Article
Behavioral Sciences
Carina Fernandes, Ines Macedo, Ana R. Goncalves, Mariana R. Pereira, Fernando Ferreira-Santos, Fernando Barbosa, Joao Marques-Teixeira
Summary: Older adults show an enhanced N170 amplitude during the visualization of facial expressions of emotion. This effect is not specific to facial stimuli and is not modulated by own-age faces. The increased N170 amplitude in older adults may reflect a higher ambiguity of older faces due to age-related changes in their physical features, while the decreased P250 amplitudes for older faces may reflect a reduced processing of the emotional content of these faces.
Article
Neurosciences
Anna Zochowska, Maria M. Nowicka, Michal J. Wojcik, Anna Nowicka
Summary: This study revealed significant differences in brain signal response and processing between one's own face and other faces (including fearful, happy, and neutral faces). The results showed distinct processing of self-face compared to emotional faces, indicating that prioritized self-referential processing is driven by subjective relevance.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Anna-Lena Steinweg, Sebastian Schindler, Maximilian Bruchmann, Robert Moeck, Thomas Straube
Summary: This study found that participants with high trait anxiety showed reduced instead of amplified processing of fearful faces during perceptual discrimination tasks.
Review
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hongbo Yu, Chujun Lin, Sai Sun, Runnan Cao, Kohitij Kar, Shuo Wang
Summary: This article emphasizes the importance of faces in emotional processing and social evaluations, and advocates for the use of multimodal cognitive neuroscience methods to study these processes. Through specific case studies, the article demonstrates the application of multimodal approaches in investigating ambiguity in facial expressions of emotion and social trait judgment of faces, and explores the differences in facial processing between neurotypicals and people with autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, the article suggests new practices for studying the emotional processing and social evaluations of faces.
ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Beatrice de Gelder, Elizabeth Huis In 't Veldt, Minye Zhan, Jan Van den Stock
Summary: This study investigates a new case of acquired prosopagnosia and finds that the structurally intact FFA retains face selective response despite lesions in the face perception network. At the behavioral level, impaired configural processing for facial identity was observed, but not for other stimulus categories and facial expression recognition. These findings are important for understanding the behavioral and brain basis of face perception.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Magdalena Matyjek, Bartlomiej Kroczek, Magdalena Senderecka
Summary: This study demonstrated that affective knowledge induced through social interactions can influence early stages of face processing and attentional shifts. The research further supports the significant impact of interactive social exchange paradigms on affective knowledge generation and early psychological processing.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ria Vormbrock, Maximilian Bruchmann, Lucas Menne, Thomas Straube, Sebastian Schindler
Summary: Fearful facial expressions are prioritized in information processing, as shown by brain potentials. Emotional modulations depend on perceptual feature attention. Conflicting findings on emotional and neutral faces during distraction tasks may be due to attention on task-irrelevant features. This study investigated the role of face presentation duration on emotional modulations and found that duration did not significantly affect early and late emotional modulations, but longer durations did show differences. Future studies are needed to explore threshold effects and analytic designs.
Article
Neurosciences
Jonathan K. Wynn, Peter E. Clayson, Michael F. Green, Amy Jimenez, Junghee Lee, Eric A. Reavis, William P. Horan
Summary: People with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders exhibit deficits in processing facial features, which contribute to difficulties in social interactions. The study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess the face processing deficits in individuals with psychosis, their siblings, and healthy comparison participants. The results showed that there were significant differences in ERPs between the psychosis group and the control group, indicating a face-selective N170 ERP component deficit in individuals with psychotic disorders.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Sebastian Schindler, Maren-Isabel Wolf, Maximilian Bruchmann, Thomas Straube
Summary: The study found that fearful facial images can increase P1 amplitudes regardless of experimental conditions, indicating early emotional effects. Specific low-level frequency information may increase P1 amplitudes, potentially impacting the interpretation of early sensory emotional expression effects.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Sedigheh Naghel, Antonino Vallesi, Hassan Sabouri Moghadam, Mohammad Ali Nazari
Summary: This event-related potential (ERP) study compared the electrophysiological correlates associated with different stages of reward processing in risk-seeking and risk-averse groups. The results revealed that risk-seekers exhibited a attenuated stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) response to low-risk options during the anticipation stage, and an increased feedback-related negativity (FRN) response to greater losses during the outcome stage, compared to risk-averse individuals. These findings suggest that there are neural differences in reward processing between individuals with different risk preferences.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Linling Li, Xue Han, Erni Ji, Xiangrong Tao, Manjun Shen, Dongjian Zhu, Li Zhang, Lingjiang Li, Haichen Yang, Zhiguo Zhang
Summary: This study analyzed functional MRI data of bipolar disorder (BD) patients and healthy controls during a face-matching task and found widely distributed aberrant task-modulated functional connectivity (FC) patterns in BD. The fronto-parietal network was identified as the primary network demonstrating changes in both FC strength and local efficiency in BD.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Stanley A. Donahoo, Valeria Pfeifer, Vicky Tzuyin Lai
Summary: This article explores the brain's response to expressives in sentences using ERPs. The study finds that there is no difference between expressives and descriptives in the adjective late-positivity component (LPC), suggesting reduced social threat and a 'wait-and-see' strategy employed by readers to interpret expressives. Nouns preceded by expressives elicit a larger frontal P200 response and reduced N400 and LPC responses compared to nouns preceded by descriptives.
BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Ben Lewis, Julianne L. Price, Christian C. Garcia, Natalie C. Ebner, Sara Jo Nixon
Summary: The study found that individuals with AUD showed differences in working memory performance when attending to and ignoring facial stimuli, with poorer performance observed when ignoring faces. Compared to the control group, the AUD group exhibited decreased performance when ignoring facial stimuli, conditioned on the inability to ignore irrelevant emotional face stimuli, while performance was equivalent between groups when faces were attended.
ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Kwadjo O. Ntow, John E. Krzeczkowski, Bahar Amani, Calan D. Savoy, Louis A. Schmidt, Ryan J. Van Lieshout
Summary: The study found that after cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment for postpartum depression, infants' withdrawn behavior improved. However, there were limitations in the study, such as a relatively small sample and comorbid anxiety in the PPD group.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Zeguo Qiu, Stefanie Becker, Alan J. Pegna
Summary: This study investigated the relationship between attention and emotion processing. The results showed that visual awareness is necessary for emotion processing in both early and late stages, while spatial attention is only necessary in the late stage of emotion processing.
Review
Urology & Nephrology
Britta Gruene, Maximilian C. Kriegmair, Maximilian Lenhart, Maurice S. Michel, Johannes Huber, Anja K. Koether, Bjorn Buedenbender, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: This study evaluated the quality of existing decision aids (DAs) for uro-oncology patients and found a majority of DAs target prostate cancer, with fewer options available for kidney and bladder cancer patients. The overall quality of the existing instruments was high, but there is room for improvement to better address the specific needs of individual patients.
EUROPEAN UROLOGY FOCUS
(2022)
Article
Substance Abuse
Julian M. Wasmuth, Iris Reinhard, Holger Hill, Georg W. Alpers, Yury Shevchenko, Falk Kiefer, Tagrid Lemenager
Summary: This study aimed to test the effect of reducing smartphone-related distractions on inattention and hyperactive symptoms. The results showed that limiting smartphone use through specific modifications can significantly reduce hyperactive symptoms, especially for those with problematic smartphone use. However, there were no group differences regarding inattention symptoms and working memory accuracy.
EUROPEAN ADDICTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Rehabilitation
Emily J. Meachon, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: This study investigated coping mechanisms reported by adults with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or both conditions. The results showed that most participants reported adaptive strategies. Behavioral adaptations were most relevant to ADHD, while environmental modifications were common in DCD. Cognitive reframing and social support were similarly relevant to those with DCD and DCD+ADHD. The coping strategy categories were most uniform for the DCD+ADHD group.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
(2023)
Article
Education, Special
Emily J. Meachon, Clara Beitz, Martina Zemp, Kate Wilmut, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: This study developed and refined a German translation of the Adult Dyspraxia/DCD Checklist (ADC) and found good reliability and construct validity for both the German and English versions. The results indicate that the German translation has the potential to differentiate between DCD and ADHD, and highlight the unique symptom profiles in motor and executive functioning difficulties in adults with DCD or ADHD.
RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
(2022)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Bjoern Buedenbender, Anja K. K. Koether, Britta Gruene, Maurice S. S. Michel, Maximilian C. C. Kriegmair, Georg W. W. Alpers
Summary: This study aims to demonstrate that certain sociodemographic characteristics, such as older age, act as barriers to patients' preference for participation in shared decision-making (SDM), and this relationship is mediated by patients' negative attitudes and beliefs about their role in decision-making.
