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Dive into the research topics where Carolin Brück is active.

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Featured researches published by Carolin Brück.


NeuroImage | 2011

Impact of personality on the cerebral processing of emotional prosody.

Carolin Brück; Benjamin Kreifelts; Evangelia Kaza; Martin Lotze; Dirk Wildgruber

While several studies have focused on identifying common brain mechanisms governing the decoding of emotional speech melody, interindividual variations in the cerebral processing of prosodic information, in comparison, have received only little attention to date: Albeit, for instance, differences in personality among individuals have been shown to modulate emotional brain responses, personality influences on the neural basis of prosody decoding have not been investigated systematically yet. Thus, the present study aimed at delineating relationships between interindividual differences in personality and hemodynamic responses evoked by emotional speech melody. To determine personality-dependent modulations of brain reactivity, fMRI activation patterns during the processing of emotional speech cues were acquired from 24 healthy volunteers and subsequently correlated with individual trait measures of extraversion and neuroticism obtained for each participant. Whereas correlation analysis did not indicate any link between brain activation and extraversion, strong positive correlations between measures of neuroticism and hemodynamic responses of the right amygdala, the left postcentral gyrus as well as medial frontal structures including the right anterior cingulate cortex emerged, suggesting that brain mechanisms mediating the decoding of emotional speech melody may vary depending on differences in neuroticism among individuals. Observed trait-specific modulations are discussed in the light of processing biases as well as differences in emotion control or task strategies which may be associated with the personality trait of neuroticism.


Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | 2013

Non-verbal emotion communication training induces specific changes in brain function and structure

Benjamin Kreifelts; Heike Jacob; Carolin Brück; Michael Erb; Thomas Ethofer; Dirk Wildgruber

The perception of emotional cues from voice and face is essential for social interaction. However, this process is altered in various psychiatric conditions along with impaired social functioning. Emotion communication trainings have been demonstrated to improve social interaction in healthy individuals and to reduce emotional communication deficits in psychiatric patients. Here, we investigated the impact of a non-verbal emotion communication training (NECT) on cerebral activation and brain structure in a controlled and combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry study. NECT-specific reductions in brain activity occurred in a distributed set of brain regions including face and voice processing regions as well as emotion processing- and motor-related regions presumably reflecting training-induced familiarization with the evaluation of face/voice stimuli. Training-induced changes in non-verbal emotion sensitivity at the behavioral level and the respective cerebral activation patterns were correlated in the face-selective cortical areas in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and fusiform gyrus for valence ratings and in the temporal pole, lateral prefrontal cortex and midbrain/thalamus for the response times. A NECT-induced increase in gray matter (GM) volume was observed in the fusiform face area. Thus, NECT induces both functional and structural plasticity in the face processing system as well as functional plasticity in the emotion perception and evaluation system. We propose that functional alterations are presumably related to changes in sensory tuning in the decoding of emotional expressions. Taken together, these findings highlight that the present experimental design may serve as a valuable tool to investigate the altered behavioral and neuronal processing of emotional cues in psychiatric disorders as well as the impact of therapeutic interventions on brain function and structure.


Cognition & Emotion | 2013

Nonverbal signals speak up: Association between perceptual nonverbal dominance and emotional intelligence

Heike Jacob; Benjamin Kreifelts; Carolin Brück; Sophia Nizielski; Astrid Schütz; Dirk Wildgruber

Emotional communication uses verbal and nonverbal means. In case of conflicting signals, nonverbal information is assumed to have a stronger impact. It is unclear, however, whether perceptual nonverbal dominance varies between individuals and whether it is linked to emotional intelligence. Using audiovisual stimulus material comprising verbal and nonverbal emotional cues that were varied independently, perceptual nonverbal dominance profiles and their relations to emotional intelligence were examined. Nonverbal dominance was found in every participant, ranging from 55 to 100%. Moreover, emotional intelligence, particularly the ability to understand emotions, correlated positively with nonverbal dominance. Furthermore, higher overall emotional intelligence as well as a higher ability to understand emotions were linked to smaller reaction time differences between emotionally incongruent and congruent stimuli. The association between perceptual nonverbal dominance and emotional intelligence, and more specifically the ability to understand emotions, might reflect an adaptive process driven by the experience of higher authenticity in nonverbal cues.


