Empathic Responses for Pain in Facial Muscles Are Modulated by Actor’s Attractiveness and Gender, and Perspective Taken by Observer

Although empathy for pain is an often studied phenomenon, only few studies employing electromyography (EMG) have investigated either emotional responses to the pain of others or factors that modulate these responses. The present study investigated whether the sex and attractiveness of persons experiencing pain affected muscle activity associated with empathy for pain, the corrugator supercili (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) muscles, in male and female participants in two conditions: adopting a perspective of “the other” or “the self.” Fifty one participants (27 females) watched movies showing situations that included the expression of pain, with female and male and more and less attractive actors under both conditions, while the CS and OO EMG were recorded. Perspective did not affect CS muscle activity, but OO muscle activity tended to be higher in women than men under the imagine-self condition. CS muscle activity, but not OO muscle activity, was modulated by the actors’ gender and attractiveness. CS muscle activity was stronger in response to the pain of less attractive than more attractive actors, and to the pain of female actors compared to male actors. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between empathic concern, as a trait, and CS muscle activity, but only in the imagine-self condition

Mózgowe podłoże rozwoju mowy w autyzmie

Although in a majority of cases, autistic children face difficulties communicating verbally, the valid diagnostic classifications do not identify them as the main symptoms of the disorder. The adoption of such a position has been supported by results of (mainly behavioural) research, which imply that language and speech development in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is extremely variable and individually diversifi ed and the observed delay of its development is not unique to autism. On the other hand, the research conducted by means of neuroimaging methods shows that an atypical structure and activity of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, which are important for language processes, exist in the ASD. A weak structural and functional connectivity in the arcuate fasciculus, which connects these structures, has also been discovered. It is assumed that the changes arise from neurodevelopmental irregularities occurring at an early stage of foetal life and their causes are probably genetic. This study characterises speech development disorders and atypical brain development in autism referring to results of both behavioural and neuroimaging research

Emotion and gender

Conventional wisdom suggests that women are more 'emotional' than men. Does this mean that women express their emotions more fully than men? Or, do women experience more or stronger emotions than men? A substantial body of research has demonstrated that women are able to better understand emotional expression from face, gestures and voice. However, it remains unclear whether women also experience more emotion than men. In the last years, an increasing number of studies suggest that sex differences in emotional processing have neurobiological bases

Emotional Empathy and Facial Mimicry for Static and Dynamic Facial Expressions of Fear and Disgust

Facial mimicry is the tendency to imitate the emotional facial expressions of others. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays leads to enhanced facial mimicry, especially for happiness and anger. However, little is known about the impact of dynamic stimuli on facial mimicry for fear and disgust. To investigate this issue, facial EMG responses were recorded in the corrugator supercilii, levator labii and lateral frontalis muscles, while participants viewed static (photos) and dynamic (videos) facial emotional expressions. Moreover, we tested whether emotional empathy modulated facial mimicry for emotional facial expressions.In accordance with our predictions, the highly empathic group responded with larger activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles. Moreover, dynamic compared to static facial expressions of fear revealed enhanced mimicry in the high-empathic group in the frontalis and corrugator supercilii muscles. In the low-empathic group the facial reactions were not differentiated between fear and disgust for both dynamic and static facial expressions.We conclude that highly empathic subjects are more sensitive in their facial reactions to the facial expressions of fear and disgust compared to low empathetic counterparts. Our data confirms that personal characteristics, i.e. empathy traits as well as modality of the presented stimuli, modulate the strength of facial mimicry. In addition, measures of EMG activity of the levator labii and frontalis muscles may be a useful index of empathic responses of fear and disgust

