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At least 1,009 records · Page 56Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex responses to overtly presented fearful faces in posttraumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND: Previous functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated exaggerated amygdala responses and diminished medial prefrontal cortex responses during the symptomatic state in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). OBJECTIVES: To determine whether these abnormalities also occur in response to overtly presented affective stimuli unrelated to trauma; to examine the functional relationship between the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex and their relationship to PTSD symptom severity in response to these stimuli; and to determine whether responsivity of these regions habituates normally across repeated stimulus presentations in PTSD. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Volunteer sample of 13 men with PTSD (PTSD group) and 13 trauma-exposed men without PTSD (control group). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study blood oxygenation level-dependent signal during the presentation of emotional facial expressions. RESULTS: The PTSD group exhibited exaggerated amygdala responses and diminished medial prefrontal cortex responses to fearful vs happy facial expressions. In addition, in the PTSD group, blood oxygenation level-dependent signal changes in the amygdala were negatively correlated with signal changes in the medial prefrontal cortex, and symptom severity was negatively related to blood oxygenation level-dependent signal changes in the medial prefrontal cortex. Finally, relative to the control group, the PTSD group tended to exhibit diminished habituation of fearful vs happy responses in the right amygdala across functional runs, although this effect did not exceed our a priori statistical threshold. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence for exaggerated amygdala responsivity, diminished medial prefrontal cortex responsivity, and a reciprocal relationship between these 2 regions during passive viewing of overtly presented affective stimuli unrelated to trauma in PTSD.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1997

Subjective and expressive emotional responses in depression.

Twenty-four depressed and twenty-three nondepressed male patients rated pleasantness of slides varying in hedonic content. Depressed patients rated positive slides as less pleasant and less arousing but did not differ from nondepressed patients in subjective response to normatively unpleasant images. Analysis of videotapes of facial expressions while watching the slide images showed that depressives exhibited more negative expressions than nondepressives to negative slides. Groups did not differ in facial expression to positive stimuli, but neither group displayed much affect to those stimuli. These data suggest a possible dissociation between self-reported and observable responsivity to emotional stimuli in depression and that diminished subjective emotional response in depression is restricted to hedonically positive stimuli and does not reflect generalized diminished emotional responsivity. These results also imply that clinical assessment of emotional responsivity in depression should be made using modalities in addition to observer evaluation of expressed emotion.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A comparison of two measures of facial activity during pain in the newborn child.

Facial activity is strikingly visible in infants reacting to noxious events. Two measures that reduce this activity to composite events, the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) and the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), were used to examine facial expressions of 56 neonates responding to routine heel lancing for blood sampling purposes. The NFCS focuses upon a limited subset of all possible facial actions that had been identified previously as responsive to painful events, whereas the FACS is a comprehensive system that is inclusive of all facial actions. Descriptions of the facial expressions obtained from the two measurement systems were very similar, supporting the convergent validity of the shorter, more readily applied system. As well, the cluster of facial activity associated with pain in this sample, using either measure, was similar to the cluster of facial activity associated with pain in adults and other newborns, both full-term and preterm, providing construct validity for the position that the face encodes painful distress in infants and adults.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

The smile in anencephalic infants.

During the period 1947-1959 twelve new-born mero-anencephalics were observed, who survived for more than 1 day after birth. Two even lived for 20 and 237 days, respectively. In 4 of the 12 children studied touching or slight pressure, and also faradic stimulation of various spots of the cerebro-vascular area were invariably followed by a facial expression which was very similar to smiling. Movies of it were shown to groups of impartial observers. In 78% the facial expression was judged to be a smile, a laugh or a grin. The neuroanatomical finding of a largely intact pontine tegmentum as being the most rostrally situated identifiable structure of the brainstem, has led to the hypothesis that the neural mechanisms underlying the smile are localized in the pontine tegmentum.

Anencephaly↗
PubMed2000

Effect of facial affect stimuli on auditory and visual P300 in healthy subjects.

