Functional neuroimaging of emotional learning and autonomic reactions

This article provides a selective overview of the functional neuroimaging literature with an emphasis on emotional activation processes. Emotions are fast and flexible response systems that provide basic tendencies for adaptive action. From the range of involved component functions, we first discuss selected automatic mechanisms that control basic adaptational changes. Second, we illustrate how neuroimaging work has contributed to the mapping of the network components associated with basic emotion families (fear, anger, disgust, happiness), and secondary dimensional concepts that organise the meaning space for subjective experience and verbal labels (emotional valence, activity/intensity, approach/withdrawal, etc.). Third, results and methodological difficulties are discussed in view of own neuroimaging experiments that investigated the component functions involved in emotional learning. The amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and striatum form a network of reciprocal connections that show topographically distinct patterns of activity as a correlate of up and down regulation processes during an emotional episode. Emotional modulations of other brain systems have attracted recent research interests. Emotional neuroimaging calls for more representative designs that highlight the modulatory influences of regulation strategies and socio-cultural factors responsible for inhibitory control and extinction. We conclude by emphasising the relevance of the temporal process dynamics of emotional activations that may provide improved prediction of individual differences in emotionality.

Mondes clos. Cultures et Jardins

À l’origine était le jardin. éden biblique, paradis persan, jardins clos d’innombrables mythes et récits. La condition des mortels découle de l’arrachement à ce premier terreau. L’humain dès lors n’a de cesse d’en repenser la perfection et de la reproduire en autant de paradis miniatures. Le jardin, en réduisant le monde à un espace clos, tente de se l’approprier et de le dominer. En ceci, il remplit une fonction d’ordre magique. Mondes clos est le résultat d’une rencontre interdisciplinaire organisée au printemps 2011 par l’Unité d’histoire des religions de l’Université de Genève en collaboration avec Asdiwal, revue genevoise d’anthropologie et d’histoire des religions.

The quiet eye and tasks demands: Do tougher shots need a quieter eye?

The Quiet Eye (QE; Vickers 1996) has been shown to underpin successful performance, differentiating both expertise (inter-individual) and proficiency (intra-individual), with experts and successful attempts characterised by longer QE durations. The QE is proposed to reflect the time needed to organise and fine tune the parameters of movement (e.g. force and direction). In order to examine this prediction and build upon previous research we experimentally manipulated the difficulty of a golf putting task; we hypothesised that if the QE is related to motor programming then a more difficult task should be associated with longer QE durations. 33 golfers (M age= 21.16, SD= 3.98) with an average handicap of 6.5 (SD= 6.02) performed putts in 4 conditions of increasing difficulty. We manipulated the length of the golf putt (short-4ft, long-8ft) and the contact point of the putter head (large-1.7cm, small-0.5cm,) giving increasingly difficult putting conditions of short-large [1], short-small [2], long-large [3] and long-small [4]. We measured performance (radial error from hole in cm) and QE (in ms) for 10 putts in each condition. A repeated measures ANOVA was performed on the performance and QE data. The performance data suggest that we were successful in increasing the difficulty of the task (F (3,93) = 26.46. p = .000), with the best performance in condition [1] (8.57cm), followed by [2] (9.10cm) followed by [3] (16.11cm) and finally the worst performance was in condition [4] (23.40cm). The QE data suggest that, in keeping with our hypothesis, the QE was lengthened as task difficulty increased (F (3,87) = 11.91, p = .043). The QE was shortest in condition [1] (1787.85ms) and increased to condition [2] (1939.78ms) and condition [3] (2076.51ms), with the longest QE in condition [4] (2164.08ms). More detailed analysis of the QE reveal that it was the proportion of the QE that occurred before movement initiation (pre-QE) which increased with shot difficulty, rather than the proportion that occurred during the swing (Online-QE; see Vine et al., 2013). Results support the notion that more complex tasks are associated with a longer QE duration, specifically participants appear to spend longer fixating the target prior to movement. This likely reflects the time needed to process visual information gathered in a pre-performance routine, to inhibit external distraction, and to pre-programme the increasingly difficult parameters of the movement. Vickers, J.N. (1996). Visual control when aiming at a far target. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 342-354. Vine, S.J. et al. (2013). Quiet eye and choking: Online control breaks down at the point of performance failure. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 45, 1988-1994.

Les voix de l’auteur dans et hors du texte

Table ronde organisée dans le cadre des journées «Écrire pour contre avec l’indignation comme moteur de création» par la Maison Rousseau et de la littérature de Genève. Autres intervenants: Heike Fiedler (poète sonore); Narcisse (slammeur). Modération: Camille Vorger.