visual field, to bias processing to one hemisphere. Items at test could be complete matches, missing one feature, missing two features, or complete members of a different category. We found significant asymmetries during both the frontal P2/N2 time-window and the N400 time-window. During the frontal P2/N2 time-window, RH- but not LH-biased items showed condition-related differences, including reduced positivity for items missing two features. The N400 was graded by condition (completes > missing-one items > missing-two items) in both hemispheres, but there was an increased facilitation for completes biased to the RH (vs. the LH). These effects provide evidence that global/local asymmetries associated with naturalistic stimuli occur at both perceptual and conceptual processing levels.
Funded by NIA grant AG26308 to KDF.
WAVE-ERING: AN ERP STUDY OF SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC CONTEXT EFFECTS ON AMBIGUITY RESOLUTION FOR NOUN/VERB HOMOGRAPHS
Chia-lin Lee, & Kara D. Federmeier University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: lexical ambiguity, noun/verb homographs, syntactic/semantic context
Prior work using eye-tracking and behavioral measures has suggested that while both syntactic and semantic information can facilitate the processing of noun/ verb (NV) homographs (e.g., park), these information sources are used in different ways and neither can completely eliminate the ambiguity. Here, we further compare the processing of NV homographs and unambiguous control words in different types of contexts, taking advantage of the multidimensional and time-sensitive nature of ERPs. Three types of contexts were used: (1) congruent sentences, with both valid syntactic structure and coherent semantic information, (2) syntactic prose, with valid syntactic cues but no coherent semantic context, and (3) scrambled sentences, without valid syntactic or coherent semantic cues. Replicating prior work (e.g., Lee & Federmeier, 2006), when only syntactic information was available (syntactic prose condition), NV homographs elicited a sustained frontal negativity relative to unambiguous words. The presence of coherent semantic information (congruent condition) eliminates this effect, but effects of ambiguity are still apparent in the form of larger N400s to ambiguous than unambiguous words with matched cloze probability. These findings suggest that with rich contextual cues, lexical ambiguity resolution is reflected in the N400 component, perhaps indexing a more automatic meaning selection and integration mechanism. However, when only syntactic cues are available, ambiguity resolution is indexed by sustained frontal activity, which may reflect the use of more controlled processing.
This study was supported by NIA grant AG26308 to Kara D. Federmeier.
Poster 69
HABITUATION OF VISUAL EVOKED POTENTIALS IN HEALTHY INFANTS AND IN INFANTS WITH PERIVENTRICULAR LEUKOMALACIA
Berta González-Frankenberger, Thalia Harmony, Josefina Ricardo-Garcell, Eneida Porras-Kattz, Antonio Ferrnndez-Bouzas, Efrain Santiago, & Gloria Avecilla-Ramírez UNAM
Descriptors: visual evoked potentials, infants, habituation
The aim of this study was to investigate whether habituation of flash visual evoked potentials is already present during the first 3 months of life and to explore differences between healthy infants, term infants with periventricular leukoma-lacia (PVL), and preterm infants with PVL. Referential recordings to stimuli consisting of photic stimulation presented in blocks were obtained. A total of 25 blocks, 15-stimuli each, were presented. Intrablock and interblock habituation effects were analyzed. Results: In healthy infants of 42-50 and 51-58 weeks of post-conceptional age (PCA), a negative central component (NCC) showed a significant decrease in amplitude due to stimulus repetition. NCC habituation was also observed in term infants with PVL and 51-58 weeks of PCA but not in term infants with PVL and 42-50 weeks of PCA. NCC habituation was not apparent in preterm infants with PVL. These results suggest that the neural mechanisms of visual habituation are normally present during the first month of life, but the presence of PVL delays the emergence of these mechanisms, particularly in preterm infants. The habituation of flash visual evoked potentials may be a reliable tool to examine normal and abnormal development of early neural processes.
POST-AURICULAR REFLEX RESPONSES TO PICTURES VARYING IN VALENCE AND AROUSAL
Philip A. Gable, & Eddie Harmon-Jones Texas A&M University
Descriptors: post-auricular reflex, emotion
Reflexes are modulated by emotions. Much research has revealed that the startle reflexive eyeblink response is modulated by emotion, particularly in response to pictures of emotional scenes. Investigations of other reflexes are limited. Recently, research suggested that the post-auricular reflex in response to a startling noise was modulated by emotion. In particular, pleasant stimuli enhanced the post-auricular reflex. However, these first investigations were limited: one experiment demonstrated only a marginal difference between the pleasant stimuli and neutral stimuli, and the other lacked the typical neutral scene comparison. The present experiment was designed to assess whether significant emotion vs. neutral comparisons would occur. Results demonstrated that pleasant stimuli, regardless of arousal level, evoked larger post-auricular reflex activation than neutral and unpleasant emotional stimuli.
Poster 71
PREFRONTAL ASYMMETRY PREDICTS AFFECT, BUT NOT BELIEFS ABOUT AFFECT
Amanda R.W. Steiner, & James A. Coan University of Virginia
Descriptors: frontal eeg asymmetry, self-report, affect
Self-report measures of affect have been a source of controversy in the affective sciences, particularly as criteria against which physiological or behavioral measures are validated and normed. Researchers have argued that the timeframe of a questionnaire can lead to discrepancies in emotional self-report, as reports of current experience often differ from recollections that may be biased by situational or identity-related beliefs. For this study, a neurophysiological measure of affective style, prefrontal asymmetry (pFA), was used to 1) prospectively predict homesickness reports in college freshmen and 2) predict retrospective reports of homesickness experienced by college sophomores as freshmen. As a potential liability marker of affective vulnerability, pFA was hypothesized to predict homesickness in freshmen reporting on their current experience, but not in sophomore recollections of homesickness during their first year of college. Though homesickness ratings did not differ between groups, relatively greater right pFA prospectively predicted greater freshman year homesickness, but no associations were observed between pFA and sophomore recollections of freshman year homesickness. These results support the status of pFA as a putative measure of affective vulnerability that is relatively independent of situational or identity-related beliefs about affective vulnerability.
Poster 72
AUTONOMIC BALANCE, STRESS RESPONSES AND PREMENSTRUAL DYSPHORIC SYMPTOMATOLOGY
Eynav E. Accortt1, Tamera R. Schneider2, & Gaea M. Payton2 1University of Arizona, 2Wright State University
Descriptors: pmdd, stress, autonomic balance
Depression is twice as common in women as in men, however, rates are similar in girls and boys before puberty. Higher depression rates in adolescent girls suggest that the genetic predisposition to depression and stressful events may be 'turned on' at puberty in females. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) involves complex, chronic, psychoneuroendocrine factors that affect functioning through-
out the reproductive years. We predicted that premenstrual symptomatology would be related to threat appraisals and autonomic imbalance. Along with ANS measures, which have been inconsistently related to PMDD, we investigated stressor appraisals, which have been related consistently to autonomic patterns. Participants were divided into two groups: symptom-free controls (n 5 44) and PMDD (n 5 10). Although a major depression diagnosis was related to higher threat appraisals, PMDD was not. Controlling for baseline measures of respiration rate and LF/HF ratio, an ANCOVA revealed group differences in LF/HF ratios during a mental arithmetic stressor, F(1, 50) 5 9.06, p< .05. The average for controls was 1.40 (SD 5 1.36) and the average for PMDD was 3.54 (SD 5 4.93). These findings suggest greater autonomic balance in controls compared to those who met PMDD criteria. The latter had presumably greater SNS/PNS imbalance with greater SNS reactivity.
Poster 73
MMN ELICITATION DURING NATURAL SLEEP: A STUDY USING PATTERNED AUDITORY STIMULI
Lauren D. Sculthorpe, Daniel Ouellet, & Kenneth B. Campbell University of Ottawa
Descriptors: mismatch negativity, sleep, auditory pattern
The detection of changes in the acoustic environment is critical to survival. Such change detection is thought to occur automatically, prior to awareness that change has indeed occurred. The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an ERP component that is considered to reflect this process ofauditory change detection. Manipulation of active task demands has demonstrated that the MMN does operate independently of attention. Nevertheless, it remains possible that even the most demanding task cannot prevent subjects in the waking state from eavesdropping on (sampling) irrelevant external stimuli. The presence of the MMN in an unconscious state, such as natural sleep, is strong evidence that its operations take place at a pre-conscious level. There is some evidence that the MMN can be elicited at least during REM sleep. These MMNs, however, were elicited using oddball paradigms, where the new physical properties of deviants may trigger fresh afferent activation. The current sleep study employed a standard pattern where two pure tones alternated (a-b-a-b-a-b-a-). Deviants were repetitions, and therefore physically identical to the standards. In different conditions, the tones of the pattern were separated by either 1 or 6 semitones. A large MMN was elicited in the waking state in the 6 semitone condition. The MMN was also elicited in the 6 semitone condition during REM sleep, although it was much attenuated. No definitive MMN was observed during NREM. These results confirm the operation of the MMN in REM sleep, and support the view of the MMN as an automatic mechanism.
Poster 74
PSYCHOPATHY AND ADDICTION: THE ROLE OF RISKY DECISION-MAKING, ATYPICAL VAGAL REGULATION, AND IMPAIRED EMOTION RECOGNITION
Cristina Ottaviani, Camilla Marzocchi, Silvia Cabrini, & Gianni Brighetti University of Bologna
Descriptors: psychopathy, drug addiction, predictors
An efficient cardiac modulation as indexed by Heart Rate Variability (HRV), has been associated with an intact prefrontal cortex functioning, leading to adaptive executive, social, affective, and motivated behaviors. Our aim was to assess whether deficits in autonomic and prefrontal activities could predict the presence of psychopathic features in a drug-addicted sample. Twenty-five drug-addicted living in a rehab community, aged 31.89 (SD: 5.2) years underwent the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), an emotion recognition task (EMOS), and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT). ECG-derived HRV was collected during a 10-min resting period. We expected to find a link between autonomic imbalance, emotion recognition, and decision-making. The presence of psychopathic traits was confirmed by the widely accepted diagnostic instrument Psychopathy
Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). In line with the hypothesized association between HRV and prefrontal activity, we found that the level of resting HRV was significantly related to the performance in the task involving executive functioning (r 5 .61). Moreover, decreased vagal function and poorer emotion recognition were associated with an increased risk of psychopathy. Specifically, a stepwise regression model including baseline High Frequency-HRV, accuracy of sadness recognition, and performance at the IGT (Total Score) predicted 45% of the variance of the scores at the PCL-R (F5 3.56; p 5 .04). Results confirmed autonomic dysfunctions as a plausible pathway linking prefrontal reduced reactivity, negative affective states, and psychopathology.
Poster 75
THE EFFECT OF CORTISOL ON APPROACH-AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL PHOBIA: AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY
Jacobien M. van Peer, Karin Roelofs, & Philip Spinhoven Leiden University
Descriptors: approach-avoidance, cortisol, social phobia
We investigated the effects of cortisol administration (50 mg) on approach and avoidance tendencies in 20 patients with social phobia. ERPs were measured during a RT task, in which patients evaluated the emotional expression of photographs of happy and angry faces by making an approaching (flexion) or avoiding (extension) arm movement. The task consisted of an affect-congruent (approach happy and avoid angry faces) and an affect-incongruent (reversed instruction) condition. Previous results of the same study in healthy male subjects showed that cortisol enhanced congruency effects (avoidance relative to approach) for angry faces in high but not low avoidant subjects. ERP effects involved an increase of both early (P150) and late (P3) positive amplitudes, indicative of increased processing during avoidance of the angry faces in high avoidant subjects after cortisol administration. Behavioral results of the present study showed congruency effects for happy and angry faces in social phobic patients not only after cortisol, but also after placebo administration. ERP analyses, however, showed a significant increase in early positive (P150) amplitudes after cortisol compared to placebo during avoidance, which was mediated by social anxiety. Higher social anxiety was related to a greater increase in P150 amplitude during avoidant arm movements after cortisol, especially for angry faces. These results support earlier findings suggesting a specific effect of cortisol on processing of threatening stimuli during avoidance, particularly in participants highly sensitive to threat.
Poster 76
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL EVIDENCE FOR RESPONSE CONFLICT (BUT NOT STIMULUS CONFLICT) IN AFFECTIVE PRIMING
Christopher R. Engelhardt, & Bruce D. Bartholow University of Missouri
Descriptors: erps, priming, affective congruency
Recent research on the source of affective priming effects (quicker responses to affective targets preceded by affectively congruent vs. incongruent primes) indicates that the effect stems from conflict during target categorization, response generation, or both. The current studies further investigated the source of the effect by using behavioral and ERP methods. Study 1 used an evaluative decision task in which the proportion of congruent to incongruent trails was manipulated. Responses were faster (and accuracy greater) on congruent relative to incongruent trials, unless incongruent trials were highly probable. Both the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) and the fronto-central N2 (conflict monitoring) ERP components indicated that conflict occurred when the response activated by the prime differed from the one required by the target. However, it remains possible that stimulus-level conflict contributed to these results. Experiment 2 used a color categorization task in which affectively charged
prime and target words were presented in different colors. Targets could conflict with the primes at either the stimulus level, response level, or neither. Responses were facilitated on response-congruent (e.g., red-red) compared to response-incongruent (e.g., red-blue) trials. However, no response facilitation was evident on stimulus-congruent (e.g., positive-positive) versus stimulus-incongruent (e.g., positive-negative) trials. Results support the idea that conflict at the response level, but not the stimulus categorization level, contributes to the affective priming effect.
Poster 77
WIDE OPEN SPACES: ERPS REVEAL THE ROLE OF REMINDING IN MEMORY
Laura E. Matzen, Kara D. Federmeier, & Aaron S. Benjamin University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: spacing effect, memory, reminding
The spacing effect, in which participants have better memory for repeated items that are spaced far apart in a study list than for repetitions that are massed together, is a robust finding in the memory literature. One explanation for this effect is that participants encode multiple memory traces for items repeated at long lags, such that these items are more likely to be recalled at test. Another explanation is that the second presentation of an item reminds the participants of the first, reactivating the memory trace; at long lags, this reactivation requires more effort, creating a bigger benefit for later memory. To test these accounts, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) and examined brain activity during the study phase that was predictive of later memory (Dm effects). Participants studied words that were presented once or repeated at a lag of 2 or 10. At short lags, repeated words had a reduced N400 and a large LPC, indicating both priming and explicit processing (reminding). At long lags, there was no reduction in the N400 for repeated words but the large LPC remained. Critically, when the ERPs elicited at study were backsorted based on subsequent memory for the words, we found that the amplitude of the LPC for the repetitions at both lags was predictive of subsequent memory. Further, Dm effects were evident only for the second presentation of the word, not for the first. Both of these findings support the hypothesis that explicit reminding during study plays a critical role in the spacing effect.
Research supported by NIA grant AG026308 to Kara D. Federmeier and by the Sandia National Laboratories Excellence in Engineering Fellowship to Laura E. Matzen.
Poster 78
THE OMIT RESPONSE IN A NOVEL TEST OF P300-BASED DETECTION OF CONCEALED INFORMATION
John B. Meixner, & J. Peter Rosenfeld Northwestern University
Descriptors: deception, P300, ERP
We recently introduced an accurate, countermeasure (CM) resistant P300 based CIT, the Complex Trial Protocol. A rare probe (item of guilty knowledge) or frequent irrelevant stimulus appears in the same trial during which a target or non-target stimulus later appears. When subjects use CMs in this task, P300 to the probe is increased rather than reduced, as with previous P300-based tasks, allowing detection of CM users with greater frequency than non-users. In the current study, subjects explicitly responded uniquely to each probe/irrelevant stimulus (as one would covertly do CMs). 3 groups were tested: one, with a guilty knowledge item as probe, performed an explicit response to each irrelevant item but not to the probe (to measure both the probe effect and omit effect together; the probe+omit condition); a second group saw only irrelevant items and omitted a response to one irrelevant item (to measure the omit effect alone; the omit contition); and a third group had a guilty knowledge item as probe and performed an explicit response to each item (to measure the probe effect alone; the probe condition). We expected that, in this paradigm, the probe and omit effects sum. Early results have revealed significantly greater P300 amplitude to
probes in the probe+omit condition as compared with the other two conditions; F(2,15) 5 3.821, p 5 .046. Tukey post hoc tests revealed individual difference between probe+omit and probe (p 5 .04) and probe+omit and omit (p 5 .02). Additionally, P300 to the omit effect was shown to be not significantly different than the probe effect alone (p 5 .64).
Poster 79
ENHANCEMENT OF AUDITORY GAMMA BAND DRIVING AS A FUNCTION OF NORMAL AGING
Yuan Gao, & Brett Clementz University of Georgia
Descriptors: normal aging, auditory steady state response, gamma band
This cross-sectional study investigated normal aging associated differences of auditory processes by comparing young (n 5 17, age M 5 19.9), middle-aged (n 5 18; age M 5 50.0), and older (n 5 16, age M 5 68.3) participants' brain activations recorded by EEG. Subjects were all right handed, free of psychological and age-associated neurological confounds. All subjects had hearing thresholds within the normal range. An auditory steady-state paradigm with driving frequencies at 40, 56, and 88Hz was used to evoke cortical auditory steady-state responses (ASSR). A total of 120 trials presented binaurally were collected from each subject with 40 trials at each driving frequency. Each trial consisted of a 1000 Hz tone amplitude-modulated at one of the driving frequencies lasting for 2 sec with a 1 sec ISI. The evoked ASSR power, the single trial ASSR power, and the inter-trial coherence (ITC) were calculated using a complex demodulation algorithm at each driving frequency. At 40Hz, old and middle aged subjects had significantly stronger evoked and single trial ASSR than younger subjects; no differences were found between old and middle age groups. ITC at 40Hz was only different between old and young subjects. At 56Hz, age differences were found between old and young subjects on evoked and single trial ASSR. At 88Hz, however, no age differences were found. It appears that the gamma band activity is particularly sensitive to normal age-associated differences in central auditory processing, perhaps associated with changes in the cortical cholinergic system during the normal aging process.
Poster 80
AUDITORY STEADY STATE RESPONSE IN BIPOLAR DISORDER: RELATION TO CLINICAL STATE, MEDICATION STATUS, AND SUBSTANCE DISORDERS
Olga Rass1, Giri P. Krishnan1, Colleen A. Brenner1, William P. Hetrick1,
Anantha Shekhar2, & Brian F. O'Donnell1 1Indiana University, Bloomington, 2Indiana University School of Medicine
Descriptors: bipolar disorder, steady state potentials, EEG
Abnormalities in auditory steady state responses (ASSRs) at gamma range frequencies have been found in schizophrenia subjects, but it is unclear whether these deficits are specific to schizophrenia. We tested ASSRs in patients with bipolar disorder. Seventy-one patients with bipolar disorder and 111 control subjects were evaluated. Click trains (500ms duration) presented at 20, 30, 40 and 50Hz were used to evoke ASSRs. Mean trial power (MTP) and phase locking factor (PLF), which respectively measure response magnitude and phase synchronization, were used to characterize the ASSR at each stimulation frequency. Patients with bipolar disorder showed reduced MTP at 50Hz and reduced PLF at 20,40, and 50 Hz. Among bipolar subjects, euthymic females had greater PLF than male euthymic patients at 40 Hz. Bipolar subjects who were receiving medication (n 5 51) had reduced PLF at 40 and 50 Hz compared to those off medication (n 5 20). Past alcohol dependence correlated positively with PLF for control subjects but negatively for bipolar patients at 40 Hz. Past drug dependence correlated negatively with MTP for control subjects but positively for bipolar subjects at 30 Hz. Deficits in the generation and maintenance of neural synchrony as measured by the ASSR are present in bipolar disorder, but this
deficit may be influenced by current clinical state, medication status, and history of substance dependence.
Poster 81
EARLY LIFE STRESS AND PROCESSING OF AFFECTIVE PROCESSING
Katharina Matz1, Katja Weber1, Markus Junghoefer2, Barbara Awiszus1, & Brigitte Rockstroh1
1Department of Psychology, Univ Konstanz, 2Institute for Biomagnetism, Univ
Muenster
Descriptors: MEG, early life stress, psychopathology
Altered affective processing is discussed as mediator between childhood adverse experiences and psychopathology. Electromagnetic activity was measured in 31 psychiatric inpatients and 16 healthy controls during the processing of emotional stimuli in rapid series visual presentation (3/s). Screening for adverse experiences in different developmental periods disclosed 15 patients and one control subject with high childhood stress load, 16 patients and 15 controls with low childhood stress load. Occipitoparietal activity 140 -190 ms after stimulus onset analyzed in the source space was modulated by the emotional picture content in all subjects (larger activity to pleasant and unpleasant relative to neutral stimuli). In addition, activity was smaller in high-stressed patients compared to low-stressed patients and controls. Inferior-temporal activity at 290-370 ms showed opposite linear trends in patients and controls with largest activity to pleasant stimuli in controls and largest activity to unpleasant stimuli in high-stress patients. Within the total sample and regardless of stimulus valence, higher stress load was negatively related to lower early (but not late) activity. Although results suggest an impact of early life stress on affective processing (resulting in suppressed early responses and enhanced late responses to unpleasant stimuli), an evident interaction of disorder and early life stress does not allow specification of the contribution of biological vulnerability and early life stress on later psychopathology in the present sample.
Research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (FOR751). Poster 82
I APPRAISE RELEVANCE, THEREFORE I EMOTE: PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MOTIVATION-BASED APPRAISAL PROCESSES IN DIFFERENTIAL EMOTION ELICITATION
Sylvia D. Kreibig, Guido H.E. Gendolla, & Klaus R. Scherer University of Geneva
Descriptors: emotion differentiation, appraisal, motivation
Emotions are elicited in the context of what matters to me and mine, i.e., when basic motives and individual goals are at stake. Based on Scherer's (2001) Component Process Model of Emotion and Gendolla's (2004) elaboration of Motivational Intensity Theory, we investigated the prediction that motivation-based appraisal processes differentially determine emotional responding. In a between-participants design, 86 volunteers first performed a neutral baseline task, after which they were randomly assigned to an experimental manipulation of appraised goal relevance (low vs. high) and goal conduciveness (low vs. high), using a success-failure manipulation. Emotional responding to the baseline task and experimental manipulation were assessed on multiple response levels: self-reported feelings, cardiorespiratory reactivity (heart rate, blood pressure, PEP, RSA, respiratory rate and volume), and facial expressions (frontalis, corrugator, and zygomaticus EMG). Whereas self-report indicated no emotional responding in the low-goal-relevance conditions, there was evidence of increased disappointment, embarrassment, and anxiety in the high-goal-relevance/low-goal-condu-civeness condition as well as increased pride and amusement in the high-goal-relevance/high-goal-conduciveness condition. Autonomic nervous system reactivity showed sympathetic discharge in response to goal-relevance manipulation and respiratory and facial expressive changes in response to goal-conduciveness
manipulation. Implications of results regarding motivational processes in emotion elicitation are discussed.
This research was supported by the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Affective Sciences financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (No. 51NF40-104897) and hosted by the University of Geneva.
Poster 83
FEAR POTENTIATED STARTLE AT SHORT STIMULUS ONSET ASYNCHRONIES FOLLOWING DELAY, BUT NOT TRACE CONDITIONING
Ole Sli, & Magne A. Flaten University of Troms0
Descriptors: startle, fear, conditioning
The latency of conditioned fear following delay and trace conditioning was investigated. It has been argued that delay conditioning is not dependent on awareness. In contrast, trace conditioning, where there is a gap between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US), is hypothesized to be dependent on awareness of the CS/US contingency. This is due to the involvement of working memory in trace conditioning. Previous research has found that the latency ofthe conditioned fear reaction in humans is about 100 ms following delay conditioning. In the present study, a tone CS signalled an aversive noise US presented 1000 ms after CS onset in the delay conditioning group. In the trace conditioning group, a 200 ms tone CS was followed by an 800 ms gap before the noise US was presented. The CS and US were explicitly unpaired in two control groups. Fear-potentiated startle was assessed by 93 dB noise presented 30, 50, 100, 150 and 1000 ms after CS onset. Fear potentiated startle should be seen at shorter SOAs after delay conditioning compared to trace conditioning. Analyses showed increased startle at 30 ms after CS onset following delay conditioning compared to trace conditioning. This short latency of the conditioned fear reaction supports the idea that a CS that has acquired fear-relevance by delay conditioning, elicit a fear reaction that is not dependent on awareness.
Poster 84
ATTRIBUTIONS FOR NONPREJUDICED ACTION SHAPES PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO EVALUATIVE INTERGROUP SITUATIONS
Pamela J. Sawyer1, Brenda Major1, & Wendy Berry Mendes2 1University of California, Santa Barbara, 2Harvard University
Descriptors: threat, prejudice, trust
Growing evidence demonstrates that the experience of prejudice can result in a physiological stress response which may, in turn, contribute to poor health among members of low-status groups. This study tested the moderating role of intergroup trust in psychological and cardiovascular responses to an evaluative interaction. Latina participants were randomly assigned to deliver a speech to either a same-race or White partner, who they believed would evaluate their performance. Among participants interacting with a White partner, high levels of intergroup suspicion (relative to intergroup trust) predicted a cardiovascular response pattern more characteristic of threat (e.g. low cardiac output and high total peripheral resistance), greater self-reported stress, and lower ratings of the evaluator. Intergroup trust did not moderate responses ofparticipants interacting with a same-race partner. These results suggest that perceptions of partner motivation and trustworthiness moderate stress responses in intergroup interactions.
ERP EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENT STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY NATIVE SPEAKERS AND L2 LEARNERS IN SENTENCE PROCESSING
Jingjing Guo1, Taomei Guo1, Yan Yan1, Nan Jiang2, & Danling Peng1 1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, 2Department of Applied Linguistics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
Descriptors: language, strategy, sentence processing
Considerable neurophysiological research has been conducted to explore the neural underpinning of semantic and syntactic processing, but few studies have examined which kind of information (semantic or syntactic) is more important in sentence comprehension. The current study used event related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the strategies employed by English native speakers and learners during the reading of sentences including either noun number violations or verb-subcatergorization violations for comprehension. An N400 effect to noun number violations and a P600 effect to verb-subcategorization violations were elicited by native speakers; however, a null ERP effect to the number violations and a N400-LPC (late positive component) effect to verb-categorization violations were observed from L2 learners. These findings provide electro-physiological evidence for different strategies used by native speakers and L2 learners in sentence processing, and the language specific experience and more shallow syntactic ability of L2 learners may explain such neural differences.
The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30600179) to Taomei Guo.
Poster 86
WORLDVIEW ENDORSEMENT MODERATES PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO DISCRIMINATION
Sarah S.M. Townsend1, Brenda Major1, & Wendy B. Mendes2 1University of California, Santa Barbara, 2Harvard University
Descriptors: biopsychosocial model, worldview, challenge and threat
The perception that one is a target of discrimination is driven by characteristics of both the situation (e.g., signs that an outgroup member is prejudiced) and the individual (e.g., belief in a worldview that justifies the system, SJB). The current study examines how chronic beliefs moderate psychological and cardiovascular responses to discrimination versus personal rejection. European American females (N 5 68) interacted with a male European American confederate during a five minute speech and a five minute working memory task. Prior to this, participants heard negative feedback from the confederate that he would not select the participant due to either sexist attitudes (i.e., like most females, she was too emotional) or merit (i.e., she performed poorly on a leadership questionnaire). As predicted, participants' level of worldview endorsement moderated the impact of the negative feedback on their cardiovascular responses during the speech and task. When rejected due to discrimination, high endorsement of SJB was associated with threat, a maladaptive cardiovascular response (i.e., low cardiac reactivity coupled with high vascular reactivity), while low belief in a SJB was associated with challenge, an adaptive cardiovascular reaction (i.e., high cardiac reactivity coupled with low vascular reactivity). When rejection was due to personal merit, the opposite relationships were found. Self-report data is analyzed to support psychological interpretations and the implications for long-term health outcomes are discussed.
The research was supported by NHLBI grant (RO1 HL079383) to Brenda Major and Wendy Berry Mendes and a NSF Graduate Student Fellowship to Sarah S. M. Townsend.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL SUBSTRATES OF RESOLVING AMBIGUITY: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RATING SURPRISED FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Maital Neta, Catherine J. Norris, & Paul J. Whalen Dartmouth College
Descriptors: facial expression, ambiguity, EMG
Activity in the corrugator supercilii muscle region has been shown to be an objective measure of valence, as it is both potentiated by unpleasant and inhibited by pleasant facial expressions. We sought to determine how this activity to expressions with a clear valence (e.g., happy, angry) compares with those of ambiguous valence (e.g., surprised). Angry expressions were consistently rated as negative, happy as positive, while there were individual differences in rating valence of surprised expressions. Moreover, reaction times in rating surprise were longer than those for rating angry and happy expressions, and positive ratings for surprise took longer than negative ratings. As expected, corrugator activity increased in response to angry expressions and decreased in response to happy expressions. Activity to surprise tracked individual differences in bias, such that individuals who tended to interpret surprise as negative exhibited an increase in corrugator activity to those faces. Conversely, individuals who tended to interpret surprise as positive exhibited decreased corrugator activity to those faces. Importantly, electrodermal activity to these expressions did not vary with bias, so these corrugator differences cannot be attributed to variance in arousal. Finally, we found that those subjects who tended to have a more positive interpretation of surprise also had a higher score on the empathy quotient (i.e., they are more empathic). These data support the notion that surprised faces are a useful tool for examining individual differences in positivity-negativity bias.
Supported by NIMH Grants 069315 and 080716.
Poster 88
POSTAURICULAR REFLEX POTENTIATION DURING SAFE/THREAT ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
Frank Castro, Arthur R. Sandt, & Peter J. Marshall Temple University
Descriptors: postauricular reflex, fear-potentiated startle
The eyeblink reflex component of the startle response is potentiated in contexts such as threat or fear. Recently, a separate component, the postauricular reflex (PAR), has been found to be potentiated during viewing of appetitive stimuli, whereas the eyeblink reflex is attenuated. The purpose of the current study was to examine eyeblink and PAR reactivity during a safe/threat associative learning paradigm. PAR and eyeblink responses were measured during two experimental conditions: threat cue paired with an aversive puff of air to the neck (50 ms, 100 PSI, 33% probability), and safe cue. Each trial lasted 15 seconds and startle responses were elicited using acoustic startle probes (50 ms, 95 dB) presented binaurally. As expected, eyeblink responses potentiated during threat trials were of significantly larger magnitude compared to those during safe trials. An opposite pattern emerged for the PAR, where the largest responses were observed during safe cues relative to threat cues. The present study supports the contention that the eyeblink reflex and the PAR responses are largely influenced by current motivational states as the most marked eyeblink reflex responses were displayed during conditions when defensive motivation was likely evoked, while the greatest PAR responses were displayed during conditions of the greatest relaxation. The study also supports the hypothesis that relaxed affective states can serve as interoceptive appetitive stimuli.
NO SWEAT: PERSPIRATION ARTIFACT REMOVAL IN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC DATA
Rudolph L. Mappus, Matt Hilimire, Nate Parks, & Paul Corballis Georgia Institute of Technology
Descriptors: EEG, artifact removal
Electroencephalographic (EEG) recording often admits signal artifacts due to perspiration. Perspiration artifacts do not occur uniformly over the scalp and can affect each electrode more-or-less independently. They are represented in recorded signals as slow, nonlinear trends, that can be resistant to traditional filtering methods, and often reduce the effectiveness of signal averaging to recover event-related potentials (ERPs). We present a method for removing perspiration artifacts from EEG data that uses spline regression. The method removes these nonlinear trends from single trial data by estimating smooth regression fits to data segments for subtraction while preserving the higher-frequency information. We compare performance of the method to traditional signal-averaged and filtered data. In particular, we demonstrate preservation of event-related potentials in data using actual and simulated ERPs. The method is suitable for use in experimental designs where relatively few trials are obtainable, but also has application as a more general filtering tool.
Poster 90
THINKING UNDER PRESSURE: COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY AND CORTISOL REACTIVITY
Laura Saslow1, Arbi Vartan1, Dan Purnell1, Ilmo Van der Lowe1, Dacher
Keltner1, Shannon McCoy2, & Elissa Epel3 1University of California at Berkeley, 2University of Maine, 3University of California, San Francisco
Descriptors: linguistic cognitive complexity, stress, cortisol reactivity
The hypothesis that linguistic cognitive complexity diminishes under stress was tested. This concept, proposed by Pennebaker and King (1999), emphasizes the complexity of cognitive and linguistic processes. Individuals with higher complexity use more exclusive words such as "but" and "except"; more tentative words such as "maybe" and "perhaps"; more negations such as "no" and "never"; more discrepancies such as "should" and "would"; and fewer inclusive words, such as "with" and "and." To test the connection between cognitive complexity and stress, mothers of either a healthy or chronically ill child were interviewed about a recent stressful event. Lower cognitive complexity in the speech was associated with lower self-reported stress-related growth (.44*) and higher self-reported feelings of being burdened as a caregiver (— .35*). In addition, lower cognitive complexity was strongly correlated with higher cortisol reactivity (— .47**). These findings have been conceptually replicated in two alternative paradigms. For example, in our second study, in which stress was manipulated using a neutral feedback Trier Social Stress Test, lower cognitive complexity in the Trier speech was strongly correlated with higher cortisol reactivity ( — .40*). The association between cognitive complexity and stress are discussed.
Poster 91
THE EMOTIONAL DISPLAYS OF OTHERS MOTIVATE HELPING AND INFLUENCE SKIN CONDUCTANCE
Lisa Barker, Cristina Brooks, Shara Duncan, Elizabeth Geringer, Carly Rosso, Thomas Sanchez, Ani Tashdjian, & Beatrice M de Oca California State University Channel Islands
Descriptors: crying, motivation, prosocial
Emotional expressions communicate vital information to others (Ekman & Friesen, 1975). Hendriks & Vingerhoets, (2006) examined how adults respond to
pictures ofindividuals in several poses including: neutral, smiling, laughing, fear, anger, and crying. They suggest that crying is an expression that elicits empathy and attachment behavior in others. To better understand the consequences of exposure to crying people, participants viewed a short video of individuals portraying each of three emotional expressions: crying, laughing and neutral. Following each video, participants were asked to rate their anticipated emotional reactions to the person. Participants were also asked to rate their willingness to help each person in six different hypothetical situations. Changes in skin conductance and heart rate were recorded during each video. Prior research of physiological reactions to emotional pictures suggests that heart rate is reduced by unpleasant pictures, but skin conductance is enhanced by arousing pictures (Lang, 1995). We predicted that pictures of crying would enhance electrodermal responses and decrease heart rate. Results support the hypothesis that crying enhances attachment-like behaviors; participants reported being more willing to help crying individuals than individuals who displayed a neutral expression. Participants also reported that they anticipated greater distress and sadness while in the presence of the crying individual. However, skin conductance was greatest while participants viewed the video of the laughing person, contrary to our expectations.
Poster 92
VISUOSPATIAL ATTENTION IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE
Eun-Young Lee1, Nelson Cowan1, Edward K Vogel2, Fernando Valle-Inclan3,
Terry Rolan1, & Steven Hackley1 1University of Missouri, Columbia, 2University of Oregon, 3University of La
Coruna
Descriptors: attention and working memory, ERP, parkinson's disease
The capacity of working memory is limited to several items in normal adults, and pathologies theoretically could cause either a lower item limit or a poorer ability to ignore irrelevant items. To determine if this might be the case in Parkinson's disease (PD), we used event-related potentials such as the CDA (Contralateral Delay Activity; Vogel, McCollough, & Machizawa, 2005, Nature, 438: 500-503) to assess visuospatial attention during a memory task. Sixteen medication-withdrawn PD patients and 30 age-matched controls performed a selective working memory task in which they were asked to remember the orientations of red rectangles on the cued side while ignoring all green distracters. After an 800ms retention interval in which the screen was empty, the array was redisplayed. The participants then judged whether the orientation of any of the red rectangles on the attended side of the display had changed. Contralateralized ERPs over anterior and posterior scalp sites provided evidence for the creation and maintenance of attention-dependent, visual memories in both groups. These measures in conjunction with accuracy data indicated that the Parkinsonian patients exhibited a significant impairment ofattention. The performance deficits appeared to stem from a combination ofreduced capacity and poorer attentional filtering.
Poster 93
NARCISSISTIC TENDENCIES AND SENSITIVITY TO SOCIAL FEEDBACK: AN EXAMINATION OF CARDIOVASCULAR REACTIVITY DURING SOCIAL EVALUATIVE SITUATIONS
Modupe N. Akinola, & Wendy Berry Mendes Harvard University
Descriptors: narcissism, blood pressure, respiratory sinus arrhythmia
It has been suggested that narcissistic individuals engage in self-regulatory processes aimed at minimizing vulnerability in social interactions. This study investigated this tendency in narcissists by examining their physiological and psychological reactivity during a social evaluative task. We measured 102 participants' trait narcissism using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory then exposed them to a stressful laboratory task in which they were evaluated by two interviewers. We manipulated whether participants received social rejection or social approval from the interviewers and measured participants' cardiovascular
reactivity and appraisals throughout the task. Results indicated that participants who were high in narcissism and received social rejection experienced the greatest increases in systolic blood pressure during the task. In addition, these participants exhibited the greatest decreases in respiratory sinus arrhythmia during the task. This relationship between narcissism and cardiovascular reactivity was not found in participants receiving social approval. Furthermore, among those high in narcissism, we observed a dissociation between cardiovascular reactivity and self-reported measures of stress as those higher in narcissism reported lower levels of distress following social rejection. These findings suggest that narcissists are highly responsive to social feedback and are defensive to rejecting feedback. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for theories on self-regulatory processes in individuals with narcissistic tendencies.
Poster 94
PARENTAL SUPPORT PREDICTS ENHANCED ERP POSITIVITY AND ATTENUATED STARTLE REFLEXES IN COLLEGE STUDENTS VIEWING PARENT PICTURES
Damion J. Grasso, & Robert F. Simons University of Delaware
Descriptors: human affiliation, startle reflex, face processing
The current study examined event-related potentials (ERPs) and startle reflexes in college students viewing facial pictures of their parents, celebrities, and strangers in the context of a guessing task during which they randomly received 105 dB acoustic startle probes. ERP results suggest rapid detection of the personal significance of faces as indicated by increased ERP positivity to parent faces compared to other faces at anterior and posterior sites by 200 and 300 ms, respectively. These patterns correspond to those elicited during emotional face processing (Eimer & Holmes, 2007) and may reflect activation of ethologically important neural pathways involved in the maintenance of human affiliation (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005). Moreover, greater positivity at posterior sites predicted higher scores on a measure of perceived parental support, suggesting the potential utility of ERPs in indexing relationship quality. This finding replicates a similar pattern evident in a study in which increased posterior ERP positivity in mothers viewing their children predicted mothers' perceptions of their relationships with their children as positive and influential (Grasso, Moser, Dozier, & Simons, submitted for publication). Finally, startle reflexes were smallest when elicited during presentation of parent pictures and increased linearly during presentation of celebrity and stranger pictures, respectively, suggesting that the personal significance of faces has the potential to buffer somatic reflexes to aversive acoustic stimuli.
