Psychophysiology最新文献

Understanding how sensory processing demands affect the ability to ignore task-irrelevant, loud auditory stimuli (LAS) during a task is key to performance in dynamic environments. For example, tennis players must ignore crowd noise to perform optimally. We investigated how practice affects this ability by examining the effects of delivering LASs during preparatory phase of an anticipatory timing (AT) task on the voluntary and reflexive responses in two conditions: lower and higher visual processing loads. Twenty-four participants (mean age = 23.1, 11 females) completed the experiment. The AT task involved synchronizing a finger abduction response with the last visual stimulus item in a sequence of four Gabor grating patches briefly flashed on screen. The lower demand condition involved only this task, and the higher demand condition required processing the orientations of the patches to report changes in the final stimulus item. Our results showed that higher visual processing demands affected the release of voluntary actions, particularly in the first block of trials. When the perceptual load was lower, responses were released earlier by the LAS compared to the high-load condition. Practice reduced these effects largely, but high perceptual load still led to earlier action release in the second block. In contrast, practice led to more apparent facilitation of eyeblink latency in the second block. These findings indicate that a simple perceptual load manipulation can impact the execution of voluntary motor actions, particularly for inexperienced participants. They also suggest distinct movement preparation influences on voluntary and involuntary actions triggered by acoustic stimuli.

The error-related negativity (ERN) has been identified as a potential endophenotype of psychopathology. However, there is limited research investigating familial transmission of the ERN, particularly across developmental phases that are associated with increased risk for psychopathology. The present study included a sample of one hundred thirty-one adolescent and young adult females (M_age = 17.77, SD = 1.84) and their biological parents at a first assessment and 75 females (M_age = 20.48, SD = 1.75) and their biological parents at a second assessment. Participants and their parents completed a flanker task while electroencephalography was recorded to examine parent-daughter associations of the ERN, correct response negativity (CRN), and ΔERN (i.e., ERN-CRN) at two assessments that were separated by approximately 3 years (M_years = 2.84, SD = 0.60). The daughters also completed self-report measures of generalized anxiety and depression symptoms. Results indicated that the ΔERN, but not the ERN or CRN, was positively correlated between parents and their daughters at both assessments. Furthermore, the parent-daughter correlation strength did not differ between assessments. Finally, both daughter and parent ∆ERNs were associated with daughter generalized anxiety and depression symptoms. The present study suggests that, like psychiatric disorders, the ERN runs in families and is associated with both concurrent and familial psychopathology, supporting its conceptualization as an endophenotype of psychopathology.

In contrast to rational choice theory predicting humans to optimize expected utilities of choices, humans deviate from rational behavior in decision-making paradigms. Hewig et al. (2011) explored affective correlates of decision-making in the ultimatum game (UG) and the dictator game (DG). They found that feedback-related negativity (FRN), subjective valence ratings, and autonomic nervous system activity predicted rejection of monetary offers. This registered replication aimed to validate and extend these findings. Although behavioral patterns and results of subjective ratings closely matched the original study, not all psychophysiological effects were successfully replicated. Firstly, we could not replicate the reported effects of autonomic nervous system activity. Secondly, a quadratic instead of the originally proposed linear relation between the offer and the FRN emerged, possibly driven by the offer evaluation in economic games and the rewarding anticipation of successful punishment for low offers. Thirdly, P3 amplitudes mirrored the quadratic offer response pattern, generally peaking for the lowest offer. In contrast to the original study, P3 responses were larger in the UG compared with the DG. Finally, our findings indicate that participant-related higher midfrontal theta activation predicted lower acceptance behavior in the UG, with a systematic dampening effect for fairer offers. This highlights cognitive control as a crucial mechanism in economic decision-making to overcome behavioral defaults. Overall, our results conceptually support the original conclusion that decision-making in economic games is non-rational and dependent on the objective situation as well as emotional and neural markers, though not precisely as suggested by Hewig et al. (2011).

