Sensory and somatosensory underpinnings of emotion processing

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in recognizing one’s own emotions and others’ emotions, specially fear. Recognizing emotions is associated with remarkable changes in somatosensory and sensory (particularly visual) processing. For instance theories about emotion processing suggest a strong association between emotion processing and somatic markers. The aim of the present thesis is to assess whether the difficulties in emotion processing shown by alexitimic subjects can affect somatosensory and sensory (especially visual) processing. To this end different somatosensory modalities (e.g. temperature, pain, tactile, touch, etc) and visual stimuli (e.g. face and body expressions) were used to compare the somatosensory and sensory processing in people with high and low scores of alexithymia. These experiments provided evidence that emotional processing deficit seems to be related to the alterations in somatosensory processing (Experiments 1, and 2), in visual processing, early visual encoding (Experiments 3, 4, and 6), and in physiological reactivity, particularly visceral reactivity (Experiment 5), which prevents these individuals to correctly perceive emotions. Together, these studies suggest that the emotional difficulties in alexithymia might be grounded in the specific low-level somatosensory system. Moreover, the lack of emotional modulation at the early stage of visual processing indicates that the rapid modulation of the amygdala over the visual cortices may be reduced, thus suggesting a hyporeactivity of the amygdala in individual with high levels of alexithymia

Alexithymia is related to the need for more emotional intensity to identify static fearful facial expressions

Individuals with high levels of alexithymia, a personality trait marked by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings and an externally oriented style of thinking, appear to require more time to accurately recognize intense emotional facial expressions (EFEs). However, in everyday life, EFEs are displayed at different levels of intensity and individuals with high alexithymia may also need more emotional intensity to identify EFEs. Nevertheless, the impact of alexithymia on the identification of EFEs, which vary in emotional intensity, has largely been neglected. To address this, two experiments were conducted in which participants with low (LA) and high (HA) levels of alexithymia were assessed in their ability to identify static (Experiment 1) and dynamic (Experiment 2) morphed faces ranging from neutral to intense EFEs. Results showed that HA needed more emotional intensity than LA to identify static fearful - but not happy or disgusted - faces. On the contrary, no evidence was found that alexithymia affected the identification of dynamic EFEs. These results extend current literature suggesting that alexithymia is related to the need for more perceptual information to identify static fearful EFEs

Choosing, Doing, and Controlling: Implicit Sense of Agency Over Somatosensory Events

Sense of agency—a feeling of control over one’s actions and their outcomes—might include at least two components: free choice over which outcome to pursue and motoric control over the action causing the outcome. We orthogonally manipulated locus of outcome choice (free or instructed choice) and motoric control (active or passive movement), while measuring the perceived temporal attraction between actions and outcomes (temporal binding) as an implicit marker of agency. Participants also rated stimulus intensity so that we could measure sensory attenuation, another possible implicit marker of agency. Actions caused higher or lower levels of either painful heat or mild electrotactile stimulation. We found that both motoric control and outcome choice contributed to outcome binding. Moreover, free choice, relative to instructed choice, attenuated the perceived magnitude of high-intensity outcomes, but only when participants made an active movement. Thus, choosing, not just doing, influences temporal binding and sensory attenuation, though in different ways. Our results show that these implicit measures of agency are sensitive to both voluntary motor commands and instrumental control over action outcomes

【02】外国につながる子どもフォーラム2011 第2部 教員・支援者にとって有効な手引き書について考える ～『教員必携 外国につながる子どもの教育 Q&A・翻訳資料』をめぐって～

Alexithymia is a personality trait involving deficits in emotional processing. The personality construct has been extensively validated, but the underlying neural and physiological systems remain controversial. One theory suggests that low-level somatosensory mechanisms act as somatic markers of emotion, underpinning cognitive and affective impairments in alexithymia. In two separate samples (total N\uc2\ua0=\uc2\ua0100), we used an established Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery to probe multiple neurophysiological submodalities of somatosensation, and investigated their associations with the widely-used Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Experiment one found reduced sensitivity to warmth in people with higher alexithymia scores, compared to individuals with lower scores, without deficits in other somatosensory submodalities. Experiment two replicated this result in a new group of participants using a full-sample correlation between threshold for warm detection and TAS-20 scores. We discuss the relations between low-level thermoceptive function and cognitive processing of emotion

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Internet Addiction Test-Social Networking Sites Version: Dimensionality Assessment of Social Networking Site Addiction

