Non-Conscious Brain Processes Revealed by Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Information processing in the human brain can happen fully conscious or in total absence of consciousness. Despite being far away from understanding consciousness in terms of being a subjective phenomenon based on neural activity we can at least imagine what it means to be consciously aware of a sensory perception or knowledge or ourselves. At the very moment we know that we know and what we know, the respective knowledge is consciously processed and can be verbally expressed, but what about information processing in the absence of consciousness? Can non-conscious information processing do the same just without consciousness? It is difficult to imagine what kind of information processing happens below the level of consciousness and what it actually means. What does non-conscious information look like? What does non-conscious information represent and what can it do? These are important questions to be answered in order to better understand consciousness itself. Among others a recent review reports about unconscious high-level processing in the human brain. In this review, the authors summarise scientific evidence to support the idea that decision making, an apparently conscious process, as well as other parts of highly sophisticated human behaviour can happen automatically without conscious control. This is exactly in line with the spirit of this book chapter that is written to support this notion with neuroimaging data collected via magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Measuring Affective Information Processing in Information Systems and Consumer Research – Introducing Startle Reflex Modulation

Over the last two decades, scholars in information systems and consumer research have started to successfully apply methods from neuroscience to research questions on emotional aspects related to IS or consumption behavior. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding which particular facets of emotion can actually be measured by the various neuroscientific techniques. Especially when it comes to their ability to measure underlying affective information processing, some neuroscientific methods are more suitable than others. We discuss startle reflex modulation as one possibility for validly measuring the valence of affective information processing. The biologically deep-rooted startle reflex (eye-blink as a response to, e.g., an acoustic startle probe) is a valid measure of affective information processing, which is the basis of all emotions. We review three examples of startle reflex modulation having been successfully applied in the context of IS and consumer neuroscience and propose directions for further research

Neuroimaging Helps to Clarify Brain Affective Processing Without Necessarily Clarifying Emotions

Literally, Neuroimaging gives us deeper insight into the brain's function. But, what actually is its function? The brain is an organ, almost just as our lungs and hearts. The big difference is that we can see the imprints of evolutionary progressions in its organization. Although the stamp of evolution is clearly imprinted in the genes that govern the functions of all the other organs, that stamp is special within the brain. Brain functions that evolved earlier are concentrated in more caudal and medial regions of the brain while those that emerged later (eg., neocortex) are concentrated more rostrally and laterally. Thus, although our brain is an organ like no other in the body, we should envision the mind as largely the product of this bodily organ, although mind is surely not disconnected from other bodily functions

Emotional facial expressions evoke faster orienting responses, but weaker emotional responses at neural and behavioural levels compared to scenes: A simultaneous EEG and facial EMG study

AbstractIn the current study, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously with facial electromyography (fEMG) to determine whether emotional faces and emotional scenes are processed differently at the neural level. In addition, it was investigated whether these differences can be observed at the behavioural level via spontaneous facial muscle activity. Emotional content of the stimuli did not affect early P1 activity. Emotional faces elicited enhanced amplitudes of the face-sensitive N170 component, while its counterpart, the scene-related N100, was not sensitive to emotional content of scenes. At 220–280ms, the early posterior negativity (EPN) was enhanced only slightly for fearful as compared to neutral or happy faces. However, its amplitudes were significantly enhanced during processing of scenes with positive content, particularly over the right hemisphere. Scenes of positive content also elicited enhanced spontaneous zygomatic activity from 500–750ms onwards, while happy faces elicited no such changes. Contrastingly, both fearful faces and negative scenes elicited enhanced spontaneous corrugator activity at 500–750ms after stimulus onset. However, relative to baseline EMG changes occurred earlier for faces (250ms) than for scenes (500ms) whereas for scenes activity changes were more pronounced over the whole viewing period. Taking into account all effects, the data suggests that emotional facial expressions evoke faster attentional orienting, but weaker affective neural activity and emotional behavioural responses compared to emotional scenes

Neuroimaging for the Affective Brain Sciences, and Its Role in Advancing Consumer Neuroscience

To fully understand the driving behaviour of a car it is absolutely inevitable to investigate all its hidden parts underneath the surface and to find out what their functions are. To fully understand human behaviour we need to complete traditional behavioural measures with neuroimaging data that allow us to look inside the brain. Only via neuroimaging methodology do we have access to underlying brain processes that guide our behaviour without leading to any conscious reportable traces that show up in questionnaires. On top of that, especially when emotion-related explicit responses are required questionnaires provide us with biased responses due to cognitive influences. These responses can be far away from true underlying emotion-related information. The discrepancy between biased and unbiased emotion-related information processing is of utmost interest for both basic affective neuroscience and consumer neuroscience

