How do children with and without ADHD talk about frustration?: Use of a novel emotion narrative recall task

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience difficulties related to emotional reactivity and regulation. The current study examines differences in the emotional reactivity and regulation of children with and without ADHD in the context of their real-life experiences of negative emotion using a novel ecologically valid methodology. Eighty-three 8–12-year-old children (46 ADHD, 38 non-ADHD) participated in the study. Children completed the negative emotion narrative recall task, a novel task whereby children provided a narrative recall of a real-life event where they experienced negative emotion. ANCOVA indicated children with ADHD recalled significantly more overall frustration and intense frustration than children without ADHD. Children with ADHD exhibiting more negative emotional reactivity while recalling negative emotions than children without ADHD. The current study suggests that children with ADHD are uniquely impacted by negative emotional experiences and represents an important step in understanding the emotional reactivity and regulation of children with ADHD.     

The influence of the emotional state of the child on the parameters of its verbal response

The method of determination of human emotional state by speech was applied to the analysis of verbal expressions of 22 children during the play "make-up the square". Parameters of the verbal response--F0 (fundamental frequency) and n(0) (evaluation of the frequency of the first formant) changed to the greatest extent under the influence of emotional reactions which appeared in children during the play. Depending on the terms of the play different changes of these parameters took place in different children: in some cases significant increase of values was observed as compared with the background ones, in other cases--their significant decrease.     

The dependence of the emotional state of 8- to 9-year-old children on the conditions of play]

Dependence was studied of emotional state of children, aged 8-9, on the terms of computer play: without additional instruction (with a strategy typical of the child), at time deficiency and at demonstration of techniques of play without limitation in time. Prior to and during the play the following parameters were recorded: heart rate (HR); frequency of basis tone (Fb.t.) and evaluation of frequency of the first formant (n(0] of the vowel "a" in the word "da" pronounced by the child during the play in response to acoustic signal; reaction time (RT) to acoustic signal; parameters of playing activity and also spontaneous verbal expressions of children. Increase of emotional stress during the play at time deficiency was accompanied by the most expressed changes of HR, RT, Fb.t., worsening of playing activity and the increase of the number of negative emotional reactions. When playing without additional instruction, the children showed the best results of playing activity, accompanied by the least expressed changes of HR and Fb.t. in comparison with the background at the greatest expressiveness of the n(0) change, and predominantly positive emotional reactions. The analysis of the correlation of the motivational and informational characteristics of the studied playing activity allowed to make a conclusion about preferential connection of HR and Fb.t. with the motivational and n(0) with informational components of the playing activity.     

Negative Emotion Regulation in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Objective

To explore the neural mechanisms of negative emotion regulation in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Methods

Twenty PTSD patients and 20 healthy subjects were recruited. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the modification of emotional responses to negative stimuli. Participants were required to regulate their emotional reactions according to the auditory regulation instructions via headphones, to maintain, enhance or diminish responses to negative stimuli during fMRI scans.

Results

The PTSD group showed poorer modification performance than the control group when diminishing responses to negative stimuli. On fMRI, the PTSD group showed decreased activation in the inferior frontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, insula and putamen, and increased activation in posterior cingulate cortex and amygdala during up-regulation of negative emotion. Similar decreased activation regions were found during down-regulation of negative emotion, but no increased activation was found.

Conclusion

Trauma exposure might impair the ability to down-regulate negative emotion. The present findings will improve our understanding of the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation underlying PTSD.     

No Own-Age Advantage in Children’s Recognition of Emotion on Prototypical Faces of Different Ages

We test whether there is an own-age advantage in emotion recognition using prototypical younger child, older child and adult faces displaying emotional expressions. Prototypes were created by averaging photographs of individuals from 6 different age and sex categories (male 5–8 years, male 9–12 years, female 5–8 years, female 9–12 years, adult male and adult female), each posing 6 basic emotional expressions. In the study 5–8 year old children (n = 33), 9–13 year old children (n = 70) and adults (n = 92) labelled these expression prototypes in a 6-alternative forced-choice task. There was no evidence that children or adults recognised expressions better on faces from their own age group. Instead, child facial expression prototypes were recognised as accurately as adult expression prototypes by all age groups. This suggests there is no substantial own-age advantage in children’s emotion recognition.     

