Cognitive and neural bases of visual-context-guided decision-making.

Humans adjust their behavioral strategies based on feedback, a process that may depend on intrinsic preferences and contextual factors such as visual salience. In this study, we hypothesized that decision-making based on visual salience is influenced by habitual and goal-directed processes, which can be evidenced by changes in attention and subjective valuation systems. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a series of studies to investigate the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying visual salience-driven decision-making. We first established the baseline behavioral strategy without salience in Experiment 1 (n = 21). We then highlighted the utility or performance dimension of the chosen outcome using colors in Experiment 2 (n = 30). We demonstrated that the difference in staying frequency increased along the salient dimension, confirming a salience effect. Furthermore, the salience effect was abolished when directional information was removed in Experiment 3 (n = 28), suggesting that the salience effect is feedback-specific. To generalize our findings, we replicated the feedback-specific salience effects using eye-tracking and text emphasis. The fixation differences between the chosen and unchosen values were enhanced along the feedback-specific salient dimension in Experiment 4 (n = 48) but unchanged after removing feedback-specific information in Experiment 5 (n = 32). Moreover, the staying frequency was correlated with fixation properties, confirming that salience guides attention deployment. Lastly, our neuroimaging study (Experiment 6, n = 25) showed that the striatum subregions encoded salience-based outcome evaluation, while the vmPFC encoded salience-based behavioral adjustments. The connectivity of the vmPFC-ventral striatum accounted for individual differences in utility-driven, whereas the vmPFC-dmPFC for performance-driven behavioral adjustments. Together, our results provide a neurocognitive account of how task-irrelevant visual salience drives decision-making by involving attention and the frontal-striatal valuation systems. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Humans may use the current outcome to make behavior adjustments. How this occurs may depend on stable individual preferences and contextual factors, such as visual salience. Under the hypothesis that visual salience determines attention and subsequently modulates subjective valuation, we investigated the underlying behavioral and neural bases of visual-context-guided outcome evaluation and behavioral adjustments. Our findings suggest that the reward system is orchestrated by visual context and highlight the critical role of attention and the frontal-striatal neural circuit in visual-context-guided decision-making that may involve habitual and goal-directed processes.

Synthesis of Phosphovanadate-Based Porous Inorganic Frameworks with High Proton Conductivity.

Materials with high proton conductivity have attracted significant attention for their wide-ranging applications in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, the design of new and efficient porous proton-conducting materials remains a challenging task. The structure-controllable and highly stable metal phosphates can be synthesized into layer or frame networks to provide proton transport capabilities. Herein, we have successfully synthesized three isomorphic metal phosphovanadates, namely, H2(C2H10N2)2[MII(H2O)2(VIVO)8(OH)4(PO4)4(HPO4)4] (C2H8N2 = 1,2-ethylenediamine; M = Co, Ni, and Cu), by the hydrothermal method employing ethylenediamine as a template. These pure inorganic open frameworks exhibit a cavity width ranging from 6.4 to 7.5 Å. Remarkably, the proton conductivity of compounds 1-3 can reach 1 × 10-2 S·cm-1 at 85 °C and 97% relative humidity (RH), and they can remain stable at high temperatures as well as long-term stability. This work provides a novel strategy for the development and design of porous proton-conducting materials.

Fabrication of AIE Polymer-Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide for Information Storage.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been extensively studied and applied in optoelectronic systems, but its unstable dispersion in organic solvents has limited its application. To overcome this problem, the newly designed and developed aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material poly[(9,9-bis(6-azidohexyl)-9H-fluorene)-alt-(9-(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)-9H-carbazole)] (PAFTC) was covalently grafted onto RGO to produce (PFTC-g-RGO). The solubility of two-dimensional graphene was improved by incorporating it into the backbone of PAFTC to form new functional materials. In resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices, PFTC-g-RGO was used as the active layer material after it was characterized. The fabricated Al/PFTC-g-RGO/ITO device exhibited nonvolatile bistable resistive switching performances with a long retention time of over 104 s, excellent endurance of over 200 switching cycles, and an impressively low turn-ON voltage. This study provides important insights into the future development of AIE polymer-functionalized nanomaterials for information storage.

Behavioral and neural representation of expected reward and risk.