HEALTH EXPECTATIONS
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Ulrich W. D. Mueller, Oke Bahnsen, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: Previous research suggests that anxiety may influence political attitudes. However, in this experiment, researchers found that anxiety by itself does not alter political attitudes. Previously observed anxiety effects may be conditional on a political context of threat.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Ulrich W. D. Mueller, Antje B. M. Gerdes, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: Recently, it has been found that the peak-end memory bias, commonly observed in the context of pain, also applies to anxiety. This study aimed to replicate and extend this finding by conducting experiments in a threat of shock paradigm. The results showed that participants who experienced high threat anxiety at the end of the episode reported more anxiety for the entire experience and rated it as more aversive compared to those who experienced moderate threat anxiety. This finding has implications for exposure therapy in clinical anxiety.
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bjoern Buedenbender, Tim T. A. Hoefling, Antje B. M. Gerdes, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: Automatic facial coding (AFC) is a valuable tool for analyzing emotional facial expressions, but it is less accurate for non-prototypical and less intense expressions. The use of standardized and prototypical facial expression inventories for training has a strong impact on AFC's ability to classify emotional faces. Future developments should focus on including more naturalistic facial expressions to improve the generalizability and robustness of AFC.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Cristina Morato, Pedro Guerra, Florian Bublatzky
Summary: Recent studies suggest that pictures of loved ones can serve as prepared safety cues in fear conditioning and pain perception. However, this study challenges this view and explores whether pictures of smiling or angry loved ones are perceived as safety or threat cues. Results showed that facial images as threat cues elicited distinct psychophysiological defensive responses compared to safety cues. These effects were observed regardless of the person’s identity or facial expression.
Article
Education, Special
Emily J. J. Meachon, Hannah Melching, Georg W. W. Alpers
Summary: Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a common condition characterized by difficulties in motor skills. Recent research has found links between DCD symptoms and negative outcomes in mental and physical health. However, many clinicians are still not well-informed about DCD.
ADVANCES IN NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Medical Informatics
Bjoern Buedenbender, Anja K. Koether, Maximilian C. Kriegmair, Britta Gruene, Maurice S. Michel, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: This study assessed patients' specific participation preference in urological cancer treatment decisions using a modified version of the Autonomy Preference Index (API-Uro). The findings showed that patients desired more participation in treatment decisions (77.8%) compared to diagnostic decisions (22%).
BMC MEDICAL INFORMATICS AND DECISION MAKING
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sabine Schellhaas, Christian Schmahl, Florian Bublatzky
Summary: Selective electrocortical processing of threat-faces is observed, but not reflected in conscious recognition. Previously unseen threat-faces can activate defensive psychophysiological response systems, with enhanced startle reflex and skin conductance responses during the encoding phase.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY
(2023)
Article
Communication
Leonie Schueltke, Marco Warth, Georg W. Alpers, Beate Ditzen, Corina Aguilar-Raab
Summary: This study examines the effects of individual and dyadic meditation on social closeness and affect, and finds that both individual and dyadic meditation can improve social closeness and positive affect, while reducing negative affect.
JOURNAL OF SOCIAL AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
(2023)
Article
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Anja Quast, Sarah Batschkus, Jana Brinkmann, Henning Schliephake, Georg W. Alpers, Philipp Meyer-Marcotty, Antje B. M. Gerdes
Summary: This study investigated how adolescents with cleft lip and/or palate are perceived by their peers, revealing differences in eye contact and attractiveness ratings compared to unaffected peers.
PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY
(2022)
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Stefan Grund, Michael Kilb, Eva Breitinger, Wilfried Hundsdoerfer, Hans G. Schaefer, Jos M. G. A. Schols, Adam L. Gordon, Jurgen M. Bauer, Georg W. Alpers
Summary: The study aimed to evaluate a brief single-item Verbal Numerical Rating Scale as a screening tool for psychological distress in multimorbid geriatric rehabilitation patients. The findings suggest that the tool is feasible in inpatient geriatric rehabilitation setting and can help detect patients who may need more detailed psychodiagnostic examination to identify potential psychological distress and mental disorders. This supports the use of a stepwise psychodiagnostic scheme in inpatient geriatric rehabilitation to identify those in need of interventions.
EUROPEAN GERIATRIC MEDICINE
(2022)