Interaction between valence of empathy and familiarity: is it difficult to empathize with the positive events of a stranger?

Background

Empathy in humans is thought to have evolved via social interactions caused by the formation of social groups. Considering the role of empathy within a social group, there might be a difference between emotional empathy for strangers and familiar others belonging to the same social group. In this study, we used the global field power (GFP) index to investigate empathic brain activity during observation of a cue indicating either a negative or positive image viewed by a stranger or close friend.

Methods

Sixteen healthy participants observed a partner performing an emotional gambling task displayed on a monitor. After the partner''s choice-response, a frowning or smiling face symbol was simultaneously presented to the participant’s monitor while a negative or positive emotional image was presented to the partner’s monitor. All participants observed a control condition (CT) showing a computer trial, a stranger-observation condition (SO) showing the trial of a stranger, and a friend-observation condition (FO) to observe the trial of a close friend. During these observations, participants’ event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to calculate GFP, and after the task, a subjective assessment of their feelings was measured.

Results

Positive emotion was significantly larger under the FO compared to the CT and the SO. Significantly larger negative emotion was found under the SO and FO compared to the CT. In response to a positive cue, significantly larger GFP during 300 to 600 ms was observed under the FO compared to the CT and SO. In response to a negative cue, significantly larger GFP was observed under the FO and SO compared to the CT. A significantly larger GFP under the SO was found in response to only a negative cue. Topographic map analysis suggested that these differences were related to frontal-occipital dynamics. GFP was significantly correlated with empathic trait.

Conclusion

These results revealed that familiarity with another person has different effects depending on the valence of empathy. Negative empathy, including the danger perception function, might easily occur even among strangers, whereas positive empathy related to nursing and supporting an inner group does not happen easily with strangers.     

无意识接受策略在挫折情景下的情绪调节效应:行为与生理证据

由于无意识调节过程具有节省认知资源的特征,本研究假设无意识接受策略相比有意识接受策略能更加有效地调控负性事件的情绪影响.实验以挫折任务诱发负面情绪同时记录被试的主观情绪体验与情绪相关的生理变化(心率).被试被随机分为控制组、有意识接受组和无意识接受组.结果显示,无意识接受组和有意识接受组在情绪体验上存在显著差异:在挫折诱发阶段有意识接受组比无意识接受组出现了更多正性情绪指标的下降.此外,相对于控制组,挫折情景下有意识接受和无意识接受都显著降低了被试情绪相关的心率活动水平;但两者的调节水平无显著差异.并且,心率活动水平可预测主观情绪体验强度:控制组的心率变化值与负性情绪变化值存在正相关关系,与正性情绪指标变化值存在负相关趋势.因此,在挫折情景下,无意识接受策略不仅能有效降低情绪相关的生理活动水平,且相比有意识接受策略对主观情绪体验具有更好的调节效果.这提示,无意识接受策略对于现实生活中的情绪调节具有重要启示意义.     

EEG oscillations reflect task effects for the change detection in vocal emotion

How task focus affects recognition of change in vocal emotion remains in debate. In this study, we investigated the role of task focus for change detection in emotional prosody by measuring changes in event-related electroencephalogram (EEG) power. EEG was recorded for prosodies with and without emotion change while subjects performed emotion change detection task (explicit) and visual probe detection task (implicit). We found that vocal emotion change induced theta event-related synchronization during 100–600 ms regardless of task focus. More importantly, vocal emotion change induced significant beta event-related desynchronization during 400–750 ms under explicit instead of implicit task condition. These findings suggest that the detection of emotional changes is independent of task focus, while the task focus effect in neural processing of vocal emotion change is specific to the integration of emotional deviations.     