When faced with uncertainty, individuals' value-based decisions are influenced by the expected rewards and risks. Understanding how reward and risk are processed and integrated at the behavioral and neural levels is essential for building up utility theories. Using a modified monetary incentive delay task in which the mean of two possible outcomes (expected reward) and the standard deviation (SD) of the possible outcomes (risk) were parametrically manipulated and orthogonalized, we measured eye movements, response times (RTs), and brain activity when participants seek to secure a reward. We found that RTs varied as a function of the mean but not the SD of the potential reward, suggesting that expected rewards are the main driver of RTs. Moreover, the difference between gazes focused on high vs. low value rewards became smaller when the magnitude of the potential reward (mean of possible outcomes) was larger and when risk (SD of possible outcomes) became smaller, highlighting that reward and risk have different effects on attention deployment. Processing the mean reward activated the striatum. The positive striatal connectivity to the amygdala and negative striatal connectivity to the superior frontal gyrus were correlated with individuals' sensitivity to the expected reward. In contrast, processing risk activated the anterior insula. Its positive connectivity to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and negative connectivity to the anterior midcingulate cortex were correlated with individual differences in risk sensitivity, further suggesting the functional dissociation of reward and risk at the neural level. Our findings, based on several different measures, delineate the distinct representations of reward and risk in non-decision contexts and provide insight into how these utility parameters modulate attention, motivation, and brain networks.

Space-Confined Nucleation of Semimetal-Oxo Clusters within a [H7P8W48O184]33- Macrocycle: Synthesis, Structure, and Enhanced Proton Conductivity.

Spatially confined assembly of semimetallic oxyanions (AsO33- and SbO33-) within a [H7P8W48O184]33- (P8W48) macrocycle has afforded three nanoscale polyanions, [{AsIII5O4(OH)3}2(P8W48O184)]32- (As10), [(SbIIIOH)4(P8W48O184)]32- (Sb4), and [(SbIIIOH)8(P8W48O184)]24- (Sb8), which were crystallized as the hydrated mixed-cation salts (Me2NH2)13K7Na2Li10[{AsIII5O4(OH)3}2(P8W48O184)]·32H2O (DMA-KNaLi-As10), K20Li12[(SbIIIOH)4(P8W48O184)]·52H2O (KLi-Sb4), and (Me2NH2)8K6Na5Li5[(SbIIIOH)8(P8W48O184)]·65H2O (DMA-KNaLi-Sb8), respectively. A multitude of solid- and solution-state physicochemical techniques were employed to systematically characterize the structure and composition of the as-made compounds. The polyanion of As10 represents the first example of a semimetal-oxo cluster-substituted P8W48 and accommodates the largest AsIII-oxo cluster in polyoxometalates (POMs) reported to date. The number of incorporated SbO33- groups in Sb4 and Sb8 could be customized by a simple variation of SbIII-containing precursors. Encapsulation of semimetallic oxyanions inside P8W48 sets out a valid strategy not only for the development of host-guest assemblies in POM chemistry but also for their function expansion in emerging applications such as proton-conducting materials, for which DMA-KNaLi-As10 showcases an outstanding conductivity of 1.2 × 10-2 S cm-1 at 85 °C and 70% RH.

Clinical Application of Stromal Vascular Fraction Gel in Temple Augmentation Using Deep Injection and Shallow Pave Filling.

BACKGROUND: Temporal hollowing is an early sign of aging, and many techniques comprising the injection of fillers into the temporal fossa to correct this hollowing have been described. OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety of a new technique in which stromal vascular fraction gel is used for temporal hollowing. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with temporal hollowing were corrected with the aforementioned gel using deep injection and shallow pave filling at the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, China, between January 2017 and April 2021. This gel was injected into the double plane via a needle and cannula by the same cutaneous access points to prevent severe vascular injury. Improvement was evaluated by self-assessment, the Hollowness Severity Rating Scale (grade range, 0-3; lower grades represent minimal hollowness), and a satisfaction survey. RESULTS: Self-assessment questionnaire (6 questions) results were satisfactory; 44 temples (67%) demonstrated more than 2 grades of magnitude of clinical improvement. Thirty-one patients (94%) were satisfied with their outcomes; the complaint ratio was low. CONCLUSION: The high satisfaction rate of patients treated using the stromal vascular fraction gel by deep injection and shallow pave filling suggests that this technique is simple, effective, and safe. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't: Neural processing of risk and ambiguity.

