Ya Zheng

Reward processing in gain versus loss context: An ERP study

Previous research has shown that consummatory ERP components are sensitive to contextual valence. The present study investigated the contextual valence effect across anticipatory and consummatory phases by requiring participants to play a simple gambling task during a gain context and a loss context. During the anticipatory phase, the cue-P3 was more positive in the gain context compared to the loss context, whereas the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) was comparable across the two contexts. With respect to the consummatory phase, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to the zero-value outcome was more negative in the gain versus loss context, whereas the feedback P3 (fb-P3) in response to the zero-value outcome was insensitive to contextual valence. These findings suggest that contextual valence effect occurs at a relative early stage of both the reward anticipation and consumption. Moreover, across the gain and loss contexts, the SPN was selectively correlated with the FRN, whereas the cue-P3 was selectively associated with the fb-P3, pointing to a close association between the anticipatory and consummatory phases in reward dynamics.

Mismatch negativity of sad syllables is absent in patients with major depressive disorder.

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is an important and highly prevalent mental disorder characterized by anhedonia and a lack of interest in everyday activities. Additionally, patients with MDD appear to have deficits in various cognitive abilities. Although a number of studies investigating the central auditory processing of low-level sound features in patients with MDD have demonstrated that this population exhibits impairments in automatic processing, the influence of emotional voice processing has yet to be addressed. To explore the automatic processing of emotional prosodies in patients with MDD, we analyzed the ability to detect automatic changes using event-related potentials (ERPs). Method This study included 18 patients with MDD and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Subjects were instructed to watch a silent movie but to ignore the afferent acoustic emotional prosodies presented to both ears while continuous electroencephalographic activity was synchronously recorded. Prosodies included meaningless syllables, such as “dada” spoken with happy, angry, sad, or neutral tones. The mean amplitudes of the ERPs elicited by emotional stimuli and the peak latency of the emotional differential waveforms were analyzed. Results The sad MMN was absent in patients with MDD, whereas the happy and angry MMN components were similar across groups. The abnormal sad emotional MMN component was not significantly correlated with the HRSD-17 and HAMA scores, respectively. Conclusion The data indicate that patients with MDD are impaired in their ability to automatically process sad prosody, whereas their ability to process happy and angry prosodies remains normal. The dysfunctional sad emotion-related MMN in patients with MDD were not correlated with depression symptoms. The blunted MMN of sad prosodies could be considered a trait of MDD.

Visual mismatch negativity in the detection of facial emotions in patients with panic disorder.

Panic disorder is a highly prevalent mental disease characterized by sudden and recurrent panic attacks. Studies on patients with panic disorder have found dysfunctional strategic processing of facial expressions and abnormal automatic processing of panic-related stimuli. However, whether the automatic processing of facial emotions in patients with panic disorder is normal is unknown. Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) reflects automatic processing of change detection. We recorded expression-related vMMN to compare the automatic detection of schematic facial emotions (negative and positive) of 12 patients with panic disorder and 17 age-matched and education-matched controls. During the late time window (220–330 ms), the vMMN amplitudes for two emotions (negative and positive) were significantly decreased in patients with panic disorder (P=0.02). This finding implies that the ability to automatically detect facial emotions is impaired in patients with panic disorder. This is the first report on expression-related vMMN being used with patients with panic disorder.

Electrophysiological correlates of emotional processing in sensation seeking

Previous studies have consistently reported a relationship between sensation seeking and emotional reactivity. However, little is known about the neural correlates and the time course of emotional processing in sensation seeking. The present study addressed these issues by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during an emotional oddball task. Valence effect was significant at N2, P3 and LPP whereas arousal effect was significant at P3 and LPP. More importantly, low sensation seekers (LSSs) exhibited an increased emotional N2 whereas high sensation seekers (HSSs) showed an enhanced emotional P3. Furthermore, the arousal effect was similar across the two groups, but the valence effect at N2 stage was significant in LSSs instead of HSSs. These findings suggest that LSSs tend to show a more active general alerting system toward emotional stimuli, particularly for negative stimuli, whereas HSSs tend to display a stronger preference for intense stimulation irrespective of the emotional valence.

Pre-attentive dysfunction of musical processing in major depressive disorder: A mismatch negativity study.

BACKGROUND Deficits of pre-attentive information processing have been frequently found in patients with major depressive disorder, nevertheless the results are quite inconsistent due to clinical heterogeneity and methodological difference. Cognitive processing of music is a useful tool for investigating human cognition and its underlying brain mechanisms. Although general auditory processing and perception of musical sound are hampered in patients with MDD, whether the deficits in musical processing begin from pre-attentive stage is not well investigated yet. The present study aimed to investigate the MMN of musical sound in patients with MDD. METHOD MMN responses to different musical features were compared in 20 patients with MDD and 20 age-matched healthy controls. The multi-feature paradigm was used to examine automatic change detection of six different musical sound features (pitch, timbre, location, intensity, slide, rhythm) in a complex musical context. Severity of depression and co-morbid anxiety were evaluated using the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (HRSD-17) and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA). RESULTS MMNs were obtained with all deviants. The timbre-MMN was significantly larger in MDD patients than in healthy controls, while the other deviants (pitch, location, intensity, slide and rhythm) elicited similar MMN across groups. For MDD patients, the amplitudes and latencies of MMNs did not correlate with severity of depression or co-morbid anxiety. LIMITATIONS The sample size in this study is relatively small. CONCLUSION Patients with MDD do not perform at the same level as controls in automatic change detection of timbre. This dysfunction is considered to be a trait-dependent feature of MDD.