The Regulation of Induced Depression during a Frustrating Situation: Benefits of Expressive Suppression in Chinese Individuals

Background

Studies from European-American cultures consistently reported that expressive suppression was associated with worse emotional consequence (e.g. depression) in comparison with acceptance. However, this conclusion may not apply to Chinese, as suppressing emotional displays to maintain relational harmony is culturally valued in East Asian countries. Thus, the present study examined the effects of suppression and acceptance on the depressive mood induced by a frustrating task in a Chinese sample.

Method

Sixty-four subjects were randomly assigned to one of three instructions: suppression, acceptance or no-regulation during a frustrating arithmetic task. The experience of depressive emotion and skin conductance response (SCR) were recorded during pre-frustration baseline, frustration induction and post-frustration recovery phases, respectively.

Results

Compared with the control and acceptance instructions, suppression instruction was associated with decreased depressive experiences and smaller SCR activity during frustration. There were no significant differences between acceptance and control groups in both subjective depression and SCR activity during frustration. Moreover, the suppression group showed a better emotional recovery after the frustrating task, in comparison with the acceptance and control groups. Correlation analyses verified that SCR reactivity was a reliable index of experienced depression during the frustration.

Conclusions

Expressive suppression is effective in reducing depressive experiences and depression-related physiological activity (SCR) when Chinese people are involved. By contrast, the acceptance of depressive emotion in Chinese people does not produce a similar regulation effect. These findings suggest that cultural context should be considered in understanding the emotional consequences of suppression and acceptance strategies.     

Effect of different growth hormone dosages on the growth velocity in children born small for gestational age

To assess whether short-term growth hormone (GH) treatment can improve the linear growth in children who were born small for gestational age (SGA), we started a randomized multicenter trial in 26 age- and sex-matched prepubertal children born SGA. During the 1st year of GH therapy, all children received GH 0.23 mg/kg/week, then during the 2nd year, 13 children received the same dose (group A), and in the other 13 children, the dose of GH was doubled, i.e., 0.46 mg/kg/week (group B). During the 1st year of therapy, the growth velocity significantly (p<0.0001) increased in all patients. During the 2nd year, group A showed a significant decrease of the growth velocity (p<0.015), whereas group B maintained the growth rate. The height in group A children significantly increased during the 1st and the 2nd year of GH therapy (p<0.000002 and p<0.000001, respectively), reaching the normal range in 8 out of 13 children at the end of 2 years of GH therapy. The height in group B children significantly increased during the 1st and the 2nd year of GH therapy (p<0.000001 and p<0.000001, respectively), reaching the normal range in all 11 children who completed the GH therapy. The height gain was similar in groups A and B treated with the same GH dosage during the 1st year of therapy. A greater increase in height gain was found in children of group B treated with the higher GH dosage during the 2nd year of therapy as compared with group A (p<0.02). Significant increases in insulin-like growth factor I (p<0.0001), acid-labile subunit (p<0.0002), and bone/chronological age ratio (p<0.0001) were found after the 1st year of GH therapy, but no significant changes were observed during the 2nd year, independently of the GH dose. In conclusion, the height velocity of children born SGA significantly increases during the 1st year of GH therapy, diminishes, but can decrease during the 2nd year, if the GH dosage is not raised.     

Omega-3 fatty acids are related to abnormal emotion processing in adolescent boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

BackgroundIn addition to the core symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor emotion regulation. There is some evidence that children and young adults with ADHD have lower omega-3 levels and that supplementation with omega-3 can improve both ADHD and affective symptoms. We therefore investigated differences between ADHD and non-ADHD children in omega-3/6 fatty acid plasma levels and the relationship between those indices and emotion-elicited event-related potentials (ERPs).MethodsChildren/adolescents with (n=31) and without ADHD (n=32) were compared in their plasma omega-3/6 indices and corresponding ERPs during an emotion processing task.ResultsChildren with ADHD had lower mean omega-3/6 and ERP abnormalities in emotion processing, independent of emotional valence relative to control children. ERP abnormalities were significantly associated with lower omega-3 levels in the ADHD group.ConclusionsThe findings reveal for the first time that lower omega-3 fatty acids are associated with impaired emotion processing in ADHD children.     