PLOS ONE | 2013

Different Types of Laughter Modulate Connectivity within Distinct Parts of the Laughter Perception Network

Dirk Wildgruber; Diana P. Szameitat; Thomas Ethofer; Carolin Brück; Kai Alter; Wolfgang Grodd; Benjamin Kreifelts

Laughter is an ancient signal of social communication among humans and non-human primates. Laughter types with complex social functions (e.g., taunt and joy) presumably evolved from the unequivocal and reflex-like social bonding signal of tickling laughter already present in non-human primates. Here, we investigated the modulations of cerebral connectivity associated with different laughter types as well as the effects of attention shifts between implicit and explicit processing of social information conveyed by laughter using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Complex social laughter types and tickling laughter were found to modulate connectivity in two distinguishable but partially overlapping parts of the laughter perception network irrespective of task instructions. Connectivity changes, presumably related to the higher acoustic complexity of tickling laughter, occurred between areas in the prefrontal cortex and the auditory association cortex, potentially reflecting higher demands on acoustic analysis associated with increased information load on auditory attention, working memory, evaluation and response selection processes. In contrast, the higher degree of socio-relational information in complex social laughter types was linked to increases of connectivity between auditory association cortices, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and brain areas associated with mentalizing as well as areas in the visual associative cortex. These modulations might reflect automatic analysis of acoustic features, attention direction to informative aspects of the laughter signal and the retention of those in working memory during evaluation processes. These processes may be associated with visual imagery supporting the formation of inferences on the intentions of our social counterparts. Here, the right dorsolateral precentral cortex appears as a network node potentially linking the functions of auditory and visual associative sensory cortices with those of the mentalizing-associated anterior mediofrontal cortex during the decoding of social information in laughter.


Journal of Neural Transmission | 2016

Reduced functional connectivity to the frontal cortex during processing of social cues in autism spectrum disorder

Elgin Maria Hoffmann; Carolin Brück; Benjamin Kreifelts; Thomas Ethofer; Dirk Wildgruber

People diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristically present with severe difficulties in interpreting every-day social signals. Currently it is assumed that these difficulties might have neurobiological correlates in alterations in activation as well as in connectivity in and between regions of the social perception network suggested to govern the processing of social cues. In this study, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based activation and connectivity analyses focusing on face-, voice-, and audiovisual-processing brain regions as the most important subareas of the social perception network. Results revealed alterations in connectivity among regions involved in the processing of social stimuli in ASD subjects compared to typically developed (TD) controls—specifically, a reduced connectivity between the left temporal voice area (TVA) and the superior and medial frontal gyrus. Alterations in connectivity, moreover, were correlated with the severity of autistic traits: correlation analysis indicated that the connectivity between the left TVA and the limbic lobe, anterior cingulate and the medial frontal gyrus as well as between the right TVA and the frontal lobe, anterior cingulate, limbic lobe and the caudate decreased with increasing symptom severity. As these frontal regions are understood to play an important role in interpreting and mentalizing social signals, the observed underconnectivity might be construed as playing a role in social impairments in ASD.


PLOS ONE | 2014

They Are Laughing at Me: Cerebral Mediation of Cognitive Biases in Social Anxiety

Benjamin Kreifelts; Carolin Brück; Jan Ritter; Thomas Ethofer; Martin Domin; Martin Lotze; Heike Jacob; Sarah Schlipf; Dirk Wildgruber

The fear of embarrassment and humiliation is the central element of social anxiety. This frequent condition is associated with cognitive biases indicating increased sensitivity to signals of social threat, which are assumed to play a causal role in the maintenance of social anxiety. Here, we employed laughter, a potent medium for the expression of acceptance and rejection, as an experimental stimulus in participants selected for varying degrees of social anxiety to identify cerebral mediators of cognitive biases in social anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with mediation analysis. We directly demonstrated that cerebral activation patterns within the dorsal attention network including the left dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex mediate the influence of social anxiety on laughter perception. This mediation proved to be specific for social anxiety after correction for measures of general state and trait anxiety and occurred most prominently under bimodal audiovisual laughter presentation when compared with monomodal auditory or visual laughter cues. Considering the possibility to modulate cognitive biases and cerebral activity by neuropsychological trainings, non-invasive electrophysiological stimulation and psychotherapy, this study represents a starting point for a whole line of translational research projects and identifies promising targets for electrophysiological interventions aiming to alleviate cognitive biases and symptom severity in social anxiety.