Emotional processing in schizophrenia

Although emotion processing deficits have been implicated in schizophrenia since its original description, with symptoms including a “flat“ and “inappropriate“ affect, the extent and nature of emotion processing performance in schizophrenia are still unclear. Several studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia have deficits in the processing of emotional facial expressions and these have included patients from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. The deficits seem to affect mainly the ability to name and discriminate expressions. Furthermore, performance correlates with symptom severity, which indicates that deficits in discriminating emotional aspects of facial expressions have clinical significance. Impairment in the specificity of emotion identification may lead to misunderstanding of social communication and may underlie difficulties in social adjustment experienced by people with schizophrenia. The aim of the paper is a review of current literature about emotional processing in patients with schizophrenia. Studies have examined the perception, experience, and expression of emotion in schizophrenia as well as the relation between performance on emotion and olfactory tasks. Studies on emotion expression repeatedly showed that individuals with schizophrenia display fewer overt expressions than nonpatient comparison subjects in verbal, facial, and acoustic channels. Studies on emotion experience tend to show a higher frequency of negative affect and a higher sensitivity to negative conditions and stress. Deficits in emotion recognition have been clearly identified for all channels studied. Studies on olfaction and emotion in schizophrenia revealed that olfactory and emotion recognition abilities appear significantly linked in schizophrenia.Takie objawy, jak blady czy nieadekwatny afekt wśród chorych na schizofrenię, były opisywane już w pierwszych doniesieniach na temat tej choroby. Jednak wymiar i natura deficytów emocjonalnych w przebiegu schizofrenii nadal pozostają niewyjaśnione. Przeprowadzone dotąd badania wskazują, że pacjenci ze schizofrenią przejawiają zaburzenia ekspresji emocjonalnych, a deficyt ten dotyczy pacjentów pochodzących z różnych środowisk kulturowych. Zaburzenia percepcji ekspresji emocjonalnych odnoszą się zarówno do umiejętności nazywania, jak i rozróżniania emocji. Co więcej, wykazano, że istnieje związek między nasileniem objawów klinicznych, w szczególności objawów negatywnych, a umiejętnością rozróżniania emocji. Informacje te mogą zatem zostać wykorzystane w celach diagnostycznych. Wydaje się, że specyficzne zaburzenia rozpoznawania emocji, np. z twarzy czy z głosu, przez pacjentów ze schizofrenią mogą być przyczyną trudności w nawiązywaniu i utrzymywaniu relacji społecznych. Celem pracy był przegląd aktualnego piśmiennictwa na temat procesów emocjonalnych u pacjentów chorujących na schizofrenię. Badano percepcję, doświadczanie i wyrażanie emocji wśród pacjentów chorujących na schizofrenię, a także związek między procesami emocjonalnymi a węchowymi. Badania dotyczące ekspresji emocjonalnej wskazują na mniejszą ekspresję werbalną, akustyczną i mimiczną wśród pacjentów w porównaniu z osobami zdrowymi. W zakresie doświadczania emocji pacjenci w omawianej grupie częściej wyrażają negatywne emocje i dotkliwiej przeżywają negatywne warunki i stres. Deficyty w rozpoznawaniu emocji zostały opisane we wszystkich badanych kanałach. Badania w zakresie rozpoznawania emocji i zapachów ujawniają związek między wskazanymi procesami w przebiegu schizofrenii

Cultural Moderation of Unconscious Hedonic Responses to Food

Previous psychological studies have shown that images of food elicit hedonic responses, either consciously or unconsciously, and that participants’ cultural experiences moderate conscious hedonic ratings of food. However, whether cultural factors moderate unconscious hedonic responses to food remains unknown. We investigated this issue in Polish and Japanese participants using the subliminal affective priming paradigm. Images of international fast food and domestic Japanese food were presented subliminally as prime stimuli. Participants rated their preferences for the subsequently presented target ideographs. Participants also rated their preferences for supraliminally presented food images. In the subliminal rating task, Polish participants showed higher preference ratings for fast food primes than for Japanese food primes, whereas Japanese participants showed comparable preference ratings across these two conditions. In the supraliminal rating task, both Polish and Japanese participants reported comparable preferences for fast and Japanese food stimuli. These results suggest that cultural experiences moderate unconscious hedonic responses to food, which may not be detected based on explicit ratings

