Affective Neuroscience

ELITE POPULARIZATION OF THE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONS

by Jon Simons

Paper prepared for the National Communications Association Annual Meeting, 16-19 November 2006, San Antonio, Texas.

Hepper, E. G., Ritchie, T. D., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2012). Odyssey's end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion, 12, 102-119

by Timothy D. Ritchie

Hepper, E. G., Ritchie, T. D., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2012). Odyssey's end: Lay conceptions of nostalgia reflect its original Homeric meaning. Emotion, 12, 102-119. doi: 10.1037/a0025167

Nostalgia fulfills pivotal functions for individuals, but lacks an empirically derived and comprehensive definition.... more Nostalgia fulfills pivotal functions for individuals, but lacks an empirically derived and comprehensive definition. We examined lay conceptions of nostalgia using a prototype approach. In Study 1, participants generated open-ended features of nostalgia, which were coded into categories. In Study 2, participants rated the centrality of these categories, which were subsequently classified as central (e.g., memories, relationships, happiness) or peripheral (e.g., daydreaming, regret, loneliness). Central (as compared with peripheral) features were more often recalled and falsely recognized (Study 3), were classified more quickly (Study 4), were judged to reflect more nostalgia in a vignette (Study 5), better characterized participants’ own nostalgic (vs. ordinary) experiences (Study 6), and prompted higher levels of actual nostalgia and its intrapersonal benefits when used to trigger a personal memory, regardless of age (Study 7). These findings highlight that lay people view nostalgia as a self-relevant and social blended emotional and cognitive state, featuring a mixture of happiness and loss. The findings also aid understanding of nostalgia’s functions and identify new methods for future research.

Application of Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing to Stock Market Algorithmic Trading and Analysis

by Alexis Kirke

Alexis Kirke, Eduardo Miranda

The application of Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing (PMAP) to stock market analysis and algorithmic trading is... more The application of Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing (PMAP) to stock market analysis and algorithmic trading is examined. PMAP utilizes musically-based pulse sets (“melodies”) for processing – capable of representing affective states. Affective processing and affective input/output is now considered to be a key tool in artificial intelligence and computing. However in the designing of processing elements (e.g. bits, bytes, floats, etc), engineers have primarily focused on the processing efficiency and power. Having defined these elements, they then go on to investigate ways of making them perceivable by the user/engineer. But the extremely active and productive area of Human-Computer Interaction - and the increasing complexity and pervasiveness of computation in our daily lives – supports the idea of a complementary approach in which computational efficiency and power are more balanced with understandability to the user/engineer. PMAP provides the potential for a person to tap into the affective processing path to hear a sample of what is going on in that computation, as well as providing a simpler way to interface with affective input/output systems. In this paper PMAP will be applied to a simple algorithmic trading system based on an affective model of a simulated stock market.
Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction, Music, Affective, Boolean Logic, Neural Networks, Behavioural Finance, Algorithmic Trading, Stock Market 

Is the creative person tough-minded, curious or kind?

by Simon Boag

Milton, A., Saab, P., Wilson, P., & Boag, S. (2008). Is the creative person tough-minded, curious or kind? In S. Boag (Ed.), Personality Down Under: Perspectives from Australia (283-291). New York: Nova Science publishers.

Eysenck (1993) proposes that creativity correlates with the personality construct of Psychoticism (P) in populations... more Eysenck (1993) proposes that creativity correlates with the personality construct of Psychoticism (P) in populations with high intelligence. However, this theory has only, at best, received mixed support, and recently Reuter et al. (2005) found that a biologically-based construct (SEEK), related to curiosity and problem solving, was instead related to creativity rather the P. The present study explored the relationship between personality and creativity further by using a multifaceted assessment approach to creativity, which included a self-report creativity instrument, a convergent thinking measure, and figural and verbal divergent thinking measures, across a population of 75 ‘non-artistic’ degree university students (Non-Art) and 26 College of Fine Arts students (Art). No evidence for Eysenck’s (1993) psychoticism-creativity link was found when comparing the groups, whereas the SEEK construct correlated with self-reported creativity. Of particular interest were the findings for participants without English as their first language, where the SEEK construct positively correlated with both divergent thinking and self-reported creativity. Additionally, a personality construct related to ‘caring’ was unexpectedly the strongest correlate of creativity. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Low-dose tryptophan depletion in recovered depressed women induces impairments in autobiographical memory specificity

by Anneke Haddad

Haddad, A. D. M., Williams, J. M. G., McTavish, S. F. B., & Harmer, C. J. (2009, December). Low-dose tryptophan depletion in recovered depressed women induces impairments in autobiographical memory specificity.. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 207(3), 499-508.

Background: Depressed patients perform poorly on tests of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS); this may have... more Background: Depressed patients perform poorly on tests of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS); this may have negative consequences for other important cognitive abilities, delays recovery from mood episodes, and, in recovered patients, may mediate vulnerability to future episodes. Although the cognitive mechanisms underlying AMS deficits are beginning to be understood, the neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Serotonin is implicated in both depression and long-term memory; therefore, temporary lowering of brain serotonin function via acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) offers a means of studying the role of serotonin in autobiographical memory specificity.

