The power of personal control: Task choice attenuates the effect of implicit sadness on sympathetically mediated cardiac response.

Implicitly processed pictures of facial expressions of emotions have been found to systematically influence sympathetically mediated cardiovascular reactivity during task performance. According to the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model, this happens because different affect primes activate the concepts of performance ease versus performance difficulty. Grounded in a recent action shielding model, our laboratory experiment (N = 129 university students) tested whether engaging in action by personal choice can immunize against those implicit affective influences on effort. Participants worked on an objectively difficult cognitive task, which was either externally assigned or ostensibly personally chosen. As predicted, participants in the assigned task condition showed weaker cardiac pre-ejection period reactivity during task performance, reflecting disengagement, when they were primed with sadness than when they were exposed to anger primes. Most relevant, this affect prime effect disappeared when participants could ostensibly choose their task themselves. These findings replicate previous research on implicit affect's impact on sympathetically mediated cardiac response and extend the literature on action shielding by personal choice effects to implicit affective influences on action execution.

Personal task choice attenuates implicit happiness effects on effort: A study on cardiovascular response.

Research on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model (Gendolla, 2012) found that priming happiness or anger in challenging tasks results in stronger sympathetically mediated cardiovascular responses, reflecting effort, than priming sadness or fear. Recent studies on action shielding revealed that personal task choice can attenuate affective influences on action execution (e.g., Gendolla et al., 2021). The present experiment tested if this action shielding effect also applies to affect primes' influences on cardiovascular response. Participants (N = 136) worked on a cognitive task with integrated briefly flashed and backward masked facial expressions of sadness vs. happiness. Half of the participants could ostensibly choose whether they wanted to work on an attention or on a memory task, while the other half was assigned to one task. Our findings revealed effects on cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP), which align with the expected outcomes for a task of unfixed difficulty where participants establish their own performance standard. Most importantly, task choice shielded against the implicit affective influence on PEP that was evident when the task was externally assigned. Effects on systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity largely corresponded to those of PEP.

The effect of social comparison on effort: When similar and slightly better peers increase effort-related cardiovascular responses.

Social comparison theory states that comparison with others should influence an individual's behavior (Festinger, 1954; Munkes & Diehl, 2003). This is primarily due to an upward pressure: the pressure to be better than others, which according to some theories should motivate individuals to increase their level of performance (Munkes & Diehl, 2003; Rijsman, 1974). The effect of upward pressure on individual performance has been tested, but never on effort. To address this gap, we conducted a within-subject design study with N = 40 participants engaged in five-minute video games while presented with scores of a similar, slightly better, or weaker peer, with a control condition omitting the peer's score. Effort-related cardiovascular responses were recorded with initial systolic time interval (ISTI) during the game and baseline conditions. The effect of social comparison on effort was tested with a 4 (social comparison) x 5 (minutes of the tasks) repeated-measures ANOVA on ISTI reactivity. Results showed higher ISTI reactivity, interpreted as increased effort, when participants competed with similar and slightly better peers compared to a weaker peer and the control condition in the last minute of the task, confirming our expectations (Pegna et al., 2019). These results illustrate that social comparison - through its effect on upward pressure - is sufficient to elicit changes in effort-related cardiovascular response.

Can personal task choice shield against fear and anger prime effects on effort? A study on cardiac response.

This experiment tested whether personal task choice can shield against implicit affective influences on sympathetically mediated cardiovascular response, reflecting effort. Participants were N = 121 healthy university students who completed a moderately difficult memory task with integrated briefly flashed and masked fear vs. anger primes. Half of the participants believed they could choose between an attention and a memory task, while the other half was automatically assigned to the task. Replicating previous research, we expected an influence of the affect primes on effort when the task was externally assigned. By contrast, when participants were given a task choice, we predicted strong action shielding and thus a weak implicit affect effect on resource mobilization. As expected, participants in the assigned task condition showed stronger cardiac pre-ejection period reactivity when exposed to fear primes than when processing anger primes. Importantly, this affect prime effect disappeared when participants could ostensibly choose the task. These findings add to other recent evidence for action shielding by personal task choice and importantly extend this effect to implicit affective influences on cardiac reactivity during task performance.

Hierarchical status is rapidly assessed from behaviourally dominant faces.

