Differential patterns of activity and functional connectivity in emotion processing neural circuitry to angry and happy faces in adolescents with and without suicide attempt

Background - Neural substrates of emotion dysregulation in adolescent suicide attempters remain unexamined. Method - We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity to neutral, mild or intense (i.e. 0%, 50% or 100% intensity) emotion face morphs in two separate emotion-processing runs (angry and happy) in three adolescent groups: (1) history of suicide attempt and depression (ATT, n = 14); (2) history of depression alone (NAT, n = 15); and (3) healthy controls (HC, n = 15). Post-hoc analyses were conducted on interactions from 3 group × 3 condition (intensities) whole-brain analyses (p < 0.05, corrected) for each emotion run. Results - To 50% intensity angry faces, ATT showed significantly greater activity than NAT in anterior cingulate gyral–dorsolateral prefrontal cortical attentional control circuitry, primary sensory and temporal cortices; and significantly greater activity than HC in the primary sensory cortex, while NAT had significantly lower activity than HC in the anterior cingulate gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. To neutral faces during the angry emotion-processing run, ATT had significantly lower activity than NAT in the fusiform gyrus. ATT also showed significantly lower activity than HC to 100% intensity happy faces in the primary sensory cortex, and to neutral faces in the happy run in the anterior cingulate and left medial frontal gyri (all p < 0.006,corrected). Psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed significantly reduced anterior cingulate gyral–insula functional connectivity to 50% intensity angry faces in ATT v. NAT or HC. Conclusions - Elevated activity in attention control circuitry, and reduced anterior cingulate gyral–insula functional connectivity, to 50% intensity angry faces in ATT than other groups suggest that ATT may show inefficient recruitment of attentional control neural circuitry when regulating attention to mild intensity angry faces, which may represent a potential biological marker for suicide risk.

Abnormal amygdala-prefrontal effective connectivity to happy faces differentiates bipolar from major depression

Background - Bipolar disorder is frequently misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder, delaying appropriate treatment and worsening outcome for many bipolar individuals. Emotion dysregulation is a core feature of bipolar disorder. Measures of dysfunction in neural systems supporting emotion regulation might therefore help discriminate bipolar from major depressive disorder. Methods - Thirty-one depressed individuals—15 bipolar depressed (BD) and 16 major depressed (MDD), DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, ages 18–55 years, matched for age, age of illness onset, illness duration, and depression severity—and 16 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects performed two event-related paradigms: labeling the emotional intensity of happy and sad faces, respectively. We employed dynamic causal modeling to examine significant among-group alterations in effective connectivity (EC) between right- and left-sided neural regions supporting emotion regulation: amygdala and orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC). Results - During classification of happy faces, we found profound and asymmetrical differences in EC between the OMPFC and amygdala. Left-sided differences involved top-down connections and discriminated between depressed and control subjects. Furthermore, greater medication load was associated with an amelioration of this abnormal top-down EC. Conversely, on the right side the abnormality was in bottom-up EC that was specific to bipolar disorder. These effects replicated when we considered only female subjects. Conclusions - Abnormal, left-sided, top-down OMPFC–amygdala and right-sided, bottom-up, amygdala–OMPFC EC during happy labeling distinguish BD and MDD, suggesting different pathophysiological mechanisms associated with the two types of depression.

Childhood abuse is associated with structural impairment in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and aggressiveness in patients with borderline personality disorder

Volume reduction and functional impairment in areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been found in borderline personality disorder (BPD), particularly in patients with a history of childhood abuse. These abnormalities may contribute to the expression of emotion dysregulation and aggressiveness. In this study we investigated whether the volume of the PFC is reduced in BPD patients and whether a history of childhood abuse would be associated with greater PFC structural changes. Structural MRI data were obtained from 18 BPD patients and 19 healthy individuals matched for age, sex, handedness, and education and were analyzed using voxel based morphometry. The Child Abuse Scale was used to elicit a past history of abuse; aggression was evaluated using the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI). The volume of the right ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) was significantly reduced in BPD subjects with a history of childhood abuse compared to those without this risk factor. Additionally, right VLPFC gray matter volume significantly correlated with the BDHI total score and with BDHI irritability and negativism subscale scores in patients with a history of childhood abuse. Our results suggest that a history of childhood abuse may lead to increased aggression mediated by an impairment of the right VLPFC. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Abnormally increased effective connectivity between parahippocampal gyrus and ventromedial prefrontal regions during emotion labeling in bipolar disorder