Mismatch negativity indices of enhanced preattentive automatic processing in panic disorder as measured by a multi-feature paradigm

Panic disorder (PD) is a mental disorder characterized by recurrent panic attacks and worrying about having subsequent attacks. Mismatch negativity (MMN) has been established as a correlate of preattentive automatic processing. The aim of the present study is to investigate the preattentive automatic information processing in PD patients as measured by MMN. Subjects included 15 medication-free patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of PD and 15 age-matched healthy volunteers. MMN was investigated using event-related potentials. The protocol used a multi-feature paradigm. Mean amplitudes and peak latencies were subjected to repeated-measures ANOVAs. PD patients showed a significantly increased MMN of sound intensity and location compared with healthy participants. The correlation between the amplitudes of intensity-MMN and disease severity was also significant. These data provide evidence of anomalous preattentive automatic information processing in PD patients. In particular, the abnormality may be specific for PD.

Diminished P300 to physical risk in sensation seeking.

Zuckermans theory proposes individual differences in optimal arousal and arousability level as the root of the sensation-seeking trait. The current study addressed how sensation seeking influences responses to emotional arousal at the electrophysiological level during a passive viewing task and at the psychometrical level during a self-assessment task. Electrophysiologically, high sensation seekers (HSSs) compared to low sensation seekers (LSSs) exhibited a reduced P300 for high-arousing stimuli (adventure and surreal pictures), but not for low-arousing stimuli (leisure and neutral pictures). Psychometrically, HSSs displayed a higher preference for adventure and surreal pictures whereas LSSs showed a higher preference for leisure pictures. Instead of supporting the optimal arousal hypothesis, these findings suggest that sensation seeking is associated with diminished P300 to physical risk, which may be driven by a hypoactive avoidance system in sensation seeking.

Deficits in voluntary pursuit and inhibition of risk taking in sensation seeking

Sensation seeking has been associated with substance use and other risk‐taking behaviors. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the neural correlates underlying risk taking in sensation seeking. Twenty‐eight high sensation seekers (HSS; 14 female and 14 male young adults) and 28 low sensation seekers (LSS; 14 female and 14 male young adults) performed an interactive, sequential gambling task that allowed for voluntary pursuit or inhibition of risk taking. Behaviorally, HSS versus LSS exhibited a stronger tendency toward risk taking. Comparison of the groups revealed that when taking risks, HSS relative to LSS exhibited reduced fMRI responses in brain areas involved in risk processing, such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the thalamus. Importantly, during the voluntary inhibition of risk taking, HSS relative to LSS showed greater fMRI responses in brain areas implicated in cognitive control (the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex) and negative emotion (the right anterior insula). These findings suggest that risk taking in sensation seeking may be driven by both a hypoactive neural system in the voluntary pursuit of risk taking and a hyperactive neural system in the voluntary inhibition of risk taking, thus providing implications for future prevention programs targeting sensation‐seeking behaviors. Hum Brain Mapp 38:6019–6028, 2017.

The Influence of Emotion on Fairness-Related Decision Making: A Critical Review of Theories and Evidence

Fairness-related decision making is an important issue in the field of decision making. Traditional theories emphasize the roles of inequity aversion and reciprocity, whereas recent research increasingly shows that emotion plays a critical role in this type of decision making. In this review, we summarize the influences of three types of emotions (i.e., the integral emotion experienced at the time of decision making, the incidental emotion aroused by a task-unrelated dispositional or situational source, and the interaction of emotion and cognition) on fairness-related decision making. Specifically, we first introduce three dominant theories that describe how emotion may influence fairness-related decision making (i.e., the wounded pride/spite model, affect infusion model, and dual-process model). Next, we collect behavioral and neural evidence for and against these theories. Finally, we propose that future research on fairness-related decision making should focus on inducing incidental social emotion, avoiding irrelevant emotion when regulating, exploring the individual differences in emotional dispositions, and strengthening the ecological validity of the paradigm.

Problematic Internet Users' Discounting Behaviors Reflect an Inability to Delay Gratification, Not Risk Taking.

The relationship between impulse control disorder (ICD) behaviors and problematic Internet use (PIU) has been established in the literature. Our aim was to further investigate whether the ICDs of individuals suffering from PIU primarily involve an inability to delay gratification or a tendency to take risks. Using delay and probability discounting tasks, we compared the subjective value of discounting between PIU individuals and controls in conditions of gaining or losing different monetary amounts. The results of the present study revealed a significant positive relationship between PIU and impulsivity scores. PIU individuals discounted delayed amounts more steeply than controls, regardless of the reward sign and monetary amount. Conversely, there were no significant group differences in the probability discounting task. These findings suggest that PIU individuals may be more impulsive than controls when impulsivity is framed as insensitivity to delayed outcomes rather than as a tendency to take risks, which is inconsistent with the view of impulsivity as a general trait.