Emotional text messages affect the early processing of emoticons depending on their emotional congruence: evidence from the N170 and EPN event related potentials.

Emoticons have been considered pragmatic cues that enhance emotional expressivity during computer-mediated communication. Yet, it is unclear how emoticons are processed in ambiguous text-based communication due to incongruences between the emoticon's emotional valence and its context. In this study, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of contextual influence on the early emotional processing of emoticons, during an emotional congruence judgment task. Participants were instructed to judge the congruence between a text message expressing an emotional situation (positive or negative), and a subsequent emoticon expressing positive or negative emotions. We analyzed early event-related potentials elicited by emoticons related to face processing (N170) and emotional salience in visual perception processing (Early Posterior Negativity, EPN). Our results show that accuracy and Reaction Times depend on the interaction between the emotional valence of the context and the emoticon. Negative emoticons elicited a larger N170, suggesting that the emotional information of the emoticon is integrated at the early stages of the perceptual process. During emoticon processing, a valence effect was observed with enhanced EPN amplitudes in occipital areas for emoticons representing negative valences. Moreover, we observed a congruence effect in parieto-temporal sites within the same time-window, with larger amplitudes for the congruent condition. We conclude that, similar to face processing, emoticons are processed differently according to their emotional content and the context in which they are embedded. A congruent context might enhance the emotional salience of the emoticon (and therefore, its emotional expression) during the early stages of their processing.

Alimentación basada en plantas: sus mecanismos en la prevención y tratamiento de la obesidad / Whole food plant based diet: its mechanisms for the prevention and treatment of obesity

La obesidad es una condición metabólica que se encuentra en constante crecimiento, siendo considerada incluso una "pandemia" en la actualidad. Debido a esto y al gran número de enfermedades a las que se asocia, surge la necesidad de un manejo de esta condición que sea efectivo y saludable a nivel integral. En este contexto, entran a la medicina e investigación científica los conceptos de medicina de estilos de vida y de alimentaciones basadas en plantas, habiendo estas últimas demostrado beneficios en todas estas áreas de la salud, y están siendo parte de varias de las recomendaciones de sociedades científicas actuales. En este artículo, se explicará brevemente qué es la alimentación basada en plantas, explorando los distintos estudios observacionales e intervenciones que fundamentan su uso, y se propondrán algunos mecanismos a través de los cuales provee beneficios en el control del peso corporal, entre los cuales destacan: la saciedad que genera y la baja densidad calórica que la caracteriza, el mayor efecto térmico de las comidas, la modulación favorable de la microbiota intestinal, sus efectos sobre la sensibilidad a la insulina, la ausencia de proteína animal y cómo esto afecta el control de peso corporal, y los efectos que produce sobre la hormona leptina. La alimentación basada en plantas se posiciona como una gran alternativa para la prevención y tratamiento de la obesidad, siendo además un patrón alimentario seguro y saludable. Se espera que en el futuro cada vez más profesionales de la salud consideren esta evidencias y lo incorporen como parte de sus herramientas terapéuticas.

Obesity is a metabolic condition with a continuous increasing rate, being considered today a "pandemic". Due to this and the vast number of diseases it is associated with, there is a need for a treatment of this condition that is both effective and healthy in a comprehensive way. In this context, the concepts of lifestyle medicine and plant-based diets have emerged in medicine and in scientific research, and the latter have demonstrated benefits in all these areas and are being part of several scientific association's recommendations today. In this article, a plant-based diet is briefly defined, and the mechanisms by which this type of diet provides benefits for the control of body weight are explored, including the satiety it generates and its characteristic low caloric density, the higher thermic effect of foods, the positive modulation of the gut microbiota, its effects on the insulin sensitivity, the absence of animal protein and how this affects the body weight, and the effects it has on the leptin hormone. Plant-based diets has been studied both in observational and interventional studies and positioned as a great alternative for the prevention and treatment of obesity, in addition to being a safe and health dietary pattern. We hope that in the future, more health professionals consider this evidence and incorporate it as part of their therapeutic tools.

Enhanced response inhibition and reduced midfrontal theta activity in experienced Vipassana meditators.

Response inhibition - the ability to suppress inappropriate thoughts and actions - is a fundamental aspect of cognitive control. Recent research suggests that mental training by meditation may improve cognitive control. Yet, it is still unclear if and how, at the neural level, long-term meditation practice may affect (emotional) response inhibition. The present study aimed to address this outstanding question, and used an emotional Go/Nogo task and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine possible differences in behavioral and electrophysiological indices of response inhibition between Vipassana meditators and an experience-matched active control group (athletes). Behaviorally, meditators made significantly less errors than controls on the emotional Go/Nogo task, independent of the emotional context, while being equally fast. This improvement in response inhibition at the behavioral level was accompanied by a decrease in midfrontal theta activity in Nogo vs. Go trials in the meditators compared to controls. Yet, no changes in ERP indices of response inhibition, as indexed by the amplitude of the N2 and P3 components, were observed. Finally, the meditators subjectively evaluated the emotional pictures lower in valence and arousal. Collectively, these results suggest that meditation may improve response inhibition and control over emotional reactivity.