Background: By evaluating the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Internet Addiction Test-Social Networking Sites version (IAT-SNS) in a sample of Iranian university students, this study investigated the dimensionality of SNS addiction for the first time. Methods: A total of 620 SNS users (414 women) participated in the study. The study questionnaire comprised demographic information, SNS usage patterns, the IAT-SNS, and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). Findings: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified the 3-factor structure of the IAT-SNS, namely ‘Lack of Control’, ‘Emotional and Relational Conflict’, and ‘Preference for online relationships’ that explained 54% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) verified the current model. Problematic users on average exhibited higher scores on the whole IAT-SNS and each of the 3 factors as compared to non-problematic users. The IAT-SNS and its factors showed good internal consistency, and strong convergent and concurrent validity. Conclusion: The Persian version of the IAT–SNS is valid and reliable, and is applicable for measuring the 3 dimensions of SNS addiction among students

Visuo-Spatial Attention in ADHD Children: Investigating the Asymmetry

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was comparing visuo-spatial attention between children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Inattentive (ADHD-I) type and normal children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study fifteen (7-10 years of age) children were classified with ADHD-I type and 15 normal children were matched for age, sex, and IQ. They were selected trough simple random sampling. Measurement tools were Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children 4th edition (WISC-IV), the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory and the Star Cancellation Test. Results: The results suggest that there is no significant difference between ADHD-I and normal children from the visuo-spatial standpoint (P>0.05). But three ADHD-I children exhibited signs of unilateral neglect. Discussion: Although, in this study the visuo-spatial attention was not different between ADHD-I group and normal group, considering this form of attention as an item in assessment and therapeutic interventions should not be neglected

The effect of alexithymia on early visual processing of emotional body postures

Body postures convey emotion and motion-related information useful in social interactions. Early visual encoding of body postures, reflected by the N190 component, is modulated both by motion (i.e., postures implying motion elicit greater N190 amplitudes than static postures) and by emotion-related content (i.e., fearful postures elicit the largest N190 amplitude). At a later stage, there is a fear-related increase in attention, reflected by an early posterior negativity (EPN) (Borhani et al., 2015). Here, we tested whether difficulties in emotional processing (i.e., alexithymia) affect early and late visual processing of body postures. Low alexithymic participants showed emotional modulation of the N190, with fearful postures specifically enhancing N190 amplitude. In contrast, high alexithymic participants showed no emotional modulation of the N190. Both groups showed preserved encoding of the motion content. At a later stage, a fear-related modulation of the EPN was found for both groups, suggesting that selective attention to salient stimuli is the same in both low and high alexithymia

Lateralized emotional and movement-related body postures modulate the body specific N190 ERP component: different patterns in different hemispheres

The extent, to which emotional and movement-related information conveyed by human body postures is represented already at visual encoding, is still under debate. The present study investigated the modulations of the body specific ERP component (N190) by different body postures. Images of emotional (fearful and happy), neutral and static body postures were laterally presented in the left or right visual fields during a discrimination task between emotional and non-emotional body postures. The N190 component over the right hemisphere was differently modulated by each body posture presented: fear postures induced the highest N190 amplitudes, followed by neutral and happy postures. Static postures elicited the lowest N190 amplitudes. In contrast, the N190 component over the left hemisphere showed a significant difference only between the static body posture and movement-related postures: the static body postures lead to the lowest N190 amplitude. These findings suggest that the visual encoding for bodies is affected by emotional and movement-related information and that the two hemispheres differentially contribute to the visual analysis: the right hemisphere, probably due to its prominent role in the processing of emotions, is responsible for a more detailed encoding, able to distinguish between the different emotional postures. In contrast, the left hemisphere plays a role only in the low level distinction between static and movement-related postures (emotional or neutral)

Emotional and movement-related body postures modulate visual processing

D ow nloaded from 2 Human body postures convey useful information for understanding others ’ emotions and intentions. To investigate at which stage of visual processing emotional and movement-related information conveyed by bodies is discriminated, we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by laterally-presented images of bodies with static postures, and implied-motion body images with neutral, fearful or happy expressions. At the early stage of visual structural encoding (N190), we found a difference in the sensitivity of the two hemispheres to observed body postures. Specifically, the right hemisphere showed a N190 modulation both for the motion content (i.e., all the observed postures implying body movements elicited greater N190 amplitudes compared to static postures) and for the emotional content (i.e., fearful postures elicited the largest N190 amplitude), while the left hemisphere showed a modulation only for the motion content. In contrast, at a later stage o