Journal of Psychiatric Research | 2015

Laughter perception in social anxiety

Jan Ritter; Carolin Brück; Heike Jacob; Dirk Wildgruber; Benjamin Kreifelts

BACKGROUND Laughter is a powerful signal of social acceptance or rejection while the fear of being embarrassed and humiliated is central in social anxiety (SA). This type of anxiety is associated with cognitive biases indicating increased sensitivity to social threat as well as with deficits in emotion regulation. Both are thought to be implicated in the maintenance of social anxiety. METHOD Using laughter as a novel stimulus, we investigated cognitive biases and their modulation through emotion regulation and cue ambiguity in individuals with varying degrees of SA (N = 60). RESULTS A combination of a negative laughter interpretation bias and an attention bias away from joyful/social inclusive laughter in SA was observed. Both biases were not attributable to effects of general anxiety and were closely correlated with the concept of gelotophobia, the fear of being laughed at. DISCUSSION Thus, our study demonstrates altered laughter perception in SA. Furthermore, it highlights the usefulness of laughter as a highly prevalent social signal for future research on the interrelations of interpretation and attention biases in SA and their modulation through emotion regulation.


Neuropsychologia | 2017

Prefrontal mediation of emotion regulation in social anxiety disorder during laughter perception

Benjamin Kreifelts; Carolin Brück; Thomas Ethofer; Jan Ritter; Lena Weigel; Michael Erb; Dirk Wildgruber

ABSTRACT Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by negatively biased perception of social cues and deficits in emotion regulation. While negatively biased perception is thought to maintain social anxiety, emotion regulation represents an ability necessary to overcome both biased perception and social anxiety. Here, we used laughter as a social threat in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to identify cerebral mediators linking SAD with attention and interpretation biases and their modification through cognitive emotion regulation in the form of reappraisal. We found that reappraisal abolished the negative laughter interpretation bias in SAD and that this process was directly mediated through activation patterns of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) serving as a cerebral pivot between biased social perception and its normalization through reappraisal. Connectivity analyses revealed reduced prefrontal control over threat‐processing sensory cortices (here: the temporal voice area) during cognitive emotion regulation in SAD. Our results indicate a central role for the left DLPFC in SAD which might represent a valuable target for future research on interventions either aiming to directly modulate cognitive emotion regulation in SAD or to evaluate its potential as physiological marker for psychotherapeutic interventions relying on emotion regulation. HIGHLIGHTSNegative cognitive biases occur in social anxiety disorder during laughter perception.Emotion regulation through reappraisal abolishes this laughter perception bias.FMRI activation of the prefrontal cortex mediates this positive effect of reappraisal.


Psychiatry Research-neuroimaging | 2016

Integration of verbal and nonverbal emotional signals in patients with schizophrenia: Decreased nonverbal dominance

Bastian Vogel; Carolin Brück; Heike Jacob; Dirk Wildgruber

In day-to-day social interaction, emotions are usually expressed by verbal (e.g. spoken words) and nonverbal signals (e.g. facial expressions, prosody). In case of conflicting signals nonverbal signals are perceived as being the more reliable source of information. Deficits in interpreting nonverbal signals - as described for patients with schizophrenic disorders - might interfere with the ability to integrate verbal and nonverbal social cues into a meaningful whole. The aim of this study was to examine how schizophrenic disorders influence the integration of verbal and nonverbal signals. For this purpose short video sequences were presented to 21 patients with schizophrenia and 21 healthy controls. Each sequence showed an actor speaking a short sentence with independently varying emotional connotations at the verbal and the nonverbal level. The participants rated the valence of the speakers emotional state on a four-point scale (from very negative to very positive). The relative impact of nonverbal cues as compared to verbal cues on these ratings was evaluated. Both groups base their decisions primarily on nonverbal information. However, this effect is significantly less prominent in the patient group. Patients tend to base their decisions less on nonverbal signals and more on verbal information than healthy controls.


PLOS ONE | 2014

Cerebral Processing of Prosodic Emotional Signals: Evaluation of a Network Model Using rTMS

Heike Jacob; Carolin Brück; Christian Plewnia; Dirk Wildgruber

A great number of functional imaging studies contributed to developing a cerebral network model illustrating the processing of prosody in the brain. According to this model, the processing of prosodic emotional signals is divided into three main steps, each related to different brain areas. The present study sought to evaluate parts of the aforementioned model by using low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over two important brain regions identified by the model: the superior temporal cortex (Experiment 1) and the inferior frontal cortex (Experiment 2). The aim of both experiments was to reduce cortical activity in the respective brain areas and evaluate whether these reductions lead to measurable behavioral effects during prosody processing. However, results obtained in this study revealed no rTMS effects on the acquired behavioral data. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed in the paper.

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Heike Jacob

University of Tübingen

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Martin Lotze

University of Greifswald

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Jan Ritter

University of Tübingen

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Martin Domin

University of Greifswald

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