Pupillometry has been used in the studies of postural control to assess cognitive load during dual tasks, but its response to increased balance task intensity has not been investigated. Furthermore, it is unknown whether side-specific changes in pupil diameter occur with more demanding balance tasks providing additional insights into postural control. The two aims of this study were to analyze differences in steady-state pupil diameter between balance tasks with increased intensity and to determine whether there are side-specific changes. Forty-eight healthy subjects performed parallel and left and right one-legged stances on a force plate with and without foam with right and left pupil diameters measured with a mobile infrared eye-tracker. Differences between balance tasks in parameters (average pupil diameter of each eye, average of both pupil diameters and the difference between the left and right pupil diameter) were analyzed using a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance, and deep learning neural network models were used to investigate how pupillometry predicted each balance task. The pupil diameter of the left eye, the average pupil diameter of both eyes and the difference in pupil diameters increased statistically significantly from simpler to more demanding balance tasks, with this being more pronounced for the left eye. The deep learning neural network models revealed side-specific changes in pupil diameter with more demanding balance tasks. This study confirms pupillary responses to increased intensity of balance task and indicates side-specific pupil responses that could be related to task-specific involvement of higher levels of postural control.

Regulatory efforts are hypothesized to affect associations between emotions and physiology (i.e., concordance) to facilitate adaptive functioning. Assessing the role of coping on physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios can elucidate whether concordance can serve as a biomarker of risk or resilience. The present study assessed self-reported coping as a moderator of minute-to-minute associations between autonomic nervous system activity and emotions (i.e., physiological-emotional concordance) in caregivers (N = 97) and adolescents (N = 97; ages 10-15) during a dyadic conflict task. Models included physiological variables (sympathetic, skin conductance level [SCL]; and parasympathetic, respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and their interaction (SCL × RSA) as predictors of emotions, with coping variables as moderators. Caregivers' use of primary control coping (e.g., problem solving and emotional expression) and secondary control coping (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and acceptance) use in response to family stress predicted more positive emotional experiences during the laboratory conflict task. Adolescents' use of secondary control coping moderated the SCL-emotion association, such that increases in momentary SCL were associated with more positive emotion ratings for youth reporting higher secondary control coping. For youth who report more adaptive trait-level coping skills, momentary changes in SCL may reflect active engagement and attentiveness to facilitate more positive emotional experiences. Findings advance our understanding of the interrelationships between physiological responses and psychological experiences during relevant, interactive scenarios. Autonomic responses are differentially related to affective states depending on the coping strategies that adolescents employ, suggesting that concordance may be associated with intervention targets (i.e., coping skills).

The parietal P300 wave of event-related potentials (ERPs) has been associated with various psychological operations in numerous laboratory tasks. This study aims to decompose the P3 wave of ERPs into subcomponents and link them with behavioral parameters, such as the strength of stimulus-response (S-R) links and GO/NOGO responses. EEGs (31 channels), referenced to linked ears, were recorded from 172 healthy adults (107 women) who participated in two cued GO/NOGO tasks, where the strength of S-R links was manipulated through instructions. P300 waves were observed in active conditions in response to cues, GO/NOGO stimuli, and in passive conditions when no manual response was required. Utilizing a combination of current source density transformation and blind source separation methods, we decomposed the P300 wave into two distinct components, purportedly originating from different parts of the parietal lobules. The amplitude of the parietal midline component (with current sources around Pz) closely mirrored the strength of the S-R link across proactive, reactive, and passive conditions. The amplitude of the lateral parietal component (with current sources around P3 and P4) resembled the push-pull activity of the output nuclei of the basal ganglia in action selection-inhibition operations. These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying action selection processes and the reactivation of S-R links.

Variations in cardioafferent traffic are relayed to the brain via arterial baroreceptors and have been shown to modulate perceptual processing. However, less is known about the cognitive-behavioral consequences of these effects and their role during stress. Here, we investigated in how far automatic responses during the Simon task were modulated by exposure to a laboratory stressor and the different phases of the cardiac cycle. In this study, 30 participants performed three blocks of a combined horizontal and vertical Simon task, which is characterized by either sensorimotor or cognitive response conflicts, respectively. Before each block, subjects were exposed to both the cold pressor test (CPT) and a control condition according to a within-subjects design. Target stimuli were presented during either systole or diastole. Behavioral and EEG-correlates of task processing were assessed along with subjective, cardiovascular, and endocrine measures of stress. The stress induction was successful yielding significant increases in all these measures compared to control. Moreover, we found the expected Simon effects: in incompatible compared to compatible trials performance was decreased and LRP latency as well as anterior N2 area increased. Importantly, accuracy was improved in compatible but reduced in incompatible trials during systole vs. diastole but only in the horizontal Simon condition. Stress dampened N2 area, however, no interactions with cardiac cycle were evident. These results indicate a faciliatory effect of cardioafferent traffic on automated sensorimotor processes.