Recognition of social hierarchy is a key feature that helps us navigate through our complex social environment. Neuroimaging studies have identified brain structures involved in the processing of hierarchical stimuli, but the precise temporal dynamics of brain activity associated with such processing remains largely unknown. In this investigation, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the effect of social hierarchy on the neural responses elicited by dominant and nondominant faces. Participants played a game where they were led to believe that they were middle-rank players, responding alongside other alleged players, whom they perceived as higher or lower-ranking. ERPs were examined in response to dominant and nondominant faces, and low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) was used to identify the implicated brain areas. The results revealed that the amplitude of the N170 component was enhanced for faces of dominant individuals, showing that hierarchy influences the early stages of face processing. A later component, the late positive potential (LPP) appearing between 350-700 ms, also was enhanced for faces of higher-ranking players. Source localisation suggested that the early modulation was due to an enhanced response in limbic regions. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence for enhanced early visual processing of socially dominant faces.

Evolution of impulsivity levels in relation to early cannabis use in violent patients in the early phase of psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Prevention of violent behaviors (VB) in the early phase of psychosis (EPP) is a real challenge. Impulsivity was shown to be strongly related to VB, and different evolutions of impulsivity were noticed along treatments. One possible variable involved in the relationship between VB and the evolution of impulsivity is cannabis use (CU). The high prevalence of CU in EPP and its relationship with VB led us to investigate: 1/the impact of CU and 2/the impact of early CU on the evolution of impulsivity levels during a 3-year program, in violent and non-violent EPP patients. METHODS: 178 non-violent and 62 violent patients (VPs) were followed-up over a 3 year period. Age of onset of CU was assessed at program entry and impulsivity was assessed seven times during the program. The evolution of impulsivity level during the program, as a function of the violent and non-violent groups of patients and CU precocity were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Over the treatment period, impulsivity level did not evolve as a function of the interaction between group and CU (coef. = 0.02, p = 0.425). However, when including precocity of CU, impulsivity was shown to increase significantly only in VPs who start consuming before 15 years of age (coef. = 0.06, p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: The precocity of CU in VPs seems to be a key variable of the negative evolution of impulsivity during follow-up and should be closely monitored in EPP patients entering care since they have a higher risk of showing VB.

The Link Between Cannabis Use and Violent Behavior in the Early Phase of Psychosis: The Potential Role of Impulsivity.

Introduction: Recently, the literature has shown that Cannabis Use (CU) was a risk factor for Violent Behavior (VB) in patients with psychosis, and those in the early phase of psychosis (EPP). These findings are relevant because of the high prevalence of CU in this EPP, and the potential for prevention during this phase of illness. However, there is still a lack of clear explanations, supported by empirical evidence, about what underlies the link between CU and VB against other. Method: This viewpoint reviews the scientific literature on the link between CU and VB, and the involvement of impulsivity in this relationship. This last point will be addressed at clinical and neurobiological levels. Results: Recent studies confirmed that CU is particularly high in the EPP, and is a risk factor for VB in the EPP and schizophrenia. Studies have also shown that impulsivity is a risk factor for VB in psychosis, is associated with CU, and may mediate the link between CU and VB. Research suggests a neurobiological mechanism, as CU affects the structures and function of frontal areas, known to play a role in impulsive behavior. Conclusion: Scientific evidence support the hypothesis of an involvement of impulsivity as a variable that could mediate the link between CU and aggression, particularly, when CU has an early onset. However, this hypothesis should be confirmed with longitudinal studies and by taking into account confounding factors. The studies highlight the relevance of early prevention in the EPP, in addition to interventions focusing on psychotic disorders.

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on effort during a working-memory task.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has shown that stimulation of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) facilitates task performance in working-memory tasks. However, little is known about its potential effects on effort. This study examined whether tDCS affects effort during a working-memory task. Participants received anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation over DLPFC across three sessions before carrying out a 2-back task. During the task, effort-related cardiovascular measures were recorded-especially the Initial Systolic Time Interval (ISTI). Results showed that anodal stimulation produced a shorter ISTI, indicating a greater effort compared to cathodal and sham conditions, where effort was lower. These findings demonstrate that anodal stimulation helps participants to maintain engagement in a highly demanding task (by increasing task mastery), without which they would otherwise disengage. This study is the first to show that tDCS impacts the extent of effort engaged by individuals during a difficult task.

Rapid processing of fearful faces relies on the right amygdala: evidence from individuals undergoing unilateral temporal lobectomy.