This study investigated whether or not P300 components are influenced by emotional affect such as sadness and pleasure in twenty healthy subjects and whether or not the P300 effects of facial affect stimuli are influenced by auditory and visual stimulus modalities. Written informed consent was taken from each subject before the study. Each subject was asked to stare at a simple picture of a facial expression (crying or smiling faces) during the auditory and visual oddball tasks. P300 amplitude and area were significantly larger when viewing a crying face (sadness) than a smiling face (pleasure) under both conditions with auditory and visual stimulus. P300 latency was significantly longer while viewing sadness than while viewing pleasure only with auditory stimuli. Reaction time was not changed by facial stimuli. Amplitude and area of P300 were significantly larger in women than men in their modalities, but the effects of facial affect on P300 amplitude and area in women were similar to those in men. These results suggest that amplitude and area of P300 with both modalities recorded while viewing sadness may induce larger attentional resource than pleasure. Gender was a less potent influence of facial expression on P300 parameters. The influence of facial emotion may be important to investigate the recognition processes of subjects.

Evoked Potentials, Auditory↗
PubMed1977

An ethology-based catalogue of facial/vocal behaviour in infancy.

The ethological approach is suggested as a fruitful research strategy in the study of how infants express emotions. This approach led to the development of a large catalogue of facial/vocal behaviour which was used in the systematic observation of 75 girl and boy infants, who in the last quarter of the first year of life were placed in a series of standardized laboratory situations. Each of the 42 facial expressions contained in the catalogue is precisely defined according to the expressive elements of the brow, eyes, mouth and other facial regions. The vocalizations are also operationally defined. The possible ways that the facial expressions and vocalizations could be combined in the expression of emotional behaviour in infants are discussed.

Crying↗
PubMed2006

The clinical effects of music therapy in palliative medicine.

GOAL: This study was to objectively assess the effect of music therapy on patients with advanced disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred patients with chronic and/or advanced illnesses were prospectively evaluated. The effects of music therapy on these patients are reported. Visual analog scales, the Happy/Sad Faces Assessment Tool, and a behavior scale recorded pre- and post-music therapy scores on standardized data collection forms. A computerized database was used to collect and analyze the data. RESULTS: Utilizing the Wilcoxon signed rank test and a paired t test, music therapy improved anxiety, body movement, facial expression, mood, pain, shortness of breath, and verbalizations. Sessions with family members were also evaluated, and music therapy improved families' facial expressions, mood, and verbalizations. All improvements were statistically significant (P<0.001). Most patients and families had a positive subjective and objective response to music therapy. Objective data were obtained for a large number of patients with advanced disease. CONCLUSIONS: This is a significant addition to the quantitative literature on music therapy in this unique patient population. Our results suggest that music therapy is invaluable in palliative medicine.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Using artificial bat sonar neural networks for complex pattern recognition: recognizing faces and the speed of a moving target.

Two sets of studies examined the viability of using bat-like sonar input for artificial neural networks in complex pattern recognition tasks. In the first set of studies, a sonar neural network was required to perform two face recognition tasks. In the first task, the network was trained to recognize different faces regardless of facial expressions. Following training, the network was tested on its ability to generalize and correctly recognize faces using echoes of novel facial expressions that were not included in the training set. The neural network was able to recognize novel echoes of faces almost perfectly (above 96% accuracy) when it was required to recognize up to five faces. In the second face recognition task, a sonar neural network was trained to recognize the sex of 16 faces (eight males and eight females). After training, the network was able to correctly recognize novel echoes of those faces as 'male' or as 'female' faces with accuracy levels of 88%. However, the network was not able to recognize novel faces as 'male' or 'female' faces. In the second set of studies, a sonar neural network was required to learn to recognize the speed of a target that was moving towards the viewer. During training, the target was presented in a variety of orientations, and the network's performance was evaluated when the target was presented in novel orientations that were not included in the training set. The different orientations dramatically affected the amplitude and the frequency composition of the echoes. The neural network was able to learn and recognize the speed of a moving target, and to generalize to new orientations of the target. However, the network was not able to generalize to new speeds that were not included in the training set. The potential and limitations of using bat-like sonar as input for artifical neural networks are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Face processing impairments after amygdalotomy.