“Disorganized in time”: Impact of bottom-up and top-down negative emotion generation on memory formation among healthy and traumatized adolescents

“Travelling in time,” a central feature of episodic memory is severely affected among individuals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with two opposite effects: vivid traumatic memories are unorganized in temporality (bottom-up processes), non-traumatic personal memories tend to lack spatio-temporal details and false recognitions occur more frequently that in the general population (top-down processes). To test the effect of these two types of processes (i.e. bottom-up and top-down) on emotional memory, we conducted two studies in healthy and traumatized adolescents, a period of life in which vulnerability to emotion is particularly high. Using negative and neutral images selected from the international affective picture system (IAPS), stimuli were divided into perceptual images (emotion generated by perceptual details) and conceptual images (emotion generated by the general meaning of the material). Both categories of stimuli were then used, along with neutral pictures, in a memory task with two phases (encoding and recognition). In both populations, we reported a differential effect of the emotional material on encoding and recognition. Negative perceptual scenes induced an attentional capture effect during encoding and enhanced the recollective distinctiveness. Conversely, the encoding of conceptual scenes was similar to neutral ones, but the conceptual relatedness induced false memories at retrieval. However, among individuals with PTSD, two subgroups of patients were identified. The first subgroup processed the scenes faster than controls, except for the perceptual scenes, and obtained similar performances to controls in the recognition task. The second subgroup group desmonstrated an attentional deficit in the encoding task with no benefit from the distinctiveness associated with negative perceptual scenes on memory performances. These findings provide a new perspective on how negative emotional information may have opposite influences on memory in normal and traumatized individuals. It also gives clues to understand how intrusive memories and overgeneralization takes place in PTSD.     

How Does Emotional Context Modulate Response Inhibition in Alexithymia: Electrophysiological Evidence from an ERP Study

Background

Alexithymia, characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings, is highly indicative of a broad range of psychiatric disorders. Several studies have also discovered the response inhibition ability impairment in alexithymia. However, few studies on alexithymic individuals have specifically examined how emotional context modulates response inhibition procedure. In order to investigate emotion cognition interaction in alexithymia, we analyzed the spatiao-temporal features of such emotional response inhibition by the approaches of event-related potentials and neural source-localization.

Method

The study participants included 15 subjects with high alexithymia scores on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (alexithymic group) and 15 matched subjects with low alexithymia scores (control group). Subjects were instructed to perform a modified emotional Go/Nogo task while their continuous electroencephalography activities were synchronously recorded. The task includes 3 categories of emotional contexts (positive, negative and neutral) and 2 letters (“M” and “W”) centered in the screen. Participants were told to complete go and nogo actions based on the letters. We tested the influence of alexithymia in this emotional Go/Nogo task both in behavioral level and related neural activities of N2 and P3 ERP components.

Results

We found that negatively valenced context elicited larger central P3 amplitudes of the Nogo–Go difference wave in the alexithymic group than in the control group. Furthermore, source-localization analyses implicated the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as the neural generator of the Nogo-P3.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that difficulties in identifying feelings, particularly in negative emotions, is a major feature of alexithymia, and the ACC plays a critical role in emotion-modulated response inhibition related to alexithymia.     

心理疲劳对情绪图片注意偏向的研究

目的:探讨在实验室中诱发心理疲劳后是否会对带有负性情绪的图片产生注意偏向。方法:选取34名某军医大学本科生为被试者,记录被试者完成认知负荷任务后的主观情绪体验成绩及疲劳量表得分,并采集被试者对情绪性图片进行的点探测任务的反应时及错误率。结果:在主观报告上,被试者的负性情绪和躯体疲劳感得分显著高于完成认知任务前,在点探测任务的行为数据上,被试者对于带有负性情绪的图片的反应时长于带有正性情绪的图片,反应错误率也高于正性图片。结论:认知负荷任务能够有效诱发被试者的躯体疲劳感和负性情绪。具有疲劳感和负性情绪的被试者并未对带有负性情绪的图片产生注意偏向。     

Emotion Regulation and Excess Weight: Impaired Affective Processing Characterized by Dysfunctional Insula Activation and Connectivity