Materials and methods: In this study, 24 previously depressed women underwent low-dose ATD or sham depletion and completed tests of initial and delayed memory, recollection- and familiarity-based recognition, and AMS.

Results: ATD did not differentially affect state mood. Compared with sham depletion, ATD impaired immediate recall on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Although ATD did not differentially impair recollection- and familiarity-based recognition, it did slow recognition of positive words. ATD also reduced autobiographical memory specificity in response to negative cue words.

Discussion: The results confirm previous findings that low-dose ATD can reinstate depression-congruent biases in cognition without causing depressive mood in vulnerable populations. The ATD-induced reduction in memory specificity suggests that serotonergic dysfunction may mediate depressive deficits in autobiographical memory; the interaction of cognitive and neurobiological vulnerability mechanisms is discussed.

Simor P., Pajkossy P., Horváth K., Bódizs R.: Impaired executive functions in subjects with frequent nightmares as reflected by performance in different neuropsychological tasks

by Klára Horváth

The effects of mindfulness on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Van Broeck, N., & Philippot, P. (2009). The effects of mindfulness training on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 403-409.

Attention Training Toward and Away from Threat in Social Phobia: Effects on Subjective, Behavioral, and Physiological Measures of Anxiety

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Reese, H., McNally, R. J., & Philippot, P. (2012). Atttention training toward and away from threat in social phohia: Effects on behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 30-39

[Review of the book Psychopathologie et Neurosciences: Questions actuelles de neurosciences cognitives et affectives, by S. Campanella & E. Streel (Eds.)]

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A. (2009). [Review of the book Psychopathologie et Neurosciences : Questions actuelles de neurosciences cognitives et affectives, by S. Campanella & E. Streel (Eds.)]. Psychologos, 24, 4, pp. 50.

Disrupted Regulation of Social Exclusion in Alcohol-Dependence: An fMRI Study

by Alexandre Heeren

Maurage, P., Joassin, F., Philippot, P., Heeren, A., Vermeulen, N., Mahau, P., Delperdange, C., Corneille, O., Luminet, O., & de Timary, P. (in press). Disrupted regulation of social exclusion in alcohol-dependence: An fMRI study. Neuropsychopharmacology.

Human amygdala responses during presentation of happy and neutral faces: correlations with state anxiety

by Tom Johnstone

Gaze fixations predict brain activation during the voluntary regulation of picture-induced negative affect

by Tom Johnstone

Stability of amygdala BOLD response to fearful faces over multiple scan sessions

by Tom Johnstone

Turning on the alarm: The neural mechanisms of the transition from innocuous to painful sensation

by Tom Johnstone

The voice of emotion: an FMRI study of neural responses to angry and happy vocal expressions

by Tom Johnstone

Individual differences in some (but not all) medial prefrontal regions reflect cognitive demand while regulating unpleasant emotion

by Tom Johnstone

The Systems Theory of Autistogenesis : Putting the Pieces Together

by J Patrick Malone

The systems theory of autistogenesis accounts for genetic and environmental predisposing factors for pervasive... more The systems theory of autistogenesis accounts for genetic and environmental predisposing factors for pervasive developmental disorders. During development, regions of the brain myelinate differentially, even while neuroinflammatory events induce neurological damage. Incorrect dietary ratios of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to arachidonic acid (AA) promote developmental aberration characteristic of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and commercial infant formulae possesses DHA/AA ratios unsuitable for normal brain development in those predisposed. The aromatase gene regulates DHA/AA metabolism and represents a potential biomarker for ASD. Aromatase converts testosterone to estradiol. Estradiol is neuroprotective and a modulator of oxytocin receptors deficient in autism. Neuroprotective DHA is not well synthesized in males and is regulated by estradiol. Therefore, converging evidence indicates that any disturbance to the autistogenic system linking environment to neurobiology and genetics is capable of inducing developmental disorders with gender disparity.

Toward a second-person neuroscience

by Bert Timmermans

Schilbach L and* Timmermans B, Reddy V, Costall A, Bente G, Schlicht T, & Vogeley K. Toward a second-person neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, target article accepted for publication. *equal contributions

In spite of the remarkable progress made in the burgeoning field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms that... more In spite of the remarkable progress made in the burgeoning field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms that underlie social encounters are only beginning to be studied and could —paradoxically— be seen as representing the ‘dark matter’ of social neuroscience. Recent conceptual and empirical developments consistently indicate the need for investigations, which allow the study of real-time social encounters in a truly interactive manner. This suggestion is based on the premise that social cognition is fundamentally different when we are in interaction with others rather than merely observing them. In this article, we outline the theoretical conception of a second-person approach to other minds and review evidence from neuroimaging, psychophysiological studies and related fields to argue for the development of a second-person neuroscience, which will help neuroscience to really go social; this may also be relevant for our understanding of psychiatric disorders construed as disorders of social cognition.

Affect Theory Reader - intro (Seigworth/Gregg)

by Greg Seigworth

Fashioning A Stave, or, Singing Life

by Greg Seigworth