Poster 95
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IS POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN OLDER ADULTS: A PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF THE ERP RESPONSE
Jeremy C. Rietschel1, Jo B. Zimmerman1, Craig G. McDonald2, Amy J. Haufler1, & Brad D. Hatfield1 1University of Maryland, 2George Mason University
Descriptors: physical activity, executive function, PCA
Reductions in executive functioning (i.e. inhibitory control) are linked to the aging process. This decline is attributable, in part, to decreases in frontal lobe volume. However, lifestyle may mediate this phenomenon. Physical Activity (PA) imparts neurobiological benefits, particularly in the frontal regions of the brain due to their greater relative age-related declines. Accordingly, PA preserves executive functioning and promotes cognitive reserve. The P3b and NoGo P3 are used to index aspects of cognitive functioning, with increased amplitude associated with cognitive reserve. We predicted that the magnitude of linkage between PA and the ERPs would be greater in an executive function task (NoGo) compared to a non-executive task (Oddball). Therefore, we recorded EEG activity in 83 old subjects, age M 5 79.5 + 5.1, during the tasks. PA was assessed
via estimated total Kcal expenditure and exercise Kcal (intense PA). Principal Component Analysis allowed for objective extraction of the ERP components and the resulting factor scores were entered into a hierarchical regression by which the unique variance contributed by PA was assessed beyond age, IQ, and education. Total Kcal was positively associated with NoGo P3 factor scores for the NoGo task only at Fz, while exercise Kcal was positively associated with P3b scores for the Oddball task. These results support that as the frontal region is particularly at risk due to aging; PA selectively impacts executive functioning. However, in the non-executive task, intense PA is necessary to detect changes in these cognitive resources.
Poster 96
AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL (ERP) STUDY OF THE MEMORY BLOCK EFFECT
Olga Rass1, Paul A. Leynes2, Joshua D. Landau3, Tim Curran4, Vinaya Raj5, & Jenna Scisco6
1Indiana University, Bloomington, 2The College of New Jersey, 3York College of Pennsylvania, 4University of Colorado at Boulder, 5Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 6Clemson University
Descriptors: memory, erps, inhibition
The Memory Block Effect (MBE) occurs when orthographically similar words inhibit retrieval in word fragment completion paradigms. In two studies, event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in the MBE paradigm used by Logan and Balota (2003) to explore the neural correlates of retrieval blocks. In both experiments, exposure to the blocking primes decreased fragment completion (relative to control fragments). Blocking occurred when the primes were observed only a few seconds before the fragment (Exp 1) or when the solutions to all fragments were studied before the fragment completion test (Exp 2). The ERPs indicate that exposure to blocking primes prevents an active search of memory, and retrieval fails because blocking primes are active in memory and unable to be inhibited.
Poster 97
ANXIETY MODERATES RELATIONS BETWEEN FRONTAL EEG ALPHA ASYMMETRY AND DEPRESSION
Robin Nusslock1, Alexander J. Shackman1, Brenton W. McMenamin1, Larry L.
Greischar1, Maria Kovacs2, & Richard J. Davidson1 1University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Descriptors: EEG, depression, comorbidity
Decreased relative left frontal alpha (8 - 13Hz) EEG activity at baseline has been observed in individuals with a lifetime history of depression. It remains unknown, however, whether this profile of frontal EEG asymmetry is present among depressed individuals with a co-morbid anxiety disorder. Indeed, research indicates that individuals with high subclinical levels of anxious apprehension (i.e., worry, verbal rumination) show the opposite pattern of frontal EEG asymmetry: increased relative left frontal EEG activity. Accordingly, the current study examined whether the presence of an anxiety disorder characterized by prominent levels of anxious apprehension (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) moderates relations between frontal EEG asymmetry and depression. Consistent with prediction, depressed females with no anxiety disorder (n 5 37) had decreased relative left lateral-frontal activity at baseline compared to both healthy control females and depressed females with clinically significant anxious apprehension (n 5 18). Furthermore, depressed females with comorbid anxious apprehension were not statistically distinguish-
able from controls. Taken together, these results suggest that clinical levels of anxious apprehension may 'mask' relations between frontal EEG asymmetry and depression. These findings have important implications for better understanding 1) frontal EEG asymmetry as a neurophysiological marker of depression and 2) the comorbidity of affective and anxiety disorders.
Poster 98
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN CHILDREN WITH MALNUTRITION
Francia Restrepo de Mej'a1, Oscar H. Moscoso1, Alejandro Vera1,
Victoria Lugo2, & Adriana Osorio3 1Neurophysiology Lab, Autonoma University, Manizales, 2FESCO Foundation, 3NUTRIR Foundation
Descriptors: malnutrition, neurophysiology, ERP
Nourishment has been considered as one of the most important determinants of prenatal and postnatal development. Malnutrition in childhood increases death risk, inhibits cognitive development and severely affects health. In developing countries, malnutrition levels reach 25% during childhood. A group of children with malnutrition were evaluated before starting a nutritional support program. Nerve conduction velocities from the right median nerve and event-related potentials were obtained. According to nutritional assessment, 32 children (16 females) 5 to 8 years of age, had mild to moderate chronic malnutrition (height per age under 25 percentile) while 28 children with normal nutritional status were evaluated as controls. Event related potentials were elicited using the oddball paradigm in the auditory modality, while latency and amplitude values of the P300 component from midline electrodes were compared between groups. Neuroconductions were elicited using surface electrodes. ANOVA test was used for repetitive values, and significance was established when reaching p<0,05. Statistically significant differences were not found between groups. Considering these findings, the hypothesis of a linear correlation between malnutrition and cognitive deficit must be reviewed.
Poster 99
NORMATIVE DATA FOR THE COGNITIVE EVOKED POTENTIALS IN A PEDIATRIC POPULATION
Alejandro Vera, Francia Restrepo de Mej'a, & Oscar H. Moscoso Neurophysiology Lab, Autonoma University, Manizales
Descriptors: p300 wave, normative values, oddball paradigm
The P300 wave is arguably the most clinically useful parameter when performing cognitive studies. Thus, for comparison purposes its normal value has to be determined. Our objective was to determine normative P300 values in the visual and auditory modalities in a Colombian pediatric population. The P300 was recorded in 24 normal children (12 males) aged between 5 and 10 years old using an auditory and a visual oddball paradigm. In the visual task, we used as infrequent stimuli a pattern consisting of the presentation of a target in the middle of a checkerboard. In the auditory task, we used as infrequent stimuli a 65 decibel tone with a pitch of 3000 Hz. The signal was recorded in the midline electrodes. The visual stimuli produced the following mean latency values: in Fz 325.91+40, in Cz 328.73 + 36.66 and in Pz 334,84; the mean amplitude values: in Fz 6.65 + 5.17, in Cz was 7.05 + 5.22 and in Pz was 8.01 + 4.55. Regarding the auditory stimuli we got a mean latency in Fz of 357.56+ 49.44, in Cz of 358.66+ 55.72 and in Pz of346.49+ 54.68; and mean values for the amplitude of 10.84 + 3.28 in Fz, 11.00 + 4.80 in Cz and 9.14 + 4.89 in Pz. A linear relationship between P300 latency and age was observed (r 5 0.32) for the visual modality.
AN ANIMAL MODEL TO STUDY THE ROLE OF SEROTONIN IN MEMORY CONSOLIDATION AND LEARNING
Oscar H. Moscoso1, Jorge E. Duque2, Francia Restrepo de Mej'a1, & Alejandro Vera1
1Neurophysiology Lab, Autonoma University, Manizales, 2Neuroscience group
of Caldas
Descriptors: memory, serotonin, animal model
Serotonin (5HT) plays an important role in memory acquisition and learning consolidation. Serotonergic transmission has been proposed to be one ofthe most important modulators of human learning and human behavior. When searching for biological substrates of memory acquisition and learning consolidation, animal models have been considered as complementary approaches to studies in molecular biology. Wistar-Zagreb 5HT rats, which genetically over-express and under-express their platelet 5HT transporter, have been developed as a model for studying various aspects of 5HT function. In this study, we have searched for potential behavioral differences between Wistar-Zagreb 5HT rat sublines (low-5HT rats, high-5HT rats and normal 5HT rats) in three memory acquisition and consolidation paradigms. In two of the paradigms, the reward depended on the number of answers provided by the experimental subject; while in the other one, the reward was delivered to the subject after a set period of time. The three tests showed significant differences in behavior between Wistar-Zagreb 5HT rat sublines indicating more accurate behavioral answers (in terms of amount of rewards per time period) in high-5HT rats compared to low and normal ones. These findings suggest that high-5HT rats consolidated learning in a more accurate rate than normal subjects and low-5HT rats.
Poster 101
RESPONSE MOBILIZATION IN PANIC DISORDER AND THE ROLE OF AGORAPHOBIA
Joshua R. Shumen, Lisa M. McTeague, Marie-Claude Laplante, Margaret M.
Bradley, & Peter J. Lang University of Florida
Descriptors: panic disorder, agoraphobia, imagery
Panic disorder with as opposed to without agoraphobia is a condition with a more malignant course characterized by heightened comorbid symptomatology and broader functional impairment. To explore whether a distinction between the disorders might be evident in emotional processing, individuals experiencing panic disorder with (PDA; n 5 60) and without agoraphobia (PD; n 5 35) as well as controls (n 5 76) imagined narrative scenes that varied in pleasure and arousal. Psychophysiological measures included the startle reflex and responses in heart rate, skin conductance level (SCL), and facial electromyography (EMG). The groups showed similar patterns in SCL and facial expressivity. In contrast, controls and PD demonstrated reliable affective startle modulation with augmented reflex responses during emotional compared to neutral imagery, whereas PDA failed to distinguish among contents. Similarly, PDA demonstrated reduced heart rate acceleration during emotional imagery. Furthermore, within PDA the most attenuated affective modulation was observed among those with comorbid depression. Subjective ratings indicated significant motivational engagement during imagery across groups and, in conjunction with the SCL and facial EMG findings, underscore that the observed hypo-reactivity in PDA was not secondary to inattention or avoidance. Importantly, the chronicity of PDA was more than twice that of PD, suggesting that the deficits in affective response mobilization in PDA may be associated with neurophysiological alterations subsequent to more protracted and pervasive anxious arousal.
DEFENSIVE REACTIVITY IN SOCIAL PHOBIA: INFLUENCE OF FEAR GENERALIZATION & CHRONICITY
Lisa M. McTeague, Joshua R. Shumen, Marie-Claude Laplante, Margaret M.
Bradley, & Peter J. Lang University of Florida
Descriptors: social phobia, anxiety, imagery
Primarily on the basis of subjective report social phobia has been characterized as a disorder of defensive hyper-reactivity coupled with sensitivity to mental imagery of social failure. To assess whether such patterns were evident physiologically social phobics (n 5 75) and controls (n 5 75) imagined scenarios while startle reflex and responses in heart rate, skin conductance level and facial electromyography were recorded. Phobics reliably exceeded controls in startle reflex and autonomic responding during imagery of social threat whereas the groups evinced commensurate reactivity to contents depicting commonly shared fears (survival threat). Accounting for diagnostic subtypes revealed that circumscribed phobics were similar to controls, with the exception of robust reactivity to idiographic, performance fear imagery. In contrast, generalized phobics, characterized by longer disorder chronicity, demonstrated broader, heightened sensitivity to both idiographic and standard social fear contents. Generalized phobics with comorbid depression showed attenuation of fear potentiated startle and reported the most protracted social anxiety. Although a longitudinal examination is warranted, these results suggest that the trajectory of social phobia is marked by initial punctate fearfulness and heightened defensive reactivity to specific performance situations, followed by generalization of defensive sensitivity to a range of interpersonal and performance scenarios, and finally in the most chronic forms by comorbid depression and attenuation of the formerly exaggerated fear potentiation.
Poster 103
EFFECT OF AGE ON STARTLE AND ON PREPULSE INHIBITION OF STARTLE
Ottmar V. Lipp1, Terry D. Blumenthal2, Kimberley M. Mallan1, Leanne M.
Williams3, & Evian Gordon4 1University of Queensland, 2Wake Forest University, 3University of Sydney, 4Brain Resource Company
Descriptors: startle, prepulse inhibition, aging
Whereas there is consistent evidence that the startle reflex and startle prepulse inhibition are subject to maturation until the late teens, reports of effects of old age on startle elicitation and inhibition have been less consist. Some studies have reported a decline in both measures in the elderly, whereas others have not. This may be due in part to small sample sizes and differences in age range across studies. The current study utilised the Brain Resource International Database to investigated the effects of age on startle and prepulse inhibition. Participants (N 5 732) aged 6 to 86 years, were assigned to 7 age groups (< 12,13 -18; 19-25, 26-40, 41-55, 56-65; >65 years), and provided eyeblink EMG data in a standard startle/PPI protocol. Blinks were elicited with a 100 dBA, 50 ms white noise burst, preceded on some trials by a prepulse (20 ms, 75 dBA white noise) at 120 ms SOA. On control trials, startle blink magnitude, probability, and amplitude declined with increasing age above 40 years, whereas onset latency measures were not affected. Prepulse inhibition of blink magnitude, probability, and amplitude were smaller in children 12 years and under and in adults older than 65 than in the other age groups. PPI of blink latency measures did not change with age. These results confirm previous findings of reduced startle and prepulse inhibition in younger and in older participants.
Data were provided by the Brain Resource International Database (BRID), under the auspices of the Brain Resource Company.
TRAIT FEAR PREDICTS BRAIN RESPONSE DIFFERENCES IN AUDITORY STARTLE PROBE PROCESSING
Uma Vaidyanathan, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: EEG, startle probe, individual differences
Recent research has provided evidence of a continuous relationship between potentiation of the startle blink reflex during aversive picture viewing and scores on a bipolar trait dimension encompassing individual differences in fear and psychopathy/fearlessness (Trait Fear; Vaidyanathan, Patrick, & Bernat, Psycho-physiology in press). This association was most robust for aversive scenes that were most directly threatening to the viewer. The current study examined individual differences in early and later components of the event-related potential (ERP) response to auditory startle probes occurring during viewing of neutral and emotional pictures in the same study sample. Subjects scoring high on Trait Fear showed an enhanced early brain response to auditory probe stimuli, evident across all picture trials in an ERP component occurring between 12 - 22 ms after probe onset. Regression analyses revealed that the variance in Trait Fear accounted for by this early brain response to noise probes overlapped statistically with that accounted for by aversive potentiation of the startle blink reflex. The implication is that these two physiological response parameters index a common underlying fear-related individual difference factor. This work illustrates how a neurobiologically informed psychometric measure can serve as a guide to the discovery of intersecting physiological indicators of a core individual differences construct.
AUTONOMIC PREDICTORS OF SURVIVAL POST SURGERY: AN ANIMAL MODEL
John B. Williamson, Greg F. Lewis, Angela J. Grippo, Damon Lamb, Sue C. Carter, & Steve W. Porges University of Illinois at Chicago
Descriptors: comparative, death, RSA
Although heart rate and temperature are continuously monitored in patients in recovery following surgery, measures more sensitive to outcome may be available by extracting direct manifestations of neural regulation circuits from the beat-to-beat heart rate. We offer a comparative animal model, using the prairie vole to explore the relationship between autonomic factors and survival. Voles have uniquely high levels of vagal tone and a vagal system that is reactive to environmental challenges. Surgeries to implant telemetry devices to monitor temperature and ECG were performed on 27 voles. Ten voles died within 22 hours following surgery. We compare the hourly trajectory of recovery and demise between six hours and 14 (an hour before the first subject dies) hours post surgery. The predictive ability of four variables, RSA, THM, temperature, and heart period were compared at each hour increment. All variables exhibit group differences. RSA and LF are able to distinguish group membership at hour seven. Together, in stepwise logistic regression models, RSA and LF (but NOT heart period or temperature) consistently offer about 80 to 85% predictive accuracy of survival. These results suggest that real-time monitoring ofneural components of heart rate variability may yield additional predictive power to heart rate and temperature ratings.
Poster 107
Poster 105
PROCESSING AND RESOLVING EMOTIONAL CONFLICT: AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL INVESTIGATION
Justin L. Jobelius, Jenna M. Hernke, Lindsay D. Nelson, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: emotional conflict, conflict resolution
Emotional conflict arises when competing emotional cues are presented concurrently. Etkin et al. (2006) used functional MRI to explore brain regions activated during emotional conflict and its resolution in an emotional Stroop task. The current study used event-related potential (ERP) measures to further examine brain processes associated with emotional conflict processing in this same task paradigm. Task stimuli consisted of faces (either happy or fearful) on which single words (either 'happy' or 'fear') were superimposed. Half the trials were congruent (i.e., happy-'happy', fearful-'fear') and half were incongruent (i.e., happy-'fear', fearful-'happy'). On each trial, Participants identified the emotion expressed by the face by pressing one of two buttons. Replicating Etkin et al., we found faster reaction times and increased accuracy for congruent versus incongruent trials. In contrast with Etkin et al.: (1) we found faster reaction times and increased accuracy for happy face trials versus fear face trials, and (2) we found no effect of prior-trial congruity/incongruity on current-trial reaction time. ERP responses were analyzed in both time and time frequency domains. Significant differences were found between fear and happy faces and between fear and happy words in amplitude of both time domain and time frequency components. In addition, despite the absence of a difference in reaction time, high-conflict resolution trials (incongruent stimulus preceded by an incongruent stimulus) showed a significant reduction in ERP amplitude at fronto-central electrode sites.
DAMPENED AUTONOMIC REGULATION, COMPROMISED AUDITORY PROCESSING AND DIFFICULTIES WITH AFFECT RECOGNITION IN WOMEN WITH HIV
Keri J. Heilman1, Emily R. Harden1, Jocelyn Lebow1, Alexis Kramer1, Kathleen
Weber2, Mardge Cohen2, & Stephen W. Porges1 1University of Illinois at Chicago, 2CORE Center at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County
Descriptors: cardiovascular, affect recognition, HIV
According to Polyvagal Theory (Porges 2007), HIV acquisition risk factors and immunologic effects of HIV may contribute to problems with autonomic regulation, auditory processing and spontaneous social behavior. Impairment in autonomic regulation and/or HIV infection are risk factors for cardiovascular/ metabolic problems, and impairments in auditory processing and social behavior impact functional outcomes (e.g., social support, treatment compliance.) Research goal was to determine if women who were HIV+had atypical autonomic, auditory processing, and affect recognition responses and if so, whether differences were related to immune status and/or HIV acquisition risk factors. Three groups were tested: 1)HIV+ , living in urban Chicago, with high behavioral risk for HIV; 2)HIV-, living in urban Chicago, with high behavioral risk for HIV (HIV-HBR); 3)self-reported HIV-, from the general Chicagoland area, with low behavioral risk for HIV (HIV-LBR). Baseline heart period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were measured along with tests of auditory processing and affect recognition. HIV+had lower baseline RSA and shorter heart period relative to HIV-LBR, but no difference relative to HIV-HBR. HIV+performed worse than HIV-HBR on auditory processing and made more emotion identification errors. Group differences were non-significant after controlling for immune suppression (CD4+cells). Results suggest autonomic regulation is affected by high behavioral risk, but not by HIV virus. In contrast, auditory processing and affect recognition appears to be sensitive to immuno-suppression.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: U01 AI34993, Chicago, IL (PI: Dr. Mardge Cohen, Hektoen Institute for Medical Research).
PUPILLARY CORRELATES OF RUMINATION DURING A FRUSTRATING SERIAL WORKING MEMORY TASK IN UNIPOLAR DEPRESSION
Neil P. Jones1, Greg J. Siegle1, Emilie R. Muelly2, Agnes Haggerty1, Frank Ghinassi1, & Michael E. Thase3 1Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2Pennsylvania State University, 3University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Descriptors: rumination, major depressive disorder, pupil physiology
The potential role of task-unrelated processes such as affective arousal and rumination in cognitive deficits in depression has been hypothesized but rarely tested directly. To better understand these relationships, this experiment examined the degree to which depressed and never-depressed participants -who varied in their tendency to ruminate - engaged in task-related and task-unrelated cognitive processing during a frustrating continuous working memory test. Wavelet transforms were used to extract the power of pupillary motility at the task frequency (task-related processing) and at low off-task frequencies (task-unrelated processing). Depressed participants performed more poorly on the task than healthy low-rumination controls and had a greater probability of making consecutive errors, consistent with perseverative or interfering cognitions. Depressed persons who reported high levels of trait rumination displayed less pupillary motility at the task frequency (consistent with being less focused on the task) and more pupillary motility off the task frequency (consistent with non-task-related cognitions) during the task compared to low-ruminating controls who displayed more on-task pupillary motility. Depressed participants who reported lower levels of trait rumination generally displayed low levels of pupillary motility both on and off the task frequency which was interpreted as being disengaged from the task. Behaviorally, more off-task pupillary motility was associated with poorer performance whereas on-task pupillary motility was related to better performance.
This research was supported by MH64159, NARSAD, MH58356, and MH30915.
Poster 109
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, LUNG FUNCTION, AND SHORTNESS OF BREATH IN DAILY LIFE OF ASTHMA PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS
Thomas Ritz1, David Rosenfield1, & Andrew Steptoe2 1Southern Methodist University, 2University College London
Descriptors: asthma, lung function, physical activity
The effects ofphysical activity in asthma have been explored extensively. Exercise can trigger bronchoconstriction in patients and deconditioning due to a sedentary life style may be the consequence. However, the immediate effect of physical activity is a bronchodilation due to withdrawal of vagal tone. To date little is known about the association between physical activity and lung function in daily life of asthma patients. We therefore studied 20 asthma patients and 20 nonasthmatic participants using electronic diary of physical activity and spirometry (peak expiratory flow, PEF; forced expiratory volume in the first second, FEV1). Before each self-assessment of lung function by forced expiration, participants rated their shortness of breath and their intensity of physical activity for the preceding 30 minutes. In addition, patients entered the time of the last application of bronchodilator medication. Assessments were made over the course of three weeks three times daily (morning, afternoon, evening). Results showed that stronger physical activity was associated with higher FEV1 and PEF values, as well as with lower shortness of breath. This effect was most pronounced in the morning. No association was found for healthy participants. The findings show that detrimental effects observed in
exercise-induced bronchoconstriction cannot be generalized to physical activity in daily lives of asthma patients. Further research is needed to explore whether patients simply reduce activity on days with stronger symptoms, or whether more vigorous activity helps improve lung function.
Poster 110
COMPARISON OF CRITICAL AND NON-CRITICAL ITEMS FOR P300 AMPLITUDE, P300 LATENCY AND REACTION TIME ON P300-BASED GKT
Shinji Hira, & Yuki Hamamoto Fukuyama University
Descriptors: guilty knowledge test, p300 latency, reaction time
In the 1980s, an oddball event-related potential paradigm designed to elicit the P300 component was introduced into the guilty knowledge test (GKT). Most studies have demonstrated P300 amplitude as a feasible index for detecting deception using a P300-based GKT. Conversely, whether P300 latency and reaction time are effective as indices for detection of deception has not been examined. The present study was designed to compare differences between critical and non-critical items for P300 amplitude, P300 latency and reaction time. Analyses were based on data from 5 different studies covering 175 guilty participants in laboratory examinations. In 5 studies, all participants push a button as quickly as possible when a picture is presented on a computer screen. Results revealed that critical items elicited significantly larger P300 amplitudes than non-critical items (p< .001). Critical items also elicited significantly longer P300 latencies than non-critical items (p<.05). This suggests that field applications may be feasible, with P300 as the dependent variable. However, no significant difference was seen between critical and non-critical items for reaction time. Reaction time may be easily manipulated, and thus is not feasible as a measure of the presence of guilty knowledge.
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), 18330143, 2008.
Poster 111
A NATURALISTIC STUDY OF THE TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY OF ERN AMPLITUDE IN HEALTHY ADULTS
Sarah E. Morris, & Monica C. Mann-Wrobel University of Maryland
Descriptors: ERN, reliability
The error related negativity (ERN) is increasingly used in studies that involve repeated testing sessions, for example studies of brain maturation, drug effects, and psychological interventions. It is important to understand the stability and reliability of this measure in order to interpret the findings of such studies. To address this issue, we compared ERN amplitude and latency recorded during execution of a flanker task in two testing sessions separated by varying intervals. Participants were psychiatrically and neurologically healthy adults. The preliminary estimates of test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation were .67 for ERN amplitude and .90 for latency. These values are similar to coefficients previously reported for other ERPs (e.g., N100, MMN, and P300) and suggest that the ERN has adequate test-retest reliability for use in studies with repeated-measure designs.
EMOTION REGULATION OF TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP EMOTIONAL STIMULI: AN INTERACTION BETWEEN THE GENERATION AND REGULATION OF EMOTION
Kateri McRae, Supriya Misra, & James J. Gross Stanford University
Descriptors: emotion regulation, skin conductance response
Current theories driving affective neuroscience indicate that emotions may be generated in at least two different ways: bottom-up and top-down. Bottom-up emotion generation relies on the properties of a stimulus itself through the perception of low-level stimulus features, while top-down emotion generation relies on the meaning given to a stimulus through high-level cognitive appraisals. The present study compared emotions generated in a primarily bottom-up (perceptual) and a primarily top-down (cognitive) fashion. In particular, this study used reports of negative affect and skin conductance responses (SCRs) to test the hypothesis that top-down negative emotions are more easily down-regulated than bottom-up emotions when using cognitive reappraisal. Bottom-up emotional stimuli were fearful faces and top-down stimuli were negatively valenced statements that imbued neutral faces with negative affect. Participants (N 5 54) were instructed to respond naturally or to use cognitive reappraisal to decrease experienced negative affect. Regulation success was calculated from the difference in self-reported negative affect and SCRs during the reappraisal and non-reappraisal trials. Results confirmed the hypothesis that emotions generated in a primarily top-down fashion were more successfully regulated than those generated in a primarily bottom-up fashion. This suggests that it may be easier to cognitively regulate emotions generated in a cognitive rather than perceptual fashion.
Poster 113
THE CONTRALATERAL EFFECT OF UNILATERAL
FEEDBACK STIMULUS ON THE STIMULUS PRECEDING NEGATIVITY (SPN): INSIGHTS FROM AN FMRI STUDY
Yoshimi Ohgami1, Yasunori Kotani1, Tatsuya Yoshihiro1, Tetsuji Tsukamoto2, & Yusuke Inoue3
1Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2GE-Yokogawa Medical Systems, 3The University of Tokyo
Descriptors: stimulus-preceding negativity, perceptual anticipation, fmri
An event-related potential called stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) reflects perceptual anticipation. In the present study we performed an event-related fMRI study investigating the contralateral effect of unilateral feedback stimuli to get insight into the neural natures of the SPN related to perceptual anticipation. Twenty-eight participants performed a time estimation task, where a feedback stimulus was presented a few seconds after a voluntary movement, and the stimulus position (left/right) and the stimulus modality (auditory/visual) of feedback stimuli were manipulated. There were five experimental conditions: (a) left visual condition (LVis), (b) right visual condition (RVis), (c) left auditory condition (LAud), (d) right auditory condition (RAud), and (e) no feedback condition (NFB), where the feedback stimulus was omitted. The event-related fMRI analyses during the pre-feedback period showed that the right inferior parietal lobule and the right cuneus were more activated in the LVis-NFB contrast. The left parietal lobule and left lingual gyrus were more activated in the RVis-NFB contrast. Regarding the auditory stimuli, the bilateral superior temporal gyrus were activated in the both Laud-NFB and RAud-NFB contrasts. However, in the Laud-NFB contrast, the right superior temporal gyrus showed the maximum activation while the left superior temporal gyrus showed the highest activation in the RAud - NFB contrast. The present results support the notion that the SPN cortical distributions are affected by the stimulus modality and the laterality.
VALENCE, AROUSAL OR RELEVANCE: FACTORS MODULATING ERP COMPONENTS
Huang Yuxia, & Luo Yujia Beijing Normal University
Descriptors: emotion, attention, modulation
Many studies have indicated that emotional valence (pleasantness vs. unpleasantness) influences ERP amplitudes. However, such was not always the case, especially when highly evocative pleasant stimuli (e.g., an erotic couple) were included. We hypothesized that there could be a more basic and inclusive factor, which we termed relevance, that underlies emotion generation and modulation. The closer the relation between a certain stimulus and a certain individual, the more likely and deeply the emotional and cognitive processes are to be influenced by the stimulus. The current study was a 2 (valence: positive vs. negative) _ 2 (arousal: high vs. low) _ 2 (relevance: high vs. low) design. In the low-relevant session the subjects were told to watch some affective pictures (from International Affective Picture System) and judge the valence, while in high relevant session they should do the same valence judgment task and try to 'control' their EEG amplitudes. They were told they would be paid according to the effectiveness of EEG 'control'. The results showed that among the three experimental factors, relevance exerted the most powerful effect by modulating N1, P2, N2 and LPC. Arousal and valence interacted on the P2 component: in the low arousal condition P2 differentiated between positive and negative valence, while in the high arousal condition positive and negative pictures evoked equal P2 amplitudes. We conclude that relevance might be the underlying factor influencing emotional processes and valence and arousal can be integrated in the same theoretical framework.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30670698), the Ministry of Education of China (106025) and Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2006039411).
Poster 115
NEURAL DIFFERENTIATION OF FEAR AND ANXIETY
Philip J. Corr1, Roger A. Moore2, Andrew Cooper3, Nathalie C. Fouquet4, & Paul Marshman2
1University of Swansea, 2University of Portsmouth, 3University of London (Goldsmiths), 4Unversity of Swansea
Descriptors: EEG, anxiety, fear
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST; Gray & McNaughton, 2000) is one of the most influential models of the biological bases of emotion, motivation and personality. RST describes the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS; which mediates avoidance of danger and the emotion of fear) and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS; which mediates cautious approach behaviour in the context of potential danger-a form of goal-conflict related to the emotion of anxiety. RST proposes that fear (FFFS) and anxiety (BIS) are different emotions. We assess whether fear and anxiety can be differentiated in terms of EEG. Participants experienced a conditioning phase where screen colours were associated with the words 'danger' and 'safe'. On aversive trials (the word danger in red) participants pressed an RT key to avoid the aversive stimulus (known to elicit a defensive reaction). On neutral trials (the word safe in green), no aversive stimulus was presented. Next, participants experienced 4 trial types: aversive and neutral safe trials, and aversive and neutral conflict trials (i.e., BIS activation) consisting of the association between colour and danger/safe words being broken -screen colours and words are unexpectedly exchanged. Aversive trials represent fear trials within RST and the conflict trials, anxiety. Participants were instructed to respond to the word and to ignore colour. Preliminary analyses (5 participants) suggest that
fear and anxiety trails are differentiated in 3 wavebands: 4-6Hz: F(3,12) 5 17.126, p < 0.001; 8-10Hz: F(3,12) 5 25.977, p < 0.001; and 1012Hz: F(3,13) 5 17.944, p < 0.001.
Poster 116
ERD CORRELATES IN LOW AND HIGH MALE BODY IMAGE TYPES: A PRELIMINARY STUDY
Lorenzo D. Stafford, & Roger A. Moore University of Portsmouth
Descriptors: ERD, body image
Research in male body image has shown that the pursuit ofa more muscular body can be associated with diet, self-esteem and the taking of performance enhancing drugs. It is however unclear whether differing perceptions of body image can predict contrasts in cognitive biases and EEG activity. Utilising an Event Related Desynchronization (ERD) approach to examine this issue, eight healthy male participants were allocated to either a low or high body image group on the basis of their Swansea Muscularity Attitude Questionnaire (SMAQ) scores and completed a modified dot-probe with body image related and neutral words, whilst EEG was recorded. Results revealed that participants were significantly faster to respond to probes replacing body image compared to neutral words. Preliminary ERD analyses which examined the period following initial word presentation (2000ms) compared to a baseline fixation period, revealed a number ofeffects involving word type (body image v neutral words). Additional analyses will be completed to explore further the nature of these effects. These findings are discussed in terms of differences in methodological approaches to studying attentional biases.
NEURAL EFFICIENCY IS ENHANCED BY COGNITION/ EMOTION ALIGNMENT IN THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX
Justin Storbeck, James A. Coan, & Gerald L. Clore University of Virginia
Descriptors: emotion, cognition, prefrontal asymmetry
Emotion and cognition interactions may enhance or impede neural processing and cognitive performance. For example, past research suggests that when affective states and cognitive tasks are concurrently activated in the same hemisphere, cognitive processing efficiency in that hemisphere is enhanced, resulting in an apparent contralateral prefrontal asymmetry (pFA) bias. Moreover, both positive affect and verbal working memory (WM) are associated with left pFA, and both negative affect and spatial WM are associated with right pFA. For this study, positive or negative moods were induced prior to a 2-back verbal or spatial WM task. EEG was recorded both during the mood induction and following the 2-back tasks. Happy mood was associated with better performance on the verbal task. Moreover, following the verbal task, happy mood corresponded with relatively greater right pFA, whereas sad mood corresponded with relatively greater left pFA. By contrast, following the spatial task, sad mood corresponded with relatively greater left pFA and happy corresponded with relatively greater right pFA. These findings support prior work (Gray, Braver & Raichle, 2002), suggesting that competition for neural resources is minimized, and processing efficiency enhanced, when affective and cognitive states are matched in terms of hemispheric specialization.
Poster 117
GAZE-DIRECTED REAPPRAISAL: IMPLICATIONS FOR EMOTION REGULATION
Heather L. Urry, Sarah R. Cavanagh, & Lindsay C. Rauch Tufts University
Descriptors: emotion regulation, attention, cognitive reappraisal
A recent neuroimaging study suggested that much of the variance in brain activation during use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate visually-evoked emotion is explained by shifts in gaze. In the present study, we independently manipulated both gaze direction and reappraisal to determine if they have independent or synergistic emotion regulatory effects, as indexed by heart rate, pulse transit time to the finger, skin conductance, and ratings of emotion experience. Participants were instructed to use reappraisal to decrease their emotional response to sad photos, increase their response to happy photos, and to simply view sad, happy, and neutral photos in a randomized event-related design. On each trial, gaze was directed to a square portion of the photo that was either relevant or irrelevant to the emotional meaning of the image. Participants responded by key press to a 33-ms dot probe that appeared in the attended box. Preliminary data from the first 22 college-aged participants indicate that gaze direction was successfully oriented to the attended box equally across reappraisal conditions. Importantly, gaze direction and reappraisal instructions had synergistic effects on some measures. For example, in the sad condition, we observed higher heart rate during decrease versus view trials in the relevant condition, but lower heart rate during decrease versus view trials in the irrelevant condition. Thus, at least for some measures, the effect of cognitive reappraisal depends on gaze direction during regulation of visually-evoked emotion.
Poster 119
P300 SIGNALS STIMULUS VALUE!*
Wolfgang H.R. Miltner, Ralf Trippe, Holger Hecht, & Lars Fichtner Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University
Descriptors: P300, phobia, valence
For years, a number of researchers have claimed that P300 amplitude in response to emotional stimuli is mainly a function of arousal, stimulus meaning and probability, and/or stimulus equivocation but never a function of stimulus valence. Although never tested experimentally this claim was repeated many times and the more often it was repeated the more people accepted the fiction as hard-core evidence. Using an Oddball paradigm, here we demonstrate that the valence of emotional stimuli exerts an independent influence on P300 amplitude that adds to the effects of stimulus meaning, probability, stimulus equivocation and the arousing effects of stimuli. 38 female subjects (19 spider phobis, 19 healthy controls) were exposed to 5 blocks of infrequent target (20%) and frequent standard pictures (80%) taken from the IAPS. Targets displayed neutral (mushrooms), negative (mutilations), positive and arousing (sport) or positive but less arousing (animals) pictures and standards displayed neutral (household objects etc) objects etc. Within each block only one of these target types was presented. While spider stimuli induced largest P300 amplitudes in phobics, mutilation pictures induced largest P300 amplitudes in controls. When pictures were matched for arousal, spider images induced larger P300 amplitudes than mutilation pictures in phobics and mutilation pictures induced larger P300 amplitudes than sport pictures in both groups.
*Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
ACT-R MODEL OF A VISUAL ERP EXPERIMENT
Daniel N. Cassenti, & Kaleb McDowell U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Descriptors: ERP, cognition, computational modeling
Computational modeling is a useful vehicle for the advancement of many fields by offering a tool for validating descriptive models of natural phenomenon. Anderson, Fincham, Qin, and Stocco (2008) make this argument to justify the importance of their ACT-R (Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational) model of fMRI data. This same utility may be applied to Event Related Potential (ERP) work. Kutas, McCarthy, and Donchin (1977) first proposed relating ERP events to cognitive functions; thus, ERP studies would provide a means of investigating the timing of cognition that was previously restricted to a start point (stimulus presentation) and an end point (response time). We extend this idea by pairing the N100 with perceptual encoding and the P300 with context-updating. We then modeled the N100 and P300 latency values of an ERP visual perception study (McDowell, Jeka, Schoner, & Hatfield, 2002) in ACT-R and found high correlations between the model findings and the empirical data. These promising results yielded two important advances. First, the model provides a means for validating the cognitive correlates of N100 and P300. Second, the modeling effort reinforces Kutas et al.'s (1977) postulation. ERP modeling in ACT-R validates not only cognitive interpretations of ERP, but also allows peering into mental procedures of the mind, an object of study previously dismissed by behaviorist psychologists as the 'Black Box.'
THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPHASIC PREPULSES ON AUTOMATIC AND ATTENTION-MODULATED SENSORIMOTOR GATING
Albert B. Poje1, & Diane L. Filion2 1University of Kansas Medical Center, 2University of Missouri, Kansas City
Descriptors: prepulse inhibition, sensorimotor gating, attention
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is widely viewed as an operational measure of sensorimotor gating. Research has shown that sensorimotor gating can occur automatically and also can be influenced by selective attention depending on the protocols and stimuli used to elicit PPI. Current protocols are capable of assessing either automatic or attention-modulated sensorimotor gating, but not both. The present research evaluated a protocol designed to concurrently assess both forms of sensorimotor gating. Experiment I compared the effectiveness of discrete versus continuous-multiphasic prepulse types in a no-task PPI protocol across lead intervals of 60, 120, and 240 ms to validate continuous-multiphasic prepulses as effective elicitors ofautomatic sensorimotor gating. Results revealed that the two prepulse types elicited equivalent levels of PPI. Experiment II compared the effectiveness of continuous-uniphasic versus continuous-multi-phasic prepulse types within a task-based PPI protocol using a lead interval of 120 ms. Results revealed an attention X prepulse type interaction reflecting that greater PPI was produced by to-be-attended than to-be-ignored continuous-uniphasic prepulses and that equivalent PPI was produced by the continuous-multiphasic prepulses. These results suggest that continuous-multiphasic prepulses are highly effective elicitors of automatic sensorimotor gating and when used with continuous-uniphasic prepulses in a task-based protocol, offer the potential to simultaneously examine automatic and attention-modulated sensorimotor gating in a single PPI protocol.
Poster 121
AUTONOMIC HYPO- OR HYPER-AROUSAL RESPONSE TO SAD STIMULI
Dmitry M. Davydov1, Emmanuelle Zech2, & Olivier Luminet2 1Moscow Research Center of Narcology, 2Catholic University of Louvain
Descriptors: autonomic arousal, emotion, affective induction
Long-lasting components of emotional reactions of one affective dimension may interfere with reactions related to another affective dimension. The current study was conducted to test the hypothesis that two affective films, which elicit a common negative emotion (sadness) would elicit different physiological responses depending on an additional affective context related to either avoidance (disgust), or attachment (tenderness). Reactivity to short film clips was evaluated for facial behavior, heart rate mean and variability, finger pulse amplitude and transit time, skin conductance level, response rate and amplitude, and subjective emotional experience. Participants reported feeling less happy and showed increased activity of facial muscle related to the sad content of both films. However, the sad film involving an additional negative emotion of disgust induced an increase in sympathetic arousal above baseline levels as indexed by an increase in skin conductance level and response rate (i.e., hyperarousal condition). In contrast, the sad film involving an additional positive emotion of tenderness induced a decrease in sympathetic arousal below baseline levels as measured by a decrease in amplitude of skin conductance responses and heart rate (i.e., hypoarousal condition). The current findings support an arousal-related homeostatic hypothesis on emotion and mood regulation (Davydov et al., 2007), which predicts that any decrease or increase in physiological arousal away (down or up) from a homeostatic level disturbs mood or evoke a negative emotion.