Risk and ambiguity are inherent in virtually all human decision-making. Risk refers to a situation in which we know the precise probability of potential outcomes of each option, whereas ambiguity refers to a situation in which outcome probabilities are not known. A large body of research has shown that individuals prefer known risks to ambiguity, a phenomenon known as ambiguity aversion. One heated debate concerns whether risky and ambiguous decisions rely on the same or distinct neural circuits. In the current meta-analyses, we integrated the results of neuroimaging research on decision-making under risk (n = 69) and ambiguity (n = 31). Our results showed that both processing of risk and ambiguity showed convergence in anterior insula, indicating a key role of anterior insula in encoding uncertainty. Risk additionally engaged dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and ventral striatum, whereas ambiguity specifically recruited the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and right anterior insula. Our findings demonstrate overlapping and distinct neural substrates underlying different types of uncertainty, guiding future neuroimaging research on risk-taking and ambiguity aversion.

Synaptotagmin 12 (SYT12) Gene Expression Promotes Cell Proliferation and Progression of Lung Adenocarcinoma and Involves the Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K)/AKT/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) Pathway.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to use bioinformatics analysis to compare data from tissue microarrays from patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and normal lung tissue, and human lung adenocarcinoma cells with normal lung epithelial cells in vitro to investigate the role of synaptotagmin 12 (SYT12) gene expression in LUAD. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (A549, SPC-A-1, H1299, H1975, and PC9) and the normal HBE cell line were compared, and tumor xenografts were developed in mice. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) tissue microarray data were used to compare SYT12 expression and overall survival (OS). The in vivo and in vitro effects of down-regulation and upregulation of SYT12 were studied using short-interfering RNA (si-RNA) and overexpression plasmids, respectively. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) pathway analysis, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and Western blot investigated the molecular mechanisms of SYT12 expression in LUAD. RESULTS SYT12 expression was increased in tissues from patients with LUAD from TCGA and was associated with advanced tumor stage and reduced prognosis. Knockdown of SYT12 suppressed the proliferation and migration of LUAD cells, and upregulation of SYT12 increased the proliferation and migration of LUAD cells in vitro. Phosphorylation of PIK3R3 activated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. In the mouse xenograft model, expression of SYT12 increased the volume and weight of the xenograft tumors. CONCLUSIONS Bioinformatics analysis, human LUAD cells, and mouse xenograft studies showed that SYT12 acted as a possible oncogene by phosphorylation of PIK3R3 to activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Decision ambiguity is mediated by a late positive potential originating from cingulate cortex.

People often make decisions in the face of ambiguous information, but it remains unclear how ambiguity is represented in the brain. We used three types of ambiguous stimuli and combined EEG and fMRI to examine the neural representation of perceptual decisions under ambiguity. We identified a late positive potential, the LPP, which differentiated levels of ambiguity, and which was specifically associated with behavioral judgments about choices that were ambiguous, rather than passive perception of ambiguous stimuli. Mediation analyses together with two further control experiments confirmed that the LPP was generated only when decisions are made (not during mere perception of ambiguous stimuli), and only when those decisions involved choices on a dimension that is ambiguous. A further control experiment showed that a stronger LPP arose in the presence of ambiguous stimuli compared to when only unambiguous stimuli were present. Source modeling suggested that the LPP originated from multiple loci in cingulate cortex, a finding we further confirmed using fMRI and fMRI-guided ERP source prediction. Taken together, our findings argue for a role of an LPP originating from cingulate cortex in encoding decisions based on task-relevant perceptual ambiguity, a process that may in turn influence confidence judgment, response conflict, and error correction.

Coordination Polymer Framework Based On-Chip Micro-Supercapacitors with AC Line-Filtering Performance.

On-chip micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) are important Si-compatible power-source backups for miniaturized electronics. Despite their tremendous advantages, current on-chip MSCs require harsh processing conditions and typically perform like resistors when filtering ripples from alternating current (AC). Herein, we demonstrated a facile layer-by-layer method towards on-chip MSCs based on an azulene-bridged coordination polymer framework (PiCBA). Owing to the good carrier mobility (5×10-3  cm2 V-1 s-1 ) of PiCBA, the permanent dipole moment of azulene skeleton, and ultralow band gap of PiCBA, the fabricated MSCs delivered high specific capacitances of up to 34.1 F cm-3 at 50 mV s-1 and a high volumetric power density of 1323 W cm-3 . Most importantly, such MCSs exhibited AC line-filtering performance (-73° at 120 Hz) with a short resistance-capacitance constant of circa 0.83 ms.