We report an investigation of face processing impairments in D.R., a 51-year-old woman with a partial bilateral amygdalotomy. D.R. was able to recognize pre-operatively familiar faces, but she showed generalized problems of name retrieval and a more circumscribed deficit affecting the recognition of faces learnt post-operatively. In contrast to her poor memory for new faces, D.R.'s ability to match simultaneously presented photographs of unfamiliar faces was unimpaired. However, D.R. also experienced deficits in expression processing which compromised the recognition of emotion from people's faces: she was poor both at matching and at identifying photographs of emotional facial expressions. In addition, her interpretation of eye gaze direction was defective, showing a more general problem in reading social signals from the face. The presence of impairments affecting the learning of new faces and the comprehension of gaze direction and facial expressions of emotion is consistent with the hypothesis of a role for the amygdala in learning and social behaviour.

Amygdala↗
PubMedDate not supplied

"Ow!": spontaneous verbal pain expression among young children during immunization.

OBJECTIVES: Although self-reports are a commonly used means of assessing pain in clinical settings, little is understood about the nature of children's spontaneous verbal expressions of pain. The purpose of this study was to describe verbalizations of pain among children receiving a preschool immunization and to examine how pain verbalizations correspond to children's facial expressions and self-reports of pain intensity. METHODS: Fifty-eight children between the ages of 4 years 8 months and 6 years 3 months (67% female) were videotaped while receiving their routine preschool immunization. Global ratings of facial expression and detailed transcription and coding of pain verbalizations were undertaken. Children provided self-reports of pain using a 7-point faces pain scale. RESULTS: Fifty-three percent of children used verbalizations spontaneously to express their pain. The modal verbalization was the interjection "Ow!," which expressed negative affect and was specific to the experience of pain. Older children were less likely to use verbalizations to express their pain. Children who used verbalizations to express pain displayed greater facial reactions to pain and rated their pain experience as being more intense than children who did not use words to express their pain. DISCUSSION: Results indicate that many young children do not spontaneously use verbalizations to express pain from immunization. When 5-year-olds use verbalizations to express pain, the verbalizations are most often brief statements that express negative affect and directly pertain to pain. Knowledge of how children verbalize pain may lead to an improved ability to assess and manage pediatric pain.

Child↗
PubMed2000

[Emotion recognition: facial components associated with various emotions].

This study examined the effect of the changes in facial expressions in different parts of the face on emotion recognition. Fifty-two university students participated in the study. Seven emotions were selected as being the most suitable for categorization and expression: namely, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, sadness, happiness, and neutrality. Picture of these emotions were used to create stimulus materials, composed facial expressions were created by combining the upper and the lower parts of the pictures expressing different emotions. The participants were asked to categorize the type of emotion represented by each picture. The results showed that the upper area of the face was more often associated with anger, fear, surprise, and sadness. On the contrary, the lower area was more often associated with disgust and happiness. There were no significant differences between parts of the face associated with neutral emotions. Based on these results, we conclude that affected areas of the face differed as a function of emotion being experienced. Finally, the relationship of our results with Yamada's model (1993) was discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Age effects on social cognition: faces tell a different story.

The authors administered social cognition tasks to younger and older adults to investigate age-related differences in social and emotional processing. Although slower, older adults were as accurate as younger adults in identifying the emotional valence (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral) of facial expressions. However, the age difference in reaction time was largest for negative faces. Older adults were significantly less accurate at identifying specific facial expressions of fear and sadness. No age differences specific to social function were found on tasks of self-reference, identifying emotional words, or theory of mind. Performance on the social tasks in older adults was independent of performance on general cognitive tasks (e.g., working memory) but was related to personality traits and emotional awareness. Older adults also showed more intercorrelations among the social tasks than did the younger adults. These findings suggest that age differences in social cognition are limited to the processing of facial emotion. Nevertheless, with age there appears to be increasing reliance on a common resource to perform social tasks, but one that is not shared with other cognitive domains.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Taste- and odor-reactivity in heroin addicts.