Facial expressions of emotions have been shown to modulate early ERP components, in particular the N170. The underlying anatomical structure producing these early effects are unclear. In this study, we examined the N170 enhancement for fearful expressions in healthy controls as well as epileptic patients after unilateral left or right amygdala resection. We observed a greater N170 for fearful faces in healthy participants as well as in individuals with left amygdala resections. By contrast, the effect was not observed in patients who had undergone surgery in which the right amygdala had been removed. This result demonstrates that the amygdala produces an early brain response to fearful faces. This early response relies specifically on the right amygdala and occurs at around 170 ms. It is likely that such increases are due to a heightened response of the extrastriate cortex that occurs through rapid amygdalofugal projections to the visual areas.

Early onset of cannabis use and violent behavior in psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Although evidence from psychosis patients demonstrates the adverse effects of cannabis use (CU) at a young age and that the rate of CU is high in subgroups of young violent patients with psychotic disorders, little is known about the possible effect of the age of onset of CU on later violent behaviors (VB). So, we aimed to explore the impact of age at onset of CU on the risk of displaying VB in a cohort of early psychosis patients. METHOD: Data were collected prospectively over a 36-month period in the context of an early psychosis cohort study. A total of 265 patients, aged 18-35 years, were included in the study. Logistic regression was performed to assess the link between age of onset of substance use and VB. RESULTS: Among the 265 patients, 72 had displayed VB and 193 had not. While violent patients began using cannabis on average at age 15.29 (0.45), nonviolent patients had started on average at age 16.97 (0.35) (p = 0.004). Early-onset CU (up to age 15) was a risk factor for VB (odds ratio = 4.47, confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-20.06) when the model was adjusted for age group, other types of substance use, being a user or a nonuser and various violence risk factors and covariates. History of violence and early CU (until 15) were the two main risk factors for VB. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that early-onset CU may play a role in the emergence of VB in early psychosis.

Personality Factors and Attachment Styles as Predictors of the Therapeutic Efficacy of a Short-Term Ambulatory Intervention for Depression.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown a significant positive impact of intensive short-term ambulatory psychiatric interventions for depression. However, data on outcomes related to factors that are predictive of the efficacy of these interventions in terms of remission or response to treatment remain scarce. The goal of this naturalistic prospective study was to identify factors, including Big Five Inventory personality traits and attachment style, that are predictive of the efficacy of crisis interventions (CIns) in major depressive disorder. METHODS: The study included 234 adult outpatients with major depressive disorder who completed all assessments in a study of a short-term intensive ambulatory CIn. In this study, we evaluated sociodemographic factors, and scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale, the Big Five Inventory personality assessment, the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, and the Adult Attachment Scale. RESULTS: Mean scores on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale decreased significantly from 26.3 (SD=9.0) at admission to 10.6 (SD=8.1) at the end of the CIn (t=23.9; P<0.001); 99 patients (42%) experienced remission, 151 patients (65%) were considered treatment responders, and 98 patients (42%) both responded to treatment and experienced remission. Results of multivariate regression analysis showed that education level and family intervention were associated with response to treatment. Neuroticism traits were related to a lower rate of response to treatment. The dependency dimension attachment style had a positive impact on response to treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Neuroticism traits can predict clinical outcomes after a short-term intensive psychiatric intervention for depression. Results of family interviews, education level, and Global Assessment of Functioning scores should also be taken into account in predicting clinical outcomes.

Waist-to-hip ratio affects female body attractiveness and modulates early brain responses.

This investigation examined the electrophysiological response underlying the visual processing of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in female bodies, a characteristic known to affect perceived attractiveness. WHRs of female bodies were artificially adjusted to values of 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 or 0.9. Behavioural ratings of attractiveness of the bodies revealed a preference for WHRs of 0.7 in the overall group of participants, which included both male and female heterosexual individuals. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were then recorded while participants performed a selective attention task involving photographs of female models and scrambled images. Results showed that the P1 (80-120 ms) and N1 (130-170 ms) components situated over posterior brain regions were the earliest components to be modulated by attention and bodies. Interestingly, the vertex-positive potential, occurring between 120-180 ms, produced a greater positivity for WHRs of 0.7 compared to the other ratios. However, this increase was only observed when the body stimuli were attended, while no effect was observed for unattended bodies. These findings provide evidence of an early brain sensitivity to visual attributes that constitute secondary sexual characteristics. Although they are relatively discrete from the point of view of their physical quality, these signs possess strong behavioural significance, producing greater reported attractiveness, likely by conveying the biological meaning that signals good health and greater reproductive success. Our results therefore reveal that attributes associated with sexual attractiveness in female bodies are processed rapidly in the stream of visual processing.

