Modality-specific brain representations during automatic processing of face, voice and body expressions

A central question in affective science and one that is relevant for its clinical applications is how emotions provided by different stimuli are experienced and represented in the brain. Following the traditional view emotional signals are recognized with the help of emotion concepts that are typically used in descriptions of mental states and emotional experiences, irrespective of the sensory modality. This perspective motivated the search for abstract representations of emotions in the brain, shared across variations in stimulus type (face, body, voice) and sensory origin (visual, auditory). On the other hand, emotion signals like for example an aggressive gesture, trigger rapid automatic behavioral responses and this may take place before or independently of full abstract representation of the emotion. This pleads in favor specific emotion signals that may trigger rapid adaptative behavior only by mobilizing modality and stimulus specific brain representations without relying on higher order abstract emotion categories. To test this hypothesis, we presented participants with naturalistic dynamic emotion expressions of the face, the whole body, or the voice in a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) study. To focus on automatic emotion processing and sidestep explicit concept-based emotion recognition, participants performed an unrelated target detection task presented in a different sensory modality than the stimulus. By using multivariate analyses to assess neural activity patterns in response to the different stimulus types, we reveal a stimulus category and modality specific brain organization of affective signals. Our findings are consistent with the notion that under ecological conditions emotion expressions of the face, body and voice may have different functional roles in triggering rapid adaptive behavior, even if when viewed from an abstract conceptual vantage point, they may all exemplify the same emotion. This has implications for a neuroethologically grounded emotion research program that should start from detailed behavioral observations of how face, body, and voice expressions function in naturalistic contexts

Anterior and posterior commissures in agenesis of the corpus callosum: alternative pathways for attention processes?

Developmental absence (agenesis) of the corpus callosum (AgCC) is a congenital brain malformation resulting from disruption of corpus callosum formation, a structure that is crucial for the transfer and integration of information, including attention processes, across the brain. This study aimed to investigate previously proposed candidates for alternative inter-hemispheric pathways in AgCC by examining (1) white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures in children with AgCC compared to typically developing controls (TDC), and (2) in children with AgCC, examine the associations of white matter volume and microstructure of the anterior and posterior commissures and any remaining corpus callosum with attention processes. Participants were 21 children with AgCC (13 complete, 8 partial) recruited from The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, and 30 TDC aged 8–17 years. T1-and diffusion-weighted MR sequences were used to calculate volume and microstructural parameters. Neuropsychological testing assessed attention processes. We found the anterior commissure was significantly larger in volume in children with AgCC than TDC (p = .027), with reduced mean FA (p = .001) associated with increased mean RD (p < .001). In children with AgCC, we found microstructural properties of the anterior commissure associated with attentional processes, specifically, mean FA of the anterior commissure was associated with better divided attention (p = .03), and the association between alerting attention and mean AD and RD was found to be moderated by age (p = .027, p = .008) and the degree of corpus callosum agenesis (p = .025, p = .016). Furthermore, in partial AgCC, larger posterior commissure volume was associated with better orienting attention (p = .035). In conclusion, we provide evidence that the volume and microstructure of the anterior commissure are altered in children with AgCC, and this neuroplastic response might have an influence on attention processes

Decoding the difference between explicit and implicit body expression representation in high level visual, prefrontal and inferior parietal cortex

Recent studies provide an increasing understanding of how visual objects categories like faces or bodies are represented in the brain and also raised the question whether a category based or more dynamic network inspired models are more powerful. Two important and so far sidestepped issues in this debate are, first, how major category attributes like the emotional expression directly influence category representation and second, whether category and attribute representation are sensitive to task demands. This study investigated the impact of a crucial category attribute like emotional expression on category area activity and whether this varies with the participants’ task. Using (fMRI) we measured BOLD responses while participants viewed whole body expressions and performed either an explicit (emotion) or an implicit (shape) recognition task. Our results based on multivariate methods show that the type of task is the strongest determinant of brain activity and can be decoded in EBA, VLPFC and IPL. Brain activity was higher for the explicit task condition in VLPFC and was not emotion specific. This pattern suggests that during explicit recognition of the body expression, body category representation may be strengthened, and emotion and action related activity suppressed. Taken together these results stress the importance of the task and of the role of category attributes for understanding the functional organization of high level visual cortex

The role of computational and subjective features in emotional body expressions

Humans are experts at recognizing intent and emotion from other people’s body movements; however, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we computed quantitative features of body posture and kinematics and acquired behavioural ratings of these feature descriptors to investigate their role in affective whole-body movement perception. Representational similarity analyses and classification regression trees were used to investigate the relation of emotional categories to both the computed features and behavioural ratings. Overall, postural rather than kinematic features discriminated better between emotional movements for the computed as well as for the behavioural features. In particular, limb angles and symmetry appeared to be the most relevant ones. This was observed independently of whether or not the time-related information was preserved in the computed features. Interestingly, the behavioural ratings showed a clearer distinction between affective movements than the computed counterparts. Finally, the perceived directionality of the movement (i.e. towards or away from the observer) was found to be critical for the recognition of fear and anger