Poster 123
CARDIOVASCULAR RECOVERY FROM ANTICIPATED NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES THAT NEVER OCCUR
Christian E. Waugh1, Sommer Panage1, Wendy Mendes2, & Ian H. Gotlib1 1Stanford University, 2Harvard University
Descriptors: stress, anticipation, recovery
Despite the recent advances recognizing the importance of physiological recovery from negative experiences, there has been no systematic investigation of physiological recovery from the anticipation of negative experiences that do not occur. We investigated whether cardiovascular recovery from anticipation is similar to or different from recovery when the negative event does occur by modifying the oft-used public-speaking paradigm. In the 'speech' condition, participants gave a speech to an evaluator, and in the 'anticipation' condition, participants prepared a speech in anticipation of possibly giving it to an evaluator (but never did). Results showed that despite differences in cardiovascular responding during the early minutes of the 'stress' period, both groups of participants exhibited elevated heart rate during the final minutes of the stress period which then returned to baseline in the first minute of recovery. Both groups also exhibited a similar spike in heart rate variability (RSA) during the first minute ofbaseline, suggesting that for both groups, cardiovascular recovery was similarly mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. In sum, recovery from the anticipation of negative experiences shares similar characteristics with recovering from negative experiences themselves, suggesting that the physiological problems (e.g. allostatic load, immunological impairment) that can result from failing to recover physiologically may also be relevant when anticipated negative events do not occur.
5HTTLPR PREDICTS LEFT FUSIFORM GYRUS ACTIVATION TO POSITIVE EMOTIONAL STIMULI
HeathA. Demaree1, JiePu1, Jean Tkach2, Jack Jesberger3, NorahFeeny1, Linda Jeng1, D. Erik Everhart4, Rachael N. Volokhov1, & Jeff Duerk3 1Case Western Reserve University, 2University Hospitals at Cleveland, 3University Hospitals of Cleveland, 4East Carolina University
Descriptors: fmri, emotion, genetics
This study was designed to replicate and extend past research examining the impact of the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5HTTLPR) on neural activation during emotional processing. Six women with at least one short allele were compared to six age-matched women with long/ long alleles of the 5HTTLPR. Participants were shown 36 positive and 36 negative slides from the International Affective Picture Set (IAPS) while functional images were acquired using a 4 Tesla (4T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. Although we were unable to replicate past research demonstrating relatively increased amygdala activation among individuals with an's' allele to negative stimuli, women with an's' allele evidenced decreased left Fusiform Gyrus activation to positive emotional stimuli (as expected). We suggest that women with a short allele may be either less attentive or less 'expert' with regard to positive emotional stimuli, and ideas for future research are presented.
This research was made possible by a generous grant to HAD by the Department of Radiology, University Hospitals of Cleveland. In addition, this publication was made possible by Grant Number M01 RR00080 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH.
THE EFFECT OF TASK DIFFICULTY ON THE STIMULUS-PRECEDING NEGATIVITY (SPN): FMRI AND ERP STUDIES
Yasunori Kotani1, Yumiko Kuramoto2, Tatsuya Yoshihiro1, Yoshimi Ohgami1, Tetsuji Tsukamoto3, Yusuke Inoue4, & Yasutsugu Aihara5 1Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2''Honda R&D Co., Ltd'', 3GE-Yokogawa Medical Systems, 4The University of Tokyo, 5Tokyo Metropolitan University
Descriptors: stimulus-preceding negativity, fmri, time estimation
The SPN is an event-related potential that reflects anticipation. Although the SPN is characterized by its right hemisphere preponderance in amplitude, the underlying physiological mechanism of the right hemisphere dominance is still unclear. In the present study, we performed an fMRI (N 5 23) and an ERP (N 5 19) study using the same time estimation task, and manipulated the task difficulty employing the easy, moderate and difficult conditions. In the time estimation task, subjects were requested to press a button when they thought a predetermined time had elapsed. Three seconds after pressing the button, a feedback stimulus about their timing performance was presented. The fMRI analysis during the pre-feedback anticipation phase revealed significantly increased activations in the right anterior insula in the difficult-easy contrast. On the other hand, the right middle frontal gyrus and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex were significantly activated in the easy-moderate contrast. The ERP analysis also revealed that the SPN amplitude at the right prefrontal area tended to be increased more in the easy condition rather than in the difficult condition while it was not statistically significant. Simons et al. (2006) found that the increased insula activations accompanied the decreased activations in the medial frontal gyrus in anxiety patients. Taking these issues into account, the present results suggest that the SPN right hemisphere preponderance is related to the activities in the right anterior insula and in the middle frontal gyrus those might inversely function.
Poster 125
ENHANCING THE COMPLEX TRIAL PROTOCOL (A NEW GKT) WITH EXPLICIT RANDOM RESPONSES
Elena B. Labkovsky, & Peter J. Rosenfeld Northwestern University
Descriptors: deception, ERP, P300
We describe a modified version of a new, P300-based protocol for detecting concealed information (Rosenfeld et al., Psychophysiology, in press). In each trial either a rare Probe or frequent Irrelevant stimulus appears in the first part of the trial and is followed by either a target or non-target stimulus in the second part of the same trial. Four different Irrelevant stimuli and one Probe were included. There were two response boxes. A subject was instructed to randomly press one of five buttons on one response box to the first stimulus (Probe or Irrelevant). Then the subject pressed one of two buttons on another response box for Non-Targets or Targets. We tested three groups: 1) a simple guilty (SG) group where one of the stimuli was a subject's birth date (Probe), 2) an innocent (IN) group where all the stimuli were irrelevant to subjects, and a 3) Countermeasure (CM) group, similar to the SG group only here subjects were performing mental countermeasures to 2 of 4 Irrelevants. Bootstrapped based hit rates in the SG group 5 100%, based on Probe versus four Irrelevants combined or 92% (Probe versus maximum Irrelevant). In the IN group there was one (of 12) false positive (8%), based on Probe versus four Irrelevants combined or none (0%; Probe versus maximum Irrelevant). A 2(Probe versus Irrelevant)X2(SG versus IN) ANOVA yielded F(1,23) 5 8.0, p < .01 for the group factor, F(1,23) 5 51.0, p < .001 for the stimulus type factor, and significant interaction of groups and stimulus type F(1,23) 5 28.1, p < .001.
Poster 127
REPLICATED EEG STUDIES OF MEMORIZATION AND RETRIEVAL AS COGNITIVE-SPECIFIC BRAIN STATES
Sergey G. Danko1, Natalia P. Bechtereva1, Larisa M. Kachalova2, & Maria L. Solovjeva1
institute of the Human Brain, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2''Modern Academy for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
Descriptors: brain states, memorization/retrieval, EEG
Earlier it was demonstrated (Danko et al., 2005a,b; 2006) that active use of memory during verbal learning causes multiple significant differences (SD) in local and spatial EEG synchronization throughout the entire cortex. In a new study we attempted to test the reproducibility of the results in independent groups and if so to obtain a more detailed picture of SD in the EEG parameters. In the new group, indices of the current heart rate (HR) and subjective scores of task difficulty (STD) were taken into account to favor a better grounded interpretation of the results. The EEG was recorded in 19 standard derivations in the following states: rest with the eyes open, memorization (learning) of bilingual verbal semantic pairs, and retrieval (check) of the learned information. ECG was recorded also and STD was assessed using scaled self-reports. Statistics of mean spectral power and coherence estimates between these states for frequency bands theta (4D7 Hz), alpha1 (7D10 Hz), alpha2 (10D13 Hz), beta1 (13D18 Hz), beta2 (18D30 Hz), and gamma (30D40 Hz) were compared. The results in the new group (33 persons) reproduced results in the previous one (55 persons) and pooled data were evaluated as well. There were qualitative differences between the active states in alpha1 power dynamics and in coherence
dynamics gamma, beta2, beta1 and alphai frequency bands. Observed global EEG memorization/retrieval dynamics are supposed to reflect functioning of cognitive-specific brain regulatory mechanisms as energetic arousal effects have to be neglected on account of a number of reasons.
Poster 128
COGNITIVE CONTROL OF NEGATIVE EMOTION AS A FUNCTION OF ANGER STYLE: AN FMRI INVESTIGATION
Jennifer L. Stewart1, Stacie L. Warren2, Jeffrey M. Spielberg2, Anna S. Engels2,
Wendy Heller2, & Gregory A. Miller2 1University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: anger, emotion, fmri
Although models of emotion have focused on the relationship between anger and approach motivation (a facet known as anger-out), anger is also related to withdrawal motivation (anger-in). Both anger styles are associated with negative health outcomes and psychopathology. However, anger-out and anger-in could involve different patterns of activity in frontal brain regions responsible for the implementation of cognitive control processes, particularly in response to negative emotion. Examining brain activation as a function of anger style may also inform the circumplex/valence and motivational models of emotion, which have differing predictions with respect to anger. The present study used fMRI to examine anger style differences in response to color- and emotion-word Stroop tasks in participants with varying levels of comorbid depression and anxiety. Elevated anger-out predicted greater left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity than did anger-in, evidence in support of the motivational model of emotion. However, anger-out and anger-in both predicted right DLPFC activation, evidence in support of the circumplex/valence model. Anger-in was associated with heightened activation in right frontal and cingulate regions involved in conflict monitoring and behavioral inhibition for neutral high-conflict and negatively valenced stimuli. Contrary to hypotheses, anger-out was not linked to cognitive control impairment. Results suggest that anger is not a unitary construct and that anger suppression in particular appears to be linked to cognitive and emotional dysfunction.
Poster 129
AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF INSPIRATORY MOTOR DRIVE
Ilse Van Diest1, Thomas Janssens1, Katleen Bogaerts1, Stien Fannes1, Paul W. Davenport2, & Omer Van den Bergh1 1University of Leuven, 2University of Florida
Descriptors: respiration, affective picture viewing, P100
The present study explored inspiratory motor drive as measured by inspiratory occlusion pressure (P100) during affective picture viewing. P100 is the change in mouth pressure that develops 100 ms after an inspiratory effort against a closed breathing circuit. The P100 is a measure of the 'central respiratory drive'. Seventy-eight healthy women viewed four pictures series (160s) varying in affective content: neutral, positive, threat or pain. They also rated each picture series on pleasantness and arousal. An occlusion was applied at the onset of inspiration in 33% of the breaths. The threat and the pain picture series were associated with an increased P100 and were rated as most unpleasant and highest in arousal. We conclude that inspiratory motor drive is affectively modulated and is a measure of the respiratory response to threatful stimuli.
SEX AND RACE MODULATE EARLY ATTENTIONAL AND LATE EMOTIONAL PROCESSING OF HAPPY AND ANGRY FACES: EVIDENCE FROM AN ERP STUDY
Kimberley M. Mallan1, Ottmar V. Lipp1, Joanne R. Smith2, Debbie J. Terry1, & Ursula Hess3
1University of Queensland, 2University of Essex, 3University of Quebec at Montreal
Descriptors: faces, ERP
Does sex and race modulate the processing of emotional facial expressions? Are facial expressions of emotion processed differently depending on sex and race? This question was addressed by investigating the modulating effects of expresser sex and race on attentional and emotional processing of facial expressions of happiness and anger using ERPs. Caucasian participants viewed a series of faces that varied in emotional expression, sex, and race (Caucasian or Chinese) and made a button-press response when a face displaying a neutral expression was presented. Stimulus-locked ERP waveforms were calculated and five components (N1, N170, N2, P2, and a late positive component [LPC; 350-700ms]) were identified and subjected to separate analyses. The N170 component showed a main effect of sex only, with greater negativity in response to male than to female faces. Emotional expression modulated negative (N1 and N2) and positive components (P2 and LPC): happy faces elicited greater negativity and angry faces elicited greater positivity, respectively. Race and sex of the expresser appeared to influence the N1 component and the LPC, but not N2 or P2 components. Happy Chinese male faces elicited a larger N1 than happy Caucasian female faces. Happy Caucasian female faces elicited the largest LPC. Arguably the most counter-stereotypical faces-happy Chinese males and angry Caucasian females-produced the greatest modulatory effects on ERPs, which may reflect on enhanced early attentional and later emotional processing.
Grant DP0770844 from the Australian Research Council supported this work.
Poster 131
AN ERP STUDY ON THE COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN TARGET LOCATION, STIMULATED EYE, AND RESPONSE HAND
Andrea Schankin1, Fernando Valle-Inclan2, & Steven A. Hackley3 1Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, 2University of La Coruna, 3University of Missouri
Descriptors: simon effect, stimulus-response compatibility, binocular rivalry
When stimulus locations spatially correspond to the required response, reaction times are faster than in the case of incompatibility, a finding known as the 'Simon effect.' Recently, two distinct mechanisms have been suggested that underlie this phenomenon, a 'visuomotor' and a 'cognitive' mechanism. When stimuli are presented to the left or right offixation and the participant's hands are arranged in a natural, lateralized posture, a transient and automatic response activation is triggered by target location, the visuomotor mechanism. With unusual postures and stimulus configurations, the effect is thought to be generated by spatial representations at a more abstract level, the cognitive mechanism. Can these two mechanisms interact or do they occur independently of each other? Using the recently discovered monocular Simon effect, that relies on a cognitive mechanism, and combining it with the classical Simon paradigm (visuomotor mechanism), we attempted to study these two mechanisms simultaneously. Eighteen subjects performed the experiment while reaction times (RTs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured. The underlying mechanisms were characterized, and thus distinguished from each other, by the distribution of the RTs, and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). For mean reaction time, a finding of perfect additivity was obtained. These behavioral data coupled with surface electrophysiological measures support the view that the
cognitive and visuomotor mechanisms contribute independently to the Simon effect.
This project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) to A.S. (SCHA 1483/1-1).
imagined, simple and complex situations along with the similarities also one can consider perspectives of objective instrumental brain state control and regulation for purposes of professional pedagogics and psychotraining.
Supported with grant RHF06-06-00348a and grant NSh1131.2008.
Poster 132
IMAGE FAMILIARITY INFLUENCES SEX DIFFERENCES IN MENTAL ROTATION
Frances H. Martin, & Sarah A. Coleman University of Tasmania
Descriptors: mental rotation, sex differences, image familiarity
Males generally achieve higher levels of performance than females on mental rotation tasks, though the factors that contribute to this sex difference remain poorly understood. Using behavioural and ERP measures, we investigated the effects of image familiarity on mental rotation by training participants to reach a defined level of familiarity with initially unknown polygons. Nineteen males and 20 females completed three almost equivalent conditions, which differed only in image familiarity (trained, initially unfamiliar but repeated during the task, unfamiliar and never repeated). Males and females demonstrated similar overall performance levels, although there was a trend for males' accuracy to be significantly higher than females' in the condition containing unrepeated images. ERP results revealed that P2 was larger for females than for males. Additionally, females showed differentiation in amplitude between mirrored and normal images presented upright and at 45° rotation, while males did not demonstrate any parity differentiation in this component, which indicates that early stimulus processing, including feature detection processes, differed between males and females. Mean amplitude (300-600ms) was bilateral for males and right-lateralised for females. Interpreted within a resource allocation framework, it was proposed that females allocated a high proportion of visuospatial resources to character classification and the formation of an elaborate mental image while males did not demonstrate this same visuospatial resource recruitment strategy.
Poster 134
DIRECT GAZE ENHANCES ERP RESPONSES TO FACES, BUT ONLY TO LIVE FACES
Jari K. Hietanen, & Laura Ponkanen University of Tampere
Descriptors: face, gaze, ERP
Faces are biologically and socially significant stimuli. The significance of a face to an observer is likely to be influenced by the gaze direction. Being a target to another person's direct gaze (attention) could be expected, in turn, to lead to enhanced visual processing of that person's face. In the present ERP study, we examined, whether the visual processing of faces is influenced by the static gaze direction of the face. We also examined whether the possible modulation depends on whether the face stimuli are presented as pictures on a computer screen or live through an electronic shutter. The gaze direction had three values: direct, averted, and eyes closed. The participants were passively observing the faces. The results showed that, for the live faces, the face sensitive N170 response was largest to direct gaze, followed by closed eyes and averted eyes. The difference between direct and averted gaze was statistically significant. For pictures of faces, the gaze direction had no effect on the N170 amplitude. Comparably, the early posterior negativity (EPN) sensitive to the motivational significance of a stimulus was most negative for the direct gaze, followed by closed eyes and averted eyes. EPN to straight gaze was significantly more negative than EPN to closed and averted gaze. Again, no effect of gaze direction was observed for the face pictures. The results suggest that awareness of the other person's presence and possibility for reciprocal mentalizing triggers neural processes leading to gaze direction dependent modulation of visual processing of that face.
Poster 133 Poster 135
EEG EFFECTS OF IMAGINED LOCAL TEMPERATURE EXPOSURES
Sergey G. Danko1, Larisa V. Gratcheva2, Elena A. Koshevaya2, & Maria L. Solovjeva1 1Institute of the Human Brain, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 2State Academy of Theatre Arts, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Descriptors: EEG, imagination
This study was aimed to reveal EEG effects of imagined exposures of healthy volunteers to local physical (temperature) factors to be compared to effects ofreal similar exposures. EEGs were recorded when volunteers were in a sitting position with eyes closed in states with their hands either really immersed or imagined to be immersed in cold or hot water. EEGs were recorded with 19 electrodes and 10 -20 electrode placement system (earlobes referentials) and processed to evaluate EEG power and coherence in frequency bands delta (1.5- 4Hz); theta (4 - 7Hz), alpha1(7-910Hz), alpha2(10- 13Hz), beta1(13- 18Hz), beta2(18-30Hz), gamma (30-40Hz). First-year students of the dramatic department of the Academy of Theatre Arts (15 men, 13 women) participated as volunteers. The results of statistical comparison between the states demonstrate that both real and imagined, simple and complicated exposures to local temperature influences lead to substantial modification of cortex states revealed in numerous statistically-significant differences of EEG power and coherence. Similarities in patterns of EEG dynamics for various situations under study give grounds to suggest main contributions from activated regulatory (modulatory) brain systems. As there are certain discrepancies in EEG dynamics between real,
IMPACT OF REWARD MAGNITUDE AND PROBABILITY ON THE MEDIAL FRONTAL NEGATIVITY IN A PASSIVE REWARD PREDICTION DESIGN
Geoffrey F. Potts University of South Florida
Descriptors: medial frontal negativity, reward
The medial frontal negativity (MFN) is elicited by feedback indicating performance error or choice outcome that is not optimal and has been linked to reward expectation violation. Reward expectation includes both reward magnitude and probability. The MFN is sensitive to reward magnitude but not probability in active choice tasks. Active choice is not required to elicit the MFN; failure to receive a predicted reward in passive designs also elicits an MFN. We do not know how reward magnitude and probability impact the MFN in passive designs. The current study employed a passive S1/S2 design (stimuli: lemons, cherries, plums, bars) where S1 predicted that S2 would be the same as S1 with either low (20%: lemons, plums) or high (80%: cherries, bars) probability and if S1 and S2 were the same either a small (5 cent: lemons, cherries) or a large (25 cent: plums, bars) reward was delivered. The MFN was larger when no reward was delivered (p< .001) and a magnitude interaction trend (p 5 .07) indicated the MFN difference between getting and not getting a reward was greater when the reward was large. There were no effects of probability. Since there was no participant choice, the MFN appears to index general-purpose reward expectation violation rather than just behavior or action outcome monitoring, including assessing environmental events that fail to deliver expected rewards.
Like the MFN in active tasks, the passively elicited MFN is only sensitive to the presence or absence of reward, modulated by its magnitude, and is unaffected by the probability of receiving a reward.
Poster 136
ELECTRO-CORTICAL IMPLICIT RACE BIAS: IT IS FAST AND INDEPENDENT OF PARTICIPANTS' RACE OR SEX
Ottmar V. Lipp1, Frances H. Martin2, Deborah J. Terry1, Joanne R. Smith3, & Kimberley M. Mallan1 1University of Queensland, 2University of Tasmania, 3University of Exeter
Descriptors: race bias, ERP
Fifty-six Chinese and Caucasian males and females (ChF 5 16; CaF 5 14; ChM 5 13; CaM 5 13) completed four oddball tasks that required gender judgements for pictures of male and female Chinese and Caucasian posers. In each task, participants were presented with 80 sets of 5 pictures. The nature of the background (across task) and of the deviant stimuli (within task) was fully counterbalanced. ERPs to deviant stimuli recorded from 9 scalp sites were quantified for three components, N100 (50-130 ms), P200 (150-250 ms), and LPC (350-700 ms). Mean voltage for the N100 component was not affected by poser sex or race. Effects of poser race, but not of poser sex, were apparent in the P2 component with larger mean amplitudes to deviants that differed in race from the backgrounds. Deviants that differed from the background stimuli in sex or race elicited enhanced average voltage in the LPC. These differences were not modulated by participant race or sex. This pattern of results was confirmed in a targeted analysis that included only deviants presented among backgrounds which matched the participant's race and sex. The current results are consistent with previous reports of effects of poser race on ERPs. They extend previous findings by indicating that differences due to the implicit feature race can be observed prior to differences due to the task related feature, sex, and that implicit race effects are found regardless of participant's or poser's race.
Grant DP0770844 from the Australian Research Council supported this work.
Poster 137
PSYCHOPATHS' FACIAL REACTIONS TO EMOTIONAL CUES
Hedwig Eisenbarth1, Cornelia Heunisch2, Antje B.M. Gerdes2, & Georg W. Alpers2
1University of Regensburg, Department of Forensic Psychiatry, 2University of Wuerzburg, Department of Psychology
Descriptors: psychopathy, emotion, facial emg
Detecting emotional states of other people in their facial expressions and getting the emotional impact of situations is an important capability in daily life. These components of emotion perception seem to be impaired in high psychopathic persons. A paradigm combining emotion detection capabilities and emotional reactions was administered in a high and a low psychopathic sample of students (PPI-R). Participants had to react to positive or negative facial expressions and scenes with their facial muscles, either in a congruent or an incongruent condition. In healthy participants it has been shown, that the initialization of congruent reactions is faster than the initialization of incongruent reactions. The assumed group differences concerning the latency of the facial reactions did not appear. Nevertheless the expected differences for congruent and incongruent conditions were present in both groups. Additionally it has been shown that reaction latencies were smaller for facial expression stimuli compared to pictures of scenes. Results are discussed considering the research on emotional processing in psychopathy.
EFFECTS OF OUTCOME EVALUATION IN A DECEPTION TASK: AN ERP STUDY
Yuejia Luo1, & Shiyue Sun2 1Beijing Normal University, 2Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Descriptors: feedback negativity, outcome evaluation, contemporary theories of dichotomy
The purpose was to explore what aspects ofoutcome evaluation feedback-related negativity (FN) can be reflected in a complex cognition process, and whether the FN can be affected by magnitude information carried by different intensities of expectation. In this study, we developed a simulated cash-identifying experimental situation where subjects were required to pick out the real Chinese Dollar (RMB) from a set of fake ones. Subjects were told that in front of each real RMB, they could decide to 'declare' (tell the truth) or 'smuggle' (lie), and that telling the truth would lead to a small but certain monetary reward, whereas lying may lead to a larger potential gain if escaped from being caught or a risk of double penalty if being detected. The EEG with 64 scalp channels was recorded in 17 undergraduates. Six conditions were compared: two outcome valences (gain when successfully deceived and loss when failing in deception) crossed by three-level magnitudes (RMB 1, 5, 10). The ERPs of truthful conditions are obviously distinct from that of the two deceptive conditions. The 'loss' outcome in the deception conditions elicited a more negative potential compared with 'gain' feedback. The main effect of outcome valences and magnitudes reached significance and the FN may be generated from the brain regions near anterior cingulate cortex. These results suggested that the FN is sensitive to valance rather than magnitude of feedback information and it can be explained by contemporary theories of outcome evaluation.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30670698), by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, and by the Ministry of Education of China (106025).
Poster 139
FMRI MULTI-SESSION TENSOR-ICA (TICA) ANALYSIS OF EMOTIONAL PROCESSING IN MALES AND FEMALES
Kuniecki Michal, Urbanik Andrzej, Kozub Justyna, Barbara Sobiecka, Podsiadlo Lilianna, & Binder Marek Jagiellonian University
Descriptors: emotion, fmri, ICA
40 volunteers, 21 women and 19 men were examined in the Signa 1.5T MR system (BOLD). Each experimental session consisted of five activation periods, three of which constituted baseline and two experimental condition. In the experimental condition subjects were shown slides selected on the basis of high score on Arousal and Valence scales from standardized IAPS picture set. In the baseline condition custom prepared color checkerboards were presented. There were two experimental runs, in the first run subjects saw only negatively-valenced pictures (negative condition), while in the second run only positive pictures were shown (positive condition). The subject's task was to pay attention to the presented slides. Image data were analyzed using MELODIC (Multivariate Exploratory Linear Optimized Decomposition into Independent Components) Version 3.0, part of FSL 4.0 statistical package. Discussed are only first three most significant components. All reported activations constitute of voxels thresholded so that their probability of being in the 'active' class is two times larger than the probability of being in the 'background' noise class (p>0.66). Extracted components were further investigated for between group differences using GLM a priori defined contrasts. We found that positive and negative emotions activate different networks of structures. Moreover we show peculiar gender differences in emotional processing reflected in differential activations of specific network components.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN P1/N1 ATTENTION MODULATION
Kristina Hiatt Racer, Edward K. Vogel, Thomas J. Dishion, & Donald M. Tucker University of Oregon
Descriptors: p1, externalizing, attention
Attended stimuli evoke larger P1 and N1 responses than unattended stimuli. This P1/N1 attention modulation appears to reflect enhanced sensory processing of attended stimuli, and can be used as an index of selective attention. Because selective attention is believed to be a critical building block ofself-regulation and adaptive behavior, we predicted that the amplitude of P1/N1 modulation would be associated with psychosocial adjustment and psychopathology. In an initial study of individual differences in P1/N1 modulation, 40 undergraduates completed a voluntary (endogenous) visual attention task in which a central arrow cue directed attention to the left or right visual field of a bilateral display. Undergraduates also completed self-report questionnaires assessing temperament and psychopathology. Across participants, we observed larger P1/N1 amplitudes to attended stimuli, consistent with prior studies. Bivariate correlations between P1/N1 attention modulation and broad-band temperament (effortful control, extraversion, negative affect) and psychopathology (internalizing, externalizing) factors revealed a significant positive correlation between P1 attention modulation and externalizing symptoms (r 5 .39, p< .05). Undergraduates who endorsed more externalizing symptoms (e.g., arguing, damaging property) showed a greater change in P1 amplitude between attended and unattended stimuli. Follow-up analyses examined whether this difference was driven by larger than average P1s to attended stimuli or smaller than average P1s to unattended stimuli.
Poster 141
TOWARDS CONSTRUCT VALIDATION OF BRAIN INTEGRATION SCALE SCORES: BRAIN PATTERNS, SKIN CONDUCTANCE HABITUATION AND SELF-DEVELOPMENT IN WORLD-CLASS NORWEGIAN ATHLETES
Frederick T. Travis1, Harald S. Harung2, Anne Marte Pensgaard3, Rannie Boes1, & Susanne Cook-Greuter4 1Maharishi University of Management, 2Oslo University College, 3Norwegian University for Sports Sciences and Olympiatoppen, 4Management Consultants
Descriptors: athletic competition, EEG, coherence
A Brain Integration Scale, including frontal coherence, alpha/beta power ratios, and brain preparatory responses during paired reaction-time tasks, discriminated age-matched non-meditating subjects from those practicing Transcendental Meditation an average of 7.8 or 24.5 years (Travis et al., 2002, Biological Psychology, 61: 293-319), and correlated with higher emotional stability, inner locus of control, and lower anxiety in these subjects. The current study assessed whether highly successful individuals would also have higher Brain Integration Scale scores. Meditation was not a criterion for selection, only high level of performance. Frontal, central, and parietal EEG, electrodermal activity, and psychological measures wererecordedin33 Norwegian athletes who placed in the top ten in Olympic Games or World Championships for at least three seasons. The same measures were recorded in 33 control athletes matched for gender, age, and type of sport, who did not finish at the top. Compared to the control group, experimental subjects had higher Brain Integration Scale scores (p< .0001), faster skin conductance habituation to an 85 dB tone (p< .001), and higher levels of self and moral development (p 5 .021). A similar difference was found between 20 Norwegian top-level managers when compared to average-performing managers. These data suggest that Brain Integration Scale scores could reflect a style of brain functioning that supports successful behavior. Future research could follow
longitudinal changes in Brain Integration Scale scores and success in different areas of life.
We thank Oslo University College for funding for this study.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2008 POSTER SESSION III
Poster 1
A NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL EXAMINATION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN SELF-EFFICACY AND ACTION MONITORING PROCESSES
Jason R. Themanson1, Matthew B. Pontifex2, Charles H. Hillman2, & Edward McAuley2 1Illinois Wesleyan University, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: ERN, self-efficacy, action monitoring
Self-efficacy is a modifiable psychosocial factor related to individuals' beliefs in their capabilities to successfully complete courses of action. The authors hypothesized that self-efficacy may be related to one's ability to monitor actions and improve task performance following error commission. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the relationships between self-efficacy and behavioral and neural indices of action monitoring during the completion of a flanker task performed under task conditions emphasizing either accuracy or speed. Behavioral indices included post-error response accuracy and response time and neural indices included a two-component event-related brain potential consisting of an error-related negativity (ERN) and subsequent error positivity (Pe). We found that higher self-efficacy was associated with greater response accuracy, ERN amplitude, Pe amplitude, and post-error accuracy during task conditions emphasizing accuracy, and greater Pe amplitude during task conditions emphasizing speed. These findings suggest that self-efficacy is beneficially related to neural and behavioral indices of action monitoring and thus, enhancing self-efficacy may be one way in which individuals could improve the functioning of their action monitoring system.
This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (F31 MH076463) and Illinois Wesleyan University to Jason Themanson and the National Institute on Aging (RO1 AG021188) to Charles Hillman.
Poster 2
VISUAL SEARCH FOR FEARFUL STIMULI: A COMBINED ERP AND FMRI STUDY
Ewald Naumann1, Patrick Britz1, Florian Strelzyk1, Rudolf Starck2, & Dirk Hageman3
1University of Trier, 2University of Giessen, 3University of Heidelberg Descriptors: fear detection, ERP, fmri
Results from several visual search studies suggest, that fearful targets (e.g. spider or snakes) are detected faster among neutral stimuli (e.g. flowers and mushrooms) than neutral targets among fearful stimuli. In most studies fearfulness of stimuli is confounded by stimulus category: fearful stimuli were always animals, whereas neutral stimuli were plants. Moreover, a direct comparison of neutral and fearful animal stimuli among neutral stimuli has not been done yet. The present study uses three types of stimuli: fearful animals (snakes), neutral animals (turtles) and neutral pants (flowers). Subjects viewed 3x3 grids with the task to detect a single deviant. Grids were either homogenous matrices of snakes, turtles and flowers or contained one of two possible targets (snakes: turtles or flowers; turtles: snakes or flowers; flowers: snake or turtles). 20 subjects performed the visual search task twice, once in an EEG-Lab and once in a MRI scanner. Reaction time results were identical in both settings. Neither the
analysis of reaction time data, nor the event-related potentials analysis or the fMR! analysis showed any specific result for fearful targets. We conclude that previous results can be explained by the category confound. Within a demanding search task there is no specific processing advantage for fearful distracting stimuli.
Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft HA3055/5-1.
Poster 3
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN EMOTIONAL REGULATION: RELATIONSHIPS WITH HEART RATE VARIABILITY AND GENDER
Elisabeth Ruiz-Padial1, Jose M. Augusto Landa1, Gustavo A. Reyes del Paso1, & Julian F. Thayer2 1Universidad de Jaeen, 2The Ohio State University
Descriptors: heart rate varaibility, emotional regulation
Recent research has shown that resting heart rate variability (HRV) is related to emotional regulation. To date few studies have examined how gender and HRV interact with dispositional measures of emotional regulation and ratings of emotional stimuli. Thirty men and 28 women viewed pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures and rated their valence, arousal, and dominance. They also completed measures of emotional intelligence (TMMS), alexithymia (TAS-20), personality (NEO), and depression (BDI). In addition 2 minutes of resting HR was recorded and high frequency HRV calculated. The men and women were median split on HRV separately. Consistent with prior research women had greater HRV than men [t(51.6) 5 2.5, p 5 0.01]. Moreover, whereas the high HRVmen and women did not differ, low HRV women had greater HRV than low HRV men. Whereas there were no differences on any other variable between high and low HRV women, men with low HRV reported more Neuroticism (p 5 0.05), higher BDI scores (p 5 0.09), more difficult identifying feelings (p 5 0.07), less emotional clarity (p<0.05), and less emotional repair (p<0.05). In addition, low HRV men reported pleasant pictures as less positive and neutral pictures as arousing as pleasant and unpleasant pictures compared to high HRVmen. Taken together these results replicate and extend previous research on individual differences in emotional regulation. They suggest that gender may moderate the effects of HRV on emotional regulation such that men with low HRV may be prone to hypervigilance and a failure to recognize safety signals. Junta de Andalucia (Grupo PAI HUM338).
Poster 4
MAOA G941T POLYMORPHISM AND THE TIME COURSE OF EMOTIONAL RESPONSES FOLLOWING PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT PICTURES
Christine L. Larson University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Descriptors: emotion, genetics, startle
Difficulties in the ability to sustain positive affect and down-regulate negative affect have been linked with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Recent studies have identified specific alleles of the MAOA gene related to affective psychopathology. Here we examined whether genetic variation in MAOA, an enzyme responsible for degradation of monoamines, is associated with the time course of responses to pleasant and unpleasant affective stimuli. 120 students completed an emotion-modulated startle paradigm. Visual stimuli consisted of 126 IAPS pictures, 42 each of positive, negative, and neutral images. Acoustic startle probes were presented at 1.5, 4.5, 7.5, and 9 s post-stimulus onset. Images were presented for 6 s, with the final two probes presented after picture offset. Saliva samples were collected for genotyping. The analysis of the MAOA T941G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) will be presented here. Participants with
the G allele of the MAOA G941T SNP showed a comparative deficit in the ability to sustain positive affective reactions with blink magnitudes being larger following pleasant pictures among this group. A trend was also present for individuals with this allele to show sustained reactivity to the unpleasant pictures, as evidenced by greater startle blink potentiation to the unpleasant images at 9 seconds compared to the two probe timings during picture presentation. These data suggest that this particular allele, which has been previously linked with mood-related psychopathology, is linked with a tendency for maladaptive patterns of affective responding.
Poster 5
INTERACTION BETWEEN HABITUAL AND VOLUNTARY EMOTION REGULATION AND THE CHRONOMETRY OF AFFECTIVE RESPONSES
Marisa Menchola1, Alfred W. Kaszniak1, & Keith W. Burton2 1University of Arizona, 2University of Illinois, Springfield
Descriptors: emotion regulation, affective chronometry
An important target of attempts at emotion regulation are the temporal characteristics of the emotional response. Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression are two strategies believed to act at different points in the unfolding emotional response. This study explored the interaction between habitual and voluntary engagement in reappraisal and suppression, and its effect on the chronometry of the emotional response. 122 participants selected based on their self-reported habitual emotion regulation strategy engaged in reappraisal, suppression, or merely watched emotion- eliciting images. Chronometric analyses of emotion-related psychophysiological measures were performed to explore differences in the time course of these two strategies. Instructions to reappraise resulted in lower unpleasantness and arousal ratings, as well as less corrugator electromyographic activity compared to instructions to suppress; however no differences were observed on startle reflex or skin conductance. Moreover, no differences were observed in the chronometry of any of the physiological measures. Habitual regulation style had no direct effect on any of the dependent variables, and it did not interact with instruction condition. NIMH Dissertation Award 1-R36-MH075389-01 to Marisa Menchola.
Poster 6
ON PROCESSING NOVEL STIMULI: DOES P3A STAND ALONE?
Craig G. McDonald1, Frances H. Gabbay2, Jeremy Rietschel3, & Connie C. Duncan2 1George Mason University, 2Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 3University of Maryland
Descriptors: orienting response, principal components analysis, p3a
In an oddball task, under certain conditions, rare nontarget stimuli can elicit a positive ERP component with a fronto-central scalp distribution. This component, termed P3a, is thought to reflect a brain electrical correlate of the orienting response. Whether P3a is accompanied by other components, and what processes those components reflect, has not been resolved. In the current study (26 women; 32 men), ERPs were elicited in a novelty oddball task and a three-tone oddball task. In each, standards (p 5 0.8) were 1000-Hz tones and targets (p 5 0.1) were 2000-Hz tones. Rare nontarget stimuli (p 5 0.1) were complex environmental sounds in the novelty oddball, and 500-Hz tones in the three-tone oddball. Temporal-spatial principal components analysis was used to determine whether a component other than P3a is elicited by infrequent nontarget stimuli. As expected, statistical analysis of factor scores showed that rare nontargets elicited a prominent P3a (peak latency 5 346 ms) in the novelty task but not in the three-tone task. The analysis also indicated the existence of a second positive component, evident in the grand-mean ERPs as an inflection on the leading edge
of P3a. This component was fronto-centrally distributed, was larger in amplitude to rare nontarget stimuli in the novelty than in the three-tone task, and had a latency of approximately 238 ms. Its relation to antecedent conditions suggests that it represents a distinct neural process comparable to the early P3a component observed previously in passive oddball tasks.
Poster 7
INTERTRIAL EFFECTS OF INHIBITION OF FOCUSED ATTENTION ON ALCOHOL OBJECTS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DIFFERENT ALCOHOL SENSITIVITY
Eunsam Shin, & Bruce D. Bartholow University of Missouri
Descriptors: alcohol sensitivity, attention shift, N2pc
We investigated differential attention allocation to alcohol objects as a function of individual differences in alcohol sensitivity using ERPs. Low sensitivity (LS) is associated with increased risk for alcoholism, relative to high sensitivity (HS). We used the distractor previewing effect (DPE), referring to increased search times for targets containing visual features that recently were associated with the absence of a target. Shin et al. (2008) found that N2pc effects correlated with the DPE, suggesting that the DPE is associated with dynamic attention shift. Forty-two adults (21 HS) completed a category-oddball search task alternating target-absent and target-present displays. Target-absent displays contained images of alcohol-related or unrelated beverages. Target-present displays contained a categorically oddball image, which could be the category presented in the target-absent display (target-previewed, TP) or not (distractor-previewed, DP). Participants responded to the target-present displays to indicate that they identified an oddball. Results showed: (a) for accuracy and RT, HS Ps showed a typical DPE regardless of the previewed category; for LS the DPE was absent when alcohol was previewed but not when nonalcohol was previewed; (b) the N2pc rose earlier in the DP than the TP condition among HS, but rose similarly for the TP and DP trials among LS; (c) the amplitude difference of the N2pc was larger between the DP and the TP among HS than among LS. These results suggest that LS individuals have difficulty inhibiting attention shift from alcohol-related objects.