The ability to find the right balance between more persistent and more flexible cognitive-control styles is known as "metacontrol." Recent findings suggest a relevance of aperiodic EEG activity and task conditions that are likely to elicit a specific metacontrol style. Here we investigated whether individual differences in aperiodic EEG activity obtained off-task (during resting state) predict individual cognitive-control styles under task conditions that pose different demands on metacontrol. We analyzed EEG resting-state data, task-EEG, and behavioral outcomes from a sample of N = 65 healthy participants performing a Go/Nogo task. We examined aperiodic activity as indicator of "neural noise" in the EEG power spectrum, and participants were assigned to a high-noise or low-noise group according to a median split of the exponents obtained for resting state. We found that off-task aperiodic exponents predicted different cognitive-control styles in Go and Nogo conditions: Overall, aperiodic exponents were higher (i.e., noise was lower) in the low-noise group, who however showed no difference between Go and Nogo trials, whereas the high-noise group exhibited significant noise reduction in the more persistence-heavy Nogo condition. This suggests that trait-like biases determine the default cognitive-control style, which however can be overwritten or compensated for under challenging task demands. We suggest that aperiodic activity in EEG signals represents valid indicators of highly dynamic arbitration between metacontrol styles, representing the brain's capability to reorganize itself and adapt its neural activity patterns to changing environmental conditions.

Vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) at resting state has been associated to cognitive functions dependent on cognitive control, such as memory. However, little is known about the phasic interaction between cognitive and autonomic control. In a pre-registered within-between-subject designed experiment, the potential of vmHRV biofeedback to simultaneously stimulate vmHRV during memory processing and cognitive control over long-term memory was tested, along with investigating psychophysiological association. 71 young healthy adults completed (twice) a false memory task in virtual reality. Immediately before memory encoding and retrieval, participants practiced either vmHRV biofeedback or a control breathing exercise. Cognitive control over long-term memory was assessed as the confidence toward false memories and the capability to discriminate them from true memories. Resting-state vmHRV before each test and phasic vmHRV during memory encoding and retrieval were measured as the root mean square differences (RMSSD) in the heart period. vmHRV biofeedback had neither an immediate effect on measures of cognitive control over long-term memory nor on phasic RMSSD. Moreover, neither resting-state nor phasic vmHRV correlated to the cognitive scores. Consequently, the utility of HRV biofeedback as a psychophysiological stimulation tool and a link between vmHRV and cognitive control over long-term memory could not be verified. Exploratory analyses revealed that baseline shift in parasympathetic activity confounded the psychophysiological association. Future directions are provided that could shed light on the relationship between cognition and vmHRV.

Although empathy for pain plays an important role in positive interpersonal relationships and encourages engagement in prosocial behavior, it remains largely unknown whether empathy for pain could be effectively altered by psychophysiological techniques. This study aimed to investigate the impact of a single session of diaphragmatic breathing practice on empathy for pain and examine the potential mechanism involving interoceptive awareness. A total of 66 healthy participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group received a 15-minute diaphragmatic breathing (DB) practice with real-time biofeedback, while the control group was to gaze at a black screen at rest and not engaged in any other activities. Before and after the invention, all participants were instructed to evaluate the intensity and unpleasantness of empathy for pain while watching different pictures with pain or non-pain conditions. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) was then administered to measure interoceptive awareness. The results indicated a significant interaction between group and time with regard to empathy for pain and MAIA. The DB group showed a statistically significant decrease in both pain intensity and unpleasantness during the pain picture condition, as well as a noteworthy increase in MAIA scores. The control group did not demonstrate any substantial changes. More importantly, the regulation of attention, a dimension of MAIA, had a significant mediating effect on the impact of diaphragmatic breathing on reported unpleasantness. Diaphragmatic breathing could serve as a simple, convenient, and practical strategy to optimize human empathy for pain that warrants further investigation, which has important implications not only for individuals with impaired empathy for pain but also for the improvement of interoceptive awareness.