Computation-Based Feature Representation of Body Expressions in the Human Brain

Humans and other primate species are experts at recognizing body expressions. To understand the underlying perceptual mechanisms, we computed postural and kinematic features from affective whole-body movement videos and related them to brain processes. Using representational similarity and multivoxel pattern analyses, we showed systematic relations between computation-based body features and brain activity. Our results revealed that postural rather than kinematic features reflect the affective category of the body movements. The feature limb contraction showed a central contribution in fearful body expression perception, differentially represented in action observation, motor preparation, and affect coding regions, including the amygdala. The posterior superior temporal sulcus differentiated fearful from other affective categories using limb contraction rather than kinematics. The extrastriate body area and fusiform body area also showed greater tuning to postural features. The discovery of midlevel body feature encoding in the brain moves affective neuroscience beyond research on high-level emotion representations and provides insights in the perceptual features that possibly drive automatic emotion perception.</p

Networked professional learning: relating the formal and the informal

The increasing complexity of the workplace environment requires teachers and professionals in general to tap into their social networks, inside and outside circles of direct colleagues and collaborators, for finding appropriate knowledge and expertise. This collective process of sharing and constructing knowledge can be considered 'networked learning'. The processes involved are informal and largely invisible to the official framework of the organisation. Consequently, a large amount of learning that takes place is unrecognised and the dynamics, impacts and benefits of such networked learning are often overlooked by organisations. This situation brings about tensions between formal and informal processes, which in turn raises issues concerning management and adequate professional development. It also leads to questions about facilitating the creation and exchange of knowledge and expertise within the existing social networks. We examine the mechanisms for an optimal alignment and usage of teachers’ networked learning in the context of schools and professional development. Key questions this paper addresses are: What are the implications of learning through networks for professional development, autonomy, management and leadership? How can networked learning be promoted in the best way possible?   Currently, a clear academic understanding in this area is lacking. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we examine research in the areas of educational and organisational studies. Examining the underpinning values, we identify mechanisms related to learning networks. Our goal is to work towards a description of mechanisms that contribute to an alignment of informal and formal learning of teachers within their workplace: schools

Paediatric asthma outpatient care by asthma nurse, paediatrician or general practitioner: Randomised controlled trial with two-year follow-up

textabstractAims: For children with stable asthma, to test non-inferiority of care provided by a hospital-based specialised asthma nurse versus a general practitioner (GP) or paediatrician. Methods: Randomised controlled trial evaluating standard care by a GP, paediatrician or an asthma nurse, with two-year follow-up. Results: 107 children were recruited, 45 from general practice and 62 from hospital. After two years, no significant differences between groups were found for airway responsiveness, FEV1, asthma control, medication, school absence or parental work absence. In the general practice group there was a significantly lower frequency of regular review visits ('regular' = at least one review per six months) compared to the paediatrician and specialised asthma nurse group, both after one year [45.7% versus 87.9% and 94.3%, respectively, (p<0.0005)] and after two years [26.5% versus 87.9% and 75.8%, respectively, (p<0.0005)]. We found no significant differences in unplanned visits. In most cases the asthma nurse was able to provide care without consultation with the paediatrician. Conclusion: The degree of disease control in stable childhood asthma managed by an asthma nurse is not inferior to traditional management by primary or secondary care physicians. The results also suggest that a lower review frequency does not detract from good disease control

The power of tears:Observers’ brain responses show that tears provide unambiguous signals independent of scene context

Only humans produce emotional tears, a fact that has been linked to triggering empathy, social bonding, and providing support in observers. Consequently, either the tears themselves play a crucial role in eliciting such behavior, or, alternatively, the negative context in which they are shed is responsible for these observers’ reactions. The present study investigates whether the context in which we see an individual cry influences our perception of tears. We exposed participants (N = 13) to compound stimuli of faces with or without tears, combined with positive, negative, and scrambled backgrounds, while their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Findings reveal that the lateral occipital gyrus responds to the presence of tears but that the contextual information does not influence this reaction; furthermore, tears appear to facilitate interpreting emotional facial expressions when combined with a positive context. These findings indicate that tears are a robust, unambiguous signal, the perception of which is insensitive to context but can still contribute to the context interpretation. This feature sets tears apart from other facial emotional expressions. This is likely due to their crucial evolutionary role as one of the foremost indicators of discomfort, signaling a need for help and their power to forge a bond between people