Poster 8
ERP CORRELATES OF VERB-ACTION AND SENTENCE-SCENE ROLE RELATIONS IN A SENTENCE-PICTURE VERIFICATION
Pia Knoeferle, Thomas P. Urbach, & Marta Kutas University of California, San Diego
Descriptors: language, non-linguistic visual context, event-related brain potentials
Non-linguistic visual context rapidly influences comprehension, as evidenced by eye-tracking (e.g., Tanenhaus et al., 1995) and end-of-sentence response latency (e.g., Carpenter & Just, 1975) data. As these measures reflect a whole host of linguistic & non-linguistic processes, they cannot readily reveal whether different aspects of non-linguistic visual information modulate language processing similarly to each other or to language cues. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), however, can help as they offer qualitatively different componentry that vary on multiple dimensions. We thus recorded ERPs as participants read NP1-VERB-NP2 sentences, word by word, after viewing a scene that matched or mismatched semantic/referential aspects (e.g., verb-action reference) and/or thematic relations (e.g., who-does-what-to-whom) of the sentence; their task was to verify whether or not the sentence matched the prior scene. Verification latencies were slower and N400 (300 - 500 ms) mean amplitudes larger when the verb did not match vs. matched the depicted action. N400 latency and centro-
parietal maximum closely resembles that elicited by words in lexical, sentential and discourse contexts (Kutas et al., 2006). Earlier ERP effects were observed for the scene-role relations mismatches than verb-action mismatches. In sum, our findings show that when visual context is available and relevant, it can inform language processing in a qualitatively similar fashion to language cues, with different scene-sentence mismatches eliciting temporally and qualitatively different ERP patterns.
Postdoctoral fellowship by the German Research Council to P. Knoeferle, and grants NICHD22614 and AG08313 to M. Kutas.
Poster 9
CONTEXTUAL EFFECTS ON VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION
Andres A. Gonzalez-Garrido, Fabiola R. Gomez-Velazquez, Elizabeth Rodriguez-Santillan, & Daniel Zarabozo-Hurtado University of Guadalajara
Descriptors: EEG/ERP, Language, Attention
During passage reading, readers infer context-fitting information on the basis of the presented text and their own knowledge. However, the orthographic nature of context-guided predictions and the effect of exemplar-frequency in their accuracy are unclear. Sixteen healthy, right-handed, university students participated in the experiment. They performed a task in which two successive stimuli were presented for 800 ms (ISI: 800 ms) on a monitor: an easy-to-name drawing and a subsequent word that either matched (A: control condition) or mismatched (B: orthographic violation, C: semantic violation). Regarding the frequency of the naming outputs, pairs of stimuli were divided in two randomly presented blocks corresponding to high (H) or low-frequency (L) exemplars, respectively. Subjects had to judge if the stimulus pair matched or not, while ERPs were simultaneously recorded. Behavioral results during block H showed significantly lower number of incorrect responses in condition C, with longer reaction times (RT) in B. However, B showed significantly lower numbers of correct responses and prolonged RT in block L. Salient ERP components were a right-predominant fronto-parietal negativity over 330 ms -significantly higher for condition C- in block H. In block L, ERPs showed significant differences between conditions for P2, and a diminished N330 followed by a prominent left-predominant slow fronto-parietal waveform. Present results are interpreted in the framework of the efficiency of top-down processes to influence the early steps of word recognition.
Poster 10
A WOMAN FROWNS AND A MAN SMILES—SOMETHING IS
WRONG HERE! ERP EVIDENCE FOR THE COUNTERSTEREOTYPICAL NATURE OF FEMALE ANGER AND MALE HAPPINESS
Ursula Hess1, Kimberley M. Mallan2, Reginald B. Adams3, Robert E. Kleck4, & Ottmar V. Lipp2
1University of Quebec at Montreal, 2University of Queensland, 3The Pennsylvania State University, 4Dartmouth College
Descriptors: emotion, ERP, stereotypes
When asked the question of how likely a given person may be to smile or to frown, most individuals in this culture perceive women as more prone to show happiness and men as more prone to show anger. The present study assessed whether these stereotypic expectations are considered normative in the sense that deviant expressions (i.e., happiness in men and anger in women) would be perceived as perceptually anomalous. Modulation of the LPP, which has been shown to index the processing of anomalous social information, was employed to assess this possibility. Participants were asked to (a) view facial expressions of anger, happiness and sadness along with neutral expressions shown by men and women or (b) read sentences in which a man or woman were described as showing
anger, sadness, happiness or a neutral state. We predicted larger amplitude LPP (550-800ms) when female faces showed anger or were described as showing anger than when female faces showed happiness or were described as showing happiness and the converse for male faces. These predictions were confirmed by significant and marginally significant emotion by actor sex interactions at the central midline for words and at the central and frontal/central left and midline sites for faces such that the LPP was more positive for male happiness and female anger than for male anger and female happiness respectively. This suggests that gender stereotypical expressions are indeed normative and that counter-stereotypical expressions are perceived as anomalous.
National Science Foundation Grant #0544533 to Kleck, Hess, & Adams and Grant DP0770844 from the Australian Research Council to Lipp.
obtained with 3T Siemens Allegra scanner as mothers viewed video clips of their OWN infant, an age-, gender- and race-matched OTHER unknown infant, and a Neutral stimulus. Blood oxygen dependent level (BOLD) signal was obtained as 15-sec blocks of video were presented in a mixed design. A mixed effects model was used to examine PCE effects and compare activation to OWN, OTHER and OWN > OTHER. Results: CTL mothers had greater activation to OWN compared with OTHER in reward processing regions/projections including the striatum, nucleus accumbens, and orbital frontal cortex. PCE mothers did not show significant activity in regions associated with saliency and reward and did not show greater activation to OWN compared with OTHER. Conclusions: Gestational cocaine is linked to impairment in mother-infant attachment. This may be mediated, in part, by cocaine effects on neural pathways encoding the rewarding aspects of infant contact in the postnatal period.
Poster 11
EFFECTS OF MINDFULNESS TRAINING IN THE CLINICAL AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF WORRY
Lu's Carlos Delgado-Pastor1, Mar'a Isabel Viedma del Jesres1, Sonia Rodr'guez Ru'z1, Rafaela R Campagnoli2, & Mar'a Carmen Fernandez1 1University of Granada, 2Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Descriptors: worry, mindfulness, cardiac defense
Mindfulness has been described as a process to bring certain quality of attention to moment-by-moment experience. The origen of Mindfulness is found in Budist meditation. It has been applied to treatment of chronic pain, stress, anxiety, and depression. On the other hand, worry has been associated with reduced heart rate variability, higher resting heart rate, and higher number of health complaints. We present a study aimed at examining the effect of training in Mindfulness on worry reduction. A group of 31 women with high scores in a trait worry questionnaire (PSWQ) participated in the study. Participants were split into two groups: one group received progressive relaxation plus the instruction to delay worry and the other group received training in mindfulness skills. Pre and post treatment measures included subjective indices of health complaints, worry, anxiety, depression, and emotional intelligence . In addition, participants completed a daily worry registration form and a psychophysiological test consisting of a baseline period followed by a cardiac defense trial, several startle trials, a period of Mindfulness or Relaxation (depending on the group), and a final period of worry. Physiological measures included electromiography of orbicuaris oculi, heart rate, skin conductance and respiration. Both intervention programs were successful in reducing worry as indexed by both subjective and psychophysio-logical measures. On top of that, the Mindfulness group showed more adaptive cardiac and respiratory indices as well as higher indices of emotional understanding.
Poster 12
NEURAL RESPONSES TO INFANT CUES ARE REDUCED IN MOTHERS WITH PRENATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE
Karen M. Grewen, Josh Bizzell, Russell D. Davenport, Poorvi Oza, Weili Lin, & Aysenil Belger University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Descriptors: prenatal cocaine, maternal circuitry, maternal attachment
Purpose: Animal studies describe a neural circuitry encoding maternal behavior and show disruption of maternal nurturing with prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE). A few fMRI studies of maternal response to infant-related cues suggest neural circuitry underlying maternal attachment. None have reported responses in mothers with PCE. We investigated the effects of PCE in mothers during early postpartum when maternal-infant bonds are created and solidified. Methods: Subjects were 26 mothers of infants (4-12 weeks old). Six mothers had PCE and 20 were drug-na»ve controls (CTL). fMRI scans of mothers' brain activity were
Poster 13
ENHANCED NEGATIVE FEEDBACK PROCESSING IS RELATED TO DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN HEALTHY ADULTS
Diane L. Santesso, Jeffrey L. Birk, Elena Goetz, Kyle G. Ratner, & Diego A. Pizzagalli Harvard University
Descriptors: feedback related negativity, reward processing, depression
Heightened sensitivity to negative environmental cues has been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of major depressive disorder. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) can be used as an electrophysiological index of feedback processing and appears to be enhanced in currently depressed and remitted depressed patients. The purpose of the present study was to examine the neural activation associated with positive and negative feedback processing in relation to depressive symptoms in healthy adults using a monetary incentive delay task. Healthy adults (N 5 30) had larger FRNs when failing to gain money or when losing money (negative outcomes) compared with winning money or avoiding loss (positive outcomes). LORETA analyses revealed that compared to negative outcomes, positive outcomes were related to greater activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; BA 24). Depressive symptoms were associated with enhanced FRN amplitudes and greater activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24' ,32') when losing money but no significant relations were found between depressive symptoms and the positive outcomes. These results are consistent with studies reporting that excessive sensitivity to negative environmental cues may be associated with enhanced activity in regions of the anterior cingulate and can be observed in non-clinical adults exhibiting depressive symptoms.
Poster 14
THE AFFECTIVE UNPLEASANTNESS OF BREATHLESSNESS IS PROCESSED IN THE ANTERIOR INSULA AND AMYGDALA
Andreas von Leupoldt, Tobias Sommer, Sarah Kegat, Hans Jorg Baumann, Hans Klose, Bernhard Dahme, & Christian Biichel University of Hamburg
Descriptors: respiration, emotion, insula
Breathlessness is an impairing symptom in many cardiopulmonary diseases. Recent research has demonstrated that the subjective perception of dyspnea consists of sensory (intensity) and affective aspects (unpleasantness). However, little is known about the cortical processing of the perception of breathlessness. Therefore, this study examined the cortical areas associated with the processing of the affective unpleasantness of perceived breathlessness by using functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy volunteers. While volunteers laid supine in the scanner, breathlessness was induced by inspiratory resistive loaded breathing with concomitant positive and negative emotional stimulation by viewing emotional picture series (IAPS, 1999). The blood oxygen level dependent
contrast was measured as an index of local neuronal activity. Respiration was continuously monitored. Negative emotional stimulation during loaded breathing was associated with higher unpleasantness of perceived breathlessness when compared to loaded breathing with concomitant positive emotional stimulation. The intensity of perceived breathlessness, resistive load magnitude and respiratory responses were similar between both conditions. Higher unpleasantness of breathlessness was related to activations in the right anterior insula and extended amygdala. The present results support previous theoretical assumptions suggesting that the affective unpleasantness of perceived breathlessness is associated with activations of limbic structures such as the anterior insula and amygdala.
Supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG LE 1843/5-1).
ERN for the arrow than for the AO task because of a larger magnitude of overlapping activations in the arrow task. As predicted, the behavioral response time and error rate indicated that the interference was larger for the AO task than for the arrow task. Contrary to the conflict model, the ERN amplitude was larger for the AO task than for the arrow task and there was no significant difference in the ERN amplitude between the partial and overt errors, although it was larger for the partial errors. Because these results did not support the above mentioned predictions, it is reasonable to conclude that the ERN does not represent a response conflict.
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)18530572 from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science and Waseda University Grant for Special Research Projects (2008A-505) to H. Masaki.
Poster 15
BREATHLESSNESS AND PAIN: THE SAME IN THE BRAIN?
Andreas von Leupoldt, Tobias Sommer, Sarah Kegat, Hans Jorg Baumann, Hans Klose, Bernhard Dahme, & Christian Büchel University of Hamburg
Descriptors: respiration, emotion, pain
Breathlessness and pain are subjectively perceived physiological sensations with a similarly alarming und unpleasant character. The cortical processing of both sensations seems to involve similar structures including prominent activations of the limbic system. However, no imaging study has directly compared the cortical processing of breathlessness and pain. Therefore, this study examined the similarities and differences in the cortical processing of breathlessness and pain by using functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy volunteers. Breath-lessness was induced by inspiratory resistive loaded breathing. Heat pain was induced with a contact thermode placed below the sternum on the skin surface. While volunteers received either conditions of breathlessness or pain, the blood oxygen level dependent contrast was measured as an index of brain activity. Respiration was continuously monitored. Results showed similar activations of the insula, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and medial thalamus during the perception of both breathlessness and pain. Specific activations during induced breathlessness were found in the sensorimotor cortex and in further areas of the anterior cingulate cortex. Activation of the periaqueductal grey was specific during induced pain. The results show that - beside distinct brain activations during perceived breathlessness or pain - the perception of both sensations involves prominent activations of similar limbic system areas. These are presumably underlying the processing of the affective unpleasantness of breathlessness and pain.
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG LE 1843/5-1).
Poster 16
A TEST OF THE RESPONSE-CONFLICT HYPOTHESIS IN THE PRODUCTION OF ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY
Hiroaki Masaki1, Timothy I. Murphy2, James Desjardins2, & Sidney J. Segalowitz2 1Waseda University, 2Brock University
Descriptors: error-related negativity, response conflict account, partial error
We tested the response-conflict accounts of the error-related negativity (ERN) by manipulating the degree of stimulus-response incompatibility and by comparing trials with partial errors (with initial incorrect movements corrected by a proper full response) with overt (uncorrected) errors. We compared two tasks, an arrow and a more complex arrow-orientation (AO) task differing in the level of interference. The response-conflict account (Carter et al., 1998) predicts (1) a larger ERN for the partial error than full error because of the overlapping activations of the two responding limbs in partial error trials, and (2) a larger
Poster 17
MONITORING AND EVALUATIVE CONTROL PROCESSES MEDIATED BY FRONTAL CORTEX CAN BE BROUGHT ONLINE IN CHILDREN THROUGH REPETITION
Doreen Nessler1, Marianne de Chastelaine2, Yael Cycowicz1, Cort Horton2, Brenda Malcolm1, & David Friedman1 1New York State Psychiatric Institute, 2University of California, Irvine
Descriptors: recognition, life span, ERP
Cognitive control processes such as monitoring and evaluation are thought to become increasingly efficient throughout childhood and decline in old age in concert with, respectively, frontal lobe maturation and deterioration. To assess these processes in the context of episodic retrieval, 16 children (9-10 years), young (20-26) and older (61-81) adults performed in four repetitions of an old/ new recognition test for the same repeatedly studied symbols that required additional source (study location) and remember/know judgments. Young adults' old/new and source performance were superior to that of children and older adults, but all groups increased their accuracy with repetition. In line with their performance, the parietal episodic memory (EM) effect, thought to reflect recollection, increased with repetition for children and young adults, but was almost completely absent in older adults. Despite these differences, similar late right frontal EM effects (800-1600ms), assumed to reflect monitoring and evaluation of the retrieved information, were found in all four test blocks in young and older adults. By contrast, children did not show a frontal EM effect in tests 1 and 2, but bilateral pre-frontal EM effects in tests 3 and 4. Hence, although monitoring and evaluative processes are still maturing in children, they can be brought online successfully when children are provided with repetitions ofthe to-be-remembered items. Older adults appear to use monitoring processes similar to young adults, but are less successful in doing so, possibly because of a decline in recollection.
NICHD grant #HD14959.
Poster 18
MATURATION AND STABILITY OF ERP CORRELATES OF SUCCESSFUL ENCODING ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN
Alberto Manzi1, Doreen Nessler1, Marianne de Chastelaine2, Yael Cycowicz1, Cort Horton2, Brenda Malcolm1, & David Friedman1 1New York State Psychiatric Institute, 2University of California, Irvine
Descriptors: encoding, lifespan, ERP
Cognitive processes engaged during memory encoding predict later retrieval outcome and are thought to improve throughout childhood. In this study, age-related differences in event-related potentials (ERPs) underlying successful episodic encoding were recorded in 16 children (age range: 9 -10), 16 young (20 -26) and 16 older (61-81) adults. At encoding, subjects were required to memorize unfamiliar, abstract symbols. Young adults' recognition performance
was superior to that ofchildren and older adults, who did not differ. ERPs during encoding were segregated according to whether symbols were correctly recognized or missed at a later memory test. All age groups showed a robust subsequent-memory, or DM (Differences in later Memory), effect in the form of increased sustained positive activity (~ 800 -1600 ms) for subsequently correctly recognized, compared to subsequently missed, symbols. However, the topographic distribution of this effect changed across the lifespan. In both young and older adults the positive activity indexing successful encoding showed bilateral fronto-central foci. By contrast, the subsequent memory effect in children was circumscribed to right frontal sites. These results suggest that children's neurocognitive encoding processes are still maturing and may be supported by different and non-optimal brain regions, leading to reduced recognition performance. In addition, while older adults might rely on similar encoding processes to the young in this task, their poorer recognition performance might be a result of subsequently impaired retrieval processing.
NICHD grant #HD14959.
some trials, subjects simply viewed the picture, and on others they used a reappraisal strategy to regulate their emotional response to the picture. Each trial consisted of an instructional cue period indicating whether participants should prepare to simply view or to regulate emotional response, followed by presentation of a picture. After presentation of each picture, participants rated the intensity of their emotional reaction to it. Behavioral data indicated that participants successfully down-regulated both negative (t 5 10.959, p<0.001), and positive emotions (t 5 _ 11.801, p<0.001), with ratings indicating more effective modulation of positive emotions than negative (t 5 _ 6.241, p< 0.001). During the anticipatory period, left-lateralized dorsolateral prefrontal activity was observed in preparation for the down-regulation of both positive and negative emotion. During the picture presentation period, comparisons of regulation versus viewing trials indicated bilateral DLPFC activation for both the negative and positive regulation conditions. Findings pertaining to other brain regions, and trait-related differences in emotional regulatory function, will also be presented.
Poster 19 Poster 21
AFFECTIVE INCREASES IN THE LATE POSITIVE POTENTIAL (LPP) ARE EVIDENT DURING CONTINUOUS AND FAST (3 HZ) PICTURE PRESENTATIONS
Siri Scott, Uma Vaidyanathan, Edward Ebernat, & Christopher Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: EEG
Recent research has demonstrated that affective pictures are associated with an increase in the late positive potential (LPP) relative to neutral pictures (cf. Cuthbert et al., 2000). This increase in amplitude has been interpreted as increased attention to pictures with high emotional arousal. While this effect has been most often reported in a standard picture viewing task where stimuli are presented for 6s, Schupp et al. (2000) showed that the LPP is present even when affective pictures are presented for only 1s, suggesting that modulation of attention did not qualitatively change the LPP. Still, substantial questions remain as to how robust the LPP is against stronger attentional manipulations. In the current study, attentional involvement was modulated by utilizing a FastPics task (cf. Junghofer, et al. 2003), in which International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, 1999) pictures are presented continuously at a fast rate (current study: 3 per second, 819 pictures, randomized order). In keeping with faster presentations rates, results suggested that affective pictures showed significantly greater LPP than neutral pictures between 400 and 700 ms after picture presentation. Additional time-frequency analyses decomposed the EEG signals into a slow-wave/LPP (subdelta, near or below 1 Hz), a 3 Hz steady-state, and other, more phasic ERP components. These results support the idea that the LPP may reflect a lower level affective response, in that it is robust against this relatively strong attentional manipulation.
PROBING THE DEPTH OF OPTICAL SIGNALS: A VISUAL ECCENTRICITY STUDY
Edward L. Maclin, Chun-Yu Tse, Monica Fabiani, & Gabriele Gratton University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: EROS, optical, visual
The event-related optical signal (EROS) can theoretically localize optical inhomogeneities in depth. However, only a few studies (e.g., Gratton et al., 2000) have explored its capability to determine the depth of active brain structures. We used stimuli varying in eccentricity to exploit the known retinotopic organization of primary visual cortex and thus evaluate the depth sensitivity of EROS to the brain's responses to visual stimuli. Sixteen subjects viewed bilaterally-symmetric wedge-shaped sections of a dartboard pattern centered on the horizontal meridian at 1.3-2, 2-2.8, 2.8-4 & 4-6; from fixation. These wedge-shaped sections appeared from a mean luminance background for 200 ms. A contrast-detection task was used to maximize the subjects' attention to the stimuli. On 25% of the trials the left and right stimuli had equal high contrast (~ 100%), 25% had equal low contrast (~80%), and 50% had high contrast on one side and low on the other. The subjects' task was to press a button with one hand when the contrasts were equal and with the other hand when they were different. Optical data were collected at ~39 Hz using a frequency domain oxymeter. The recording montage comprised 7 detectors and 32 sources (690 and 830 nm) at 16 locations. The montage was designed to provide uniform depth sampling of the posterior 2 cm of the calcarine fissure bilaterally. The fast optical response showed a direct relationship between optimal source-detector distance and stimulus eccentricity, confirming that EROS can provide information about the depth of active brain regions.
Poster 20
REGULATING EMOTION: BASIC AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Elisabeth L. Kallenberger, Dongju Seo, Cheryl A. Olman, & Christopher J. Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: emotion regulation, fmri, cognitive control
The current study examined differences in brain regions activated during instructed suppression of both positive and negative emotional states using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 22 healthy, right-handed females were presented with a series of neutral and emotional IAPS picture stimuli. On
Poster 22
TRAINING ON A COMPLEX TASK AFFECTS DUAL TASK EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS
Kathy A. Low, Walter R. Boot, Tanya Stanley, Kyle E. Mathewson, Monica Fabiani, Arthur F. Kramer, & Gabriele Gratton University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: training, ERP, oddball
Complex tasks may pose a high demand on cognitive resources, which typically diminishes with training. Research has shown, however, that certain types of training are better than others at achieving higher performance or faster learning. For example, variable-priority (VP) training, in which subjects are told during practice to prioritize different sub-components of the complex task, leads to
enhanced performance and better retention compared to full-priority (FP) training, in which subjects are told to weight all task components equally. In the present study, we tested whether VP training would also lead to greater sparing of resources, which could then be dedicated to a secondary task. Prior to receiving 20 hours of practice on a complex video game (Space Fortress), all subjects watched the same instructional video and were given 90 minutes of practice on the game. At this pre-training point, subjects participated in an event-related potential (ERP) session where they performed an oddball task (silent count of rare tones) while playing the game. Subjects were then divided into 2 groups, one receiving VP and the other FP instructions. After training, subjects returned for a second ERP session, identical to the first. After training, the VP group performed better than FP on the game, but secondary task accuracy was equivalent. Although both groups showed training effects on the ERPs, the differences were more pronounced in the VP training group, perhaps suggesting that VP training encourages better management of limited resources.
affected by gender. Independently of processing demands, the amplitude of N1, P2, N2 and P3 ERP components increased with development only in girls. The developmental decrease of target P3b latency tended to be more expressed in girls than boys, and the latency frontal negative wave N400-700 was shorter in girls from the two age groups. Independently of age, the spontaneous EEG manifested a larger theta activity in girls than boys. It is concluded that developmental changes of basic auditory processing mechanisms strongly depend on gender in children between 7 and 10 years by being faster in girls. This gender-specific development of early ERP components is not modulated by processing demands and cannot be attributed to a faster cognitive maturation of girls. Nor can it be explained with the gender-specific maturation of background neuroelectric networks. Rather, it reflects an accelerated functional activation of auditory processing networks in girls.
Poster 25
Poster 23
COVERT REORGANIZATION OF IMPLICIT TASK REPRESENTATIONS BY SLOW WAVE SLEEP
Juliana Yordanova1, Vasil Kolev1, Ullrich Wagner2, & Rolf Verleger2 1Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2University of Luebeck
Descriptors: memory, slow waves, sleep
There is new evidence that sleep promotes the consolidation of those memories which activate hippocampo-cortical (HC) networks at pre-sleep encoding. The present study aimed to identify the neural reorganization of such memories. In the number reduction task (NRT), the items that can be predicted by the hidden task regularity activate the HC networks. Two different groups, in which the relevant sleep occurred either in the first or in the second half of the night, performed the task under implicit conditions before and after sleep. The amount and spatial distributions of slow electroencephalographic waves (SWs) were analyzed for these two periods along with performance parameters. Sleep-related changes of SW distribution only occurred in the early-night group, not in the late-night group, and only for predictable items. These changes correlated with the amount of slow-wave sleep (SWS). They were associated with facilitated processing within occipito-parietal and left anterior cortical regions. Also, they were covert because the sleep-related changes of response times did not differ between predictable and unpredictable items. It is concluded that SWS but not REM sleep promotes the neural reorganization of implicit task representations. Neurophysiological evidence is provided for the role of SWS in the consolidation of memories encoded with hippocampo-cortical interaction.
THE TIME COURSE OF FEATURE-BASED ATTENTION: DISTINCT CORRELATES OF SELECTION AND PERCEPTUAL INTEGRATION
Andreas Keil1, & Matthias M. Mueller2 'University of Florida, 2University of Leipzig
Descriptors: selection negativity, gamma-band, feature-based attention
This study examined latency and amplitude of brain processes associated with feature-based visual selective attention, using frequency-domain and timedomain measures derived from dense-array electroencephalography. Manipulating the number of object features necessary to uniquely identify the target stimulus, we aimed to disentangle feature selection and the amount of attention paid to a given stimulus. Enhancement of induced gamma band activity (iGBA) as a function of attention selection was observed when stimuli contained at least two out of three attended features. With the overall amount of attention to the object reduced (i.e. only one or none out of three target features present), iGBA showed an inverse effect, being smaller when target features were present. By contrast, the selection negativity, an event-related potential measure of feature selection, showed a parametric reduction of amplitude as a function of the number of attended features, but did not show opposite effects as a function of attention. Selection of features as indexed by the selection negativity had longer latency for two features, as compared to selection of one single feature, as indicated by jackknife-base latency analyses. These analyses also indicated that the iGBA attention difference reached a criterion value around 60 ms later than the selection negativity. These findings indicate that feature selection and attentive object integration into a percept may rely on different neural mechanisms, having distinct time courses.
Poster 24
GENDER EFFECTS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUDITORY INFORMATION PROCESSING IN CHILDREN
Plamenka Nanova1, Laura Lyamova1, Maria Hadjigeorgieva2, Vasil Kolev1, & Juliana Yordanova1 1Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2University of Glasgow
Descriptors: gender, ERP, children
The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of gender on sensory and cognitive information processing in children. Thirty six healthy children (18 girls and 18 boys) were divided in two age groups (7-8 and 9-10 years-old), pairwise matched for age. Cognitive performance, response speed and the spontaneous EEG were measured. Auditory ERPs were analyzed in a passive listening condition, a simple reaction task and a serial learning reaction task. Cognitive performance improved earlier in girls than boys, whereas response speed was not
Poster 26
MULTIMODAL IMAGING OF COHERENT SOURCES DURING AFFECTIVE PICTURE VIEWING
Andreas Keil1, Dean Sabatinelli1, J. Carson Smith2, Bethany Wangelin1, Margaret M. Bradley1, & Peter J. Lang1 1University of Florida, 2University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Descriptors: affective pictures, steady-state potentials
One of the main topics in research on affective picture perception is how multiple areas interact to facilitate the recognition of emotional content and mediate the mobilization of resources for appropriate action. The present study combined functional magnet resonance imaging (fMRI) with oscillatory steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEP) recorded in a simulated scanner environment to examine the functional neuroanatomy and spatio-temporal brain dynamics during picture viewing. Twelve healthy university students viewed 60 colored pictures from the International Affective Picture System in two sessions (fMRI
and simulator) conducted in counterbalanced order. Structural scans were used to create invidual MR-based source models for spatio-temporal analysis of oscillatory activity (i.e, the ssVEP). Coherency analyses were then conducted in combination with independent spatial filters (beamformers) to identifiy coupled regions in the brain. Results support the coherent activity of anterior temporal and prefrontal cortical, as well as anterior cingulated areas, during perception of arousing, compared to neutral pictures. In addition, viewing pleasant pictures was associated with greater cortical coupling among anterior regions (ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus), and motor and pre-motor regions, which is in line with pleasure-related response facilitation in oculomotor and behavioral tasks.
was divided into two separate laboratory sessions, with participants completing several measures of working memory-capacity in one session and watching a series of upsetting pictures and completing a Stroop task while their EEG was recorded in another session. In support of our primary hypothesis, we indeed found small differences in ERN amplitude following the picture viewing task, with low working memory-capacity participants showing reduced ERN amplitude compared to high working memory-capacity participants. These results suggest that domain-independent working memory-capacity is related to self-regulatory resource depletion.
Poster 27
REPETITION AND MEMORY: RECOGNITION PERFORMANCE AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
Margaret M. Bradley1, Vera Ferrari1, Marie Karlsson1, Maurizio Codispoti2, & Peter J. Lang1 1University of Florida, 2University of Bologna
Descriptors: memory, repetition, ERP
Repeated exposure facilitates memory performance. The type of repetition is also known to affect memory performance: distributed repetition facilitates memory more than massed repetition. In the current study, we assessed memory performance and ERPs as they varied with the number (1 or 4) and type (massed, distributed) of repetition at encoding. To the extent that a centro-parietal old-new difference in ERPs indexes memory, we expected it would be enhanced for stimuli presented multiple times at encoding and for distributed, compared to massed presentation. Stimuli were 108 pictures: 36 were presented once during the encoding phase; 3 6 were presented 4 times in a row (massed) and 36 were presented 4 times across the encodingphase. In a later incidental memory phase, these 108 old pictures were combined with 108 new pictures and ERPs were measured while participants made old-new decisions. Both the number and type of repetition affected memory performance, with higher hit rates for pictures presented with distributed, compared to massed, repetitions; moreover, both were significantly better than pictures presented for a single exposure. Importantly, ERPs showed a very similar pattern: a late positive centro-parietal component (400 - 600 ms) was enhanced for repeated pictures, compared to those presented with a single exposure, and distributed pictures tended to show an enhanced ERP, compared to massed. Taken together, the data confirm that a late ERP positivity reflects memory, with its magnitude similarly affected by number and type of repetition as performance.
Poster 29
NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING COGNITION-AFFECT INTERACTION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING
Carien M. van Reekum, Tom Johnstone, Stacey M. Schaefer, Catherine J. Norris, Regina C. Lapate, David Bachhuber, Nicole M. Rute, & Richard J. Davidson University of Wisconsin-Madison
Descriptors: emotion, fmri, regulation
The process of emotion regulation can be effortful and explicit, but may also occur implicitly in response to affective information. We postulate that consequences of implicit emotion regulation are reflected in the capacity to disengage from emotionally relevant stimuli to refocus the attention on forthcoming information, and that individuals differ in their ability to disengage from emotion-relevant information. We presented affective images to 25 participants of a large age range (38-76 years) while functional brain images were acquired. To probe the recovery from affective information, these pictures were followed by neutral faces presented either 1 or 3 seconds after picture offset. Measures of self-reported psychological well-being (PWB) were also collected. Main effects of valence were found in left medial and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), left caudate, left amygdala/SI, and in posterior/visual brain areas. The neutral faces presented after picture offset led to an increased BOLD response in posterior regions, but to a decreased BOLD response in the PFC clusters, with a particularly strong effect in VLPFC. These results suggest that the face probes elicited a disengagement of affective processing in PFC. Individuals with greater PWB showed a greater reduction of BOLD responses in left VLPFC to negative stimuli when followed 3 s later by neutral faces. This result suggests that an ability to disengage from processing negative information when presented with new information is predictive of longer-term psychological well-being.
Funded by NIA.
Poster 28
INIDIVDIUAL DIFFERENCES IN WORKING MEMORY-CAPACITY PREDICT SELF-CONTROL FAILURE
Nicholas G. Schwab, McLeland Ryan, Jost Dave, Johns J. Michael, & Jackson
C. Daren University of Wyoming
Descriptors: self-regulation, working memory, emotion regulation
A growing body of research suggests that self-control is a limited resource with prolonged or particularly taxing behavioral and/or emotional self-regulation resulting in a subsequent reduction in self-control ability. In the current study we explored the relationship between self-regulation and working memory-capacity, testing the hypothesis that individual differences in working memory-capacity would influence neural systems involved in error detection following a self-regulatory task. Specifically we hypothesized that following a self-regulatory task; participants with lower working memory-capacity would have a reduced ERN relative to participants with higher working memory-capacity. The study
Poster 30
WHENCE THE EYE BLINKETH? CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MULTIPLE MEASURES OF STARTLE EYEBLINK
Christopher T. Lovelace, Wade R. Elmore, Elizabeth R. Duval, Reza Derakhshani, & Diane L. Filion University of Missouri, Kansas City
Descriptors: startle, eyeblink, measurement
The human startle reflex is most often measured using electromyogram (EMG) from the muscle just below the eye. However, alternative startle eyeblink measures are being developed, such as those based on light reflected from the surface of the eye. While such measures are often described as indices of 'eyeblink', it is rare for these to be compared to an index of physical eyelid movement. To validate subocular EMG and optical reflectance as measures of eyeblink, we recorded startle responses during a study of acoustic prepulse inhibition using EMG, reflected light, and high-speed video (250 frames per second) from 10 participants. We found a close correspondence between the three measures. The EMG response typically preceded physical lid movement, and the
optical response was often delayed relative to the onset ofphysical lid movement. In addition, a number of blinks were bimodal in that they consisted of a fast lid closure followed by a partial opening and a second lid closure. This may correspond to the two components of the acoustic startle response noted by Meincke, Light, Geyer, and Braff (2005, Neuropsychobiology, 52, 24-27). We discuss these results in light of interpretation of EMG and optical reflectance as measures of startle eyeblink.
Funded by National Science Foundation grant # IIP-0641331.
Poster 31
DYSPHORIC INDIVIDUALS' CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSE TO PERFORMANCE-RELATED REWARD AND PUNISHMENT
Kerstin Brinkmann, Laurent Schupbach, Isabelle Ancel Joye, & Guido H.E. Gendolla University of Geneva
Descriptors: depression, effort mobilization, reward and punishment
The present research is based on evidence from physiological and self-report data showing that depressed individuals differ from nondepressed individuals in their responsiveness to reward and punishment. We designed two studies investigating dysphoric and nondysphoric participants' cardiovascular response to mental tasks with neutral, reward, and punishment consequences. Both studies assessed undergraduate students' self-reported level of depression as well as their cardiovascular reactivity to a mental task with unclear difficulty. Study 1 revealed that nondysphoric participants who expected a monetary reward for successful performance showed higher reactivity of systolic blood pressure and pre-ejection period compared to nondysphoric participants in the neutral condition. In contrast, dysphoric participants' reactivity was low in the neutral as well as in the reward condition. Moreover, Study 2 revealed that lower depression scores were associated with higher systolic blood pressure reactivity in the case of monetary punishment, whereas higher depression scores were associated with lower reactivity. In the neutral condition, no differences with respect to self-reported depression emerged. The results support the notion that dysphoric individuals are less sensitive to reward and punishment and mobilize less effort in terms of cardiovascular reactivity to obtain an incentive or avoid an aversive consequence.
Poster 32
CARDIAC REACTIVITY IN ACTIVE COPING: THE MODERATING ROLE OF TASK CONTEXT
Michael Richter, & Guido H.E. Gendolla University of Geneva
Descriptors: active coping, reward, task context
There is now ample support for Wright's (1996) integration of motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989) with Obrist's active coping approach (Obrist, 1981). Research has shown that cardiovascular reactivity is jointly determined by task difficulty and success importance when task difficulty is fixed. Furthermore, there is evidence that cardiovascular reactivity is directly determined by success importance when the difficulty of a task is unknown (unclear task difficulty). All these experiments manipulated task characteristics and task instructions to create different difficulty conditions. The present experiment aimed to test if the influence of objective task characteristics can be counteracted by the task context. For that, participants (N 5 53) performed an easy memory task in a 2 (task context: importance focus vs. difficulty focus) x 2 (reward value: low vs. high) between-persons design. Before performing the task, participants responded either to questions about success importance (importance focus) or to questions about task difficulty (difficulty focus). Participants could win either CHF 2 or CHF 12 for successful performance. As predicted,
preejection period reactivity was higher in the high reward condition than in the low reward condition in the importance focus condition but not in the difficulty focus condition. Reactivity of cardiac output and total peripheral resistance showed the same pattern. In sum, these data show for the first time that success importance can directly determine cardiac reactivity even under conditions of fixed task difficulty.
Poster 33
FUNCTIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRAIN AND SOMATIC ACTIVITIES ACCOMPANYING REVERSAL LEARNING
Hideki Ohira1, Michio Nomura2, Masahiro Matsunaga1, Tokiko Isowa3, Kenta Kimura1, Noriaki Kanayama1, Hiroki Murakami1, & Takahiro Osumi1 1Nagoya University, 2Hiroshima University, 3Mie University
Descriptors: decision making, PET
The aim of this study was to elucidate the neural basis of associations between brain and body in decision making. We conducted a combined neuroimaging study by recording regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) using 15O-Positron Emission Tomography, EEG, and cardiovascular parameters (heart rate and blood pressure) while subjects conducted a stochastic learning task with reversal of stimuli-reward/punishment contingency. We observed involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and dorsal striatum, which have been thought of as important portions of the 'neural reward system', though the task. Activation in such brain regions was especially enhanced just after reversal of the stimuli-reward/punishment contingency. In the EEG data, the P3 component of the event-related potential triggered to signals of reward responded differently to signals of reward and non-reward depending on reward probability of each stimulus. Correlation mapping analyses indicated that amplitudes of the P3 significantly correlated with rCBF in the MPFC, OFC, and striatum suggesting that P3 can reflect results of computation about prediction of reward and decision making in such brain areas. Furthermore, subjects' decision making after reversal of stimuli-reward contingency was associated with activation in the orbitofrontal cortex, amplitudes of P3, and cardiovascular activity. Thus, we consider that the top-down regulation by the orbitofrontal cortex and somatic signals which might be represented there are key factors for appropriate decision in variable environments.
Poster 34
THE TEMPORAL GRADIENT OF STARTLE POTENTIATION IN HUMAN FEAR CONDITIONING
Almut I Weike1, Thomas Schaer1, Arne Ohman2, & Alfons O Hamm1 1University of Greifswald, 2Karolinska Institute
Descriptors: startle, fear conditioning, temporal specificity
Animal research revealed that startle potentiation is maximal at those intervals between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the startle probe that match the interval between the CS and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) during training. Whether defensive activation is similarly specific in human fear learning has been less extensively studied. In a previous experiment we failed to find a temporal gradient ofstartle potentiation during aversive conditioning, presumably due to a ceiling effect. Accordingly, this issue was followed up in the present study. A neutral male face served as CS (6000 ms duration) in a single-cue delay conditioning with an aversive shock UCS. Acoustic startle probes (90 vs. 100 dB; between-subjects) were presented 1750, 3000, 4250, or 5500 ms after CS onset or during the intertrial interval (ITI). The UCS coterminated with the CS in the conditioning group (n 5 25) but was explicitly unpaired to the CS in the control group (n 5 28). The conditioning group exhibited a robust cue-specific startle potentiation during conditioning, while startle blinks in the control group did not differ between CS and ITI. Moreover, a temporal gradient of fear-potentiated
startle was observed in the conditioning group: startle potentiation increased with increasing UCS proximity, which was more pronounced for the less intense startle probes. The present results suggest that conditioned fear in humans is triggered with temporal specificity according to threat proximity, which is in line with the defensive cascade model.
This research was supported by grants of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; P50MH72850-01).