Emotional liability and mood dysregulation characterize bipolar disorder (BD), yet no study has examined effective connectivity between parahippocampal gyrus and prefrontal cortical regions in ventromedial and dorsal/lateral neural systems subserving mood regulation in BD. Participants comprised 46 individuals (age range: 18-56 years): 21 with a DSM-IV diagnosis of BD, type I currently remitted; and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). Participants performed an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm, viewing mild and intense happy and neutral faces. We employed dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to identify significant alterations in effective connectivity between BD and HC. Bayes model selection was used to determine the best model. The right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) and right subgenual cingulate gyrus (sgCG) were included as representative regions of the ventromedial neural system. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) region was included as representative of the dorsal/lateral neural system. Right PHG-sgCG effective connectivity was significantly greater in BD than HC, reflecting more rapid, forward PHG-sgCG signaling in BD than HC. There was no between-group difference in sgCG-DLPFC effective connectivity. In BD, abnormally increased right PHG-sgCG effective connectivity and reduced right PHG activity to emotional stimuli suggest a dysfunctional ventromedial neural system implicated in early stimulus appraisal, encoding and automatic regulation of emotion that may represent a pathophysiological functional neural mechanism for mood dysregulation in BD.

The application of physiological observation methods to emotion research

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer emotions and the social science and observation measures that can be utilised to capture the emotional experiences of consumers. The paper is not setting out to solve the theoretical debate surrounding emotion research, rather to provide an assessment of methodological options available to researchers to aid their investigation into both the structure and content of the consumer emotional experience, acknowledging both the conscious and subconscious elements of that experience. Design/methodology/approach - A review of a wide range of prior research from the fields of marketing, consumer behaviour, psychology and neuroscience are examined to identify the different observation methods available to marketing researchers in the study of consumer emotion. This review also considers the self report measures available to researchers and identifies the main theoretical debates concerning emotion to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues surrounding the capture of emotional responses in a marketing context and to highlight the benefits that observation methods offer this area of research. Findings - This paper evaluates three observation methods and four widely used self report measures of emotion used in a marketing context. Whilst it is recognised that marketers have shown preference for the use of self report measures in prior research, mainly due to ease of implementation, it is posited that the benefits of observation methodology and the wealth of data that can be obtained using such methods can compliment prior research. In addition, the use of observation methods cannot only enhance our understanding of the consumer emotion experience but also enable us to collaborate with researchers from other fields in order to make progress in understanding emotion. Originality/value - This paper brings perspectives and methods together to provide an up to date consideration of emotion research for marketers. In order to generate valuable research in this area there is an identified need for discussion and implementation of the observation techniques available to marketing researchers working in this field. An evaluation of a variety of methods is undertaken as a point to start discussion or consideration of different observation techniques and how they can be utilised.

Facial emotion recognition and alexithymia in adults with somatoform disorders

The primary aim of this study was to investigate facial emotion recognition (FER) in patients with somatoform disorders (SFD). Also of interest was the extent to which concurrent alexithymia contributed to any changes in emotion recognition accuracy. Twenty patients with SFD and 20 healthy, age, sex and education matched, controls were assessed with the Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling Test of FER and the 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Patients withSFD exhibited elevated alexithymia symptoms relative to healthy controls.Patients with SFD also recognized significantly fewer emotional expressions than did the healthy controls. However, the group difference in emotion recognition accuracy became nonsignificant once the influence of alexithymia was controlled for statistically. This suggests that the deficit in FER observed in the patients with SFD was most likely a consequence of concurrent alexithymia. It should be noted that neither depression nor anxiety was significantly related to emotion recognition accuracy, suggesting that these variables did not contribute the emotion recognition deficit. Impaired FER observed in the patients with SFD could plausibly have a negative influence on these individuals’ social functioning.

Die Präsenz der Gefühle. Männlichkeit und Emotion in der Moderne. Manuel BORUTTA & Nina VERHEYEN (Eds), Transcript, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89942-9725, e29.80 (pbk), 334 pp.