Supramolekulare Chemie Organischer Azide

Die vorgelegte Arbeit umfasst sowohl physikalische als auch synthetischorganische Aspekte der Chemie. Spektroskopische und theoretische Methoden wurden angewandt, um die Konformationsanalyse und Thermodynamik der supramolekularen Komplexe zu verstehen. Wie aus den induzierten Zirkulardichroismus - (ICD) und 2D ROESY Studien ermittelt wurde, ist die Ko-konformation von Ferrocenylazid (FcN3) im Hohlraum des Cyclodextrins (beta-CyD) von Lösungsmittel und Temperatur abhängig. Thermodynamische Untersuchungen, basierend auf der ICD Titration in Ethylenglykol, zeigten, dass durch die Monosubstitution des Ferrocens mit der Azidogruppe die Affinität zum beta-CyD um den Faktor 2.5 erniedrigt wird. Während das Ferrocen (FcH) nur eine mäßige Assoziation zum beta-CyD in DMSO aufweist, dissoziiert der FcN3@beta-CyD Komplex in diesem Lösungsmittel praktisch vollständig. Laut der Kristallstrukturanalyse, besitzt das Ferrocen eine equatoriale Ausrichtung in der Kavität des permethylierten beta-CyD (TRIMEB), wohingegen eine axiale Lage im nativen beta-CyD begünstigt ist. Im Gegensatz dazu nimmt das FcN3 Molekül in seinem Einschlusskomplex mit TRIMEB eine bimodale Orientierung ein. Mittels NMR Experimente in D2O konnte gezeigt werden, dass Zugabe von TRIMEB die chemische Äquivalenz der Ferrocenprotonen aufhebt. Trotz des schnellen Austauschprozesses wird die Rotation der Azidogruppe gehindert. Die Zersetzung eines FcN3@(alpha-CyD)2 Komplexes lieferte ein Produkt mit komplexer Struktur. Entgegen der erwarteten C-H Einschiebung des Ferrocenyl Nitrens fand dabei eine ungewöhnliche Pyranose – Furanose Umwandlung statt. Röntgenstrukturanalysen des 2-Adamantan Azid - beta-CyD Komplexes zeigten, dass das Gastmolekül eine bimodale Ausrichtung einnimmt. In D2O lagert sich das 1-Adamantanazid mit „apikaler“ Orientierung in den Hohlraum des beta-CyD ein, wie sich aus der 2D ROESY Messung herausstellte. Die 1- und 2-Adamantanazide bilden stabile Komplexe mit beta-CyD, deren sehr große Assoziationskonstanten mit ICD Titrationen bestimmt wurden. In wässrigem Ethanol weist 1-Adamantanazid eine kooperative Bindung zum alpha-CyD unter Bildung eines 1:2 Inklusionskomplexes auf. Die in den Kavitäten der CyD eingeschlossenen Adamantylnitrene, welche photolytisch aus den entsprechenden Aziden generiert wurden, reagierten erstaunlicherweise nicht mit dem CyD-Gerüst.This work involves physical as well as organic synthetic aspects of chemistry. Spectroscopic and theoretical chemistry methods were utilized to shed light into conformational analysis and thermodynamics of supramolecular complexes. As inferred from Induced Circular Dichroism (ICD) and 2D DOESY studies, the co-conformation of ferrocenyl azide (FcN3) in the cavity of beta-Cyclodextrin (beta-CyD) is tuned by solvent and temperature. Studies on thermodynamics based on ICD titration conducted in ethylene glycol showed, that upon substituting the ferrocene by the azide group, the affinity towards the beta-CyD decreased by a factor of 2.5. Whereas the ferrocene (FcH) exhibits moderate binding to beta-CyD in DMSO, the FcN3@beta-CyD complex is practically dissociated in this solvent. The crystal structure analysis of the FcH@TRIMEB (2,3,6-per-O-methyl- beta-CyD) complex revealed an equatorial inclusion of ferrocene in the cavity, which is in contrast to the axial inclusion observed in native beta-CyD. In the solid state, FcN3 adopts a bimodal disposition inside the TRIMEB cavity. The 1H NMR spectra recorded in heavy water showed that the presence of TRIMEB caused chemical nonequivalence of the FcN3 protons. Despite the fast exchange process, the rotation of the azide group was hindered. Upon the decomposition of the FcN3@(alpha-CyD)2 complex, a product with a complex structure was isolated. Instead of the expected nitrene insertion into the C-H bonds of alpha-CyD, an unusual glucopyranose – furanose conversion took place. X-ray analysis has shown that 2-adamantane azide adopts a bimodal disposition inside beta-CyD. In deuterium oxide, 1-adamantane azide takes an apical orientation within the cavity of beta-CyD, as inferred from the 2D ROESY measurement. The 1- and 2-adamantane azides form stable complexes with beta-CyD, as demonstrated by large binding constants determined by ICD titration. 1-Adamanmtane azide binds cooperatively to alpha-CyD forming a stable 1:2 inclusion complex. The adamantyl nitrenes, generated by photolysis of 1- and 2-adamantane azides included in the cavity of alpha- and beta-CyDs, surprisingly did not modify the CyD scaffold