Poster 35
EXCESSIVE AFFECTIVE STARTLE AND AMYGDALA BOLD
RESPONSE SPECIFIC TO UNPLEASANT PICTURE PROCESSING IN BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Erin A. Hazlett, Julie Zelmanova, Jane Zhang, Kim E. Goldstein, M. Mehmet Haznedar, Marianne Goodman, Harold W. Koenigsberg, Larry J. Siever, Antonia S. New, & Monte S. Buchsbaum Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Descriptors: borderline personality disorder, startle, fmri
Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) display extreme emotional reactivity. We previously reported that BPD patients show exaggerated affective startle modulation during unpleasant but not neutral words. This study raised the question ofwhether BPD-related abnormalities are also observed during pleasant stimuli consistent with a generalized emotion processing abnormality or whether the abnormality is specific to unpleasant stimuli. In a new sample of age- and sex-matched unmedicated BPD patients (n 5 29) and healthy controls (n 5 26), we examined startle eyeblink amplitude and event-related amygdala BOLD activation (3T fMRI) in separate sessions during the viewing of an intermixed series of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System which have normative self-report ratings for valence (ranging from pleasant to neutral to unpleasant) and arousal (from calm to excited). Unpleasant and pleasant pictures were matched on high arousal while neutral pictures were low. We traced the amygdala on structural MRIs coregistered to BOLD images. Compared with controls, the BPD group showed significantly larger startle amplitude and amygdala BOLD response curves during unpleasant pictures. There were no group differences in startle or amygdala responses during pleasant or neutral pictures. BPD patients exhibit excessive emotional reactivity as measured by affective startle and amygdala activation which appears to be specific to unpleasant stimuli rather than a more generalized arousal abnormality during all emotional stimuli.
MH073911 to E.A.H. and M01-RR00071 to the Mount Sinai General Clinical Research Center from the National Center for Research Resources, NIH.
Poster 36
A P300 BCI BASED PAINTING APPLICATION
Sebastian Halder1, Adrian Furdea1, Adi Hosle2, & Andrea Kiibler3 1Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tuebingen, 2at Urbana-Champaign, 3School of Human and Life Sciences, Roehampton University, London
Descriptors: BCI, EEG, P300
Current brain-computer interface (BCI) systems are mostly used for communication with late-stage motoneuron disease patients. Most of these systems offer only restricted possibilities to their users to express themselves creatively. Nonetheless, many patients consider artistic activity to be a valuable aspect of their daily lives. We extended our existing P300 BCI, that is being used by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients for communication, to enable the use of a painting application. This was achieved by mapping the individual fields of the control matrix to painting functions. These can be used for e.g. cursor control and placing various shapes on the virtual canvas used for painting. One of
the largest restrictions when using a P300 BCI with this kind of application is the limitation to discrete commands. Therefore, a challenge was to not let this inhibit the ways the users can express themselves. For this reason we chose the following approach. The painting application offers the user the possibility to place round or quadratic shapes. These can be varied in size which can be further adapted by unlimited (but stepwise) zooming. This enables the user to create new shapes at virtually any resolution. Six basis colors can be mixed by adapting the opacity of the shapes in three stages. Additionally, an optional unsharp masking filter can be used to introduce new kinds of transitions between shapes and colors. The painting application has been used by ALS patients and presented by an artist in a non-lab environment during an exhibition.
Poster 37
AROUSAL RESPONSES TO SUBJECTIVE CAMERA IN SPORTS BROADCASTS
R. Glenn Cummins, Justin R. Keene, & Brandon Nutting Texas Tech University
Descriptors: emotion, arousal, sports
Sports broadcasters are utilizing an increasing array of production techniques in televising athletic competition, including the introduction of overhead cameras that provide a subjective point of view. This study hypothesized that plays viewed via subjective cameras would elicit greater emotional arousal, as indexed by frequency of SCRs as well as magnitude of responses. Additional research questions examined the impact of participants' degree of sports fanship and the excitatory potential of game play on emotional response. In a mixed-measures experiment, SCR and EKG data were collected while participants viewed 14 plays from either subjective or objective camera angle. Fanship and viewing order served as between-subjects variables, while camera angle and excitatory potential served as within-subjects variables. A main effect was found for angle, such that the mean frequency of SCRs was greater for plays viewed via subjective camera than objective camera. A similar effect was found for sports fanship, with high fans exhibiting more frequent SCRs than low fans. A significant interaction was found on mean SCR amplitude between angle and fanship. For low fans, SCRs were of greater magnitude while viewing subjective camera. The opposite was true for high sports fans, where objective camera elicited more intense SCRs. Regarding excitatory potential of play, an interaction was found with viewing angle on SCR frequency. For less exciting plays, angle had little effect. However, for more exciting plays, subjective camera elicited greater mean SCRs relative to objective camera.
Poster 38
HERE AND FARAWAY: COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL PROCESSING OF NATIONAL AND FOREIGN SENSATIONAL AND NOT SENSATIONAL TELEVISION NEWS
Anastasia Kononova1, Rachel Bailey1, Paul Bolls1, Narine Yegiyan2, & Ji Yeon Jeong1
1University of Missouri, Columbia, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: sensationalism, geographical distance, television news
The purpose of this research is to study how national and international television news stories with different levels of sensationalism elicit cognitive and emotional responses in viewers. 11 participants watched 12 television news stories about natural disasters and accidents that took place within the United States and abroad. Half of the messages were high in sensationalism and half were low in sensationalism. Heart rate, skin conductance and facial EMG data were recorded during the exposure to the TV messages. There was a main effect of sensationalism on corrugator supercilii activation such that
messages high in sensationalism resulted in higher corrugator activation compared to messages low in sensationalism. There was also a main effect of geographical distance on skin conductance level such that national news stories resulted in more skin conductance amplitude deceleration compared to international news messages. A distance by sensationalism interaction on skin conductance amplitude showed that national low-sensational news stories elicited a lower skin conductance amplitude than international low-sensational news stories. A distance by sensationalism interaction on corrugator responses indicated that in the condition of high sensationalism, international stories resulted in a higher activation of corrugator supercilii compared to national stories. However, in the condition oflow sensationalism, national stories resulted in the higher activation of corrugator supercilii compared to international stories.
Poster 39
THE INFLUENCE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS ON RESPONSES TO TELEVISION PORTRAYALS WITH CHARACTERS WHO DO OR DO NOT HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS
Annie Lang, Pamela G. Nadorff, Sungkyoung Lee, Bernice Pescosolido, & Jack Martin Indiana University
Descriptors: stigma, media
This study investigated how people with different levels of contact with persons with mental illness respond to television and movie portrayals of characters with mental illness. Participants were recruited from a random telephone survey of the county. Survey questions measured the extent to which each respondent had persons with mental illness in their social network group and if their experiences with those persons was positive, negative, or neutral. Three groups of participants were recruited into the lab, those with primarily positive, those with primarily negative, and those with limited or no experience with persons with mental illness. 76 adults came to the lab and viewed 24 scenes from TV/movie dramas while SCL and HR were recorded; the presence/absence of a main character with mental illness, whether the portrayal of the character was positive/negative, and the level of arousing content (low/high) were crossed. There were 3 clips in each group. Participants viewed each clip, rated their emotional responses, and rated the characters on 6 semantic differential scales. Participants with contact (positive or negative) had faster HRs than those with no contact. SCL was highest for those with positive, followed by no, follwed by negative contact. Participants with contact rate characters with mental illness as more trustworthy and more beautiful. Participants with negative contact rate characters with mental illness as less trustworthy and more dangerous than those with positive contact; those with limited contact are in the middle.
This research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH R01 MH-065950).
Poster 40
THE IMPACT OF NARRATIVE AND EMOTION OF BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR TESTIMONIES ON MESSAGE PROCESSING FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALE VIEWERS
Glenn Leshner1, Paul D. Bolls1, Jensen Moore1, Elizabeth Gardner2, Sara Peters1, Anastasia Kononova1, Rachel Bailey1, & Kevin Wise1 1University of Missouri, 2Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Descriptors: emotion, narrative, health communication
This experiment was designed to test the impact of narrative and emotional tone on cognitive processing of video taped breast cancer survivor testimonies. The design was a 2 (narrative: high/low) x 3 (emotional tone: positive/negative/mixed) x 4 (message) x 4 (order) mixed design. Participants were 48, African American women, 40 years of age and older, who had not been diagnosed with breast cancer. Heart rate was collected time-locked to the presentation of the video clips,
which featured African American breast cancer survivors talking about their experiences with the disease. Narrative messages with both pleasant and unpleasant emotion (mixed) showed the greatest cardiac deceleration while unpleasant narratives showed the least. However, non-narrative messages showed the opposite pattern of results, where unpleasant messages showed the greatest cardiac deceleration while non-narrative messages with mixed emotion showed the least. These data initially point to the conclusion that cognitive resource allocation for narrative mediated content depends on the valence of emotion expressed in the message. These data suggest that when breast cancer testimonies are constructed as narratives, unintended cognitive outcomes can occur.
NCI Center for Excellence in Cancer Communication Research pilot grant. Poster 41
YOUR FUNNY AD MAKES ME GIGGLE, MY EARS WIGGLE, AND HELPS ME TO REMEMBER YOU BETTER: AN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF HUMOROUS CONTENT IN TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS ON APPETITIVE ACTIVATION AND ENCODING
Johnny V. Sparks1, & Julia R. Fox2 1The University of Alabama, 2Indiana University, Bloomington
Descriptors: PA reflex, motivation, recognition
This study examined the influence of humorous content on motivated cognitive processing of television advertisements. The study predicted that appetitive activation would be greater during viewing of humorous TV ads when compared to ads that were not humorous. Further, in accordance with the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing (LC4MP), resources allocated to encoding information in television messages should increase with appetitive activation. A single factor (Humorous/Not Humorous) repeated measures ANOVA was used to test predictions. The post-auricular (PA) reflex was used as a physiological indicator of appetitive activation. PA Reflex magnitudes for 53 participants were measured behind both ears during viewing and averaged, according to the methodology of Benning et al. (2004). As predicted, PA reflexes were larger during viewing of humorous TVads (M 5 .06), when compared to not humorous ads (M 5 .04), F(1, 53) 5 4.94, p 5 .03. Also as predicted, recognition sensitivity (d'), used to indicate the thoroughness of information encoding, was better for humorous TVads (M 5 .60) compared with not humorous ads (M 5 .46), F(1, 72) 5 4.80, p 5 .03. [The observed criterions were Not Humorous (M 5 .23) and Humorous (M 5 .30)]. The results of this study indicate that the PA reflex may successfully track increases in appetitive activation associated with humorous content during television viewing. Additionally, the results provide further evidence that resources allocated to encoding increase with activation in the appetitive system.
Poster 42
PREPARATION FOR SPEEDED ACTION ACTIVATES CORTICAL MOTOR AND AUTONOMIC RESPONSE SELECTION AREAS
J. Richard Jennings1, Maurits W. van der Molen2, & V. Andrew Stenger3 1University of Pittsburgh, 2University of Amsterdam, 3University of Hawaii
Descriptors: preparation, heart rate, bold response
Preparation for speeded perceptual-motor action substantially alters physiology in the absence of overt behavior. Our prior work led us to hypothesize that inhibition/selection of a planned action was a primary preparatory task orchestrated by prefrontal/basal ganglia circuitry. We collected concurrent fMRI event-related blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses and heart rate while 10 college-aged participants performed a visual four choice response task preceded either by no cue, a cue to watch for the stimulus only, or a preparatory cue to watch and respond rapidly. Analyses were done both assuming a hemodynamic response function and with a finite impulse response function
analysis of the BOLD signal to ensure that timing of responses were consistent with preparatory activation (SPM5). BOLD responses increased over the 4.5 s preparatory period, significant (FDRo .05) preparatory change was observed in prefrontal and basal ganglia areas as expected as well as inferior and medial frontal, and posterior parietal regions. Covarying a heart rate deceleration score within the cued preparation condition yielded significant relations with parietal, middle frontal gyrus, medial frontal, and cingulate areas. Reaction time was positively related to medial and left inferior frontal BOLD response. These initial results are consistent with preparation for a selected action during the reaction time foreperiod combined with a frontal/parietal attention related network and coordinated autonomic control regions.
Supported by the Pilot Imaging Program, University of Pittsburgh MR Research Center.
Poster 43
VAGAL REBOUND IN RESPONSE TO ORTHOSTATIC CHALLENGE RELATES TO BIG 5 PERSONALITY VARIABLES
Israel C. Christie1, & Bruce H. Friedman2 University of Pittsburgh, 2Virginia Tech
Descriptors: heart rate variability, vagal rebound, personality
Research on recovery following exercise indicates that 1) there is an immediate decrease in heart rate (HR) in the first 30 to 60 seconds post-exercise that is greater in healthy individuals than in those with cardiovascular disease, and 2) the magnitude of HR recovery is a potent predictor of mortality in cardiac patients. Autonomic blockade studies have shown that immediate HR recovery is due to vagal rebound (VRB), which has also been shown in response to psychosocial stressors. The aims of this study were to determine if 1) VRB is present in response to a simple laboratory stressor (i.e., orthostasis), and 2) the magnitude of VRB is associated with personality factors known to be related to physical health. Healthy male and female college students (n 5 52) completed a PBig Five inventory and an orthostatic challenge (3 min each seated, standing, seated). Interbeat intervals derived from electrocardiogram were used to estimate 30 s epochs of high frequency (HF) heart rate variability. VRB was expressed as the difference between the maximum HF during the first 60 s of recovery and the minimum HF during standing. Regression models controlling for gender as well as resting and task HF showed that VRB was positively related to Conscientiousness, though the effect was moderated such that it was limited to when Openness was high or Extraversion low (ps < .01). Hence, VRB is not only present following orthostasis, it appears to be related to personality factors and may be a biological mechanism mediating the consistently reported relationship between Conscientiousness and health.
Poster 44
FRONTAL MECHANISMS IN LANGUAGE PRAGMATICS: EVIDENCE FROM EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
Dusana Dorjee Khenchen1, Merrill F. Garrett2, & John J.B. Allen2 1University of Arizona & University of Bristol, 2University of Arizona
Descriptors: pragmatics, language, ERP
Although studies of patients with frontal lobe damage implicate a link between language pragmatics and executive function (Ferst et al., 2005; Channon & Watts, 2003), evidence from ERPs predominantly reports changes in the amplitude of the N400 component in response to pragmatic manipulations (Coulson & Van Petten, 2002; Noveck & Posada, 2003). Two studies were conducted to explore ERP responses to standardized pragmatic inferences called 'implicitures' with preferred interpretations (for example 'It's raining' usually referring to weather in the speaker's location rather then somewhere else). Implicitures were presented context-free (Experiment 1) and embedded in short
contexts (Experiment 2). ERP responses to impliciture final words were recorded. The N400 was observed to free-standing implicitures, but implicitures in context elicited a negative component in the later 400 ms window with mostly anterior distribution. In addition, a later positive component about 700 ms post stimulus onset with more posterior distribution was observed. These results provide ERP evidence consistent with the tenet that frontal lobes are important for pragmatic processing requiring integration of linguistic context with an utterance for the correct interpretation. Consequences of these findings for accounts of neural architecture underlying language pragmatics are considered.
Poster 45
COMORBID WORRY PREDICTS RELATIVE RIGHT FRONTAL BRAIN ACTIVITY
Jennifer L. Stewart1, Andrew W. Bismark1, James A. Coan2, & John J.B. Allen1 1University of Arizona, 2University of Virginia
Descriptors: brain asymmetry, worry, depression
Models of psychopathology indicate that two types of anxiety, worry and panic, are associated with different patterns of frontal brain lateralization. Although worry has been linked to greater left than right frontal activity, and depression to greater right than left activity, research has not examined how this activity could differ as a function of comorbid worry in major depressive disorder (MDD). The present study examined frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetry and also individual frontal site alpha power, from 8 min resting periods on four days in individuals with current MDD (N 5 15), past MDD (N 5 72), current and past MDD (N5 38), and no DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis (N5 149). Regression analyses indicated that worry (measured by the Penn State Worry Questionnaire) predicted relative right frontal activity in the entire sample, although the relationship was strongest for women with past MDD regardless of their current MDD status (N 5 77). The link between worry and greater relative right activity was specific to frontal regions, and was not accounted for power differences at either left or right hemisphere leads, thus showing the specificity of the effect to frontal brain asymmetry and not overall power differences. Worry predicted frontal asymmetry after measures ofdepressive symptoms were entered in the model, and measures of depression did not contribute significant variance to asymmetry in either direction. Results suggest that comorbidity of depression and types of anxiety are important to examine within the context of frontal brain lateralization.
Poster 46
RESTING CARDIAC VAGAL CONTROL PREDICTS SPEED OF RECOVERY DURING A MENTAL STRESSOR
Jie Pu1, Hallam L Movius2, & John J.B. Allen1 1University of Arizona, 2Consensus Building Institute, Inc.
Descriptors: cardiac vagal control, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, stress recovery
Cardiac vagal control is a physiological index of parasympathetic nervous system influence on the heart. The present study examined whether greater vagal control at rest would predict more flexible cardiac responses during stress. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA), an index of cardiac vagal control, and heart period (HP) were assessed during 5-min baseline and 5-min serial paced mental arithmetic task (stress). Data (N 5 102) collected during each 5-min period were divided into ten 30-sec chunks. RSA and mean HP were derived for each chunk. Across all subjects, both measures dropped significantly at the beginning of the stress state and started recovering to baseline level during the stress state, although individual differences in speed and extent of recovery were substantial. Speed ofrecovery was defined by the regression slope across 10 chunks during the stress task, both for RSA and for HP, with greater positive slopes indexing stronger recovery. Consistent with the hypothesis that better cardiac vagal
control can predict more flexible cardiac reactivity in response to stressor, higher baseline RSA was associated with faster recovery speed for both RSA and HP during stress, after controlling for the initial value (defined by regression intercept) at the beginning of the stress state. Compared to participants with better recovery (residualized regression slope> 0), participants with poorer recovery (residualized regression slope < 0) exhibited lower baseline cardiac vagal control and more restricted changes of both cardiac vagal control and heart period during the stress.
subjects, but reversed lateralization and greater right negativity in children. Analysis of the later N350 showed greater left negativity in the two adult groups during the Phonological task, but a bilateral activation in children. Results indicate that the functional lateralization of linguistic cortical networks involved in automatic word recognition as well as in phonological processing is not yet developed in linguistically competent children aged 10, whereas the observed lateralization is relatively stable and not degraded in moderately aged adults.
Poster 47
THE BRAIN PROCESSES UNDERLYING DECEPTIONS ABOUT PERSONAL TRAITS: AN ERP STUDY
Ray Johnson, Jr.1, Heather Henkell2, Deena Rendel1, Adina Bitton1, Christopher Schroeder1, & John Zhu1 1Queens College/CUNY, 2''Graduate Center, CUNY
Descriptors: deception, executive processes, social neuroscience
To better understand the cognitive and neural basis of deception we have conducted a series of studies in which participants made deceptive responses about items in episodic memory. In an attempt to extend these results to highly self-relevant, evaluative judgments, participants made truthful and instructed-lie responses about whether trait adjectives (e.g., honest) described themselves. A week prior to the recording session, participants rated whether 285 trait adjectives described themselves and provided personal factual information (e.g., names of parents). Individualized stimulus lists were created with equal numbers of traits that did and did not describe the person. 21 participants performed the tasks while ERPs were recorded from 83 sites. In a Truthful condition, participants pressed one button for traits that described themselves and another for items that did not describe themselves. For the Instructed Lie condition, participants pressed opposite of the truth. To prevent reversal of the stimulus-response assignments, catch trials occurred 20% of the time. Compared to truthful responses, deceptive responses were slower and showed increased use ofexecutive processes (i.e., smaller pre-response positivity, larger medial frontal negativity). This additional task demand also resulted in smaller P300s. A comparison with decisions about personal facts revealed that trait evaluations did not depend on episodic retrieval. Thus, we extended our previous results by showing that the same brain processes are used during deceptions about self-referential evaluations.
Poster 49
LACK OF N150 LINGUISTIC LATERALIZATION IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS
Chiara Spironelli, Luciano Stegagno, & Alessandro Angrilli University of Padova
Descriptors: schizophrenia, hemispheric asymmetry, recognition potential
In line with Crow's hypothesis, evidence of altered hemispheric lateralization in schizophrenic patients was highlighted with both structural and functional brain imaging methods. To date, no clear links have been established between loss ofthe hemispheric specialization for linguistic processing and abnormalities in automatic phases of word processing. Ten schizophrenic outpatients treated with low levels of neuroleptics and matched controls were administered three linguistic tasks based on stimulus pair comparisons (Phonological, Semantic and Word-Picture matching tasks). Laterality scores of early evoked potentials were analyzed during two time-windows, corresponding to the N150 and N400-like components. Patients failed to develop the typical left hemispheric N150 evoked by the first word (S1), consistently achieved by healthy controls in posterior sites (p<0.01). The effect was specific and stable for linguistic stimuli: also for the N150 elicited by the target stimulus (S2), patients exhibited a lack of linguistic lateralization. In the control task (Word-Picture matching task) in which S2 was a picture, groups revealed very similar, bilateral Recognition Potentials. Results point to a failure of language lateralization in schizophrenics, a deficit involving those linguistic networks automatically activated in the earliest phase of word recognition (N150). Consistent with the current view of schizophrenia, this finding may be related to lack of integration among specific processes and reduced interconnection of underlying linguistic networks.
Poster 50
Poster 48
EARLY ERP LINGUISTIC LATERALIZATION IN CHILDREN, YOUNG AND MIDDLE-AGED SUBJECTS
Alessandro Angrilli, & Chiara Spironelli University of Padova
Descriptors: recognition potential, development, lateralization
Reading words elicits a very early evoked potential termed Recognition Potential (or N150 as it peaks about 150 ms after word onset), which is clearly located in left posterior regions. This component typically marks the automatic lexical classification of a word, is relatively independent of the task, and is followed by a later negative and more anterior component which is sensitive to the task. It is not clear whether the left lateralization of the neural networks involved in word recognition changes with age and experience, and how this lateralization is related with behavioral performance. To this aim, we did run an experiment on three samples of subjects, 28 children (mean age: 10), 22 young adults (age: 23) and 20 middle-aged subjects (age: 59), who read the same sample of words in three blocked tasks (Orthographic, Phonological and Semantic) while EEG was recorded from 38 scalp locations. Analysis of N150 in four regions of interest revealed the typical significant left posterior negativity in young and aged
RISK ANTICIPATION AND FEEDBACK PROCESSING IN A GAMBLING TASK: AN ERP STUDY
Marta Bianchin, & Alessandro Angrilli University of Padova
Descriptors: decision making, risk anticipation, feedback processing
Risk anticipation is an essential cognitive/emotional regulating factor of human behavior, enabling anticipation of positive outcomes and avoidance of danger. The present study was designed to investigate the electrophysiological basis of the anticipation components of Decision Making, as well as the feedback components elicited by monetary winnings and losses. Sixteen healthy right-handed males participated in the study. Task consisted of a modified version of the Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara et al., 1994), adapted for ERPs analysis and PC presentation. During the gambling task EEG was measured by means of 38 tin electrodes. Anticipatory potentials were found to be more negative (greater activation) in anticipation to risky rather than to safe decks. Results concerning the monetary feedback processing showed greater positivity (P300) following wins than losses. Our results suggest that the observed anticipatory negativity preceding picking from high-loss decks could mark the implicit learning of risky decisions. Instead, positivity evoked by the display of economic wins point to greater elaboration of remunerative picks that, in line with literature on emotions,
suggests the elicitation of high emotional arousal to more pleasant economic signals. In conclusion, anticipatory potentials and event related economic feedback represent two distinct aspects of economic decisions as the first was sensitive to economic risk, the second to economic reward.
Poster 51
BIOFEEDBACK TREATMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE REACTIVITY IN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSIVES
Marta Ghisi, Simona Scozzari, Michela Sarlo, Elisa Bonso, Palatini Paolo, & Daniela Palomba University of Padova
Descriptors: biofeedback, hypertension, blood pressure
Many studies reported inconsistent results on the efficacy of biofeedback (BFB) training in hypertension. A limitation of these studies is the main focus on absolute blood pressure (BP) levels instead of cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), which is a major component of patients responding to daily life's stressful situations, mostly at the initial stages of hypertension. The aim of the present study was to develop a biofeedback protocol for reducing BP reactivity to psychosocial stressors. Twenty-four untreated outpatients with prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension were enrolled in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to a BFB-treatment group or a BP-monitoring group. The BFB-treatment group underwent four weekly sessions, consisting in BFB assisted HR reduction plus interval BP delayed feedback. An exposure condition to imagined stressful scenes was introduced during the last two sessions. The BP-monitoring group was asked to just self monitor their BP at home. Dependent variables were BP levels taken in the clinic and self-measured at home, and CVR to a psychosocial stressor (Speech Test) and change scores between clinic and home BP measurements as reactivity indexes. The BFB protocol proved to be effective in reducing BP levels, both in the clinic and at home. Furthermore, biofeedback was able to reduce systolic BP reactivity to Speech Test, as well as change scores between clinic and home BP measurements.
Poster 52
EMOTIONAL ANTICIPATION IN BLOOD PHOBICS
Giulia Buodo, Michela Sarlo, & Daniela Palomba University of Padova
Descriptors: blood phobia, CNV, emotion
The study of expectancy in anxiety disorders is fundamental for better characterizing the cognitive processes underlying the development and maintenance of such disorders. Research on this issue has been overlooked with regard to blood phobia. The present study was aimed at investigating emotional anticipation of phobia-related stimuli in blood phobics (BP), and how anticipation might modulate the subsequent processing of such stimuli. Twelve BP and 12 healthy controls performed a S1-S2 paradigm, where a word (S1) signaled the content of a subsequent picture (S2). Picture contents included phobia-related (injuries) and -unrelated stimuli (unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral). The Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and heart rate (HR) changes during the S1-S2 interval were computed as measures of affective anticipation. The event-related potentials to S1 and S2 were measured to assess the processing of affective stimuli. Relative to controls, BP showed larger P300 and late positive potential to words and pictures representing injuries and high-arousal pleasant contents. On the other hand, they displayed significantly smaller CNV during anticipation of injury pictures only. Also, BP responded with HR acceleration during anticipation, whereas controls showed sustained HR slowing. These results suggest that whereas the processing of blood-related stimuli is not specifically facilitated, cortical excitability during anticipation of phobogenic material is selectively reduced in BP. CNV reduction in association with HR increase could be interpreted as defensive inhibition.
PERCEPTUAL AND SEMANTIC BLENDING OF IN-GROUP/ OUT-GROUP FACIAL STIMULI AND WORD VALENCE: EARLY (N170) AND LATE (LPP) ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Agustin M. Ibanez1, Ramiro Gonzales1, Esteban Hurtado1, & Andres Haye2 1Universidad Diego Portales, 2P. Universidad Catolica de Chile
Descriptors: N170/LPP, erps, face processing
We reported the ERPs related to the association between facial race perceptual processing and semantic valence, while Chileans indigenous and non-indigenous participants performed an implicit association task with face (indigenous and non-indigenous) and word (bad and good words) Eighteen indigenous Mapuches and 18 non-indigenous participants matched by age and gender. Participants performed an implicit association task on a computer. They had to categorize the race of faces and the content of words (positive or negative) randomly presented. ERPs were recording using an Electrical geodesic G300 amplifier. Multiple repeated measures ANOVA, with Bonferroni correction were used. In agreement with previous reports, the N170/VPP component obtained with averaged groups was modulated by the structural features of stimuli (face and words). We find a significant modulation (higher amplitude) of N170 (but not in VPP) in response to facial out-group stimuli, especially in the positive in-group task. In the right occipital-temporal scalp we find a modulation based on positive words and in-group facial stimuli association in both groups. The LPP was lateralized (higher amplitude) on the frontal right scalp for bad words, and on the left for good words. Both results (N170 and LPP) suggest an early (perceptual) and late (semantic) face-word blending based on the processing of positive words and same race stimuli.
IAT Faculty Founding, Universidad Diego Portales.
Poster 54
FACIAL REACTIVITY TO EMOTIONAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN DEPRESSION AND FIRST-EPISODE PSYCHOSIS
Jonathan W.L. Kettle, & Nicholas B. Allen University of Melbourne
Descriptors: first-episode psychosis, facial mimicry, EMG
Facial expressions are integral in co-ordinating social interactions. Studying this process in depression and first-episode psychosis may reveal important mechanisms that underlie the social and emotional dysfunctions central to these disorders. However, scant research has delineated patterns of facial reactivity to emotional facial expressions with direct or averted gaze in depression and firstepisode psychosis. One hundred and twenty-eight emotional facial expressions (happy, neutral, angry, fearful) with either direct (0 degrees) or averted (30 degrees) gaze were presented in a passive viewing paradigm to individuals sampled from the community with no lifetime history of case level or subclinical disorder (n 5 16), major depression (n 5 14) or first-episode psychosis (n 5 15). Electromyographic activity of zygomatic and corrugator muscles indexed facial reactivity. Non-clinical participants exhibited normative facial mimicry. The depression group exhibited flattened zygomatic reactivity to happy faces, whereas the first-episode psychosis group exhibited enhanced zygomatic reactivity to fearful faces. These results emphasise attenuated facial reactivity to happy faces in depression and an 'odd' facial reactivity to fearful faces in first-episode psychosis, which may reflect impaired decoding of fearful faces, negative affect regulation, counter-empathic responding, or grimacing. Future research within a clinical staging model can investigate facial reactivity in first-episode, relapsing and chronic psychosis with larger sample sizes and more ecologically valid stimuli.
MODULATION OF THE STARTLE RESPONSE IN DEPRESSED WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT ANXIETY
Carissa K. DeMesy, Erin C. Tully, Steve Malone, Micah Hammer, & William G. Iacono University of Minnesota
Descriptors: emg, MDD, startle
Startle response is a defensive, involuntary response to stimuli. Startle amplitude can be influenced when auditory stimuli is paired with visual stimuli. Positive visual stimuli will elicit an attenuated startle while negative stimuli will elicit a potentiated startle. Some evidence indicates that individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) show potentiated startle to negative stimuli, but findings are mixed. This study extended this line of research by investigating the pattern of startle response across valence conditions in women as a function of both MDD and anxiety. The participants in this study were 273 women [no MDD (N 5 178), MDD and no anxiety (N 5 68), MDD and anxiety (N 5 16)]. Participants were shown 27 photographic slides, 9 of each emotional valence category (positive, neutral, and negative). During slide viewing a burst of noise was presented 6 out of the 9 trials for each of the valence conditions. Across MDD and anxiety groups, women did not differ in ratings ofthe valence ofslides. Women with an anxiety disorder diagnosis had similar startle amplitudes regardless of the valence of the startle (i.e., heightened response). Women with MDD and without MDD did not differ in their pattern of startle response to the stimuli. There was a nearly significant interaction between MDD/anxiety groups and valence predicting startle response that supported heightened startle response across valence conditions for women with comorbid anxiety and MDD but not women with just MDD. Potentiated startle seems to be an indicator of anxiety rather than depression.
variability in ASD may reflect previous findings of high and low arousal groups, suggesting careful assessment prior to sensory-based treatment.
Poster 57
AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
Phan Luu1, Catherine Poulsen1, Zhongqing Jiang2, Chelsea Mattson1, & Don M. Tucker1 1Electrical Geodesics, Inc., 2Liaoning Normal University
Descriptors: affect, depression, learning
Depression is associated with poor performance on learning tasks as well as altered neurophysiological responses. In this study, we examined how depression influences the neurophysiological responses associated with a trial-and-error code-learning task. Additionally, we examined positive and negative affect to further understand the nature of this influence. Dense-array (256-channel) electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded as participants acquired, through trial and error, 16 different arbitrary stimulus-response (SR) mappings (e.g., '27' paired with left index finger button press) using a Go-NoGo paradigm. Normal control subjects exhibited characteristic learning-related increases in medial frontal negativity (MFN) and centroparietal P3 measures. As expected, depression was associated with slower learning and smaller learning-related neurophysiological changes, particularly those neuro-physiological responses generated by medial frontal cortices. Also as expected, negative affect was related to the same medial frontal responses. These results provide intriguing clues to the relation between mood and neurophysiological mechanisms of self-regulation.
This research was funded by NIMH grant MH070911.
Poster 56
AROUSAL AND REACTIVITY IN CHILDREN WITH SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER AND AUTISM SPECTURM DISORDER
Sarah A. Schoen1, Lucy J. Miller1, Barbara Brett-Green1, Stacey Reynolds2, & Shelly J. Lane2 1SPD Foundation, 2Virginia Commonwealth University
Descriptors: electrodermal activity, sensory processing disorder, autism spectrum disorder
Sensory symptoms are widely reported in children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Previous research suggests both groups manifest atypical physiological reactions to sensory stimuli; however, their profiles have not been compared. This study compares the electrodermal arousal and reactivity of SPD (n 5 19); ASD (n 5 38); and typically developing children (n 5 65), ages 4-15. The Sensory Challenge Protocol evaluated electrodermal activity to 8 repeated sensory stimuli in five sensory domains. Data was compared at baseline, during each sensory domain, and at recovery. Arousal, measured by skin conductance level at baseline and recovery, revealed similar mean amplitudes amongst SPD, ASD and typical controls. Greatest variability was displayed in the ASD group especially during recovery (SD 5 7.11). Age trends suggest higher arousal in younger children at baseline and recovery for both ASD and typical controls (r 5 .31-.51). Reactivity was measured by comparing orienting responses (OR) across groups in each sensory domain. SPD had significantly higher ORs compared to ASD or typical controls to auditory, visual and movement stimuli (po.05). This information is relevant to clinicians treating children with SPD and ASD and to researchers discriminating the two clinical groups; larger atypical reactivity to sensory stimuli in SPD suggests caution in intervention. Greater arousal
Poster 58
STRONG RESEMBLANCE IN THE AMPLITUDE OF OSCILLATORY BRAIN ACTIVITY IN MONOZYGOTIC TWINS IS NOT CAUSED BY 'TRIVIAL' SIMILARITIES IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE SKULL
Dennis van't Ent1, Inge L.S. van Soelen1, Kees J. Stam2, Eco J.C. de Geus3, & Dorret I. Boomsma3 1Vrije Universiteit, 2VUmc Department of Paediatrics, 3Vrije Uiniversiteit
Descriptors: monozygotic twins, MEG, heritability
Electroencephalographic (EEG) studies in twins unanimously report a much stronger resemblance in the EEG power spectra of genetically identical, monozygotic (MZ), twins compared to those in non-identical, dizygotic (DZ), twins. Because the EEG amplitude is strongly affected by electrical conductivity of tissue layers between the brain and recording electrodes, this twin resemblance may 'trivially' reflect the heritability of these intervening tissues. This sharply contrasts with the dominant interpretation of the high MZ twin resemblance; that it signals strong genetic influence on brain activity. In the present study, we re-evaluated the resemblance in the power spectra in MZ twins using magnetoence-phalogram (MEG) recordings which are virtually free of confounding by intervening tissues. We find high MZ twin correlations for MEG power in the four classical frequency bands (0.79<r<0.88) which are very comparable to previous results obtained for EEG power. These findings falsify the hypothesis that twin resemblance in oscillatory brain activity is caused by 'trivial' similarities in the composition of the skull or supracerebral tissues. Instead, they confirm that individual differences in such brain activity are under strong genetic control.
THE ROLE OF DECEPTION IN THE P300-BASED CONCEALED INFORMATION TEST
Bruno Verschuere1, Joel Peter Rosenfeld2, Mike Winograd2, Elena Labkovsky2, & Roel-Jan Wiersema1 1Ghent University, 2Northwestern University
Descriptors: deception, P300, concealed information
The amplitude of the P300 evoked brain potential has potential as a tool for the detection of concealed information. Researchers have claimed that P300 is apure measure of recognition, and that it is unrelated to deception. Forty-one participants were presented with 60 presentations of their own name, 60 of each offour irrelevant names, and 60 ofa target name. Participants were asked to press the NO button to their own and irrelevant names, and the YES button to target names. To explore the role of deception, participants were informed that a NO response to their own name either meant that it was not the target (control group) or that they did not recognize the name (deceptive group). Reaction times and P300 amplitude were larger to own name compared to irrelevant names in both groups. Hit rates were higher in the deception condition than in the control condition for both reaction times and P300 amplitude. The data show that deception plays a significant role in the P300-based Concealed Information Test.
This research was supported by a grant from the Research Foundation -Flanders awarded to the first author (Grant number K.2.144.07.N.01) and by a grant from the US Department of Defense Polygraph Institute awarded to the second author (Grant Number DODP198-P-0001).
Poster 60
MOOD REGULATION FACILITIES AS INCENTIVE FOR EFFORT MOBILIZATION: CARDIOVASCULAR EFFECTS
Guido H.E. Gendolla, & Nicolas Silvestrini University of Geneva
Descriptors: affect regulation, cardiovascular, facial EMG
Replicated evidence shows that a negative mood results in a motivational deficit regarding effort mobilization in the context of difficult tasks (see Gendolla & Brinkmann, 2005). We investigated whether pleasant consequences of success operate as incentive for resource mobilization and thus eliminate the motivational deficit of people in a negative mood who face a difficult task. Cardiovascular and facial EMG reactivity of 80 University students were assessed during habituation, mood inductions, and an either easy or difficult memory task with either pleasant or unpleasant consequences of success. Thus, data were assessed in a 2 (mood) x 2 (success consequences) x 2 (task difficulty) x 2 (time) mixed model design. As expected the analysis revealed a significant four-way interaction on SBP reactivity: No reactivity was observed during the mood inductions. But during task performance mood interacted with task difficulty to determine cardiovascular reactivity in the shape of a cross-over interaction pattern when performance consequences were unpleasant. Yet when success consequences were pleasant, SBP reactivity increased in the negative-mood/difficult condition indicating the elimination of the motivational deficit. Moreover, Zygomaticus Major reactivity was relatively strong during the positive mood induction and Corrugator Supercilii reactivity was relatively strong during the negative mood induction, indicating a successful mood manipulation. In summary, the findings further support the predictions of the mood-behavior-model (Gendolla, 2000).
Supported by Swiss National Funds grant no. 100011-108144.
MIRROR TRAINING REVERSES PHANTOM LIMB PAIN AND CORTICAL REORGANIZATION
Herta Flor, Martin Diers, & Jens Foell Central Institute for Mental Health
Descriptors: pain, fmri, behavioral
The aim of this study was to investigate the neural activity and changes in phantom limb pain related to illusory visual (mirror) feedback of the movement of a hand in upper extremity amputees compared to controls without amputation. A mirror was placed in front of the intact/dominant hand of 14 upper extremity amputees and 9 controls and movements of the this hand were performed with and without the mirror. In addition, imagined movements with the non-dominant/phantom hand were investigated. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed to study brain correlates of these movements. Movements with and without the mirror activated the contralateral motor areas. In the mirror illusion condition patients without phantom limb pain and healthy controls showed additional activation in the sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the hand seen in the mirror. This activation was not present in patients with phantom limb pain (PLP) and was negatively correlated with the magnitude of phantom limb pain. Extended training over a period of four weeks reactivated this region and reversed phantom limb pain in a subset of patients. These data suggest that mirror training reactivates the deafferented cortex and reorganizes the area representing the amputated hand. Alternatively, the hand viewed in the mirror might reinstate congruence of visual feedback and motor output. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the mechanisms involved in phantom limb pain as well as new treatment approaches.
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the German Ministry of Education and Science (Neuropathic Pain Research Network).