Learning to trust a face: The time course of brain activation during a money game.

Evidence shows that human faces can rapidly produce impressions of trust or distrust on the basis of their facial features. However, trust is also built through repeated interactions in which an opposite party acts positively towards the subject in a consistent way. The dynamics of cortical activation of this form of interactively-experienced trust is unclear. The current study therefore investigated the electrophysiological response to trust/distrust, arising through interactions in an investment game. Using an ERP paradigm, participants took part in a money game in which they chose to entrust different amounts to fictitious players. Some of these players were associated with the higher probability of a positive outcome (trustworthy behaviour), others were associated with a higher negative outcome (untrustworthy behaviour), and yet others were neutral. Over the course of the game, a strong central positivity emerged between 450 and 650 ms for trustworthy faces, compared to both neutral and untrustworthy players. This time period thus reflects the window during which the trustworthiness of a face is processed, when based on prior interaction. In addition, by evidencing ERP modifications for trustworthy faces alone, these findings suggest that the "default mode" of processing is initially biased towards distrust.

It's about effort: Impact of implicit affect on cardiovascular response is context dependent.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model, we tested whether the effect of implicitly processed affect primes on cardiovascular responses is limited to settings that call for effort and in which implicit affect can inform about subjective task demand. Participants were presented with letter series and briefly flashed sadness versus happiness primes. Half of the participants were asked to memorize all occurring vowels (achievement context), while the other half merely watched the series (watching context). Responses of cardiac pre-ejection period, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure supported the predictions. As expected, in the challenging achievement-context condition, happiness primes led to stronger cardiovascular reactivity than sadness primes. By contrast, reactivity was modest in both affect prime conditions when the participants merely watched the stimuli. That is, the impact of affect primes on cardiovascular responses was limited to a setting that directly called for effort mobilization.

Prime warning moderates implicit affect primes' effect on effort-related cardiac response in men.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), we tested whether warning individuals about the occurrence of affect primes during a cognitive task moderates the primes' effect on effort-related cardiac response. Participants worked on a challenging mental arithmetic task with integrated masked affect primes-very briefly flashed pictures of facial sadness vs. happiness expressions. Additionally, half of the participants were warned about the primes' appearance and their possible effect on experienced task demand; the other half of the participants was not informed about the primes. Reactivity of cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) was stronger in the happiness-prime than in the sadness-prime condition, but only when the participants were not warned about the primes' occurrence. This effect was further moderated by gender and only significant among men. Heart rate (HR) responses showed a largely corresponding effect. The results suggest that prime-warning is a boundary condition of implicit affects' effect on effort mobilization-and that this effect applies especially to men.

Early and late cortical responses to directly gazing faces are task dependent.

Gender categorisation of human faces is facilitated when gaze is directed toward the observer (i.e., a direct gaze), compared with situations where gaze is averted or the eyes are closed (Macrae, Hood, Milne, Rowe, & Mason, Psychological Science, 13(5), 460-464, 2002). However, the temporal dynamics underlying this phenomenon remain to some extent unknown. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess the neural correlates of this effect, focusing on the event-related potential (ERP) components known to be sensitive to gaze perception (i.e., P1, N170, and P3b). We first replicated the seminal findings of Macrae et al. (2002, Experiment 1) regarding facilitated gender discrimination, and subsequently measured the underlying neural responses. Our data revealed an early preferential processing of direct gaze as compared with averted gaze and closed eyes at the P1, which reverberated at the P3b (Experiment 2). Critically, using the same material, we failed to reproduce these effects when gender categorisation was not required (Experiment 3). Taken together, our data confirm that direct gaze enhances the early P1, as well as later cortical responses to face processing, although the effect appears to be task dependent.