Odours Influence Visually Induced Emotion: Behavior and Neuroimaging

The present study was conducted to investigate the influence of olfaction on subjective valence intensity ratings of visual presentations. Pictures of five different categories (baby, flower, erotic, fear and disgust) were presented each being associated with five different odour conditions [no odour, low and high concentrations of phenylethyl alcohol (positive odour) and low and high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide (negative odour)]. Study participants had to rate the emotional content of each picture with respect to valence and intensity while brain activities were recorded with a whole-cortex magnetoencephalograph (MEG). A significant interaction between odour condition and picture category with respect to rating performance was found. In particular, positive valence intensity ratings related to flowers were increased in positive and negative odour conditions. Negative valence intensity ratings related to disgusting pictures were also increased in positive and negative odour conditions. The only decrease was found in the baby category in the high concentration negative odour condition. No behavioural effects were found for the categories erotic and fear. Around 300 ms after stimulus onset odour-related brain activity effects were found for all picture categories. On the other hand, around 700 ms after stimulus onset odour-related brain activity effects occurred only in the flower, fear and disgust picture categories. We interpret that early information processing demonstrates more pronounced olfactory and visually induced emotion interaction than later information processing. Since the early time window more likely reflects subconscious information processing we interpret that interaction between olfaction and visually induced emotion mostly occurs below the level of consciousness. Later, rather conscious information processing, seems to be differently influenced by simultaneous olfaction depending on the kind of emotion elicited through the sense of vision

Objective Measures of Emotion Related to Brand Attitude: A New Way to Quantify Emotion-Related Aspects Relevant to Marketing

With this study we wanted to test the hypothesis that individual like and dislike as occurring in relation to brand attitude can be objectively assessed. First, individuals rated common brands with respect to subjective preference. Then, they volunteered in an experiment during which their most liked and disliked brand names were visually presented while three different objective measures were taken. Participant's eye blinks as responses to acoustic startle probes were registered with electromyography (EMG) (i) and their skin conductance (ii) and their heart rate (iii) were recorded. We found significantly reduced eye blink amplitudes related to liked brand names compared to disliked brand names. This finding suggests that visual perception of liked brand names elicits higher degrees of pleasantness, more positive emotion and approach-oriented motivation than visual perception of disliked brand names. Also, skin conductance and heart rate were both reduced in case of liked versus disliked brand names. We conclude that all our physiological measures highlight emotion-related differences depending on the like and dislike toward individual brands. We suggest that objective measures should be used more frequently to quantify emotion-related aspects of brand attitude. In particular, there might be potential interest to introduce startle reflex modulation to measure emotion-related impact during product development, product design and various further fields relevant to marketing. Our findings are discussed in relation to the idea that self reported measures are most often cognitively polluted

Emotion ownership: different effects on explicit ratings and implicit responses

This study is based on the idea that emotion-related processing happens on various different levels. Common methods that are used to measure different aspects of emotion-related processing exhibit specific sensitivities to one or the other of these separate processing levels. Here, the hypothesis was tested that explicit and implicit measures of emotion-related processing are differently influenced by self-referenced versus unreferenced emotion. The explicit measure was self reported valence and the implicit measure was startle reflex modulation. In one session, emotional scenes were paired with short sentences inducing self-reference (e.g. “this dog will attack you” written underneath the image of an aggressive dog), while in another session, emotional scenes were presented without any reference. During both sessions explicit as well as implicit responses were collected. Self-referenced unpleasant images were rated more negative and self-referenced pleasant images were rated more positive than images with no reference. In contrast, the implicit measure indicated greater startle responses related to self-reference regardless of emotion category. Under the common assumption that greater startle responses reflect increased affective negativity, this means that self-referenced pleasant images elicited more negative implicit affect than unreferenced pleasant images. However, in both cases (self-referenced and unreferenced) startle responses demonstrated valence depended modulation as expected. Thus, in our study startle responses demonstrated sensitivity to affective valence as well as self-reference. It is concluded that self-reference is linked to increased motivation, which in turn has been reported to be detectable via startle reflex modulation (SRM) as well

Established liked versus disliked brands: brain activity, implicit associations and explicit

Consumers' attitudes towards established brands were tested using implicit and explicit measures. In particular, late positive potential (LPP) effects were assessed as an implicit physiological measure of motivational significance. The implicit Association Test (IAT) was used as an implicit behavioural measure of valence-related aspects (affective content) of brand attitude. We constructed individualised stimulus lists of liked and disliked brand types from participants' subjective pre-assessment. Participants then re-rated these visually presented brands whilst brain potential changes were recorded via electroencephalography (EEG). First, self-report measures during the test confirmed pre-assessed attitudes underlining consistent explicit rating performance. Second, liked brands elicited significantly more positive going waveforms (LPPs) than disliked brands over right parietal cortical areas starting at about 800 ms post stimulus onset (reaching statistical significance at around 1000 ms) and lasting until the end of the recording epoch (2000 ms). In accordance to the literature this finding is interpreted as reflecting positive affect-related motivational aspects of liked brands. Finally, the IAT revealed that both liked and disliked brands indeed are associated with affect-related valence. The increased levels of motivation associated with liked brands is interpreted as potentially reflecting increased purchasing intention, but this is of course only speculation at this stage. (authors' abstract