Poster 62
N400 WAVEFORM CORRELATES WITH BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSES IN A CROSS-MODAL PRIMING PARADIGM
Margarita M. Baez-Martin1, Maria L. Bringas-Vega1, John F. Connolly2, Dora M. Chongo-Almerall1, Marilyn Bermudez-Zaldivar1, Abel Sanchez-Coroneaux1, & Ivette Cabrera-Abreu1 1International Center for Neurological Rehabilitation, 2Dalhousie University
Descriptors: event-related potential, language, semantic priming
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between the N400 waveform evoked with a computerized version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test- Revised and the behavioral responses of the subjects during the active paradigm. Twenty-two healthy control subjects (mean age 5 38.6 y.) free of neurological, visual or audiological disorders were included in the experiment. The subjects were instructed to watch pictures and heard a word that matched or not (0.5 probability) the semantic content of the picture. The stimulus represented the first two levels of vocabulary difficulty of the test. Subjects were instructed to press a bottom in response to those spoken words that mismatched the presented picture, and the errors were automatically recorded. The difference waveform (incongruent—congruent condition) amplitude in the temporal window between 350 - 550 ms in Cz and Fz positions had a negative correlation with the number of errors only for the second level of difficulty, besides the N400 waveform was maximal in centroparietal and frontal derivations to the words that semantically mismatched the picture. Furthermore, the number of errors in the conventional Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test correlated with the latency and amplitude of N400 waveform in the second level of difficulty too. These results suggest that the complexity of the decision task demands a greater activation of the frontal area together with the conventional activation of centroparietal areas during semantic priming. The electrophysiological evaluation confirms the neuropsychological results.
BULLYING HISTORY AND CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO THE TRIER SOCIAL STRESS TEST
Matthew L. Newman1, Lisa D. Hamilton2, Carol Delville2, & Yvon Delville2 1Arizona State University, 2University of Texas at Austin
Descriptors: bullying, stress, blood pressure
Prior research has found that victims of bullying are at greater risk of emotional and behavioral problems. Recent survey work from our lab suggests that those bullied in late puberty adopt an 'avoidant' pattern of coping with and responding to stress later in life. Our goal in the present study was to extend this model using cardiac arousal as a measure of emotional reactivity. We predicted that bullying in late puberty would be associated with a diminished cardiac response to a modified Trier Social Stress Test. College students pre-selected based on their bullying history were led to believe that they would give a speech to a group of critical faculty members, but near the end of the session learned that the speech would be canceled. Measures of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) were collected at the beginning (baseline), after they learned of the impending speech (stress), and after the speech was canceled (recovery). Results from the BP measures were consistent with our predictions. Those bullied frequently in late puberty had lower systolic and diastolic BP, and showed a diminished diastolic response to the stressor. Recovery was not related to bullying history. Results from the heart rate measures, however, showed that those bullied frequently in late puberty had an elevated heart rate at baseline that remained elevated. This combination of hyper-arousal and a diminished response is characteristic of learned helplessness, and suggests that frequent bullying in late puberty puts individuals at risk for developing depression.
Supported by NIH: ES 10385 and T32 MH65728-2.
Poster 64
BRAIN FINGERPRINTING DETECTS REAL CRIMES IN THE FIELD DESPITE ONE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND-DOLLAR REWARD FOR BEATING IT
Lawrence A. Farwell Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories, Inc.
Descriptors: brain fingerprinting, MERMER, detection
Farwell et al. reported near-100% accuracy using Brain Fingerprinting to detect concealed information in lab and field/real-life conditions (Farwell & Donchin 1986, 1989, 1991; Farwell, 1992a,b, 2006a,b; Farwell & Smith 2001). Rosenfeld et al. (2004) used fundamentally different stimuli, instructions, statistics, and data acquisition procedures, resulting in as low as chance accuracy and susceptibility to countermeasures. For details of differences see Farwell and Smith (2001). We used Brain Fingerprinting to detect concealed information on real-life crimes. We offered a 100,000 dollar reward for beating it. Subjects were trained in Rosenfeld's countermeasures. Stimuli were 3 types of phrases presented on a computer screen: targets (1/6), irrelevants (2/3), probes (1/6). ERPs were recorded from Fz, Cz, and Pz. Bootstrapping on correlations computed a determination of 'information present/absent' and a statistical confidence for each subject. All 10 subjects showed P300-MERMER brain responses to targets and not to irrelevants, defined as a positive peak at Pz at 300 - 800 ms plus a negative peak at 800- 1200 ms. Only knowledgeable subjects who had committed a crime showed P300-MERMERs to probes. Accuracy was 100%: no false negatives/positives, no indeterminates. Results show Brain Fingerprinting accurately detects concealed information in high-motivation field settings when proper procedures are followed; accuracy depends on following proper procedures for acquisition, instruction, and analysis; countermeasures were totally ineffective against Brain Fingerprinting.
CEREBRAL AND CARDIOVASCULAR HEMODYNAMICS DURING WORKING MEMORY PROCESSING IN ESSENTIAL HYPOTENSION
Michela Sarlo, Massimiliano de Zambotti, Andrea Devigili, Marianna Munaf, & Luciano Stegagno University of Padova
Descriptors: essential hypotension, impedance cardiography, doppler sonogra-phy
Reduced sympathetic outflow and deficits in central hemodynamics have been considered as possible factors mediating the impaired cognitive performance in essential hypotension. However, the relationship between systemic blood pressure (BP), cerebral blood flow and cognitive functioning is still poorly understood. The present study was aimed at clarifying the physiological processes underlying systemic and central hemodynamic changes in chronic hypotensives during a working memory task. Impedance cardiographic and BP measures were recorded from 17 hypotensives and 15 normotensives during three 3-min blocks of the n-back task. Doppler sonography blood flow velocities in both middle cerebral arteries (MCA) were also measured continuously. Significantly lower increases in SBP, DBP and cardiac output were observed in hypotensives during the first half of each block. However, no evidence of lower sympathetic control was found for this group, as assessed by pre-ejection period. MCA flow velocity showed a significantly lower increase in hypotensives throughout the task. Moreover, significant positive correlations between BP changes and MCA blood flow velocities during the task were obtained for this group only, suggesting a less effective cerebral autoregulation. No difference was found between groups in mean reaction times. It can be concluded that during working memory processing hypotensives show impaired hemodynamic adjustments, both central and peripheral. However, such alterations do not seem to directly affect behavioral performance, at least under moderate cognitive load.
This research was supported by a grant from the University of Padova to Luciano Stegagno (Ateneo CPDA052791).
Poster 66
MULTIPLE OBJECTS RECOGNITION: INVESTIGATION OF
THE QUALITY AND FORMS OF MEMORY REPRESENTATIONS IN VISUAL SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Eunsam Shin1, Monica Fabiani2, & Gabriele Gratton3 1University of Missouri, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3Unversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: object recognition, encoding-related lateralization (erl), multiple object representations
In previous work we used the sequential deflections in the encoding-related lateralization (ERL) ERP waveform to show that different types of stimulus representation are formed within a few hundred ms from stimulus onset (Shin et al., 2006). The ERL method, based on the concept of perceptual fluency, uses lateralized stimulus encoding to generate contralaterally-biased representations in the brain. The ERP elicited by centrally-presented matching or mismatching probes is then analyzed to extract lateralized activity corresponding to the encoding side. Here we further investigated the nature of an ERL activity, occurring about 400 ms post-stimulus, which appears to depend on the number of items to be memorized (late ERL). Two possible explanations (local suppression and partial matching) had been proposed to account for these effects. Twenty participants performed a memory search task. The memory set comprised two identical or different letters in each hemifield. The probe was made up of 2 letters, which could overlap completely, partially, or not at all with the left or right memory-set letters. The distance between memory-set items varied but eccentricity of the items was held constant. A complete match was required to generate a large late ERL. Further, the late ERL was largest when the memoryset items were either different and distant or identical and close. These findings
favor a combination of the two hypotheses, as well as the presence of grouping effects, showing that the late ERL reflects the interaction between individual stimulus representations.
Poster 67
STARTLE PROBE P3 AMPLITUDE WHEN VIEWING CIGARETTE CUES
Francesco Versace, Jason D. Robinson, Jennifer A. Minnix, Cho Y. Lam, Brian L. Carter, David W. Wetter, & Paul M. Cinciripini The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Descriptors: ERP, emotion, startle
The sudden onset of a startle probe elicits an event-related potential (ERP) that is modulated by emotional arousal. When participants view motivationally relevant (pleasant or unpleasant) pictures, the amplitude of the P3 component elicited by the startle probe is reduced. Given that in smokers images of cigarette cues activate the appetitive system, we hypothesized that these stimuli would receive prioritized processing, which would reduce the amplitude of the startle P3 component. Using a dense sensor array (129 sensors), we recorded ERPs in 51 smokers during a picture viewing task. Startle probes (50-ms 95-dB bursts of white noise) were delivered between 2 and 4 seconds after picture onset. Six startle probes were delivered for each picture category (i.e. cigarette, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral). For each participant, the mean voltage in a 250-350 ms time window after probe onset was calculated for each picture category at each sensor. Voltage differences between each motivationally relevant category and the neutral one were calculated and the statistical significances were tested using a randomization procedure. Relative to the neutral condition, the amplitude of the startle probe P3 was significantly reduced during pleasant, unpleasant, and cigarette pictures presentation. The largest amplitude reductions were observed over central and parietal areas of the scalp. These findings indicate that cigarette cues, like other motivationally relevant stimuli, are preferentially processed, and this leaves fewer attentional resources available for other cognitive tasks.
Supported by grant # 1R01DA017073-01.
Poster 68
THE RELATIONSHIP OF CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO LABORATORY CHALLENGES AND MEASURES OF IMPULSIVITY
Michael T. Allen, Alison M. Hogan, & Laura K. Laird University of Mississippi
Descriptors: blood pressure, heart rate, impulsivity
Heart rate variability (HRV) has been suggested as not only reflecting autonomic flexibility, but dimensions of behavioral flexibility as well (e.g., Thayer & Siegle, 2002). One relationship has been that of HRV and self-regulatory capacities. We previously evaluated the relationship between HRV and impulsivity in children and adolescents using a limited number of questions that tapped impulsivity (Allen et al., 2000). A negative relationship between resting HRV and impulse control was found in males, but not females. The current study sought to improve on this study by including two commonly used measures of impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and the Ego Undercontrol Scale (UC; Letzring et al., 2005). 101 undergraduates had blood pressure, heart rate (HR) and HRV measured during rest as well as reaction time and speech tasks. Unlike the previous study, resting HRV was not correlated with either impulsivity scale. However, resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) was positively correlated with both the UC and BIS-11 scales in males, but not females. There were also negative correlations of the UC and some scales of the BIS-11 with both SBP and HR change during the speech task in males, but not females. These results indicate that males who are higher in impulsiveness have higher SBP at rest but lower SBP and HR change to a potent laboratory challenge. Thus, we did not find the predicted coupling of HRV and impulse control, but did find evidence of
a sympathetically-mediated relationship of cardiovascular responding and impulsivity in males.
Poster 69
PRESENCE OF SUBJECTIVE FEELING IN AN EMOTIONAL PROCESS COINCIDES WITH A DIFFERENTIAL MODULATION OF THE INTENSITY OF THE FACIAL ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC ACTIVITY AND HEART RATE RECOVERY
Elise S. Dan Glauser1, & Klaus R. Scherer2 1University of Geneva, 2Swiss Center for Affective Sciences
Descriptors: subjective feeling, EMG, heart rate
The conscious experience of emotion (subjective feeling) is a well-recognized element of the emotional process. However, so far, no research has specifically focused on the physiological concomitants of an emotional process resulting in a subjective feeling emergence. In this work, we investigated the specific physiological antecedents of conscious emotion episodes reported by the participants. Previous research on emotional induction with static stimuli showed that not every emotional stimulations trigger subjective feelings. The major hypothesis was therefore that, if we consider facial emotional expressivity and autonomous reactions, differences should be observed between the successful emotional induction trials and the unsuccessful ones. In addition, investigations were carried out on different antecedent stimulation appraisal profiles. 48 participants performed an emotional monitoring task consisting in reporting presence and onset of subjective feeling. Measures of heart rate and electromyo-graphic activity (EMG) over the M. Corrugator Supercilii and the M. Levator Labii regions were performed. Results show that in presence of subjective feeling episode, facial EMG activity is stronger than for unsuccessful induction trials and that the duration of the activity is influenced by the kind of appraisal performed. Heart rate results show differential recovery periods after orientation following stimulations that induced conscious subjective feeling. On the whole, results indicate a strong relation between appraisal processes, expressivity, as well as subjective feeling.
Poster 70
THE AMPLITUDE OF CONFLICT-RELATED NEGATIVITY (CRN) REFLECTS DEGREE OF CONFLICT DURING OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE
Takashi Nakao1, Masahiro Takamura2, Mayo Mitsumoto2, Hitomi Nashiwa2,
Satoko Tokunaga2, & Makoto Miyatani2 u'Nagoya University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science'', 2Hiroshima University
Descriptors: conflict, CRN, social decision making
Reportedly, correct/conflict related negativity (CRN) is observed when a conflict occurs between a correct response and an erroneous response. However, CRN studies have invariably examined tasks with a certain correct answer. Often in real-life social behavior selection, no correct answers exist. We investigated whether the amplitude of a CRN-like component, observed during an occupational choice task (e.g. Which occupation do you think to do well? Teacher or artist?), reflects the degree of conflict during occupational choice. For this experiment, 14 participants performed occupational choice tasks for all combinations of 25 occupation-related words. Subsequently, we counted the chosen frequency of each occupational word. Occupational word pairs for which the difference of the chosen frequency was large were designated as small-conflict conditions; those pairs for which the difference of the chosen frequency was small were designated as large-conflict conditions. The observed amplitudes of the CRN-like component in both conditions were larger in the large-conflict condition than in the small-conflict condition. Results of this study indicate that the degree of conflict related to occupational choice, which has no correct answer, is reflected in the CRN amplitude.
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (19700246).
Poster 71
AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF THE STARTLE REFLEX DURING ENCODING OF EMOTIONAL WORDS
Cornelia Herbert, & Johanna Kissler University of Konstanz
Descriptors: emotion, language, startle reflex
Valence driven affective modulation of the startle reflex, that is larger eyeblinks in response to unpleasant pictures and inhibited blinks in response to pleasant pictures, is empirically well documented. The current study investigated whether this motivational priming pattern also occurs during viewing of emotionally highly arousing unpleasant and pleasant words and if so, to what extent it is influenced by the way verbal stimuli are encoded (shallow vs. deep encoding). Emotional and neutral adjectives were presented for 5 seconds, subjects were asked to memorize the words and the acoustically elicited startle EMG eyeblink response was measured. Results showed blink potentiation to unpleasant and blink inhibition to pleasant adjectives, particularly in subjects using shallow encoding strategies (e.g. passive viewing, rehearsal). During deep encoding (e.g. word categorization, imagery), blinks were larger for emotionally arousing, particularly pleasant as opposed to neutral adjectives. At the same time free recall was better for pleasant than for unpleasant and neutral adjectives. Together, the results support the theoretical view that motivational priming of the startle reflex holds as long as emotional processing requires enhanced perceptual processing. During internal or mental associative processing however, the startle may vary with the relative strength of mental engagement elicited by emotional and neutral stimuli concordant with its protective function of a 'cognitive interrupt'.
Poster 72
ALTERATION IN SIGNALLING MOLECULES OF LONG TERM POTENTIATION LEADS TO AMNESIA
Manish Kumar Saraf1, Sudesh Prabhakar2, Geetika Saraf3, & Akshay Anand2 1ISF College of Pharmacy, PGIMER, 2PGIMER, 3SASIIT
Descriptors: amnesia, long term potentiation, signalling molecules
NMDA receptor antagonists and nitric oxide synthase inhibitor both cause amnesia and have been used in many experimental models for studying several antiamnesic agents. We have earlier shown the reversal of both diazepam and scopolamine induced amnesia by Bacopa monniera leading us to test the downstream signalling of GABA/cholinergic system. We applied Morris water maze scale to test degree of impairment of memory in male Swiss albino mice treated with MK801, a NMDA receptor antagonist or L-NNA, a nitric oxide synthase. Mice were subjected to muscle incoordination test prior to water maze tasks. Our data revealed that MK 801 and L-NNA significantly impaired acquisition and retrieval ofmemory. The neurochemical investigations ofmouse brain revealed that MK 801 suppressed inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, total nitrite, cAMP and phosphodiesterase (PDE). It also reduced the expression of pCREB in hippocampal region, measured by immunohistochem-istry, but it partially increased pCREB in whole brain, measured by ELISA. L-NNA significantly suppressed calmodulin and iNOS without affecting phos-phorylated-CREB, CREB (cAMP response element binding protein), cAMP, PDE, nitrite, nitrate, total nitrite. Hence we can suggest that MK801 produces amnesia possibly by interfering long term potentiation process through down-regulation ofiNOS and nitric oxide, while L-NNA induced amnesia could be due to downregulation of calmodulin and iNOS both.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF PROCESSING EMOTIONAL FACES IN ANXIETY
Anca M. Pasca, Liviu G. Crisan, & Andrei C. Miu Emotion and Cognition Neuroscience Laboratory, Program of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Descriptors: anxiety, emotional faces, startle reflex
Although attempts at empirically supporting the physiological discrimination of emotions have paralleled the development of modern psychophysiology, the available evidence supporting the physiological differentiation of emotions has remained scattered. Due to their social and evolutionary importance, the processing of facial expressions may offer a privileged computational framework for the identification of physiological correlates of emotions. This study investigated the effects of dispositional anxiety on the subjective evaluation of and physiological responses to emotional facial expressions. Healthy volunteers were selected for extreme STAI trait anxiety scores. The participants were randomly displayed a set of sixty images of neutral or emotional facial expressions of fear, fury, disgust, happiness, sadness. The images were selected from the NimStim set offacial expressions and the participants were instructed to evaluate their emotional arousal and valence using the Self-Assessment Manikin. The startle reflex amplitude and galvanic skin responses were recorded during the task. In line with our predictions, the results indicated that, in comparison with neutral faces, the processing of the emotionally arousing faces was associated with higher startle amplitudes and electrodermal activity, and these effects were increased in anxious participants. In conclusion, our study indicates that the subjective evaluation of emotionally arousing facial expression is reflected in increased physiological activation, and this relationship is modulated by dispositional anxiety.
Poster 74
DOES AFFECTIVE MODULATION OF STARTLE CORRELATE WITH PAIN SENSITIVITY AND SPINAL NOCICEPTIVE PROCESSES?
Jamie L. Rhudy, Emily J. Bartley, Klanci M. McCabe, Amy E. Williams, Jennifer L. Russell, Carl P. Lattimore, Mary C. Chandler, & Emily J. Main The University of Tulsa
Descriptors: pain, nociception, startle
Startle and nociceptive reactions are believed to emanate from an evolutionarily old system that promotes survival (aversive/defensive system). Further, similar neural substrates are involved with the modulation of startle and nociception (e.g., anterior cingulate, amygdala, periaqueductal gray). Together, this suggests that startle responding could provide important insights into nociceptive processing. For example, individual differences in startle modulation could be related to individual differences in pain/nociceptive processing. To test this hypothesis, affective modulation of startle was assessed in 54 participants using emotional pictures known to reliably modulate pain and nociception (mutilation, attack, erotica). Afterwards, the nociceptive flexion reflex threshold (NFR, a physiological measure of spinal nociceptive processes) was assessed, followed by electrodermal pain threshold and tolerance. Individual differences in startle modulation were calculated by creating a change score for each picture content relative to neutral pictures. Correlation coefficients were generated to test the association between these 3 change scores (mutilation modulation, attack modulation, erotica modulation) and the 3 measures of pain/nociceptive sensitivity (NFR threshold, pain threshold, pain tolerance). Results suggest that startle modulation was related to pain sensitivity (ps< .05). Implications of these findings are discussed.
This work was funded by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
SPEED ACCURACY TRADEOFF OF THE P300 BCI SPELLER MEASURED IN REAL TIME
Yael Arbel, & Emanuel Donchin University of South Florida
Descriptors: BCI, P300, ERP
Farwell and Donchin designed a BCI designated to provide locked-in patients a P300 driven keyboard so they can communicate text and verbal messages. In this system the rows and columns of a matrix are illuminated in a random sequence and the ERP elicited by each event (flash) is examined. By recognizing online and in real-time which event elicited a P300, the system can identify which character the subject chose to "type." Traditionally, speed-accuracy tradeoff is estimated by analyzing a dataset offline to evaluate the number of events the system needed to average to achieve the desired accuracy level. However, the offline analysis fails to take into account factors that are related to the user of the system (e.g., ability to sustain attention during longer trials). We report speed-accuracy data of the P300 BCI speller measured in real time while participants selected characters from a 6 by 6 matrix with letters and numbers. Six young adults from the University ofSouth Florida attended five 2-hour sessions to evaluate accuracy of spelling while manipulating the number ofevents (flash sequences). Accuracy has been evaluated while participants spelled 50 characters under each of seven conditions: when each of the 12 rows and columns flashed twelve, ten, eight, six, four times, twice, and once. These speed accuracy data are reported in comparison to the data obtained from the offline analysis. Differences between the accuracy data obtained in real time and those estimated by an offline analysis were found, particularly for the small number of flash sequences (4, 2 & 1).
Poster 76
EMOTIONAL IMAGERY: PROBE P3, BETA BAND ACTIVITY & MOTIVATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Lisa M. McTeague1, Andreas Loew2, Bethany C. Wangelin1, Robert Sivinski1, Margaret M. Bradley1, & Peter J. Lang1 1University of Florida, 2University of Greifswald
Descriptors: imagery, probe p3, startle
Imagining emotional events has been shown to consistently modulate physiological systems indicative of: affective communication through facial action, autonomic mobilization, and action readiness (e.g., McNeil et al., 1993, Miller et al., 1988). The present investigation aimed to address whether a measure utilized in other paradigms to index attention allocation (probe P300) and an additional measure typically employed during motor imagery (beta band activity) could viably reflect differences in motivational processing during narrative imagery. Fifty-seven unselected undergraduates imagined emotional and neutral events while startle reflex and responses in heart rate, skin conductance level, and corrugator and zygomatic EMG were recorded. While replicating and extending findings from previous studies on the modulation of facial EMG and autonomic measures as a function of pleasantness and arousal, both probe P300 responses and beta changes reliably varied with emotional arousal. Specifically, larger increases in beta band activity occurred during emotional compared to neutral scenarios consistent with more extensive and demanding cognitive/motor imagery. Probe P3 amplitude to the startle probe was significantly attenuated during emotional compared to neutral imagery, suggesting that the motivation-ally significant image was processed at the expense of the intruding probe. Overall, these findings provide preliminary evidence that frequency changes and event-related responses during narrative imagery may be productively employed to assess the extent of motivational engagement.
WHEN AND WHERE ATTENTION MODULATES PROCESSING OF FACIAL EXPRESSION: STUDIED WITH ERP AND LORETA
Eligiusz Wronka Jagiellonian University
Descriptors: attention, face processing, ERP
Numerous recent Event-Related Potential (ERP) studies have shown that selective brain responses to emotional faces, as measured with ERPs, are triggered at very short latencies and that they are strongly dependent on attention. Specifically, the onset of the emotional expression effect was reported as early as 120 to 180 ms post-stimulus in different experiments. This effect was eliminated when attention was directed away from the location of peripherally presented emotional faces. However, it is not clear if similar differentiation could be observed when attention is not spatially manipulated. In the reported study we recorded ERP responses to foveally presented photographs of angry, happy, or neutral faces. We found that emotional expression influences brain activity at short latencies (N170) when the task demanded classification of facial expression (face expression task). Such effect was not observed when the task was to recognize gender of faces (face gender task). Additionally, we used Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) to localize the sources of brain activity underlying the above mentioned differences. It was found that emotional expression effect we obtained in ERP for face expression task can be related to differential activation within middle and superior temporal gyri. In case of face gender task such pattern was not observed. Obtained results support the hypothesis that structural encoding and expression analysis are independent processes and that in both cases attention importantly modulates the processing.
This work was supported by a grant to Eligiusz Wronka from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education—N N106 1958 33.
Poster 78
NUMBERS IN THE BLIND'S 'EYE'
Elena Salillas1, Alessia Gran2, Radouane El-Yagoubi3, & Carlo Semenza4
University of Texas at San Antonio, 2University of Trieste, 3University of Provence, 4University of Padova
Descriptors: number cognition, spatial attention, blindness
A straightforward way of addressing the relevance of vision in the relationship between space and numbers is to observe whether in the early-onset blind population this link also exist. Here we show how the perception of numbers-cues in the auditory modality generates shifts of attention to the perception of lateralized auditory targets both in blind and sighted populations. This is reflected by lower detection times for targets presented in the left ear after the audition of a low number (1 or 2) and for targets presented in the right ear after the audition of a high number (8 and 9) _ congruent trials_ vs. the opposite combination of number-cues/auditory targets_incongruent trials_. Nevertheless, the electrophysiological correlate of these similar behavioral results shows interestingly that while a negativity at the latency and distribution of N100 component showed a modulation by congruency in sighted individuals, a positivity at the latencies and centro-parietal distribution of P300 component showed modulation by congruency in blind individuals. Therefore, although our RTs data as well as previous behavioral studies show the same pattern for blind and sighted participants, our study has uncovered radically different neurophy-siological correlates. Our data suggest that a similarly organized mental number line in both populations has nevertheless a different manipulation and likely a higher independence of modality in blind individuals.
The present research has been supported by the European Union Marie Curie Action Contract "NUMBRA" to Carlo Semenza.
RESPONSE TO MUSIC VARIES ACCORDING TO TRAIT MOTIVATION ACTIVATION
Robert F. Potter, Hwanjun Chung, & James J. Cummings Indiana University, Bloomington
Descriptors: motivation, arousal, music
An experiment was conducted using a dual-motivation conceptualization of emotion to test the prediction that trait motivation levels of positivity offset (PO) and negativity bias (NB) would impact physiological reaction to musical stimuli. Sixty-eight subjects first completed the Motivation Activation Measure (MAM; A. Lang, Shin & Lee, 2005) and then listened to eight songs while skin conductance, zygomatic and corrugator EMG, and IBIs were recorded. Half the songs were prototypically arousing heavy-metal music and the other halfrelaxing jazz and blues. Music was balanced across levels for instrumental/lyrical and male/female vocalist. Analysis began by calculating values of PO and NB according to A. Lang et al (2005) and using median splits to identify 'Risk Takers' (High PO/Low NB, n 5 22) and 'Risk Avoiders' (Low PO/High NB, n 5 21). Change scores for SCL and EMG data were calculated and aggregated in 5s segments. As predicted, Risk Takers had greater SCL while listening to all music. Furthermore, although Risk Takers showed greater zygomatic activation early in the music presentation it decreased below Risk Avoiders as music processing continued, suggestive of initial appetitive activation followed by monotony. Risk Avoiders also had significantly increased corrugator activation compared to Risk Takers while listening to all musical selections. In addition, although not statistically significant, Risk Takers had greater zygomatic activation and Risk Avoiders greater corrugator activation during arousing music compared to calm.
SENSORY MODALITIES AND NUMBERS SEMANTICS
Elena Salillas1, Radouane El-Yagoubi2, Alessia Grana3, & Carlo Semenza4 1University of Texas at San Antonio, 2University of Provence, 3University of Trieste, 4University of Padova
Descriptors: number cognition, spatial attention, sensory modalities
The SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect has been used to index automatic access to a central semantic and amodal magnitude representation according to the Triple Code Model. It is an index ofhow numbers may be represented in the form of a 'mental number line' which would be as well independent of modality. Here we show how the perception of numbers generates spatial shifts of attention in both the auditory and visual modalities. We contrasted the electrophysiological responses generated by visual or auditory lateralized targets after the presentation of visual or auditory numbers, respectively. Although in both paradigms attention-related components were modulated by the congruency between the size of the number (low-high) and the location of the target (left field-right field), the specific sensitivity to congruency of the attentional components depended on the modality. In both audition and vision an amplitude modulation of sensory components (N1/P1) depending on this space-number size congruency appeared. But only in vision a modulation of the cognitive P300 amplitude by congruency was shown. We interpret the results as a preference for the visual modality for the manipulation of numbers that mainly uses vision for an ultimate generation of a numerical spatial representation.
The present research has been supported by the European Union Marie Curie Action Contract ''NUMBRA'' to Carlo Semenza.
Poster 80
SOCIAL ATTITUDES WITHIN CONTEXT: EVIDENCE OF CONDITIONAL RACIAL BIAS IN THE DEFENSIVE STARTLE REFLEX
Greg Willard, Katrina Koslov, & Wendy Berry Mendes Harvard University
Descriptors: startle, emotion, race
Social attitudes, such as racial bias, have components that are difficult to access consciously, and can be misreported due to impression management concerns. These attitudes are nevertheless an important area of inquiry, because they are the basis of discriminatory behavior. There is a great deal of interest in psychophysiological indexes of social attitudes, as they are generally not subject to awareness or impression management limitations. The present research is based upon the premise that social attitudes typically are accessed and applied within relevant contexts, and that examining physiological indexes of social attitudes across contexts will therefore provide a more precise insight into their nature. Specifically, the present studies examined how emotional expressions influence racial bias, as indexed by startle reflex modulation. Study 1 examined startle responses probed as White perceivers watched videos of an approaching Black or White person. Startle responses to Black and White actors did not differ when the actors posed neutral or happy expressions, but were significantly greater to the Black actors posing angry expressions. Study 2 replicated greater startle responses to Black actors posing angry expressions, and demonstrated that this effect is exacerbated among high-testosterone male participants. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated significantly greater startle responses to White than to Black actors posing sad expressions. The present findings suggest that physiological responses can indicate several distinct features of racially biased social attitudes.
Poster 82
DEVIANT FEEDBACK PROCESSING IN GAMBLERS PLAYING BLACKJACK
Johannes Hewig, Nora Kretschmer, & Wolfgang H.R. Miltner Friedrich Schiller University
Descriptors: pathological gambling, event-related potentials, blackjack
Recent research indicates the importance of medial prefrontal cortex and the dopaminergic system in pathological gambling. We examined event-related potentials in response to monetary wins and losses in a computer based Blackjack gambling paradigm. The study aimed to reveal the time course and electrophysiological basis of pathological gambling in realistic gambling context. 14 pathological gamblers and 13 controls played 880 single games of a German version of Blackjack, while EEG was recorded. In each trial the players had to decide at a certain amount of starting points (11-21), whether they wanted to take another card (hit) or not (stick). The goal of the players was to get closer to 21 than a computer opponent, and to avoid getting over 21 points. Subsequently, the cards of the opponent were shown to the participants and they received a feedback, whether they won or lost. Before each trial the participants had to decide whether they wanted to play about 10 Cent or 40 Cent. Event-related potentials to the feedback were analysed. There was a statistical trend towards higher risk taking in gamblers. The analysis of event-related potentials to the feedback revealed that pathological gamblers showed reduced feedback processing as compared to controls. The peak difference was found between 250 and 500 ms at central midline electrodes.
Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, HE5330 3-1).
EXTERNALIZING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED EEG BETA IN ADOLESCENT MALES
Stephen M. Malone, Micah A. Hammer, Dragana Vidovic, Loran E. Kelly, & William G. Iacono University of Minnesota
Descriptors: EEG beta, externalizing, adolescence
Beta power in the resting EEG is typically increased in alcoholics and individuals at risk for alcoholism. Significant linkage has been reported between both phenotypes—beta activity and alcoholism—and a gene coding for a GABA-A receptor. This gene in turn seems to predispose to a variety of disorders in the externalizing spectrum in addition to alcohol dependence. The aim of the present investigation was to determine whether beta activity in particular is related to externalizing psychopathology in a large, representative, population-based sample of adolescent males. Subjects were drawn from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS) and represented all male subjects (N 5 1025) from the MTFS's two age cohorts who completed the lab portion of their age-17 assessment. Externalizing disorders, including disruptive behavior disorders and substance use disorders, were consistently associated with reduced beta power at occipital leads relative to a control group without such psychopathology and without paternal risk indicators. A composite measure of externalizing was associated with reduced alpha power as well. Although modest, these associations are notable for their consistency across diagnostic groups or different facets of externalizing psychopathology and across the two cohorts. They suggest that beta activity is reduced, not increased, in relation to externalizing psychopathol-ogy in adolescent males. These results thus add to previous findings documenting the sensitivity of a different measure (P3 amplitude) to externalizing psycho-pathology in this sample.
Poster 84
BEHAVIORAL AND NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CONCUSSIONS
Jenna Haynes, Lauren N. Cary, Elysabeth Hanchak, & James E. Horton University of Virginia College at Wise
Descriptors: ERP, stroop, concussion
Prior data from our lab has shown that concussions adversely affect short-term memory but not Gestalt Closure or 3D spatial rotation tasks (unpublished data). This research used a go-no go task with a Stroop effect (color words were presented in the correct color for a congruent condition and in the incorrect color for the incongruent condition). Subjects were instructed to press the number 1 on a response pad for the congruent condition and the number 2 for the incongruent condition. However, when the stimulus was the word 'red' presented in the color red, the subject was to withhold the response. We used this task to investigate the effects of concussions on behavioral performance as correlated with neural activity. We presented the Stroop 'go-no go' task to 7 concussed and 7nonconcussed undergraduates, aged 18 to 25, from UVa-Wise using Neuroscan Stim software while recording EEG with Neuroscan Synamps II bioamplifier and 64-channel electrode cap. SPSS analyses revealed a significant Stroop effect with concussed subjects demonstrating longer latency between stimuli and response for non-congruent stimuli. Further analyses of ERPs revealed significantly different amplitudes at N100 in contralateral frontal regions F3 [F(1,12) 5 10.374, po.001] and at P200 F3 [F(1,12) 5 20.726, po.001] and F5 [F(1,12) 5 15.494, po.003]. There was no difference in the number of errors made for the no-go condition of the paradigm. Our results indicate that concussed subjects can perform without errors but demonstrated longer latencies and required more cognitive effort to perform the task.
ALPHA RHYTHM SPECTRAL POWER DENSITY CHANGES DURING PERIODICALLY DECREASING CIRCLE PRESENTATION
Ighor Kotsan, Illya Kuznetsov, & Lessya Sydoruk Volyn National University
Descriptors: alpha-rhythm, running wave, EEG
The characteristics of the alpha-rhythm features as a running wave were studied. Fifteen volunteers (healthy males, age of 20-26, right-handed) took part in our research. During each experiment resting EEG was recorded (first test). The frequency of the resting EEG power maximum in alpha-band was determined. This was considered the frequency of alpha-rhythm running wave. The volunteers were then presented with an image of a black circle which decreased in size every second with a step equal to the alpha-rhythm running wave period. Every ten seconds a pause was inserted. The pause time was equal to one fifth of the running wave period (second test). We supposed that circle borders would be situated in different positions in relation to running wave borders. During the next (control) test, volunteers watched the same circle decrease, but no pause was inserted. EEG was recorded during both experimental situations. Changes of alpha-rhythm spectral power density were analyzed at occipital leads (O1 and O2). No subjective differences between the second and the third (control) tests were reported by volunteers. However, alpha-rhythm spectral power density during the second test is more complex (complex non-linear), than during the control test (simple non-linear). We consider that more complex alpha-rhythm spectral power changes in second test is the result of the figure presentation changes. This shows, that 'visual' alpha-rhythm is running, not standing wave.
Poster 86
POLYGRAPH AND EEG CORRELATES OF LIE DETECTION
Elysabeth Hanchak, Rachel Dye, Clifford J. Whitt, Toni Davis, Crystal Birchfield, & James E. Horton University of Virginia College at Wise
Descriptors: EEG, polygraph, source localization
Polygraph tests are known to be unreliable and are not admissible as evidence in court. Polygraph examinations record physiological responses to arousal that could be attributed to environmental influences such as stressors associated with the procedure. Furthermore, some individuals have the ability to control their physiological responses thereby responding without significant physiological change. This research investigated polygraph recordings and simultaneously recorded EEG activity, with truthful answers, lies and answers to novel questions. Subjects were asked to either lie or answer truthfully to questions presented on a computer screen while we collected polygraph recordings with BioPac equipment and software from 32 (16 male) undergraduates, aged 18 to 25, from UVa-Wise. We simultaneously recorded EEG activity from the participants using Neuroscan's Synamp I bioamplifier and 32-channel electrode cap. SPSS analyses revealed a significant GSR difference for answers to novel questions (t (30) 5 — 2.675, po.012) but not for truthfulness or lying. Analyses with Neuroscan Source software revealed differential hemisphere activity, predominately in the frontal lobe, between truthfulness and lying in both men and women. Results indicate that participants controlled their physiological reactions to questions they were expecting but not when surprised by a question and, even though participants controlled their physiological responses, differential hemisphere activity during truthfulness and lying may be much more revealing and more difficult to control.
MORE THAN ONE DYSFUNCTION UNDERLYING ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS (ADD): A NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Montserrat Gerez1, Juan J. Yanez1, Juan I. Romero1, Pilar Poza2, Fernando Coello1, Rosa I. Meezquita1, & Armando Tello1 1Hospital Espanol de Mexico, 2Hospital Psiquiatrico Infantil JN Navarro
Descriptors: attention, subtypes, neurophysiology
Attention involves a dynamic interaction among several bottom-up and top-down processes. Inattention, the core symptom in ADD, may result from disruption at any one ofsuch processes, features and magnitude depending on the availability of alternate resources. A polygenic etiology has been suggested to explain its transmissibility, wide spectrum and high comorbidity. It also points to more than one type of dysfunction. Neurophysiology has found patterns related to different functional and dysfunctional states, the aim ofthis work was to search for such patterns in ADD patients, and the possibility of sub-grouping accordingly. METHODS: Visual and quantitative electroencephalographic analysis at rest and during an attention task, were conducted in 119 children with DSMIV diagnosis of ADD; cluster analysis performed on hypothesis related variables: generalized (GED) or focal (FED) epileptiform discharges, photic driving response (PDR), slow/fast power ratio (SPR), focal wide-band power changes (FPC), rhythmic fast beta (RFB). FINDINGS: Five clusters (C) resulted in 78% accurate individual classification. The contributing variables and related hypothesis are: C1 (n 5 22) P3L, dopamine dysregulation; C2 (n 5 25): FED, FPC hyperactive attention circuits; C3 (n 5 11): GED, SPR, phantom absences; C4 (n 5 13): P3A, RFB, disorganized thought; C5 (n 5 23), P3L, PDR, DSR, GED migraine-like episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the existence of more than one type of neural dysfunction in the ADD spectrum. Focused therapeutic interventions are suggested.
Poster 88
DOUBLE TRIPHASIC WAVEFORM HEART RATE RESPONSE TO STRONG STIMULI
Bronya Vaschillo1, Evgeny G. Vaschillo1, Marsha E. Bates1, & Paul M. Lehrer2 1Rutgers. The State University of New Jersey, 2University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Descriptors: triphasic heart rate response, baroreflex
Heart rate (HR) reaction to various stimuli usually is described by a triphasic waveform response that lasts approximately 10 s, and consists of an initial HR deceleration, following by a mid-interval acceleration, and a final deceleration. We suggest that 10-s triphasic HR response arises due to the resonance in a baroreflex closed-loop at a frequency of 0.1 Hz. The baroreflex also produces resonance at a frequency of ~0.03 Hz, suggesting that a ~30-s triphasic HR response also may be expected. This study investigated the HR response to highly unpleasant sounds as very strong stimuli to reveal the 30-s triphasic response.17 adult participants were exposed to 8 synthetic sounds which were chosen as the most unpleasant from 362 sounds created in the lab. Participants sat in a room, where walls were covered with sound absorbing material, and listened to each sound at 82 dB (A) for 2 minutes (with 30-s interstimulus intervals) from four equidistant speakers. ECG was collected and beat-to-beat HR curves were calculated. We found that sound onset usually caused long-time triphasic HR response, which overlapped the common 10-s triphasic waveform and lasted for about 30 s. Sound offset occasionally caused the same response. Two types of30-s triphasic responses were found: with initial HR decelerations and with initial HR accelerations. The first extremum appeared 9.5 + 0.86 s after sound onset and was + (8.1 + 0.68) bpm; the second extremum appeared at 20.18 + 1.54 s and was + (4.58 + 0.78) bpm. The mechanism of the triphasic responses based on baroreflex will be discussed.