Opiates in general, and heroin in particular, are known to induce compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior. Addiction is accompanied by psychobiological processes which may distort perception of sensory stimuli. Gustatory and olfactory stimuli are hedonically polarized and therefore most appropriate for the assessment of the organism's reactivity to "useful" and "harmful" chemosensory events. Previous studies revealed that psychophysical self-estimates and reflectory facial expressions mirror with comparable reliability the hedonics of the perceived taste and odor sensations. In the present study both cognitive verbal and reflectory facial expressions of a group of: a) heroin addicts were recorded and compared to those of a group of b) detoxified former addicts and to c) a group of matching controls. Results show that all three groups differentiate between pleasant, indifferent and aversive tastes and odors. Active addicts estimated sweet taste and savory smells as being somewhat more pleasant, and bitter and sour tastes and a putrid odor as less unpleasant than did the other two groups. The reflectory facial displays of addicts were less expressive and discriminative than those of the two other groups. Taste- and odor-induced facial displays are known to be controlled primarily by the brainstem. The findings indicate that heroin-addiction affects brain-mechanisms, which mirror taste- and odor-hedonics. Modulation of the phylogenetically ancient, sensory-motor coordinations was found to be of a different pattern than that of the cortically-controlled cognitive reactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Hemisphericity, expressivity and autonomic arousal.

An exploratory study was performed concerning autonomic-central nervous system relationships in humans. Four groups of subjects were selected on the basis of two variables reflecting styles of central activity, hemisphericity (as measured by lateral eye movements) and facial expressivity. These groups were exposed to two stressor tasks. A marginally significant relationship was found between right hemisphericity and facial expressivity. Right hemisphericity subjects had higher heart rates. Highly expressive subjects and left hemisphericity subjects each tended to show larger autonomic responses to stress, and subjects in whom both characteristics were combined showed particularly heightened responsiveness. It was concluded that individual differences in central nervous system activation are related to autonomic arousal.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Age differences in response to conformity pressure for emotional and nonemotional material.

Most theories of social influence do not consider adult development. Theoretical and empirical work in life span developmental psychology, however, suggests that age may reduce susceptibility to social influence. The present study examined age differences in social conformity for 2 classes of stimuli: judgments of geometric shapes and emotional facial expressions. As predicted, older people, compared with their younger counterparts, displayed lower rates of social conformity, and this age difference was most evident when judging emotional facial expressions.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Rat facial motoneurons express increased levels of calcitonin gene-related peptide mRNA in response to axotomy.

The expression and localization of the mRNA encoding the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) were analyzed in the rat facial nucleus after axotomy by Northern blot analysis and by in situ hybridization histochemistry (ISH) using a synthetic 32P-labeled oligonucleotide probe. Northern blot analysis revealed the presence of the 1.2 kb CGRP mRNA in RNA extracted from the facial nucleus. This mRNA species was strongly increased after axotomy of the facial nerve. By ISH increased levels of CGRP mRNA were observed as soon as 16 hr after axotomy compared with the unoperated nucleus. CGRP mRNA could be localized in more than 50% of the motoneurons. Three populations of motoneurons with no, moderate, or strong labeling for CGRP mRNA could be distinguished. Peak expression of CGRP mRNA during the first 48 hr was followed by a decline to moderate levels at day 4 after lesion, and to almost basal levels at days 7 and 9. These data demonstrate that axotomy of the facial nerve leads to an early and strong induction of CGRP gene expression in motoneurons of the facial nucleus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

Nonverbal expressiveness and EMG activity in tension headache sufferers and controls.

This study explored the relationship between musculoskeletal responses and nonverbal expressiveness in response to psychosocial stress. Muscle-contraction headache subjects and normal controls were confronted with a psychological stressor while forehead and neck EMG activity were recorded. Indices of nonverbal expressiveness (head and hand movements, facial tension, facial activity, and facial expressiveness) were obtained concomitantly with the muscle data. The headache subjects showed greater muscle activation than the controls in response to stress, greater evidence of facial tension, and less evidence of facial and bodily expressiveness. Overall, these data provided support for the notion that under some conditions a negative relationship exists between expressiveness and somatic activation.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Normal recognition of emotion in a prosopagnosic.

In the leading model of face perception, facial identity and facial expressions of emotion are recognized by separate mechanisms. In this report, we provide evidence supporting the independence of these processes by documenting an individual with severely impaired recognition of facial identity yet normal recognition of facial expressions of emotion. NM, a 40-year-old prosopagnosic, showed severely impaired performance on five of six tests of facial identity recognition. In contrast, she performed in the normal range on four different tests of emotion recognition. Because the tests of identity recognition and emotion recognition assessed her abilities in a variety of ways, these results provide solid support for models in which identity recognition and emotion recognition are performed by separate processes.

Adult↗