In Situ Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(aryleneethynylene)-Grafted Reduced Graphene Oxide.

Using highly soluble bromo-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (RGBr) as a key graphene template for surface-directing Sonogashira-Hagihara polymerization, a novel soluble poly(arylene-ethynylene)-grafted reduced graphene oxide, hereafter abbreviated as PAE-g-RGO, was prepared in situ. The entirely different electron distribution of LUMO and HOMO of PAE-g-RGO suggested the existence of a charge-transfer (CT) state (PAE(.-) -RGO(.+) ). The negative ΔGCS value (-2.57 eV) indicates that the occurrence of the charge separation via (1) RGO* in o-DCB is exothermic and favorable. Upon irradiation with 365 nm light, the light-induced electron paramagnetic resonance (LEPR) spectrum of PAE-g-RGO showed a decrease in the spin-state density owing to photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer events in this system. A sandwich-type Al/PAE-g-RGO/ITO device showed representative bistable electrical switching behavior. The nonvolatile memory performance was attributed to the CT-induced conductance changes, which was supported by molecular computation results and conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) images.

Tear trough deformity: different types of anatomy and treatment options.

AIM: To explore the efficacy of tear trough deformity treatment with the use of hyaluronic acid gel or autologous fat for soft tissue augmentation and fat repositioning via arcus marginalis release. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-eight patients with the tear trough were divided into three groups. Class I has tear trough without bulging orbital fat or excess of the lower eyelid skin. Class II is associated with mild to moderate orbital fat bulging, without excess of the lower eyelid skin. Class III is associated with severe orbital fat bulging and excess of the lower eyelid skin. Class I or II was treated using hyaluronic acid gel or autologous fat injections. Class III was treated with fat repositioning via arcus marginalis release. The patients with a deep nasojugal groove of class III were treated with injecting autologous fat into the tear trough during fat repositioning lower blepharoplasty as a way of supplementing the volume added by the repositioned fat. RESULTS: Seventy-eight patients with tear trough deformity were confirmed from photographs taken before and after surgery. There were some complications, but all had complete resolution. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with mild to moderate peri-orbital volume loss without severe orbital fat bulging may be good candidates for hyaluronic acid filler or fat grafting alone. However, patients with more pronounced deformities, severe orbital fat bulging and excess of the lower eyelid skin are often better served by fat repositioning via arcus marginalis release and fat grafting.

[Factors related to clinical pregnancy outcomes of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer in women with secondary infertility].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors related to clinical pregnancy outcomes of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in women with secondary infertility. METHODS: The clinical, laboratory and follow-up data of 1129 cycles in 1099 patients with secondary infertility undergoing IVF-ET in Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine between July 2012 to July 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. The factors related to pregnancy outcomes were analyzed by univariate and logistic regression methods. The clinical pregnancy rates in women with different age and different number of embryos transferred were compared. The clinical outcomes of stimulation with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist long protocol, GnRH agonist short protocol and GnH antagonist protocol were evaluated in secondary infertile patients aged ≥ 40 years. RESULTS: Among 1129 cycles, 376 cases (33.30%) had clinical pregnancy and 753 cases (66.70%) had no clinical pregnancy. There were significant differences in age, body mass index, basal follicle-stimulating hormone level, antral follicle number,paternal age and number of embryos transferred between pregnancy and no pregnancy groups (P<0.05); while only maternal age (OR=0.900, 95% CI: 0.873~0.928, P<0.001) and the number of embryos transferred (OR=2.248, 95% CI: 1.906~2.652, P<0.001) were the independent factors affecting the clinical pregnancy outcome of IVF-ET. There was no significant difference in clinical pregnancy rate between women aged 30~40 years with two embryos transferred and those aged<30 years with two or three embryos transferred(P>0.05). There were no significances in clinical pregnancy rate among women aged ≥ 40 years using GnRH agonist long protocol,GnRH agonist short protocol and GnRH antagonist protocol for stimulation (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Maternal age and number of embryos transferred have independent effect on IVF-ET clinical pregnancy outcome of secondary infertile women. We suggest that no more than two embryos should be transferred for women in their thirties to minimize the risk of multiple pregnancy while still having an acceptable pregnancy rate. The pregnancy rate of patients over 40 years decreases significantly, and there is no difference in pregnancy rate by using GnRH agonist long protocol, GnRH agonist short protocol or GnRH antagonist protocol.