This research was supported, in part, by the Department of Defense, the National Institute ofAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Poster 89
ERP WAVEFORMS MODULATED BY STIMULUS MOTIVATIONAL VALUE IN CONDITIONS OF STABLE AFFECTIVE STIMULATION
Isabel B. Fonseca1, Luciana R. Gomes1, Armando M. Oliveira2, & Nuno F. Costa3
1Faculty of Psychology , Lisbon University, 2Faculty of Psychology, Coimbra University, 3Faculty of Medicine, Lisbon University
Descriptors: emotion, EEG/ERP, attention
Electrophysiological correlates of affective states are studied in stable stimulation of stimuli from the same emotional category. Here, we combined dimensional and categorical approaches to test valence and arousal factors in 8 conditions using using IAPS images selected for valence and arousal in addition to emotional category (positive, neutral, negative sadness and negative disgust). EEG was recorded during each of the eight sets of distinct emotional stimuli categories, presented in separated random sequences. Sixteen healthy subjects completed a counting and an initial evaluative categorization task while Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitude and latency were recorded from Fz, Cz and Pz EEG leads (10/20 IS). Results showed a significant effect of valence in Fz and Pz, in which negatively valenced stimuli evoked the most positive values of the LPP. At Fz the most positive waveform was elicited by sadness stimuli, and at Pz by disgust stimuli. In Cz the pattern of LPP amplitudes was similar to Fz, nevertheless in this lead valence effects were not significant. In all leads neutral stimuli evoked the lowest LPP amplitude. Latency of waveforms was significant for valence in Fz and Cz leads; in both cases high arousal sadness stimuli evoked the shorter latencies. These results can be interpreted as reflecting a negative bias effect modulated by stimuli category with the largest effect of sadness in the anterior lead and disgust in the parietal lead.
This research was partially supported by grant POCI/PSI/60769/2004 (FCT).
Poster 90
PREDICTING AFFECTIVE RESPONSES USING RESTING FRONTAL EEG ASYMMETRY: DOES EXERCISE INTENSITY MATTER?
Eric E. Hall, Panteleimon Ekkekakis, & Steven J. Petruzzello Elon University
Descriptors: EEG, asymmetry, affect
Previous research has shown resting frontal EEG asymmetry to predict affective responses to aerobic exercise. Consistent with Davidson's model, relatively greater left-sided anterior activity has been shown to predict more positive/less negative affective responses. It was hypothesized that resting frontal EEG asymmetry would predict affective responses following exercise of different intensities relative to ventilatory threshold (VT). Resting brain activity (via EEG: F3/F4, F7/F8) was collected from 30 participants (14 women, 16 men) and used to predict affective responses following 15 min of treadmill running at 3 exercise intensities: VT. Affect was assessed [via Activation Deactivation Adjective Check List, yielding measures of Energetic Arousal (EA) and Tense Arousal (TA)] before, immediately following exercise, after 5 min cool down, and 10 min and 20 min post cool down. Resting mid-frontal asymmetry (F4-F3) accounted for 12.6% of variance (B 5 — .36, p 5 .030) in EA immediately following VT exercise and 13.7% of variance (B 5 — .37, p 5 .035) in EA following cool down.
As a whole, frontal asymmetry was predictive of affective responses following exercise; however, this was in direction opposite of what was predicted (i.e., greater relative left-sided activity predicted decreased EA post-exercise).
Poster 91
THE AUDITORY P3A AND P3B FROM A THREE-STIMULUS ODDBALL TASK: AN ERP AND LORETA STUDY
Eligiusz Wronka1, Jan Kaiser1, & Anton M.L. Coenen2
1Jagiellonian University, 2Radboud University Nijmegen
Descriptors: P300, ERP, LORETA
Recent studies demonstrated a distinction between subcomponents elicited in the P300 time window in a three-stimulus oddball task (P3a and P3b). There is evidence that these components differ in their scalp topography and reflect different sets of processes. It was previously suggested that P3a, maximum over frontal-central sites, reflects an alerting process in the frontal lobe when attention is involuntary engaged. The P3b, with a parietal maxima, could be assigned to voluntary event classification in tasks that require covert or overt responses to stimuli. These findings were supported by recent neuroimaging or lesion studies, however, the neural generators of these components are still not completely described. We recorded ERPs to auditory stimuli in the three-stimulus oddball task. The amplitude of P3a elicited by non-target deviants was bigger than P3a recorded in response to targets. Both revealed frontal-central maxima. In contrast to this, we found greater P3b amplitude in response to targets when compared to non-targets. Maxima of these responses were obtained at posterior sites. These effects were also tested with Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA). We found that the amplitude of P3a could be related to activity within the medial portion of the frontal lobe and adjacent cingulate cortex. The P3b response can be connected with activity located in the posterior part of the cingulate gyrus and precuneus. Our results support the thesis that P3a and P3b reflect distinct psychological and physiological processes generated in different brain regions.
poor predictors at higher levels of alcohol despite a consistent decrease in physiological response at the higher dose. Possible explanations, including different levels of experience with sexual activity while using alcohol, could be contributing to this effect.
Poster 93
FEAR CONDITIONING IN PSYCHOPATHS: EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS AND PERIPHERAL MEASURES
Yvonne Rothemund1, Christiane Hermann2, Sabine M. Grusser3, Christopher J. Patrick4, & Herta Flor2 1Humboldt University of Berlin, 2University of Heidelberg, 3University of Mainz, 4University of Minnesota
Descriptors: psychopathy, pavlovian conditioning, startle
Aversive pavlovian delay conditioning was investigated in a sample of 11 criminal psychopaths as defined by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised and 11 matched healthy controls. Painful electric shock served as unconditioned stimulus (US) and neutral faces as conditioned stimuli (CS). Event-related potentials, startle response potentiation, skin conductance response, corrugator activity, heart rate, as well as valence, arousal, and contingency ofthe CS and US were assessed. Psychopaths (PPs) compared to healthy controls (HCs) failed to successfully differentiate between the CS+/ — as demonstrated by an absent conditioned response in startle potentiation and skin conductance responses. There was no attentional deficit as indexed by larger or similar deflections of the P200, P300, late positive complex and the initial contingent negative variation (CNV) in psychopaths. The terminal CNVat frontal sites was reduced in the PPs as compared to the HCs. Using a clearly fear-eliciting US, these data confirm previous findings of a deficient formation of associations between neutral and aversive events in PPs that is unrelated to cognitive deficits and seems to involve fronto-limbic deficits.
Poster 94
Poster 92
PREDICTED ERECTILE RESPONSE COMPARED TO ACTUAL ERECTILE RESPONSE IN INTOXICATED MALES
Becky Hansis-O'Neill, & Nicole Prause Idaho State University
Descriptors: erectile response, sexual psychophysiology, alcohol
Alcohol consumption is positively correlated with sexual risk taking, but this relationship appears to be mediated by sexual arousal (George, et al., in press). However, individuals may not accurately predict their sexual response under the influence of alcohol before consumption. Expectations of performance enhancement may potentiate sexual arousal and risk taking. The current study compared phallometric responses (Rigiscan) under the influence of different levels of alcohol (BAL 5 0, .025, .08) with participants' reports of their 'typical' sexual responses prior to alcohol challenge. Men (N 5 21) significantly predicted their change in penile tumescence only between BAL 5 0 and BAL 5 0.025 (BSTD 5 .50, p 5 .03, R2 5 .26), but did not accurately predict their response between other conditions. Notably, sexual arousal levels differed significantly between alcohol conditions (F(2,40) 5 5.48 [G-G], p 5 .01, n2 5 .22). Specifically, erections were decreased for BAL 5 0.08 (M 5 9.61, SD 5 1.34) as contrasted to both BAL 5 0 (M 5 10.05, SD 5 1.20; F(1,20) 5 13.90, p 5 .001, n2 5 0.41) and BAL 5 0.025 (M 5 10.00, SD 5 1.27; F(1,20) 5 3.22, p 5 .035, n2 5 0.20), but did not differ between BAL 5 0 and BAL 5 .025. Thus men accurately predicted their own sexual arousal at lower levels, as compared to no, alcohol, but they are
INTERACTION OF SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS IN PROCESSING ADJECTIVES IN A SENTENCE CONTEXT: AN ERP STUDY
Lourdes F. Guajardo, & Nicole Y.Y. Wicha University of Texas at San Antonio
Descriptors: event-related potentials, semantics, syntax
A central question in neurolinguistics is whether or not semantic and grammatical processes interact during online sentence comprehension. Event related potential studies have been inconclusive as to whether these processes interact continuously or at a discrete stage either early or late in processing. Studies showing an interaction have used multiple words to create violations of both grammar and meaning, and studies that have not shown an interaction have used weakly constraining sentences. Here we used adjectives in Spanish embedded in moderately to strongly constraining sentences, manipulating grammar and meaning at a single point in time, and examined the N400 and P600 potentials as indices of semantic and grammatical processing, respectively. Native speakers of Spanish read sentences with a target adjective that either fit the meaning of the sentence or not, and either agreed in grammatical gender with the preceding noun or not. Data from 13 subjects show a robust N400 effect for semantic violations at the adjective, with greater amplitude for semantically incongruent versus congruent adjectives, and a trend toward a larger N400 amplitude for double violations compared to semantic violations alone. However, all three violations elicited a similar late positivity compared to the control condition when measured from the prestimulus baseline. These findings may reflect a stronger reprocessing effect for incorrect Spanish adjectives compared to nouns, since adjectives require revisiting the preceding noun with which they are associated to resolve the error.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG), ELECTROMOGRAPHY (EMG) AND SKIN CONDUCTANCE REACTIVITY TO PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT PICTURE PROCESSING
Saaraa S. Ameri, Uma Vaidyanathan, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J.
Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: EEG/EMG, gender
Emotions are divided into two motivational systems; the appetitive and defensive (Bradley et al., 2001a). The appetitive system is associated with the reactivity to nurture, reproduction and nourishment, while the defensive system deals with the escape, withdrawal, or attack of a threat (Bradley et al., 2001a). Prior research has looked at the differences in gender affective reactivity to various picture stimuli, suggesting that while both genders show the largest emotional reactions to highly arousing threat, mutilation and erotic contents, males show relatively greater appetitive activity when viewing erotic stimuli, and women respond to aversive pictures with relatively greater defensive reactivity (Bradley et al., 2001b). The current study examined the sex differences in EEG and EMG (ZYG, COR and SCR) reactivity from a community based sample, while both genders viewed various affective and neutral picture stimuli. The subjects were put through a picture paradigm task, drawn from the International Affective Picture system (IAPS). The findings suggest that the overall comparisons for all contents, males showed a significantly large frontal N1 and LP effect and women showed a large posterior P2, P3 and LP effect. Women showed a significantly large posterior P3 and LP effect for pleasant nurturant pictures, while men showed a large frontal P3 and LP effect for erotic pictures. Men also showed a large P3 and LP effect for unpleasant mutilation pictures and significant SCR reactivity for erotic and threat. The findings for ZYG and COR are yet to be reported. Skin conductance reactivity (SCR), zygomatic (ZYG), corrugator (COR).
Poster 96
WORKING MEMORY LOAD REDUCES MID-LATENCY ACTIVITY IN VISUAL CORTEX TO PERIPHERAL DISTRACTERS
Stefan Wiens1, Karsten S. Rauss2, Jonas Olofsson1, & Gilles Pourtois2 1Stockholm University, 2University of Geneva
Descriptors: working memory, distracter, erp
We studied whether working memory (WM) load affects early and mid-latency activity in visual cortex to peripheral distracters. In counterbalanced blocks, participants (n 5 12, with 5 women) performed a 1-back task (low WM load) and 2-back task (high WM load) on a series of color strings (1 per s) at fixation. Distracters were shown in the lower and upper visual fields, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from 64-channels positioned according to the extended 10 - 20 EEG system. Visual responses to the distracters were indexed by an early component (C1) and a mid-latency component (N1). Performance was lower on the 2-back (73.1%) than 1-back task (90.7%, p<.001). Mean C1 amplitudes (of 20 ms across 9 electrodes centered on POz peak) showed the typical reversal in polarity for distracters in the upper visual field (positive peak) and lower visual field (negative peak), F(1, 11) 5 14.46, p< .003. However, C1 amplitudes were not affected by WM load (p> .50). In contrast, mean N1 amplitudes (of 20 ms across 8 electrodes left and right of POz and Pz) were reduced with high WM load, F(1, 11) 5 10.30, p< .008. This effect did not differ for visual fields (p> .25) and did not correlate with effects of high WM load on performance (r< .11). Our results suggest that increased WM load impairs visual discrimination (N1) but not position encoding (C1) of peripheral distracters.
DOES DURATION MAGNITUDE INFLUENCE THE COGNITIVE RESOURCES REQUIRED TO REMEMBER THE DURATION?
Trevor B. Penney, N.G. Kwun-Kei, Pelen P.K. Yip, & Yonghao Soh National University of Singapore
Descriptors: interval timing, time perception
Whether duration magnitude impacts the cognitive resources required to represent a duration in memory is a fundamental question about the neural and cognitive basis of interval timing. Some interval timing models posit a pacemaker-accumulator process in which the count of pacemaker pulses is represented in a memory store with larger counts reflecting longer durations. In other models, a given duration is represented by a specific pattern of activity of cortical neurons that oscillate at different periodicities. In the former case, one might expect a longer duration to place a greater demand on cognitive resources, whereas in the latter case it should not. Measuring the amplitudes of the Event-Related Potential (ERP) Slow Waves (SWS) elicited when participants maintain memory representations of different durations (e.g., 1500 versus 3000 ms) is a potentially promising approach to address this question because studies ofverbal and spatial memory have associated amplitudes of SWS with working memory demands. Here, participants judged whether a probe stimulus was the same duration as a preceding sample stimulus (S1-S2 paradigm). SWS recorded during the delay interval between presentation of the sample (S1) and probe (S2) durations were significantly more positive over frontal/central regions in the longer duration (e.g. 3000 ms) condition than in the shorter duration (e.g. 1500 ms) condition. These results suggest that the magnitude of the duration to be remembered influences the cognitive resources required to represent that duration in memory.
Poster 98
AVERSIVE CONDITIONING IN PSYCHOPATHY: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL DEVIANCE
Rosario Poy1, Raul Lopez1, M. Carmen Pastor1, Pilar Segarra1, Laura Miccoli1, Pedro Guerra2, & Javier Molto1 1Jaume I University, 2University of Granada
Descriptors: aversive conditioning, psychophysiological measures, psychopathy
The present study explored the role of the two components of psychopathy -interpersonal/affective, social deviance-in aversive learning in a sample of 66 male inmates assessed for psychopathy using several measures. Skin conductance changes, startle responses, EMG corrugator activity, and subjective ratings of valence, arousal and CS/US contingency were obtained during a differential aversive conditioning task. Two NimStim neutral faces served as CSs (8 s presentation); a 500-ms train of electric pulses was used as US, delivered immediately after each CS+offset during the acquisition phase. The task consisted of 4 blocks (1 habituation, 2 acquisition, and 1 extinction) of 12 trials each (6 CS+, 6 CS —), with 8 probes presented at 5.5 or 6.5 s after picture onset; ITIs varied randomly between 15 and 25 s. Enhanced skin conductance changes and greater blinks to CS+ than to CS — were obtained during acquisition, being totally consistent with postconditioning CS/US contingency ratings. Fear-potentiated startle persisted throughout extinction. Interestingly, preliminary hierarchical regression analysis using the two PCL-R factors as predictors showed that Factor 2 scores, independently of Factor 1 scores, were inversely related to the magnitude of CS+ /CS — differentiation in extinction. Thus, high PCL-R Factor 2 scorers showed less CS+/CS — discrimination in startle, skin conductance, EMG corrugator and postconditioning CS/US contingency ratings. Implications about the role of the social deviance component of psychopathy in persistence of fear learning will be discussed.
Ministerio de Educaci—n y Ciencia SEJ2004-06168.
PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES OBSERVED DURING AUTOGENIC TRAINING: FINGER BLOOD FLOW AND SKIN TEMPERATURE IN NOVICE TRAINEES
Toshihiko Sato Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University
Descriptors: autogenic training, blood flow, skin temperature
Autogenic training (AT) has been considered as a type of psychophysiological psychotherapy having some impact on both mental and bodily functions. In fact, a number of studies indicate that AT exercise influences various physiological systems (Schultz & Luthe, 1959). To clarify the relationship between the progress of such relaxation training and its physiological effects, this study determined the effects of AT exercises on both blood flow in and skin temperature of trainees' fingers. Twelve participants completed a set of AT exercises daily, for 8 weeks. To evaluate the physiological changes during the exercises, 15-min measurements were conducted at 3,4, and 8 weeks after the commencement of the daily practice. These measurements included three periods: a 5-min rest period (pre-AT), a 5-min period during AT (AT practice), and another 5-min rest period (post-AT). We measured the differences in blood flow and skin temperature from a value at the fifth minute at pre-AT to values at all other minutes in all the measurements, to compare the changes in these indices between the measurements performed at 3 and 4 weeks. Results indicated that the differences in blood flow values were significantly high at several time points both during AT practice and at postAT after 4 weeks compared to after 3 weeks. In contrast, the values of skin temperature were significantly lower at a time point during the AT practice, and were not higher at any points. In conclusion, AT exercises had a larger effect on blood flow than on skin temperature in the case of novice trainees' fingers.
DIFFERENT DYSFUNCTIONAL PATTERNS UNDERLYING THE WIDE SPECTRUM OF ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS (ADD): THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS
Montserrat Gerez, Juan I. Romero, Juan J. Yanez, Rosa I. Mezquita, Pilar Poza, Armando Tello, & Carlos Novo Hospital Espanol de Mexico
Descriptors: attention, subtypes, clinical
Physiopathogenic understanding is crucial for a therapeutic intervention to restore function. The core symptom in ADD is a complex, highly variable manifestation of possibly more than one disrupted neural process. We reported five clusters of neurophysiological variables, presumably related to different neuronal dysfunction. PURPOSE to test the above hypothesis by evaluating the response when the therapeutic intervention aimed to correct the presumed dysfunction. METHODS: Visual and quantitative EEG analysis at rest and during P300 were conducted in 119 children with DSM-IV diagnosis of ADD. Hypothesis related variables were: paroxysmal discharges, global (GPD) or focal (FPD), photic driving response (PDR), fast/slow power ratio (FSR), focal wideband power changes (FPC), rhythmic fast beta (RFB). Hypothesis and treatment for each cluster: C1 dopamine dysregulation, methylphenidate; C2 hyperactive attention circuits, carbamazep''ne; C3 phantom absences, valproate; C4 thought disorganization, risperidone; C5 migraine-like episodes, valproate. Treatment response at three months was compared to the obtained by methylphenidate in a matched sample, repeated measures ANOVA with ADHD SC4 scores as dependent variable. RESULTS: Overall response was significantly better in the sample treated by dysfunction type, with clusters 3 and 4 contributing most. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest different physio-pathogenic mechanisms underlying the ADD. Selecting treatment to correct a neurophysiological dysfunction predicts much better response than by conventional guidelines.
Poster 100
COGNITIVE AGING: EVIDENCE AGAINST A SINGLE FACTOR
Thomas P. Urbach, & Marta Kutas
University of California San Diego
Descriptors: cognitive, aging, chronometry
Theories differ on how much of normal aging is explained by a general factor (slowing) vs. selectively compromised cognitive functions such as inhibitory processes or working memory. We recorded speeded responses and ERPs in young and old in four tasks (RSVP): 1. simple RT; 2. Go-NoGo; 3. left-right choice Go-NoGo; 4. 1-Back choice Go-NoGo (respond for previous cue). Response times in tasks 1-3 increased monotonically in both groups. However, old 1-Back response times were comparable to old choice Go-NoGo (slowest), whereas young were nearly as fast as their simple RTs (fastest). ERPs in tasks 1 -3 had centro-parietal late positive complex (LPC) amplitudes and peak positive latencies increasing in both groups, mirroring the response times. This regularity failed in the 1-back task though differently from the behavior: Young 1-Back responses patterned with simple RTs but their LPCs patterned with Go-GoNo LPCs; Old 1-Back response times resembled choice NoGo but their LPC amplitudes were intermediate between simple RT and choice NoGo. Cue-response incompatibility response time and ERP effects within the 1-back task were modest so age-related changes in relevant inhibitory processes accounted for little variability. And while response times in tasks 1 - 3 in the old group were very well fit as a linear function of the young (o 5 1.1ny+20ms, R2 5 0.995) and thus consistent with general slowing models, the 1-Back data are strikingly discrepant. Overall these findings accord better with age-related changes in working memory than inhibitory processes or a single general factor. NIH/NIA 2 R01AG08313 to M. Kutas.
Poster 102
ENHANCED PREATTENTIVE DETECTION OF ANGER PROSODY IN ANXIOUS LISTENERS
Annett Schirmer, & Nicolas Escoffier National University of Singapore
Descriptors: anxiety, mismatch negativity, heartrate
Previous research suggests that anxious individuals are biased towards the processing of anxiety relevant information. This has been linked to top-down, cognitive mechanisms that enhance attentional engagement. Here we investigated whether bottom-up mechanisms may also contribute by facilitating the preattentive detection of anxiety relevant information. To this end, non-clinical participants were invited to watch a silent, subtitled movie while passively listening to an auditory oddball sequence. In one block, this sequence comprised frequent syllables spoken with neutral prosody and rare syllables spoken with angry prosody. In another block, the frequency of angrily and neutrally spoken syllables was reversed. Concurrent recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG), revealed a mismatch negativity (MMN) to both rare angry and neutral syllables. However, the MMN to rare angry syllables was larger and its amplitude was positively correlated with state anxiety. State anxiety was also correlated with tonic and phasic changes in heart rate variability. Acceleration in beat frequency for angry as compared to neutral prosody was larger in high as compared to low state anxiety individuals. Taken together, these findings implicate bottom-up mechanism in the previously observed behavioral bias. Moreover, it seems that anxious individuals are more likely to detect unattended, anxiety relevant changes in their environment and thus to bring these changes into awareness.
CAN VIEWING TREE COLOR AFFECT PEOPLE'S EMOTIONAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES
Andrew J. Kaufman1, Paul Bolls2, & Virginia I. Lohr3 1University of Hawaii, 2University of Missouri, 3Washington State University
Descriptors: landscape preference, heart rate, EMG
Previous research has indicated that people have emotional and physical responses to plants. This experiment was designed to test a variety of tree color canopies on people's autonomic responses. Heart rate and Facial EMG physiological measures were collected time-locked to the presentation of computer generated trees at a 6 second exposure rate to tree images. Respondents, 42, ranging from 18 to 60 years old were shown computergenerated images of one tree form in 18 different colors on a video monitor while psychophysiology data was collected. Facial EMG used a 6 (Sequence/Order) x 18 (color) x 12 (Time) Mixed design with order as a between subjects factor and both Color and Time as within subjects repeated measures. For Heart Rate, the research design used a 6 x 18x 10 mixed design, with time as 10 levels. These data initially reveal that tree color affected zygomatic muscle activation, and is correlated to decelerating cardiac responses. Particularly, difference between green and brown saturation levels of High Intensity hues versus Low Intensity hues was revealed. These data suggest that there is a positive physiological relation between people's responses and tree canopy hue and saturation levels. Responses were generally consistent with what would be predicted based on the potential survival information available in an environment that are associated with landscape sustainability theories.
Poster 104
EARLY FACILITATED PERCEPTUAL PROCESSING OF THREATENING FACES
Carmen M. Pastor1, Rosario Poy1, Pilar Segarra1, Raúl Lopez1, Laura Miccoli1, Ernesto Tarragon 1, Harald T. Schupp2, & Javier Molto1 1Jaume I University, 2University of Konstanz
Descriptors: ERP, emotion, facial threat
ERP reactivity to emotional facial expressions was assessed in female students (n 5 14) in order to re-examine the hypothesis of the facilitated perceptual processing of threatening faces. EEG was recorded from 129 channels while participants viewed four intermixed blocks of 60 NimStim pictures (10 happy, 10 neutral, 10 angry faces), with no explicit task for emotional categorization of the stimuli. Each picture was presented for 1500 ms, being repeated twice within a block and 8 times along the experiment; ITIs varied randomly between 1.5 and 3 s. Over temporo-occipital regions, threatening faces, compared to neutral or friendly expressions, elicited enhanced negativity (EPN; 150 - 300 ms), which was slightly steadier over the right compared to the left sites. A reverse effect was found over fronto-central sensors, with more positivity when viewing facial threat compared to the other emotional expressions. At later stages of stimulus processing, threatening faces also tended to prompt heightened positive potentials (LPP; 400-600 ms) relative to the other facial expressions, but differences over centro-parietal regions were not statistically significant. All these effects were sustained along the experiment but somewhat more reliable during the first block of trials, suggesting a facilitated perceptual analysis of threatening faces. Differences between friendly and neutral faces, by contrast, popped out in the last blocks, suggesting that enhanced processing of positive emotional stimuli might need more time to develop in contexts of pasive viewing of affective faces.
Ministerio de Educaci—n y Ciencia SEJ2007-61742/PSIC.
INTEROCEPTIVE SENSITIVITY MODULATES ANXIETY EXPERIENCE DURING PUBLIC SPEAKING
Natalie S. Werner, Stefan Duschek, Michael Mattern, & Rainer Schandry Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
Descriptors: anxiety, interoception, public speaking
The present study explored the influence of interoceptive sensitivity on the experience of anxiety in a real-life situation. We compared high and low interoceptive participants with regard to self-report and behavioral measures of anxiety as well as to physiological variables before, during and after a public speaking task. High interoceptive participants reported significantly less state anxiety and less habitual public speaking anxiety. No significant differences in behavioral measures and physiological measures were observed. The main finding is in line with Damasio's somatic marker hypothesis which suggests that reasoning, decision-making and social behavior is optimized by body-related signals in complex situations. Accordingly, high interoceptive individuals, to whom physiological signals are more easily accessible, experience less uncertainty during public speaking and thus can adjust their emotional processes more adequately.
Poster 106
GAMMA BAND RESPONSE IN A WORD RELATEDNESS TASK
Grantley W. Taylor1, & Dean F. Salisbury2 1McLean Hospital, 2Harvard Medical School
Descriptors: gamma frequency, semantic network
A complex Morlet wavelet frequency decomposition analysis was applied to the EEG recorded during a word- relatedness task in which subjects decided if a target word following a cue word was related to the cue. Cue target combinations utilized both unambiguous and homograph cues followed by either related or unrelated words. Related words varied by strength of association. Homograph cues when followed by related words used dominant meaning targets which varied by strength of association. Trial-to-trial phase-locking as an index of neural synchrony and evoked power were used to gauge gamma band activity. A significant difference was found in the phase locking value (PLV) for unambiguous, strongly associated related versus unrelated targets in the 46 -70 Hz, 225-275 msec. post target interval. The PLV for unambiguous, weakly associated targets, and strong and weakly associated, dominant homograph targets were intermediate in value between the unambiguous, strongly related targets and unrelated targets. The evoked power findings showed all ofthe related words having a similar response, without differentiation based on strength of association or ambiguity of cue. All had stronger responses than unrelated targets though not to a significant degree. The findings in sum confirm earlier results ofa gamma band response indexing relatedness in the 225-275 msec. post target interval. There is suggestion ofa graded response based on strength ofassociation and degree of ambiguity in the PLV measure.
Poster 107
ACTION-OUTCOME CONTINGENCY AND STIMULUS-PRECEDING NEGATIVITY
Hiroaki Masaki1, Katuo Yamazaki1, & Steven Hackley2 1Waseda University, 2University of Missouri
Descriptors: action-outcome contingency, stimulus-preceding negativity
We investigated the relationship between the action-outcome contingency and the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN). A previous fMRI study reported that activation of the caudate nucleus occurs when perception of contingency exists between an action such as a button press and its outcome (Tricomi, Delgado &
Fiez, 2004, Neuron, 41: 281-292). If the SPN represents activation of cortical structures downstream from the caudate nucleus, the action-outcome contingency should be a critical factor for development of this reward-sensitive component. We used a gambling task, in which the participants were instructed to choose one of two alternatives by pressing the first- or second-finger key when they saw boxes that enclosed question marks (the choice condition) and to press the (single) thumb key upon seeing boxes with exclamation marks (the no-choice condition). Each trial began with appearance of two boxes, ''?'' in the choice condition or ''!'' in the no-choice condition (64 trials/block n 5 blocks). Visual feedback was shown 2.5 s after the choice response, informing participants of their monetary gain or loss. The SPN that developed in anticipation of feedback was larger in the choice condition. In view of previous findings linking the SPN to the dopamine system, these findings suggest that the SPN represents activity related to reinforcement of actions potentially leading to reward, rather than perceptual attention to salient stimuli in general.
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)18530572 from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science and Waseda University Grant for Special Research Projects (2008A-505) to H. Masaki.
Poster 108
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC (EEG) OSCILLATIONS IN THE 25-30 HZ RANGE AT REST AND DURING A BINDING TASK: RELATIONSHIP WITH PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES AND THOUGHT DISORDERS
Montserrat Gerez1, Marco A. Dupont2, Enrique A. Suairez1, Lauro Castanedo1, Antonio Ruiz Taviel1, & Enrique Galica1 1Hospital Espanol de Mexico, 2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Descriptors: psychoses, perception, thought
Intriguing early reports of 25-30 Hz EEG activity in psychoses were inconclusive because of inter/intra individual variability. Nowadays, cognitive paradigms and analytical techniques have shown EEG 30-70 Hz oscillations (gamma activity) related to higher order information processes. During perception it is evoked by 'binding' stimulus features, phase-locked at modality related locations, and induced, unlocked, when comparing to memory traces. Similar bursts may occur unpredictably for spontaneous mental activity involving 'binding-like' processes. We hypothesized some features of the random 25 - 30 Hz oscillations in disorganized thought to be similar to the spontaneous gamma in normals. If so, a given task would change it into a time-locked, modality specific type. In addition, while this random activity is also seen in psychoses, this will not be redirected by a stimulus recognition task. EEG 25-30 Hz power and phase locking were analyzed (repeated measures MANOVA) at rest and during a binding task in 10 volunteers and 20 patients (8 acute psychosis, 12 thought disorder; DSMVI criteria). RESULTS: 25-30 Hz absolute power was significantly higher in temporal regions for all patients at rest and for psychotics during the task. Repeated measures showed a task related significant decrease in the thought disorder group, no task differences in psychotic and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest abnormal integration underlying thought disorders in general, differences between patient groups probably reflecting redirection of available resources.
Poster 109
NEURONAL GENERATOR PATTERNS OF OLFACTORY EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS (OERP) IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Jürgen Kayser1, Craig E. Tenke1, Dolores Malaspina2, Christopher J. Kroppmann1, Jennifer D. Schaller1, Andrew Deptüla1, Nathan A. Gates1, Roberto B. Gil1, & Gerard E. Brüder1 1New York State Psychiatric Institute, 2New York University
Descriptors: schizophrenia, olfaction, CSD-PCA
Deficits in odor threshold sensitivity, discrimination and identification are common in schizophrenia, presümably originating from brain strüctüres also
linked to their cognitive and emotional disturbances. However, the neurophy-siological processes underlying olfactory dysfunction in schizophrenia have only been studied by Turetsky et al (2003) who found reduced N1 and P2 amplitudes. Nose-referenced 30-channel ERPs were recorded from 23 schizophrenic and 14 healthy adults (15/7 male) during an odor detection task. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) stimuli (200 ms duration) at concentrations of 50% and 100% were presented to the left or right nostril by a constant-flow olfactometer (variable ISI 15-25 s). Time of odor stimulation was not cued. Subjects indicated whether they perceived a low or high odor intensity. To identify and measure neuronal generator patterns underlying ERPs, unrestricted Varimax-PCA was performed on their reference-free current source densities (spherical splines). Patients' behavioral performance was on par with that for healthy controls for high (25% vs. 26% misses) and low (43% vs. 44%) odor concentrations. Patients showed similar olfactory ERP and CSD waveforms when compared to controls, but their N1 sink (300 ms, bilateral frontotemporal maximum) and P2 source (615 ms, mid-parietal maximum) amplitudes were smaller. However, both groups had greater N1 sinks and P2 sources to high than low odor intensities. OERP amplitude reductions to H2S stimuli in schizophrenia appear to reflect reduced activity in frontocentral, midline frontopolar, and parietal regions.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) MH066428.
Poster 110
ENHANCED NEURAL PROCESSING FOR SIGNIFICANT TARGETS IN SATELLITE IMAGES
Stacey M. Crane1, Don M. Tucker1, Phan Luu1, & Pieter Poolman2 1Electrical Geodesics, Inc., 2University of Iowa
Descriptors: attention, rapid serial visual presentation, electrical source analysis
A cognitive operation has a specific time course, and understanding that temporal process is important for both theoretical analysis and improving cognitive efficiency in high workload environments. We applied dense-array EEG to examine neural activity while detecting targets of military significance in a rapid stream of images. As in previous research, detecting targets did not affect the initial electrophysiological response in the visual system (i.e., the P1). However, source analysis suggested modulation in occipital and temporal regions of the ventral object recognition pathway, including primary visual cortex, for targets during the N270 and P300 windows. In addition, targets increased the EEG source responses in medial frontopolar areas beginning at 210 ms and sustained until 400 ms, suggesting that frontal regulation of attention and memory may be important to target detection in the visual system. These results suggest neurophysiological analysis may clarify mechanisms of visual perception, including not only pattern recognition, but also the executive attentional control of that capacity.
This research was supported by a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (HM1582-05-C-0042).
Poster 111
DISSOCIABLE RECRUITMENT OF ROSTRAL ANTERIOR CINGULATE AND INFERIOR FRONTAL CORTEX IN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE INHIBITION
Pearl H. Chiu1, Avram J. Holmes2, & Diego A. Pizzagalli2 1Baylor College of Medicine, 2Harvard University
Descriptors: emotion, ERP, source localization
The integrity of decision-making under emotionally evocative circumstances is critical to navigating complex environments, and dysfunctions in these processes may play an important role in various psychopathologies. The goal of this study was to examine the spatial and temporal dynamics of neural responses to emotional stimuli and emotion-modulated response inhibition. High-density event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were measured as participants (N 5 25) performed an emotional Go/NoGo task that required button presses to words of a 'target' emotional valence and response inhibition to words of a different
'distractor' valence. Using scalp ERP analyses and source-localization techniques, we identified distinct neural responses associated with affective salience and affect-modulated response inhibition, respectively. Both earlier (~300 ms) and later (~700 ms) ERPs were enhanced with successful response inhibition to emotional distractors. Only ERPs to targets differentiated affective from neutral cues. Moreover, source localization analyses revealed right ventral lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activation in affective response inhibition regardless of emotional valence, whereas rostral anterior cingulate activation (rACC) was potentiated by emotional valence but was not modulated by response inhibition. The results are discussed in the context of an emerging affective neuroscience literature and implications for understanding psychiatric pathologies characterized by a detrimental susceptibility to emotional cues, with an emphasis on major depressive disorder.
This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH68376 to DAP and F31 MH078346 to AJH), the American Psychological Association (NIMH-sponsored T32 MH18882 to PHC), and the Sackler Foundation (Fellowships in Psychobiology to AJH and PHC).
Poster 112
AN ERP STUDY OF THE SEMANTIC TRANSPARENCY AND SEMANTIC COMBINABILITY EFFECTS IN READING CHINESE
Chia-Ying Lee1, Ying-Ying Cheng1, & Chun-Hsien Hsu2 1Academia Sinica, Taiwan'', 2National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan
Descriptors: chinese, ERP, semantic
In Chinese, more than 80% of Chinese characters are made of a semantic radical and a phonetic radical. In principle, the phonetic radical is a cue to the pronunciation of the whole character, whereas the semantic radical is a cue to its meaning. Feldman and Siok (1997) defined the semantic combinability as the numbers of characters that shares the same semantic radical and found that lexical decision time for characters with large semantic combinability were faster than those with small semantic combinability. Chen and Weekes (2004) further showed that the semantic combinability effect was affected by whether the whole character's meaning can be denoted by semantic radical (the semantic transparency). The current study aims to use both P200 and N400 that correspond to different stages of lexical processing to capture the temporal dynamics of the semantic combinability effect in reading Chinese. The data showed significant semantic combinability effects on P200 and N400 in reading semantic transparent characters. Characters with high semantic combinability revealed less positive P200 and greater negativity of N400 than those with low semantic combinability. These findings thus support the two-stage framework of lexical processing. At the early stage, characters with high semantic combinability elicit a greater activation at orthographic processing that facilitate response time and show decreased P200. For the later stage, characters with higher semantic combinability activate more candidates that share the same radical and thus elicit a greater semantic competition on N400.
Poster 113
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE P3 EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL, ITS UNDERLYING TIME-FREQUENCY COMPONENTS, AND EXTERNALIZING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Casey S. Gilmore, Stephen M. Malone, Edward M. Bernat, & William G. Iacono University of Minnesota
Descriptors: P3, time-frequency, externalizing
P3 amplitude reduction (P3-AR) has been associated with biological vulnerability to a spectrum of disinhibitory (externalizing) disorders, including ADHD, conduct disorder, and substance use disorders. P3 is composed of stimulus-evoked delta and theta oscillations, which index distinct cognitive processes and are more 'elementary' measures of brain activity than P3 amplitude. These oscillations may serve as more parsimonious biological markers, or endopheno-types, for externalizing psychopathology than P3-AR. The present study
investigated the relationship between P3, its underlying oscillatory components, and externalizing psychopathology. A recently developed PCA-based time-frequency (TF) analysis method was used to extract oscillatory TF components underlying P3. Logistic regression analyses determined the abilities of P3 and each TF component's amplitudes to differentiate a community-based sample of adolescent males with an externalizing disorder from those with no disorder. Five delta and theta frequency components were extracted. P3 and each TF component successfully discriminated diagnostic groups from controls, due to reduced amplitudes in diagnostic groups. When combined with P3 in bivariate analyses, a delta component underlying the rising edge of P3 accounted for a significant amount of variance, beyond that accounted for by P3, across all externalizing diagnostic groups. Abnormalities in this delta component may be driving the association between P3-AR and externalizing, suggesting it may serve as a more parsimonious endophenotype for externalizing than P3-AR.
Poster 114
BELIEF IN GOD PREDICTS LOWER ANTERIOR CINGULATE ACTIVITY IN A DECISION-MAKING TASK
Michael Inzlicht1, Ian McGregor2, Jacob B Hirsh1, & Kyle Nash2 1University of Toronto, 2York University
Descriptors: social neuroscience, anterior cingulate cortex, decision making
The majority of people in the world derive peace of mind and purpose in life from their belief in God. For others, however, religion provides unsatisfying answers, with approximately 8 to 12% of people in the world not believing in God. Are there neurocognitive differences between believers and non-believers? Do their brain systems differ in characteristic ways? Here we show that belief in God is marked by reduced reactivity in a neurocognitive system responsible for uncertainty and conflict detection, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). In two studies, we recorded electroencephalographic neural reactivity in the ACC as participants responded to generic color stimuli that contained conflicting perceptual information. In Study 1, we found a strong negative correlation between belief in God and ACC reactivity and in Study 2, we found a similarly strong correlation between religious zeal and ACC reactivity. Importantly, these correlations remained strong even after statistically controlling for personality traits and cognitive capacities. Our results suggest that religious conviction is associated with an attenuated response to errors, although it remains to be seen whether these effects are unique to religion per se or whether they would occur with any form of ideological commitment. A suppressed reaction to uncertainty appears to be one mechanism by which religious beliefs can help reduce distress. It is worth noting that although reduced recognition of uncertainty may quell anxiety, it may do so at the expense of greater psychological rigidity.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Poster 115
PHARMACOEEG: ACUTE EFFECTS OF SULPIRIDE ON 25-30 HZ ABSOLUTE POWER AND TOPOGRAPHY AND CLINICAL RESPONSE IN ATYPICAL THOUGHT DISORDERS
Montserrat Gerez, Marco A Dupont, Carlos Serrano, Enrique Suairez, & Alberto Guerrero Hospital Espanol de Mexico
Descriptors: thought, pharmacology, atypical
Sulpiride, an atypical psychotropic with selective D2 receptor affinity and antidepressant properties, shows variable antipsychotic effectiveness depending on clinical condition. It has been used empirically in 'atypical' psychiatric syndromes with anecdotically reported good response. Objective measures are needed for therapeutic guidelines. We have reported 25 - 30 Hz EEG oscillations in thought disorders with functional similarities to gamma activity (30 - 70 Hz) in normals. Pharmacological studies have related 25-30 Hz oscillations to DA activity. In particular, sulpiride increased frontal 25 - 30 Hz power in volunteers.