Emotion-regulation strategies are understood to influence food intake. This study examined the neurophysiological underpinnings of negative emotion processing and emotion regulation in individuals with excess weight compared to normal-weight controls. Fifteen participants with excess-weight (body mass index >25) and sixteen normal-weight controls (body mass index 18–25) performed an emotion-regulation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were exposed to 24 negative affective or neutral pictures that they were instructed to Observe (neutral pictures), Maintain (sustain the emotion elicited by negative pictures) or Regulate (down-regulate the emotion provoked by negative pictures through previously trained reappraisal techniques). When instructed to regulate negative emotions by means of cognitive reappraisal, participants with excess weight displayed persistently heightened activation in the right anterior insula. Decreased responsivity was also found in right anterior insula, the orbitofrontal cortex and cerebellum during negative emotion experience in participants with excess weight. Psycho-physiological interaction analyses showed that excess-weight participants had decreased negative functional coupling between the right anterior insula and the right dlPFC, and the bilateral dmPFC during cognitive reappraisal. Our findings support contentions that excess weight is linked to an abnormal pattern of neural activation and connectivity during the experience and regulation of negative emotions, with the insula playing a key role in these alterations. We posit that ineffective regulation of emotional states contributes to the acquisition and preservation of excess weight.     

八段锦和五行音乐疗法在缓解新型冠状病毒肺炎患者负性情绪中的疗效分析

摘要 目的：观察八段锦和五行音乐疗法对新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）患者负性情绪的疗效。方法：收集孝感市第一人民医院就诊的COVID-19患者40例，采用随机数字表法将40例患者随机分为对照组（n=20）和观察组（n=20），观察组接受八段锦和子午流注理论指导下的择时五行音乐疗法进行干预，对照组保持日常生活方式。两组在干预前、干预2周采用焦虑自评量表（SAS）和抑郁自评量表(SDS)分别评定两组实验对象在实验前和干预后的负性情绪的改变，用患者生活质量量表(QLQ-C30)分别对两组患者进行生活质量的测评。结果：接受八段锦和子午流注理论指导下的择时五行音乐疗法的患者负性情绪明显减低，SAS、SDS评分明显较前明显改善，观察组患者SAS评分、SDS评分较对照组降低程度明显，差异存在统计学差异（P＜0.05）；干预后观察组、对照组的角色功能、认知功能、情感功能、躯体功能及生活质量评分均明显改善，接受八段锦和子午流注理论指导下的择时五行音乐疗法的患者在角色功能、认知功能、情感功能、躯体功能及生活质量评分方面均优于对照组，差异存在统计学差异（P＜0.05）。结论：COVID-19患者通过八段锦和五行音乐疗法能够明显减低负性情绪，此种疗法可有效起到"精神内守，病安从来"的安慰作用。     

Dissociation of Neural Substrates of Response Inhibition to Negative Information between Implicit and Explicit Facial Go/Nogo Tasks: Evidence from an Electrophysiological Study

Background

Although ample evidence suggests that emotion and response inhibition are interrelated at the behavioral and neural levels, neural substrates of response inhibition to negative facial information remain unclear. Thus we used event-related potential (ERP) methods to explore the effects of explicit and implicit facial expression processing in response inhibition.

Methods

We used implicit (gender categorization) and explicit emotional Go/Nogo tasks (emotion categorization) in which neutral and sad faces were presented. Electrophysiological markers at the scalp and the voxel level were analyzed during the two tasks.

Results

We detected a task, emotion and trial type interaction effect in the Nogo-P3 stage. Larger Nogo-P3 amplitudes during sad conditions versus neutral conditions were detected with explicit tasks. However, the amplitude differences between the two conditions were not significant for implicit tasks. Source analyses on P3 component revealed that right inferior frontal junction (rIFJ) was involved during this stage. The current source density (CSD) of rIFJ was higher with sad conditions compared to neutral conditions for explicit tasks, rather than for implicit tasks.