The plasticity of the adult human brain cortex

The human brain is characterized by high plasticity, a feature well-illustrated by many examples described in medical literature. Over the last decades, there has been a significant increase in our knowledge concerning the above, made possible by the appearance of new diagnostic tools, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, or molecular biology. These methods allow to follow the changes taking place at various levels, including behaviour, anatomy, physiology, and especially at the cellular and subcellular level. Some studies confirm the important role of neuroplasticity, not only in childhood, when the potential is the greatest, and the central nervous system is still developing, but also at later stages of human life. It has now been established that the brain remains plastic at any age, also senile. Understanding the role of brain plasticity in the pathogenesis of diseases has the potential to develop new therapeutic techniques. Based on the latest scientific reports, it can be concluded that neuroplasticity is increasingly becoming the target of novel therapeutic techniques, which make use of the brain’s natural ability to regenerate or compensate lost function. An example would be the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in neurorehabilitation of patients with structural brain damage, e.g. after stroke, or the targeted use of pharmacotherapy in selected mental illnesses. The purpose of this review is to present the available results of the research on the basic characteristics of brain plasticity, also in adulthood, and the potential influence of drugs on neuroplasticityLudzki mózg cechuje się znaczną plastycznością, co doskonale obrazują przykłady opisywane w literaturze fachowej. W ostatnich kilkudziesięciu latach doszło do istotnego poszerzenia wiedzy na temat mechanizmów plastyczności mózgowej – było to możliwe dzięki pojawieniu się nowych narzędzi badawczych, w tym technik obrazowania mózgu i metod biologii molekularnej. Pozwalają one na śledzenie zmian zachodzących na różnych poziomach, m.in. zachowania, anatomii i fizjologii, a także na poziomie komórkowym. Część badań potwierdza ważną rolę neuroplastyczności nie tylko w dzieciństwie, kiedy ośrodkowy układ nerwowy wykazuje największy potencjał plastyczny, lecz także w późniejszych okresach życia. Ludzki mózg pozostaje plastyczny w każdym wieku, nawet podeszłym. Poznanie mechanizmów plastyczności pozwala na opracowanie nowych technik terapeutycznych. Kierunki najnowszych badań naukowych nad neuroplastycznością wskazują na potencjał wykorzystania nowoczesnych technik terapeutycznych w celu wspierania naturalnych zdolności regeneracyjnych czy kompensacyjnych mózgu. Przykładem może być wykorzystanie przezczaszkowej stymulacji magnetycznej (transcranial magnetic stimulation) w rehabilitacji pacjentów z uszkodzeniami ośrodkowego układu nerwowego bądź też celowane stosowanie farmakoterapii w wybranych chorobach psychicznych. W niniejszej pracy poglądowej przedstawiono wybrane zagadnienia związane z mechanizmami plastyczności mózgowej, plastycznością w okresie dorosłości i zmianami plastycznymi w przebiegu farmakoterapii

Cultural differences in food detection

Abstract The ability to detect food plays an indispensable role in our survival and wellbeing. Previous psychological studies have revealed that food is detected more rapidly than non-food items. However, whether the detection of food could be modulated by cultural factors remains unknown. We investigated this issue in the present study using a visual search paradigm with Polish and Japanese participants. Photographs of international fast food, domestic Japanese food, or kitchen tools were presented alongside images of non-food distractors (cars). Participants were asked to judge whether the stimuli were all identical or not. The reaction time data showed that participants from both cultures detected food more rapidly than kitchen tools. Japanese participants detected fast food more rapidly than Japanese food, whereas Polish participants did not display such differences between food types. These results suggest that rapid detection of food is universal, but is modulated by cultural experiences

Neural Correlates of Facial Mimicry: Simultaneous Measurements of EMG and BOLD Responses during Perception of Dynamic Compared to Static Facial Expressions

Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However, neural correlates of the phenomenon are as yet not well established. We investigated this issue using simultaneously recorded EMG and BOLD signals during perception of dynamic and static emotional facial expressions of happiness and anger. During display presentations, BOLD signals and zygomaticus major (ZM), corrugator supercilii (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) EMG responses were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals. Subjects reacted spontaneously to happy facial expressions with increased EMG activity in ZM and OO muscles and decreased CS activity, which was interpreted as FM. Facial muscle responses correlated with BOLD activity in regions associated with motor simulation of facial expressions [i.e., inferior frontal gyrus, a classical Mirror Neuron System (MNS)]. Further, we also found correlations for regions associated with emotional processing (i.e., insula, part of the extended MNS). It is concluded that FM involves both motor and emotional brain structures, especially during perception of natural emotional expressions