Review

The influence of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in disordered eating

Significant facial emotion recognition (FER) deficits have been observed in participants exhibiting high levels of eating psychopathology. The current study aimed to determine if the pattern of FER deficits is influenced by intensity of facial emotion and to establish if eating psychopathology is associated with a specific pattern of emotion recognition errors that is independent of other psychopathological or personality factors. Eighty females, 40 high and 40 low scorers on the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) were presented with a series of faces, each featuring one of five emotional expressions at one of four intensities, and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed. Results revealed that, in comparison to Low EDI scorers, high scorers correctly recognised significantly fewer expressions, particularly of fear and anger. There was also a trend for this deficit to be more evident for subtle displays of emotion (50% intensity). Deficits in anger recognition were related specifically to scores on the body dissatisfaction subscale of the EDI. Error analyses revealed that, in comparison to Low EDI scorers, high scorers made significantly more and fear-as-anger errors. Also, a tendency to label anger expressions as sadness was related to body dissatisfaction. Current findings confirm FER deficits in subclinical eating psychopathology and extend these findings to subtle expressions of emotion. Furthermore, this is the first study to establish that these deficits are related to a specific pattern of recognition errors. Impaired FER could disrupt normal social functioning and might represent a risk factor for the development of more severe psychopathology.

Dysregulation of hydrogen sulfide producing enzyme cystathionine γ-lyase contributes to maternal hypertension and placental abnormalities in preeclampsia

Background—The exact etiology of preeclampsia is unknown, but there is growing evidence of an imbalance in angiogenic growth factors and abnormal placentation. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gaseous messenger produced mainly by cystathionine ?-lyase (CSE), is a proangiogenic vasodilator. We hypothesized that a reduction in CSE activity may alter the angiogenic balance in pregnancy and induce abnormal placentation and maternal hypertension. Methods and Results—Plasma levels of H2S were significantly decreased in women with preeclampsia (P<0.01), which was associated with reduced placental CSE expression as determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Inhibition of CSE activity by DL-propargylglycine reduced placental growth factorproduction from first-trimester (8–12 weeks gestation) human placental explants and inhibited trophoblast invasion in vitro. Knockdown of CSE in human umbilical vein endothelial cells by small-interfering RNA increased the release of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 and soluble endoglin, as assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas adenoviral-mediated CSE overexpression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells inhibited their release. Administration of DL-propargylglycine to pregnant mice induced hypertension and liver damage, promoted abnormal labyrinth vascularization in the placenta, and decreased fetal growth. Finally, a slow-releasing H2S-generating compound, GYY4137, inhibited circulating soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 and soluble endoglin levels and restored fetal growth in mice that was compromised by DL-propargylglycine treatment, demonstrating that the effect of CSE inhibitor was attributable to inhibition of H2S production. Conclusions—These results imply that endogenous H2S is required for healthy placental vasculature and that a decrease in CSE/H2S activity may contribute to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. (Circulation. 2013;127:2514-2522.)

More than a cognitive experience:unfamiliarity, invalidation, and emotion in organizational learning

Literature on organizational learning (OL) lacks an integrative framework that captures the emotions involved as OL proceeds. Drawing on personal construct theory, we suggest that organizations learn where their members reconstrue meaning around questions of strategic significance for the organization. In this 5-year study of an electronics company, we explore the way in which emotions change as members perceive progress or a lack of progress around strategic themes. Our framework also takes into account whether OL involves experiences that are familiar or unfamiliar and the implications for emotions. We detected similar patterns of emotion arising over time for three different themes in our data, thereby adding to OL perspectives that are predominantly cognitive in orientation. © The Author(s) 2013.

Organizational learning and emotion:constructing collective meaning in support of strategic themes

Missing in the organizational learning literature is an integrative framework that reflects the emotional as well as the cognitive dynamics involved. Here, we take a step in this direction by focusing in depth over time (five years) on a selected organization which manufactures electronic equipment for the office industry. Drawing on personal construct theory, we define organizational learning as the collective re-construal of meaning in the direction of strategically significant themes. We suggest that emotions arise as members reflect on progress or lack of progress in achieving organizational learning. Our evidence suggests that invalidation - where organizational learning fails to correspond with expectations - gives rise to anxiety and frustration, while validation - where organizational learning is aligned with or exceeds expectations - evokes comfort or excitement. Our work aims to capture the key emotions involved as organizational learning proceeds. © The Author(s) 2012.