[Study on effect of aqueous extracts from aconite on "dose-time-toxicity" relationships in mice hearts].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of single administration of aqueous extracts from aconite on "dose-toxicity" relationship and "time-toxicity" relationship of mice hearts, through changes in electrocardiogram (ECG) and serum biochemical indexes. METHOD: Mice were grouped according to different drug doses and time points, and orally administered with water extracts from aconite for once to observe the changes of mice ECG before and after the administration, calculate visceral indexes heart, liver and kidney, and detect levels of CK, LDH, BNP and CTn-I in serum. RESULT: According to the "time-toxicity" relationship study, at 5 min after oral administration with aqueous extracts from aconite in mice, the heart rate of mice began rising, reached peak at 60 min and then slowly reduced; QRS, R amplitude, T duration and amplitude and QT interval declined at 5 min, reduced to the bottom at 60 min and then gradually elevated. The levels of CK, LDH, BNP and CTn-I in serum elevated at 5 min and reached the peak at 60 min, with no significant change in ratios of organs to body at different time points. On the basis of the "dose-toxicity" relationship, with the increase in single dose of aqueous extracts from aconite, the heart rate of mice. QRS, T duration and amplitude and QT interval declined gradually, and levels of CK, LDH, BNP and CTn-I in serum slowly elevated, with a certain dose dependence and no significant change in ratios of organs to body in mice. CONCLUSION: Single oral administration of different doses of aqueous extracts from aconite could cause different degrees of heart injury at different time points, with a certain dose dependence. Its peak time of toxicity is at 60 min after the administration of aqueous extracts from aconite.

Multimodal investigations of emotional face processing and social trait judgment of faces.

Faces are among the most important visual stimuli that humans perceive in everyday life. While extensive literature has examined emotional processing and social evaluations of faces, most studies have examined either topic using unimodal approaches. In this review, we promote the use of multimodal cognitive neuroscience approaches to study these processes, using two lines of research as examples: ambiguity in facial expressions of emotion and social trait judgment of faces. In the first set of studies, we identified an event-related potential that signals emotion ambiguity using electroencephalography and we found convergent neural responses to emotion ambiguity using functional neuroimaging and single-neuron recordings. In the second set of studies, we discuss how different neuroimaging and personality-dimensional approaches together provide new insights into social trait judgments of faces. In both sets of studies, we provide an in-depth comparison between neurotypicals and people with autism spectrum disorder. We offer a computational account for the behavioral and neural markers of the different facial processing between the two groups. Finally, we suggest new practices for studying the emotional processing and social evaluations of faces. All data discussed in the case studies of this review are publicly available.

Functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex underlies processing of emotion ambiguity.

Processing facial expressions of emotion draws on a distributed brain network. In particular, judging ambiguous facial emotions involves coordination between multiple brain areas. Here, we applied multimodal functional connectivity analysis to achieve network-level understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying perceptual ambiguity in facial expressions. We found directional effective connectivity between the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and ventromedial PFC, supporting both bottom-up affective processes for ambiguity representation/perception and top-down cognitive processes for ambiguity resolution/decision. Direct recordings from the human neurosurgical patients showed that the responses of amygdala and dmPFC neurons were modulated by the level of emotion ambiguity, and amygdala neurons responded earlier than dmPFC neurons, reflecting the bottom-up process for ambiguity processing. We further found parietal-frontal coherence and delta-alpha cross-frequency coupling involved in encoding emotion ambiguity. We replicated the EEG coherence result using independent experiments and further showed modulation of the coherence. EEG source connectivity revealed that the dmPFC top-down regulated the activities in other brain regions. Lastly, we showed altered behavioral responses in neuropsychiatric patients who may have dysfunctions in amygdala-PFC functional connectivity. Together, using multimodal experimental and analytical approaches, we have delineated a neural network that underlies processing of emotion ambiguity. Significance Statement: A large number of different brain regions participate in emotion processing. However, it remains elusive how these brain regions interact and coordinate with each other and collectively encode emotions, especially when the task requires orchestration between different brain areas. In this study, we employed multimodal approaches that well complemented each other to comprehensively study the neural mechanisms of emotion ambiguity. Our results provided a systematic understanding of the amygdala-PFC network underlying emotion ambiguity with fMRI-based connectivity, EEG coordination of cortical regions, synchronization of brain rhythms, directed information flow of the source signals, and latency of single-neuron responses. Our results further shed light on neuropsychiatric patients who have abnormal amygdala-PFC connectivity.

Functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex underlies processing of emotion ambiguity.

Processing facial expressions of emotion draws on a distributed brain network. In particular, judging ambiguous facial emotions involves coordination between multiple brain areas. Here, we applied multimodal functional connectivity analysis to achieve network-level understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying perceptual ambiguity in facial expressions. We found directional effective connectivity between the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and ventromedial PFC, supporting both bottom-up affective processes for ambiguity representation/perception and top-down cognitive processes for ambiguity resolution/decision. Direct recordings from the human neurosurgical patients showed that the responses of amygdala and dmPFC neurons were modulated by the level of emotion ambiguity, and amygdala neurons responded earlier than dmPFC neurons, reflecting the bottom-up process for ambiguity processing. We further found parietal-frontal coherence and delta-alpha cross-frequency coupling involved in encoding emotion ambiguity. We replicated the EEG coherence result using independent experiments and further showed modulation of the coherence. EEG source connectivity revealed that the dmPFC top-down regulated the activities in other brain regions. Lastly, we showed altered behavioral responses in neuropsychiatric patients who may have dysfunctions in amygdala-PFC functional connectivity. Together, using multimodal experimental and analytical approaches, we have delineated a neural network that underlies processing of emotion ambiguity.

A uniform human multimodal dataset for emotion perception and judgment.

Face perception is a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, yet most research on this topic has focused on single modalities and specific aspects of face perception. Here, we present a comprehensive multimodal dataset for examining facial emotion perception and judgment. This dataset includes EEG data from 97 unique neurotypical participants across 8 experiments, fMRI data from 19 neurotypical participants, single-neuron data from 16 neurosurgical patients (22 sessions), eye tracking data from 24 neurotypical participants, behavioral and eye tracking data from 18 participants with ASD and 15 matched controls, and behavioral data from 3 rare patients with focal bilateral amygdala lesions. Notably, participants from all modalities performed the same task. Overall, this multimodal dataset provides a comprehensive exploration of facial emotion perception, emphasizing the importance of integrating multiple modalities to gain a holistic understanding of this complex cognitive process. This dataset serves as a key missing link between human neuroimaging and neurophysiology literature, and facilitates the study of neuropsychiatric populations.

Reduced Pupil Oscillation During Facial Emotion Judgment in People with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show abnormal face perception and emotion recognition. However, it remains largely unknown whether these differences are associated with abnormal physiological responses when viewing faces. In this study, we employed a sensitive emotion judgment task and conducted a detailed investigation of pupil dilation/constriction and oscillation in high-functioning adult participants with ASD and matched controls. We found that participants with ASD showed normal pupil constriction to faces; however, they demonstrated reduced pupil oscillation, which was independent of stimulus properties and participants' perception of the emotion. Together, our results have revealed an abnormal physiological response to faces in people with ASD, which may in turn be associated with impaired face perception previously found in many studies.

Breakdown of intention-based outcome evaluation after transient right temporoparietal junction deactivation.

People judge the nature of human behaviors based on underlying intentions and possible outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in modulating both intention and intention-based outcome evaluations during social judgments. However, these studies mainly used hypothetical scenarios with socially undesirable contexts (bad/neutral intentions and bad/neutral outcomes), leaving the role of rTPJ in judging good intentions and good outcomes unclear. In the current study, participants were instructed to make goodness judgments as a third party toward the monetary allocations from one proposer to another responder. Critically, in some cases, the initial allocation by the proposer could be reversed by the computer, yielding combinations of good/bad intentions (of the proposer) with good/bad outcomes (for the responder). Anodal (n = 20), cathodal (n = 21), and sham (n = 21) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the rTPJ were randomly assigned to 62 subjects to further examine the effects of stimulation over the rTPJ in modulating intention-based outcome evaluation. Compared to the anodal and sham stimulations, cathodal tDCS over the rTPJ reduced the goodness ratings of good/bad outcomes when the intentions were good, whereas it showed no significant effect on outcome ratings under unknown and bad intentions. Our results provide the first evidence that deactivating the rTPJ modulates outcome evaluation in an intention-dependent fashion, mainly by reducing the goodness rating towards both good/bad outcomes when the intentions are good. Our findings argue for a causal role of the rTPJ in modulating intention-based social judgments and point to nuanced effects of rTPJ modulation.