We looked for changes in 25 - 30 Hz power and topography in 12 patients with a combination of apathy, anergy, anhedonia and thought disorder assessed with the Brief Schizotypic Personality Questionnaire (BSPQ) not fulfilling DSMIV criteria for depressive nor psychotic episode, and 12 controls. At baseline, 25-30 Hz power was significantly decreased bifrontally, and increased (non-significant) on the left temporal region. After 45 minutes of 100 mg oral dose of sulpiride, left temporal 25-30 Hz power decreased to control levels, markedly increased bifrontally, Individual repeated measure and group mean difference with controls were significant. Clinical improvement after one month treatment was significant for 11 patients, and directly correlated with changes in 25 - 30 Hz frontal power CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the atypical syndrome described is related to dopamine dysregulaton, and response to treatment may be objectively measured.
Poster 116
EMOTIONAL RESPONSIVENESS TO AFFECTIVE STIMULI: AGGRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS
Linda L. Roesch, Jon J. Kassel, Justin E. Greenstein, Margaret C. Wardle, Daniel P. Evatt, Jennifer C. Veilleux, & Adrienne Heinz University of Illinois at Chicago
Descriptors: startle, aggression, emotion
Research suggests that aggressive children may have deficits in social information processing in which biases in perceiving, interpreting, and making decisions about social information increase the likelihood ofaggression. In addition, research has demonstrated that aggressive children tend to ignore relevant social cues and preferentially attend to aggressive ones. It has been hypothesized that this tendency may reflect impairment in both the recognition of emotional stimuli and the cognitive control of emotion, thus resulting in a propensity for aggressive behavior. As such, the present study attempted to investigate the relationship between aggression and emotional response using the startle eyeblink response to auditory tones. As part of a larger study, 9th and 10th graders (n 5 187; mean age 5 15.7; 55% girls) completed the Adolescent Antisocial Behavior Checklist (AASBC) after which they viewed pictures (6 secs each) of positive, neutral, and negative affective valence while their startle eyeblink response to acoustic tones (95dB) was measured. Independent samples t-tests indicated that individuals with higher levels of aggression manifested significantly smaller mean startle response magnitude specifically when viewing the negative slides (po.05) compared to those lower in aggression. Furthermore, these groups did not differ in mean startle response magnitude when viewing the either the positive or the neutral slides. Hence, these findings indicate that adolescents with higher levels of aggression are less emotionally responsive to negative stimuli.
Poster 117
A COMPARISON OF NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND HEART
PERIOD VARIABILITY ANALYSIS METHODS DURING A SIMULATED DRIVING AND VERBAL WORKING MEMORY DUAL-TASK WITH AUDITORY AND VISUAL STIMULI
A. Aydin Cecen, Ahmet Ugar, Vlad Radoias, Jonathon R. Shelley, Nicholas D. Cassavaugh, & Richard W. Backs Central Michigan University
Descriptors: nonlinear analysis, driving simulation
Six male university students drove a scenario on a desk-top driving simulator and performed a 1-back memory task while electrocardiogram was continuously recorded during two 40-min sessions. The memory task consisted of words naming locations that might occur running errands (e.g., post office, pharmacy, etc.) which were alternately presented in auditory and visual modalities within each session. In separate sessions, participants were instructed to attend to one modality and the order of the attend-auditory and attend-visual conditions was counterbalanced. We expected that the attend-visual condition would require more shared attentional resources and be more difficult than the attend-auditory
condition. The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of nonlinear dynamics and fractal analysis to the inter-beat interval data across a session, and to compare these results to heart period and heart period variability. Low-frequency heart period variability was significantly suppressed during attend-visual compared to attend-auditory conditions, but only in the second half of the scenario. On the other hand, nonlinear dynamic analysis is considered in the context of multifractality, long memory (long-range dependence), and nonstationarity of inter-beat interval data. While the estimates of some classical invariants of fractal analysis, such as the correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponents did not help distinguish between auditory and visual modalities, the autocorrelation functions appeared to behave differently between these two modalities.
Poster 118
BLOOD PRESSURE REACTIVITY AND RECOVERY TO A LAB STRESSOR IN SOLDIERS DEPLOYING TO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN PREDICTED SELF-REPORTED PHYSICAL HEALTH AT RETURN FROM DEPLOYMENT
Karen S. Quigley1, Elizabeth A. D'Andrea1, Adam J. Ackerman1, Conway Yen1,
Heather Hamtil1, & Charles C. Engel2 1Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Healthcare System, 2Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Descriptors: military, blood pressure, reactivity
Little is known about how pre-deployment stress reactivity or recovery are related to later physical health in Soldiers. The current findings are from a subset of data (N 5 152) from a prospective longitudinal cohort study of Army National Guard/Reserve Soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan with data at pre-deployment (Time 1), post-deployment (Time 2) and 3 months and 1 year after return. Outcomes in the larger study are self-reported physical and mental health, physical symptoms, and health care utilization. Predictors include personality, demographic, exposure, affect, and physiological (autonomic cardiac, blood pressure or BP, & cortisol) variables. Physiological measures were taken before, during and after a heterotypic lab stressor task (confrontational speech preparation and performance, serial subtraction, and cold pressor). BP change scores were computed for reactivity (Task-Baseline) and recovery (PostTask-Task). Models predicting self-reported physical health at Time 2 used age, gender and Time 1 physical health at step 1, Time 1 negative emotionality, prior deployments, and prior trauma at step 2, and systolic (SBP) or diastolic (DBP) reactivity or recovery at step 3. Three of 4 models (SBP reactivity, p< .05; SBP recovery, p<.05; DBP recovery, p<.01) revealed that Time 1 BP reactivity/ recovery were significant predictors of Time 2 physical health controlling for other factors. These data suggest that pre-war blood pressure reactivity and recovery may be useful individual difference factors related to physical health after deployment to a war zone.
This work was supported by a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Service.
Poster 119
HABITUATION OF THE ELECTRODERMAL RESPONSE IN ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
Sandra M. Nagel, Sarah Bauer, & Meaghan K. Carpenter Saginaw Valley State University
Descriptors: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, skin conductance response
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) affects millions of children and adults worldwide. Until recently little was known about the physiological nature of this disorder. It has been found that norepinephrine (NE) is one of the neurotransmitters that may affect ADHD. NE has been found to be most influential on electrodermal activity and, particularly, the skin conductance response (SCR). The SCR is a phasic change in electrical activity that represents the reaction to a presented stimulus. When a stimulus is repeatedly presented, the
SCR decreases in amplitude; a phenomenon called habituation. Previously, it has been found that many ADHD patients do not habituate. SCR was measured in 31 participants (ADHD n 5 13; Normal control n 5 18) during the administration of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CCPT-II). The phasic SCR responses collected during the Go trials of Block 3 of the CCPT-II were compared with the same activity collected during Block 16. Repeated-measures ANOVA, T-tests, and multiple regression tests were conducted. Separate correlational analyses that looked for the ability of habituation scores, Block 3 SCR amplitudes, and Block 16 amplitudes to predict ADHD symptomology and CCPT-II variables provided the main findings of this study. The relationships found indicated a lack of habituation in the ADHD group during the CPT-II. In addition, the concurrent measurement of SCR and CCPT-II performance shows promise for future research that may help determine ADHD subtypes based on psychophysiological measures.
Poster 120
THE EFFECT OF UNCONSCIOUSLY INSERTED EMOTION ON DECISION MAKING IN IOWA GAMBLING TASK
Nai-Shing Yen, Kuan-Hua Chen, Ming-I Tu, & Hui-Kuan Chung National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Descriptors: somatic marker hypothesis, subliminally presented pictures, anticipatory scr
The Somatic Marker Hypothesis proposed that human decision making is unconsciously biased by emotion from previous experiences and appears when people ponder making a choice. To test this unconscious emotional bias, 48 college students were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. For the experimental group, we subliminally presented emotional pictures as participants played the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Specifically, a negative/ positive picture was presented for 30 ms at the position of the selected deck when good/bad deck was selected. Participants in the control group received the IGT only. We predicted that control participants would select more cards from good decks. In addition, anticipatory and feedback SCRs would both be higher for bad decks. For the experimental group, since emotion comes from subliminally-presented pictures and is presumed to interfere with emotion elicited by gambling task, it was hypothesized that the good/bad deck difference in anticipatory SCRs, feedback SCRs, and card selection would decrease. Results from the control group replicated previous findings. However, results from the experimental group indicated that although the feedback SCRs were still higher for bad decks, no deck difference was revealed for anticipatory SCRs. However, participants still preferred to good decks behaviorally. Therefore, our data suggest a) unconsciously inserted emotion may cause interference in somatic markers, but is not capable ofaffecting decision making; b) Individuals' decision making is still advantageous even without the somatic markers.
National Science Council in Taiwan.
Poster 121
HABITUAL EMOTION REGULATION AND INCREASED ZYGOMATICUS MAJOR ACTIVITY EVOKED BY NEGATIVE IMAGES (OR 'GRIMACING')
Keith W Burton, Kristen Hargrave, Stephanie Myers, Ashley Warren, Sarah Wolsfeld, Dawn Tompkins, Monica Qualls, & Sheryl Reminger University of Illinois, Springfield
Descriptors: emotion regulation, facial expression
Studies of stimulus-evoked facial expression of emotion describe zygomaticus major activity as an indicator of positive emotional expression, with a linearly relationship to stimulus valence (positive>neutral>negative). Less frequently zygomatic activity will appear quadratically related to stimulus valence (positive and negative > neutral). The most likely explanation for an increase in zygomatic activity while viewing negative emotional images is that the participants are 'grimacing,' yet this type of activity does not appear consistently in the literature.
We hypothesized that several factors might be related to the appearance of grimacing expressions, including gender, age, habitual emotion regulation style, and type of negative stimulus (i.e., 'biologically prepared' stimuli such as spiders or mutilations vs. learned stimuli such as automobile crashes). 62 participants (f 5 32) were recruited to view emotionally-salient images while zygomatic facial EMG was recorded. Gender, age, stimulus type, and emotion regulation via expressive suppression were unrelated to grimacing, but emotion regulation via cognitive reappraisal was. Those who habitually regulated their emotions via cognitive reappraisal showed the typical linear pattern of zygomatic activity, while those who did not showed a quadratic pattern (F5 3.0, p<.05). Self-reported emotional experience was unaffected by reappraisal. Cognitive reappraisal thus appears to play a role in the expression of grimacing, and this participant characteristic may help to explain why this phenomenon is intermittently observed.
Poster 122
EEGIFT: A TOOLBOX FOR GROUP INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS OF EVENT-RELATED EEG
Tom Eichele1, Srinivas Rachakonda2, & Vince D Calhoun2 1University of Bergen, 2The MIND Institute
Descriptors: group ICA, single trial analysis, event related eeg
Independent component analysis (ICA) is a powerful and increasingly popular method for blind source separation that has general applicability to psychophy-siological data and has been used, among others, for decomposition of EEG, MRI, and concurrent EEG-fMRI. ICA is not naturally suited to draw group inferences since it is a non-trivial problem to identify and order components across subjects. One solution to this problem is to create aggregate data containing observations from all subjects, estimate a single set ofcomponents and then back-reconstruct this in the individual data. We present a group ICA model for event related EEG single trial data based on a rationale proposed for ICA of fMRI (Calhoun, Adali, Pearlson, Pekar, HBM 2001). The method is implemented in a freeware Matlab toolbox which is available at http:// icatb.sourceforge.net. We illustrate the model and processing details, and demonstrate the performance of this method with hybrid data, as well as real data from passive and active auditory oddball experiments. Results from the hybrid data indicate that the model faithfully extracts and back-reconstructs sources with varying topographies and latency jitter. Decomposition of the passive oddball yields a separation ofthe EEG into sources containing the MMN and P3a. ICA of oddball data with responses to attended targets yields components for the N1, P2, N2b, P3a and P3b with with different sensitivity to TTI, sequence and RT. The results indicate that group ICA is a suitable and useful tool for multi-subject event-related EEG analysis on single trial level.
The present study was financially supported with grants from the Research Council of Norway to Kenneth Hugdahl and by the National Institutes of Health, under grants 1 R01 EB 000840 and 1 R01 EB 005846 to Vince Calhoun.
Poster 123
RESTING HEART RATE IN INFANTS AND TODDLERS: VARIATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH EARLY INFANT DIET AND THE OMEGA 3 FATTY ACID DHA
R.T. Pivik, H. Jing, J.M. Gilchrist, & T.M. Badger Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center and University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences
Descriptors: infant diet, cardiovascular regulation
Although early postnatal nutrition can have long-term effects on developmental processes, the influence of infant diet on the maturation of cardiac regulation has not been documented. To study this relationship we recorded resting heart-rate (HR) in awake, healthy infants and toddlers breast fed (BF), or fed milk (MF) or soy formula with (SF+) or without (SF —) commercial DHA (decosahexaenoic acid) during infancy. Groups were recorded at 3 (n 5 10), 6 (n 5 11), 9 (n 5 9), 12
(n 5 9), and 24 (n 5 10) months. Artifact-free recordings were digitized and interbeat (RR) intervals determined and subjected to power spectral analyses. Data were analyzed using ANOVA procedures with post-hoc t-tests. Significant (p< .05) decreases in HR, and increases in HR variability (HRV), low and high frequency activity (LF:0.04-0.15 Hz; HF: 0.15-0.5 Hz) were observed for all groups across the study period. SF- infants showed higher HR, lower HRV, and lower LF and HF relative to comparison groups. Significant differences were most prevalent between 6 and 12 months. Although significant differences were not present at 2 yrs, HR remained higher (5-7%), and LF and HF measures lower (3-8% and 10-25%, respectively) in SF- than other groups. Indications of decreased parasympathetic influence in SF- infants beyond weaning and reports ofDHA-associated HR decreasing effects may suggest a role for DHA in programming cardiovascular development and regulation. Whether these diet-related early developmental differences in cardiac control have long-term behavioral effects remains to be determined.
Supported by USDA CRIS 6251-51000-002-03S.
Poster 124
MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVATION DURING COMMON ONLINE ACTIVITIES
Kevin Wise, Saleem Alhabash, Petya Eckler, Jeremy Littau, Anastasia Kononova, & Miglena Sternadori University of Missouri
Descriptors: interactive media, motivation, emotion
How do different features of common online activities affect physiological and self-report indicators of cognition, emotion, and motivation? Participants (N5 22) in a within-subjects experiment explored Facebook, Amazon.com, and CNN.com. Heart rate, electrodermal, and facial EMG data were recorded during participants' time online and synchronized with a video record of each participant's web browsing. Individual interviews were conducted at the end of each activity. Preliminary results suggest that inter-page transitions elicited greater electrodermal activity than did sustained visual attention on the contents ofa particular page. Additional findings suggest that online behaviors associated with social interaction and consumption may be more motivationally relevant than those associated with information acquisition.
Poster 125
EYE MOVEMENT MEASURES OF EYEWITNESS VERACITY
Frank M. Marchak, Tanner L. Keil, Jennifer E. Tierney, & Pamela S. Westphal Veridical Research and Design
Descriptors: eyewitness, eye movments, deception
The goal of this effort was to determine the efficacy of employing eye movement measures to validate eyewitness identification. Twenty six subjects watched a video that involved a secretary entering an office, putting down a purse, and leaving the room to get coffee. A suspect passes by the open door, rifles through the purse and takes objects, and then flees when the secretary returns. At the end of the video, the subjects engaged in a word search distracter task for 5 minutes to prevent rehearsal and then completed a questionnaire describing the suspect and the crime. Lastly, a simultaneous lineup of 6 faces was presented while subjects eye movements, pupil diameter, reaction time and confidence were measured. Half the subjects viewed a lineup with the suspect present and half with the suspect absent. Overall, 54% of subjects were correct, with 10 correct identifications and 4 correct determinations of 'not present'. A repeated-measures MANOVA showed a significant overall effect of lineup face, F(45,258) 5 2.15, p 5 0.000. Univariate tests were significant for greatest gaze duration (F(5,65) 5 5.74, p 5 0.000), first gaze duration (F(5,65) 5 3.89, p 5 0.004) and transitions into and out of face regions F(5,65) 5 3.95, p 5 0.003). There were also significant differences in confidence ratings and
reaction times. Eye movement measures successfully differentiated viewing ofthe suspect from the foils even in some instances when the subject's identification was incorrect. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to determining eyewitness veracity.
Poster 126
DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF PERIODIC LIMB MOVEMENTS OF SLEEP WITH MATTRESS ACTIGRAPHY
Steven H. Woodward1, Ned J. Arsenault1, Gregory A. Leskin2, & Javaid I. Sheikh3
department of Veterans Affairs and National Center for PTSD, 2University of California, Los Angeles, 3Stanford University
Descriptors: sleep, EMG, periodic limb movements
Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) is condition in which periodic muscle contractions, often in the legs, disrupt sleep. In conventional polysomno-graphy, electromyogram (EMG) at the anterior tibialis muscles, and occasionally at the deltoids, is used to detect periodic movements (PLMs) and quantify their severity. A salient feature of this literature is that PLM frequency is a poor predictor of subjective sleep disturbance (Mendelson, 1996). Significantly, it has emerged that PLMs are also associated with cardiac accelerations beginning 1-3 seconds prior to muscles bursts, suggesting that the latter are only ancillary manifestations of more generalized CNS phenomena. Additionally, measuring AT EMG requires extended electrode leads which impair sleeper comfort. In this presentation, we will assess the measurement ofPLMs directly via accelerometers embedded in a mattress topper. Data are from 19 participants in a study of sleep in anxiety who exhibited moderate to large numbers of PLMs. 3129 PLMs were scored according to standard criteria and their magnitudes compared to those of concurrent leg and thorax movements and cardiac responses. Accelerometer-transduced movements of the thorax and leg were modulated by arousal classification and sleep stage very similarly to AT EMG responses. Thorax region movement magnitudes also explained more variance (~8.1%) in associated cardiac response than did AT EMG (~5.7%) or leg movements (~6.8%). Mattress actigraphy appears to provide quantification of PLMs comparable to that provided by AT EMG but without sleeper burden.
This research was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and NIMH grant R01MH064724-01A2 to Javaid Sheikh.
Poster 127
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF MATERNAL EMPATHY AND PARENTING STYLES
Jim G. Stieben, & Laura Orlando York University
Descriptors: anterior cingulate, parenting style, emotion regulation
The cognitive and to a lesser extent, the emotion based correlates of anterior cingulate (ACC) ERP activity have been well described in the literature. Little, however, is known about the mediating role of parenting on the ACC. In this study, we assessed the relationship between maternal empathy, parenting style and children's no-go N2, a measure linked to self-regulatory mechanisms of the ACC. Dense-array ERPs from 24 children (4-8 years) were collected using an emotion provocation go/no-go task. Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and parenting style was measured using the Parenting Styles Questionnaire. Results show that the children's no-go N2 amplitude was positively correlated with ratings of maternal empathy. Warmth and involvement scales positively correlated with children's no-go N2. In contrast, verbal hostility and corporal punishment correlate negatively with children's no-go N2. All correlations were statistically significant. These results indicate that the self-regulatory mechanisms of the ACC are mediated by individual differences in
parenting styles. Children with parents who are less empathic and more authoritarian display larger amplitude N2s suggesting that they need to allocate greater self-regulatory control resources under emotion provocation whereas children with warmer parents do not need to exercise as much regulatory control. Results are discussed in terms of the neural efficiency hypothesis within the context of emotional self-regulation.
Poster 128
SERIALITY IS REQUIRED FOR AUTOMATIC REGULARITY EXTRACTION IN AUDITION: AN MMN STUDY
Erich Schroger, & Urte Roeber University of Leipzig
Descriptors: regularity extraction, automatic deviance detection, mismatch negativity (mmn)
In tens of hundreds of studies it has been shown that the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potential is elicited when a sound violates a rule inherent in the recent auditory stimulation. Such rules can be rather abstract as for example contingency relations between successive sounds. Importantly, seriality is crucial in the auditory domain as auditory information unfolds in time and auditory information has to be convoluted from this deconvolute. This fact might impose a serious constraint to the MMN-system. We show evidence that the (predictive) power of the MMN-system is lost when this seriality is destroyed, that is, when the rule does not obey a constant relation between successive sounds. In the experimental condition, we used two frequent but randomly presented standard (900 and 1100 Hz, p 5 0.45 each) and one infrequent deviant (1000 Hz, p 5 0.10) sounds. In the control condition, we ran a classic one-standard-one-deviant oddball paradigm. According to traditional MMN-theory it has to be expected that the MMN-system can easily cope with two different standards and, thus, the elicitation of MMN has to be expected. According to the axiom that seriality is required in order to extract a rule against which deviances can be detected, no MMN is to be expected. Indeed, MMN was only obtained in the control but not in the experimental condition arguing for the limitation of the MMN-system to serial rules. Thus, the seriality axiom seems to hold for the MMN-system.
Poster 129
ADVANTAGE OF TONAL LANGUAGE SPEAKING IN NON-LINGUISTIC PITCH PERCEPTION
Emily M. Stanley1, Shalini Narayana1, Peter Q. Pfordresher2, & Nicole Y.Y.
Wicha3
1UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, 2University at Buffalo, SUNY, 3University of Texas at San Antonio
Descriptors: musical perception, tonal languages
The use of lexical tone alters how native speakers produce and perceive pitch in language. Moreover, the brains of tone-language (T) speakers respond differently than non-tone-language (NT) speakers to perceived lexical tone. It is unclear, however, if such differences are reflected in processing pitch for non-linguistic tones, such as in music. The current research aims to determine if experience with tone language affects discrimination of non-linguistic pitch and pitch intervals. We analyzed discrimination accuracy and the timing of corresponding neural processes, using event related potentials (ERP), comparing Ts and NTs on two tasks. Twenty-five native speakers of Mandarin Chinese or Vietnamese and 25 age- and education-matched English speakers, judged pairs of tones and pairs of pitch intervals that either differed or not in pitch while ERPs were recorded. All participants had minimal musical experience. Overall, Ts were significantly more accurate on both tasks than NTs. During pitch discrimination, Ts showed a larger negative amplitude around 150 milliseconds for change versus
no change trials, as well as a sustained frontal positivity across all conditions, perhaps reflecting better attentional tuning for subtle pitch changes relative to NTs. In contrast, NTs showed a larger P3 amplitude for change versus no change trails in both tasks, reflecting increased effort in categorizing pitch differences relative to Ts. In sum, language experience seems to affect both early sensory and later cognitive processes in discriminating non-linguistic tones.
Poster 130
THE IMPACT OF MACHIAVELLIAN AND DISGUSTING IMAGES IN ANTI-TOBACCO ADS ON VIEWERS' MESSAGE PROCESSING
Glenn Leshner, Paul D. Bolls, Miglena Sternadori, Rachel L. Bailey, Rebecca Norris, Elizabeth Gardner, DeeAnna Adkins, Ashley Spratt, Ji Yeon Jeong, & Petya Eckler Missouri School of Journalism
Descriptors: anger, disgust
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of two message attributes of anti-tobacco television public service announcements on attention, arousal, and emotional response. The two message attributes are tobacco industry attacks and disgusting images. Industry attack ads were adapted from the American Legacy Foundation anti-tobacco campaign, which showed tobacco company executives as deceitful, dishonest, and manipulative. A 2 (attack: present/absent) X 2 (Disgust eliciting image: present/absent) X 5 (Ad) X 4 (Order) mixed model repeated measures experiment was conducted. Skin conductance, heart rate and facial EMG data were recorded time-locked to presentation of the ads. Preliminary data analysis indicates several interesting effects. High attack/low disgust ads induced the largest increase in skin conductance level across time. Low attack/high disgust ads evoked the strongest pattern of cardiac deceleration. High attack/high disgust ads elicited the largest decrease in orbicularis oculi EMG activity. This pattern of results suggests that messages containing varying levels of anger-inducing and disgust-inducing content can produce physiological responses likely to alter the reception and retention of those messages.
Poster 131
CROSS-LANGUAGE INTERFERENCE IN A BILINGUAL STROOP TASK: AN ERP STUDY
Emily M. Stanley1, & Nicole Y.Y. Wicha2 1UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, 2University of Texas at San Antonio
Descriptors: bilingualism, stroop
Bilinguals can experience cross-language interference from an inhibited language and exhibit changes in brain activity related to this inhibitory process. We tested the timing of lexical interference in the first and second languages of fluent bilinguals using a modified Stroop task. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while fluent Spanish-English bilinguals named the ink color on color words that either matched the ink or not. The words were presented in English or Spanish and naming was performed overtly or covertly, either in the same language as the text or not, all in alternating blocks. Cross-language trials elicited an increased negativity between 200 - 500 milliseconds (ms) post stimulus onset compared to within-language trials. Consistent with previous findings, overtly or covertly naming a color that was incongruent with the text elicited a larger negativity between 350-500 ms compared to congruent trials, thought to reflect the detection of incompatible stimuli. The negativity was larger in amplitude when naming in one language and reading the other, reflecting the detection of the double incongruity in both color and language. Color mismatches also elicited a larger positivity starting at 600 ms, which was present for both within and between language trials, though more pronounced when naming in the same language as the text. These findings indicate that cross-language interference can
affect both early and late processing stages in lexical access, and will be discussed in light of models of bilingual lexical activation and inhibitory control.
Poster 132
CORRUGATOR AND STARTLE RESPONSES PREDICT MEMORY FOR EMOTIONAL PICTURES: DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF EMOTION CATEGORY
Michelle M. Wirth1, Roxanne M. Monticelli1, Daren C. Jackson2, Lawrence Greischar1, & Heather C. Abercrombie1 1University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2University of Wyoming
Descriptors: memory, corrugator, startle
Corrugator and startle activity are modulated by emotional stimuli, and a large body of research shows that emotional stimuli are more memorable than neutral stimuli. We investigated how corrugator and startle responses predict long-term memory of emotional and neutral stimuli. 51 male participants viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant IAPS pictures (21 of each emotion category, chosen using normative ratings) while psychophysiology data were collected including corrugator and startle blink EMG activity. Pictures were displayed for 6 seconds with an ITI of 17 seconds. Startle probes (50 ms blasts of 95 decibel white noise) were presented through headphones at 4.5, 7, or 8 seconds into the trial (18 trials each) or not at all (9 trials). Memory for the pictures was tested two days later using free recall and recognition tests. Corrugator activity during encoding predicted later memory of the pictures differentially by emotion category (significant emotion category X memory interaction): participants had greater corrugator activity for negative remembered compared to forgotten pictures, but less corrugator activity for positive remembered pictures. Startle activity during encoding was greater for pictures that later were remembered, regardless of emotion category (main effect of memory). These data suggest that startle and corrugator responses may correspond to different aspects of emotion-related information processing. We speculate that corrugator responses may represent the effects of valence whereas startle may represent the effects of arousal on memory encoding.
Poster 133
ENHANCED STRESS AND CRAVING RESPONSES IN INDIVIDUALS WITH COMORBID PTSD AND COCAINE DEPENDENCE
Eleni Dimoulas1, Eric D. Jackson1, Kristen M. Siedlarz1, Keri T. Bergquist1, Mary Jane Kreek2, & Rajita Sinha1 1Yale School of Medicine, 2Rockerfeller University
Descriptors: stress, PTSD, cocaine
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cocaine dependence (CD) are characterized by disturbances in subjective and physiological stress responses. The present study aims to assess whether comorbid PTSD and CD is associated with enhanced stress and drug craving responses. Recently abstinent CD patients meeting criteria for current and/or lifetime diagnosis of PTSD (CD+PTSD: N5 40) and those without PTSD (CD: N5 40) were matched for gender, age, race, alcohol use, and other psychological disorders. All patients were exposed to a script-driven guided imagery procedure to induce emotional distress and physiological responses. Individualized stress, drug cue, and neutral-relaxing scripts were developed for each patient, and presented one per day on 3 consecutive days in random order. Heart rate, blood pressure, plasma samples of cortisol, ACTH, and prolactin, and self reports of anxiety and craving were collected during baseline, imagery, and recovery periods. CD+PTSD versus CD group showed greater neuroendocrine and cardiac responses, as well as higher ratings of anxiety and craving following the stress and drug cue relative to the neutral condition. Increased stress and cue-related reactivity in the PTSD+CD
group largely came from individuals meeting current criteria for PTSD rather than from those having lifetime PTSD only. These data indicate significant effects of PTSD on neuroendocrine and sympathetic responses to stress in CD individuals, and have implications for understanding the pathophysiology of comorbid PTSD and CD.
Supported by NIH grants: P50-DA16556, K02-DA17232, P60-DA05130.
Poster 134
INFLUENCE OF AFFECTIVE PICTURES AND WORDS ON CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Mark J. Starr1, Yekaterina Gogolushko2, & Piotr Winkielman1 1University of California, San Diego, 2University of California San Diego
Descriptors: emotion, motivation, EMG
Recent studies show that affective stimuli, such as facial expressions, can influence not only immediate responses but even delayed and spontaneous behaviors. However, it is unclear whether these effects hold for other affective stimuli and what their underlying mechanisms are. We addressed these issues by comparing the influence of emotional pictures and valence-matched words on hedonic behavior (consumption of novel drink) and psychophysiological response. In Experiment 1, both subliminal and supraliminal emotional facial expressions influenced consumption in an affect-congruent way. In Experiment 2, pictures of both high and low-frequency emotional objects influenced consumption. In comparison, words tended to produce affect-incongruent effects. In Experiment 3, skin conductance level and activity of facial muscles (corrugator and zygomaticus) were measured during supraliminal presentation of emotional pictures and valence-matched words. Our findings support embodiment theories, which hold that pictures elicit somatosensory responses easier than words, and privileged access theories, which hold that pictures serve as better primes of semantic meaning than words. Funding provided by NSF grant BCS-0350687.
Poster 135
DUCHENNE SMILES REDUCE SENSITIVITY TO RACIAL CATEGORY BOUNDARIES
Kareem J. Johnson Temple University
Descriptors: positive emotion, duchenne smiles, racial categorization
Induced states of positive emotion have been shown to increase recognition of cross-race faces and to reduce sensitivity to racial category in ambiguous race classification tasks. The Duchenne smile is believed to index genuine positive emotion, and involves the action of two facial muscles; the zygomatic majoris and the orbicularis occuli. In the present study, thirty-five participants watched an emotion eliciting video prior to completing an ambiguous race classification task. Facial EMG activity was recorded from three muscles sites, corrugator, orbicularis, and zygomatic. Duchenne smiles were scored as the simultaneous activation of orbicularis and zygomtaic without corresponding activation of the corrugator. From the frequency of expressed smiling, participants were divided into 'smilers', those who expressed at least one duchenne smile, and 'non-smilers', who never expressed a duchenne smile. Results revealed that smilers reported higher levels of positive emotion than non-smilers. Expressions of duchenne smiles predicted differences in performance on the racial classification task, but self-reported positive affect did not. Smilers showed significantly lower sensitivity to racial category boundaries relative to non-smilers. Smilers also showed slower reaction times during the racial classification task. Results further support the role of positive emotions in promoting more inclusive social categorization strategies.
WHAT GIRLS LIKE: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN APPETITIVE RESPONDING TO EROTIC IMAGERY
Kareem J. Johnson, Arthur Sandt, & Emily Izbicki Temple University
Descriptors: post-auricular, appetitive responding, erotica
The postauricular reflex (PAR) has gained support as a measure of appetitive responding. Research has suggested that erotica evokes strong appetitive motivation in males, however, results are mixed as to what females consider appetitive. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of appetitive responding, as measured by the PAR, to pictures selected to represent an array of social thematic contents involving people. Pleasant picture categories consisted of erotic males, non-erotic males, erotic females, non-erotic females, erotic couples, non-erotic couples, and babies. Unpleasant categories consisted of attack, poverty, grieving, and depictions of addiction or substance abuse. In order to control for abnormal fluctuations in hormonal levels, PAR responses were collected from twenty normally cycling females. In line the contention that the PAR indexes appetitive responding, pleasant categories generated greater responses than unpleasant categories. Further analysis of the thematic contents revealed that erotic couples evoked the greatest PAR responses, and significantly differed from non-erotic couples. However, images of erotic males or erotic females did not generate significantly different PAR responses related to non-erotic images. Although images of babies were rated as being more pleasant than images of erotic couples, the PAR was not potentiated to pictures of babies. This study builds on the literature from the evolutionary psychology and psychophy-siological fields by clarifying the relative appetitiveness among different social stimuli.
Poster 137
EXTERNALIZING IS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED OVERALL P300 BUT ENHANCED LPP RESPONSE TO AFFECTIVE VERSUS NEUTRAL PICTURES
Megan D. Lucy, Whitney R. Schulte, Edward M. Bernat, & Christopher J.
Patrick University of Minnesota
Descriptors: EEG/ERP, emotion, psychopathology
Aggression and impulsivity in varying forms have been conceptualized as part of a broader domain of problem behaviors termed the externalizing spectrum (Krueger et al, 2007). Impulsive-aggressive behavior in particular has been theorized to arise from impairments in affect-regulatory circuits in the brain (Davidson et al., 2000) and externalizing problems in general (including impulsive-aggression) are associated with reduced amplitude of P300 response (cf. Patrick & Verona, 2007). Here, in a sample of male prisoners, we examined relations between measures of externalizing problems and two components of brain response in a picture-viewing paradigm: the P300, and a late positive potential (LPP) shown to reflect affective activation (Cuthbert et al., 2000). Participants viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures selected from the International Affective Picture system, each for 6 s. Higher scores on externalizing indices including antisocial acts and aggressiveness were associated with a general decrease in P300 response across all types of pictures. However, relative to low-externalizing individuals, high-externalizing individuals showed increased LPP response to emotional versus neutral pictures. This pattern of generally diminished P300 to picture stimuli but enhanced LPP response to their affective content suggests that high-externalizing individuals may be impaired in higher cognitive processes that operate to moderate the impact of immediate affective events.
HOW DOES THE BRAIN EVALUATE FRONTAL EEG ALPHA ASYMMETRY IN TERMS OF ATTRACTIVENESS?
Alexander Kaplan1, Paul Kildani2, & Laurence Minikes1 1Moscow State University, 2NeuroTech Inc
Descriptors: EEG photic driving, frontal alpha asymmetry, mental disorders
Recent research has shown that resting frontal EEG alpha asymmetry can be expected as an indicator of a trait-like marker of depression and anxiety (Coan & Allen, 2004). FA is normally very steady because it is typically computed using average alpha power (AP) from many individual spectra, each the result of a Fourier transform derived from overlapping short-term epochs. The segment analysis has shown that in short-term scale the FA varies significantly from segment to segment (Kaplan et al., 1998, 2005). In the first session of the present work we tested short-term dynamics of FA during intermittent photic stimulation with average frequency near individual AP pick in two conditions: random photic stimuli and alpha wave triggered photic stimuli. It was shown that only alpha triggered stimulation decreases number epochs with high FA. In the second session the index of FA (IFA 5 APright-APleft)/APright) was used as a command signal for generator to produce of triggered stimulation. The generator started to work only when the IFA exceeded value equal 0.25. We explored whether duration of FA above IFA 5 0.2 will change during a session of a neurofeedback. Results showed that duration of EEG periods with increased IFA was reduced during 20 minute sessions in 2-4 times depending on the subject. In summary, we confirmed the hypothesis that periods of EEG with lowered FA are more 'attractive' to a brain as it actively causes trigger photo stimulation for leveling asymmetry. Probably this phenomenon opens new approaches to preventive maintenance and treatment of depression and anxiety.
Russian Foundation for the Humanities (RFH)06-06-00150a and NeuroTech Inc.
Poster 139
EMOTION PROCESSING AND DRIVING BEHAVIOR: REACTIVITY TO EMOTIONAL IMAGERY AMONG HIGH AND LOW RISK DRIVERS IN CYPRUS
Georgia Panayiotou, Margarita Kapsou, Elena Constantinou, & Anna Kyriakou University of Cyprus
Descriptors: emotion, traffic accidents, startle
Traffic accidents are related to risky driving reflective of impulsivity, sensation seeking and disinhibition. We tested the hypothesis that high risk drivers may be less reactive to negative and more reactive to positive emotions. We further hoped to replicate findings ofstartle modulation by emotion imagery in another culture. Thirty-five drivers in Cyprus completed the Driving Behavior Questionnaire and personality measures. They were divided into high and low risk drivers based on demerit points and/or involvement in serious accidents and participated in a tone-cued imagery experiment during which they imagined, for 8 second periods, emotion scripts reflecting Fear, Joy, Sadness and Relaxation situations. Six blocks of 12 emotion trials were separated by non-imagery relaxation periods varying in duration. Imagery and relaxation were cued by high, low and medium tones. 95dB auditory startle probes occurred in 75% of imagery periods. Startle amplitude, latency, facial EMG, HR and SCR were collected along with ratings of valence and arousal. Significant valence, arousal and valence X arousal interaction effects emerged for startle amplitude with Fear resulting in the largest and Relaxation in the smallest startle responses. High risk drivers were not significantly different in physiological reactivity, except from having somewhat inhibited startle responses overall. Differences in other physiological indices and correlations between driving behaviour, personality and physiological reactivity, and implications for understanding traffic accidents are also discussed.
VISUAL MISMATCH NEGATIVITY: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE EQUIPROBABLE PARADIGM
Motohiro Kimura1, Jun'ichi Katayama2, Hideki Ohira3, & Erich Schroger4 1Nagoya University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, University of Leipzig, 2Hokkaido University, 3Nagoya University, 4University of Leipzig
Descriptors: visual mismatch negativity, memory-comparison-based change detection, event-related brain potentials (erps)
In visual oddball studies, infrequent deviant compared to frequent standard stimuli elicited a posterior negative ERP at around 100-250 ms. However, there is still controversy as to whether the negativity reflects the mismatch between the
current input and the memory trace of the preceding stimuli (i.e., memory-comparison-based change detection effect) or lower refractoriness state of neurons specifically activated by infrequent stimuli in comparison with frequent stimuli (i.e., refractory effect). To determine the functional significance of the negativity, we used the equiprobable paradigm in which bar stimuli of five types of orientation were presented in random order with equal probabilities (control stimuli 20% each) as well as the oddball paradigm in which two stimuli with the closest orientation were presented in random order with different probabilities (deviant stimuli 20% and standard stimuli 80%). Compared to standard stimuli, deviant stimuli elicited two posterior negativities at around 100 -150 ms with no hemispheric dominance and at around 200-250 ms with right hemispheric dominance. In contrast, compared to control stimuli, deviant stimuli elicited only a posterior negativity at around 200 - 250 ms with right hemispheric dominance. These results suggest that the early part of the negativity reflects refractory effect, while the late part of the negativity reflects memory-comparison-based change detection effect (i.e., visual mismatch negativity).