Emotion recognition from dynamic emotional displays following anterior cingulotomy and anterior capsulotomy for chronic depression

Four patients that had received an anterior cingulotomy (ACING) and five patients that had received both an ACING and an anterior capsulotomy (ACAPS) as an intervention for chronic, treatment refractory depression were presented with a series of dynamic emotional stimuli and invited to identify the emotion portrayed. Their performance was compared with that of a group of non-surgically treated patients with major depression (n = 17) and with a group of matched, never-depressed controls (n = 22). At the time of testing, four of the nine neurosurgery patients had recovered from their depressive episode, whereas five remained depressed. Analysis of emotion recognition accuracy revealed no significant differences between depressed and non-depressed neurosurgically treated patients. Similarly, no significant differences were observed between the patients treated with ACING alone and those treated with both ACING and ACAPS. Comparison of the emotion recognition accuracy of the neurosurgically treated patients and the depressed and healthy control groups revealed that the surgically treated patients exhibited a general impairment in their recognition accuracy compared to healthy controls. Regression analysis revealed that participants' emotion recognition accuracy was predicted by the number of errors they made on the Stroop colour-naming task. It is plausible that the observed deficit in emotion recognition accuracy was a consequence of impaired attentional control, which may have been a result of the surgical lesions to the anterior cingulate cortex. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dysregulation of hydrogen sulfide producing enzyme cystathionine γ-lyase contributes to maternal hypertension and placental abnormalities in preeclampsia

Background-The exact etiology of preeclampsia is unknown, but there is growing evidence of an imbalance in angiogenic growth factors and abnormal placentation. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a gaseous messenger produced mainly by cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE), is a proangiogenic vasodilator. We hypothesized that a reduction in CSE activity may alter the angiogenic balance in pregnancy and induce abnormal placentation and maternal hypertension. Methods and Results-Plasma levels of H2S were significantly decreased in women with preeclampsia (P<0.01), which was associated with reduced placental CSE expression as determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Inhibition of CSE activity by DL-propargylglycine reduced placental growth factorproduction from first-trimester (8-12 weeks gestation) human placental explants and inhibited trophoblast invasion in vitro. Knockdown of CSE in human umbilical vein endothelial cells by small-interfering RNA increased the release of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 and soluble endoglin, as assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas adenoviral-mediated CSE overexpression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells inhibited their release. Administration of DL-propargylglycine to pregnant mice induced hypertension and liver damage, promoted abnormal labyrinth vascularization in the placenta, and decreased fetal growth. Finally, a slow-releasing H2S-generating compound, GYY4137, inhibited circulating soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 and soluble endoglin levels and restored fetal growth in mice that was compromised by DL-propargylglycine treatment, demonstrating that the effect of CSE inhibitor was attributable to inhibition of H2S production. Conclusions-These results imply that endogenous H2S is required for healthy placental vasculature and that a decrease in CSE/H2S activity may contribute to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. © 2013 American Heart Association, Inc.

Emotion recognition and alexithymia in females with non-clinical disordered eating

Objectives: The aims were to determine if emotion recognition deficits observed in eating disorders generalise to non-clinical disordered eating and to establish if other psychopathological and personality factors contributed to, or accounted for, these deficits. Design: Females with high (n=23) and low (n=22) scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) were assessed on their ability to recognise emotion from videotaped social interactions. Participants also completed a face memory task, a Stroop task, and self-report measures of alexithymia, depression and anxiety. Results: Relative to the low EDI group, high EDI participants exhibited a general deficit in recognition of emotion, which was related to their scores on the alexithymia measure and the bulimia subscale of the EDI. They also exhibited a specific deficit in the recognition of anger, which was related to their scores on the body dissatisfaction subscale of the EDI. Conclusions: In line with clinical eating disorders, non-clinical disordered eating is associated with emotion recognition deficits. However, the nature of these deficits appears to be dependent upon the type of eating psychopathology and the degree of co-morbid alexithymia.