Prime visibility moderates implicit anger and sadness effects on effort-related cardiac response.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort (IAPE) model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), an experiment investigated the effect of affect primes' visibility on effort mobilization during cognitive processing. Participants worked on a short-term memory task with integrated sadness vs. anger primes that were presented suboptimally (briefly and masked) vs. optimally (long and visible). Effort was assessed as cardiovascular response, especially cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP). To monitor performance, we assessed response accuracy and reaction times. In accordance with the IAPE model, PEP reactivity was stronger in the sadness-prime condition than in the anger-prime condition-but only when the primes were suboptimally presented. Effects on response accuracy revealed a corresponding pattern. The results suggest that prime visibility is a boundary condition of anger and sadness primes' effect on effort mobilization.

Determinants of Suicidality and of Treatment Modalities in a Community Psychiatry Sample of Asylum Seekers.

A high prevalence of mental illness has been reported in asylum seekers. The present cross-sectional study examined suicidal thoughts, treatment modalities (outpatient crisis intervention, inpatient care), and their determinants in asylum seekers (n = 119) and permanent residents (n = 120) attending the same outpatient clinic in Geneva, Switzerland. The most frequent diagnoses were depressive disorders (64.7%) and posttraumatic stress disorder (34.5%) in asylum seekers and psychotic (55.0%) and depressive disorders (33.3%) in permanent residents. The frequency of suicidal thoughts was similar in both groups (>30%). Asylum seekers benefited from outpatient crisis intervention more frequently than residents did (26.9% vs. 5.8%), whereas inpatient care was less frequent (25.2% vs. 44.2%). In asylum seekers, acute suicidal thoughts were associated with increased frequency of outpatient crisis interventions, and, suicidal thoughts, psychosis, or personality disorders were associated with higher rates of hospitalization. Documenting clinical characteristics and service utilization of asylum seekers is a prerequisite to organizing targeted interventions.

ERP responses greater for faces in the temporal compared to the nasal visual field.

The distribution of retino-tectal projections is dissimilar depending on whether the receptors are situated in the nasal and temporal visual hemiretinas. Indeed, it has been claimed that the superior colliculus receives a greater proportion of its input from the temporal visual hemifield (nasal hemi-retina) relative to the nasal hemifield (temporal hemi-retina). In order to investigate whether these subcortical projections influence face processing, we investigated the early cortical ERP responses to faces and houses presented in the temporal and nasal retinas using monocular viewing. Neutral or fearful faces were presented concurrently with houses on either side of a central fixation cross, while participants were asked to discriminate changes in luminance at the center. Results showed that the lateralized N170, computed as the contralateral-ipsilateral electrode difference, was greater for faces appearing in the nasal relative to the temporal visual hemifield. This was due to a greater ipsilateral N170 for temporal relative to nasal presentations. By contrast, no difference was found across emotional expressions. The enhanced ERP response to faces appearing in the temporal visual field, suggests that the retinotectal pathway modulates cortical processing, most likely through activation of a colliculo-pulvino-amygdalar pathway, with subsequent back-projections from the amygdala to visual cortical regions. However, unattended facial expressions do not seem to modulate the response, at least at these angles of eccentricity.

Naso-Temporal Asymmetries: Suppression of Emotional Faces in the Temporal Visual Hemifield.

An ongoing debate exists regarding the possible existence of a retino-tectal visual pathway projecting to the amygdala, which would rapidly process information involving threatening or behaviorally-relevant stimuli. It has been suggested that this route might be responsible for the involuntary capture of attention by potentially dangerous stimuli. In separate studies, anatomical evidence has suggested that the retino-tectal pathway relies essentially on projections from the nasal hemiretina (temporal visual field). In this study, we chose to take advantage of this anatomical difference to further investigate whether emotional facial expressions are indeed processed through a subcortical pathway. Using EEG, participants performed a monocular spatial attention paradigm in which lateralized, task-irrelevant distractors were presented, followed by a target. The distractors were fearful faces that appeared either in nasal or temporal visual hemifield (by virtue of their monocular presentations), while the neutral face was presented simultaneously on the opposite side. Participants were asked to identify a target letter that appeared subsequently in the nasal or temporal visual hemifield. Event-related potentials (ERPs) results revealed that fearful faces appearing in the temporal visual hemifield produced a strong inhibitory response, while a negative deflection reflecting attentional capture followed presentations of fear in the nasal hemifield. These effects can be explained by a greater sensitivity of the subcortical pathway for emotional stimuli. Fearful faces conveyed through this route are processed more effectively, consequently necessitating more vigorous suppression in order for targets to be dealt with adequately.