Conclusions

The findings indicated that response inhibition was modulated by sad facial information at the action inhibition stage when facial expressions were processed explicitly rather than implicitly. The rIFJ may be a key brain region in emotion regulation.     

Effects of AKAP5 Pro100Leu Genotype on Working Memory for Emotional Stimuli

Recent investigations addressing the role of the synaptic multiadaptor molecule AKAP5 in human emotion and behavior suggest that the AKAP5 Pro100Leu polymorphism (rs2230491) contributes to individual differences in affective control. Carriers of the less common Leu allele show a higher control of anger as indicated by behavioral measures and dACC brain response on emotional distracters when compared to Pro homozygotes. In the current fMRI study we used an emotional working memory task according to the n-back scheme with neutral and negative emotional faces as target stimuli. Pro homozygotes showed a performance advantage at the behavioral level and exhibited enhanced activation of the amygdala and fusiform face area during working memory for emotional faces. On the other hand, Leu carriers exhibited increased activation of the dACC during performance of the 2-back condition. Our results suggest that AKAP5 Pro100Leu effects on emotion processing might be task-dependent with Pro homozygotes showing lower control of emotional interference, but more efficient processing of task-relevant emotional stimuli.     

Event-related Potential Study of the Effects of Emotional Facial Expressions on Task Performance in Euthymic Bipolar Patients

There appears to be a significant disconnect between symptomatic and functional recovery in bipolar disorder (BD). Some evidence points to interepisode cognitive dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that some of this dysfunction was related to emotional reactivity in euthymic bipolar subjects may effect cognitive processing. A modification of emotional gender categorization oddball task was used. The target was gender (probability 25%) of faces with negative, positive, and neutral emotional expression. The experiment had 720 trials (3 blocks × 240 trials each). Each stimulus was presented for 150 ms, and the EEG/ERP responses were recorded for 1,000 ms. The inter-trial interval was varied in 1,100–1,500 ms range to avoid expectancy effects. Task took about 35 min to complete. There were 9 BD and 9 control subjects matched for age and gender. Reaction time (RT) was globally slower in BD subjects. The centro-parietal amplitudes at N170 and N200, and P200 and P300 were generally smaller in the BD group compared to controls. Latency was shorter to neutral and negative targets in BD. Frontal P200 amplitude was higher to emotional negative facial non-targets in BD subjects. The frontal N200 in response to positive facial emotion was less negative in BD subjects. The frontal P300 of BD subjects was lower to emotionally neutral targets. ERP responses to facial emotion in BD subjects varied significantly from normal controls. These variations are consistent with the common depressive symptomology seen in long term studies of bipolar subjects.     

Dealing with Feelings: Characterization of Trait Alexithymia on Emotion Regulation Strategies and Cognitive-Emotional Processing

Background

Alexithymia, or “no words for feelings”, is a personality trait which is associated with difficulties in emotion recognition and regulation. It is unknown whether this deficit is due primarily to regulation, perception, or mentalizing of emotions. In order to shed light on the core deficit, we tested our subjects on a wide range of emotional tasks. We expected the high alexithymics to underperform on all tasks.

Method

Two groups of healthy individuals, high and low scoring on the cognitive component of the Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, completed questionnaires of emotion regulation and performed several emotion processing tasks including a micro expression recognition task, recognition of emotional prosody and semantics in spoken sentences, an emotional and identity learning task and a conflicting beliefs and emotions task (emotional mentalizing).

Results

The two groups differed on the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire and Empathy Quotient. Specifically, the Emotion Regulation Quotient showed that alexithymic individuals used more suppressive and less reappraisal strategies. On the behavioral tasks, as expected, alexithymics performed worse on recognition of micro expressions and emotional mentalizing. Surprisingly, groups did not differ on tasks of emotional semantics and prosody and associative emotional-learning.

Conclusion

Individuals scoring high on the cognitive component of alexithymia are more prone to suppressive emotion regulation strategies rather than reappraisal strategies. Regarding emotional information processing, alexithymia is associated with reduced performance on measures of early processing as well as higher order mentalizing. However, difficulties in the processing of emotional language were not a core deficit in our alexithymic group.