Clayton Hickey, Damiano Grignolio, Vinura Munasinghe, David Acunzo
{"title":"Using N2pc variability to probe functionality: Linear mixed modelling of trial EEG and behaviour","authors":"Clayton Hickey, Damiano Grignolio, Vinura Munasinghe, David Acunzo","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108987","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108987","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper has two concurrent goals. On one hand, we hope it will serve as a simple primer in the use of linear mixed modelling (LMM) for inferential statistical analysis of multimodal data. We describe how LMM can be easily adopted for the identification of trial-wise relationships between disparate measures and provide a brief cookbook for assessing the suitability of LMM in your analyses. On the other hand, this paper is an empirical report, probing how trial-wise variance in the N2pc, and specifically its sub-component the N<sub>T</sub>, can be predicted by manual reaction time (RT) and stimuli parameters. Extant work has identified a link between N2pc and RT that has been interpreted as evidence of a direct and causative relationship. However, results have left open the less-interesting possibility that the measures covary as a function of motivation or arousal. Using LMM, we demonstrate that the relationship only emerges when the N<sub>T</sub> is elicited by targets, not distractors, suggesting a discrete and functional relationship. In other analyses, we find that the target-elicited N<sub>T</sub> is sensitive to variance in distractor identity even when the distractor cannot itself elicit consistently lateralized brain activity. The N<sub>T</sub> thus appears closely linked to attentional target processing, supporting the propagation of target-related information to response preparation and execution. At the same time, we find that this component is sensitive to distractor interference, which leaves open the possibility that N<sub>T</sub> reflects brain activity responsible for the suppression of irrelevant distractor information.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108987"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143043434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Operationalisation of interoceptive expectations: A novel paradigm to measure detection and Adjustment to Interoceptive Discrepancy","authors":"Emily Adamic , Ilona Croy , Maria Geisler","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interoception is a bidirectional process, with both descending predictions and ascending sensation playing a role in the regulation and perception of homeostatic states. Mistuning of both streams has been associated with psychopathology in mental disorders, including hyperprecise prior beliefs and altered sensory representations. However, empirical research has typically focused on associations between self-report scales and objective physiology during rest or bodily perturbations, without manipulating or measuring descending. Therefore, we developed the novel Adjustment to Interoceptive Discrepancy (AID) paradigm, that builds and then violates interoceptive beliefs to measure expectations and adjustment of expectations over subsequent trials following an unexpected stimulus. We validated this paradigm in the nociceptive domain in a total of 57 university-aged participants. The AID paradigm successfully induced interoceptive discrepancy (<em>i.e.,</em> a difference between expectation and perception ratings) that was resolved as participants adjusted expectations appropriately across subsequent trials. This adjustment was more rapid for stimuli that were perceived as more <em>versus</em> less intense than expected. Notably, there were individual differences in the pattern of this adjustment, revealing different strategies in how individuals adjust to unexpected interoceptive sensations, although these were unrelated to interoceptive sensibility scores. Overall, the AID paradigm provides a useful method to assess interoception across expected <em>versus</em> unexpected stimuli, to probe interindividual differences of interoceptive predictions, and ultimately to enable research on the bidirectional processing of internal stimuli in mental health.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 109001"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143207218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marlise K. Hofer , Laura Blume , Brianna J. Turner , Laura Schäfer , Ilona Croy , Thomas Hummel
{"title":"The impact of COVID-19-related smell dysfunction on sexual and mental wellbeing: Data from a longitudinal sample","authors":"Marlise K. Hofer , Laura Blume , Brianna J. Turner , Laura Schäfer , Ilona Croy , Thomas Hummel","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Olfactory disorders are associated with poor sexual and mental wellbeing, but prior work mainly consists of retrospective and cross-sectional reports. The current study assessed their prospective associations.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>73 patients with COVID-19-associated olfactory dysfunction were recruited between 2021 and 2023 at a Smell Clinic in Dresden, Germany. Patients were assessed twice, about 6 months apart. On each occasion, patients’ olfactory functioning (i.e., psychophysical tests and self-rated function) and sexual and mental wellbeing were measured (i.e., sexual frequency, sexual desire, wellbeing, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Within-person improvements in psychophysical olfactory functioning were associated with increased sexual frequency. In a subset of 51 people in stable romantic partnerships, improved psychophysical olfactory functioning predicted increased sexual frequency and increased sexual desire. No evidence emerged supporting an association between improvements in olfactory functioning and mental health or wellbeing outcomes</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>A decline in sexual function may be an early reaction to olfactory dysfunction. Individuals with recent onset of olfactory disorders may benefit from sexual health support.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 109002"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143451057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Victoria Branchadell , Pilar Segarra , Rosario Poy , Javier Moltó , Pablo Ribes-Guardiola
{"title":"Meanness and deficits in facial affect processing: Evidence from the N170","authors":"Victoria Branchadell , Pilar Segarra , Rosario Poy , Javier Moltó , Pablo Ribes-Guardiola","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108999","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108999","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The triarchic construct of meanness, characterized by traits such as low empathy and lack of remorse, appears to be associated with deficits in affective processing. Specifically, meanness-related traits have been linked to deficits in brain reactivity and recognition of facial emotion. Recent meta-analytic work has provided preliminary evidence suggesting that N170 ERP amplitude reductions to fear faces might serve as a neurophysiological marker for meanness traits. However, most of these studies do not examine emotions other than fear, leaving open the question of whether meanness-related alterations in fear face processing might generalize to other facial expressions, nor the role of the other constructs of the triarchic model of psychopathy (i.e., boldness and disinhibition). The current study aimed to address these issues by measuring N170 amplitudes in a mixed-gender sample of 119 undergraduates while they passively viewed a broader range of emotional facial expressions (Anger, Fear, Happiness, and Neutral) alongside control (Scrambled) pictures. The specificity of this association to trait meanness compared to the other triarchic constructs was also assessed. Our results demonstrated meanness-related reductions in N170 amplitudes across all types of facial expressions, not just to fearful faces, even after controlling for the overlap with the other triarchic constructs. These findings highlight a general deficit in the structural encoding of facial features in high mean individuals, emphasizing the potential role of the N170 as a physiological tool for advancing our understanding of the mechanisms contributing to the aggressive, callous, and low-empathic characteristics of psychopathy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108999"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143207217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Use of context in updating affective representations of words in older adults","authors":"Li-Chuan Ku , Vicky T. Lai","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Older adults (OAs) often prioritize positive over negative information during word processing, termed as positivity bias. However, it is unclear how OAs update the affective representation of a word in contexts. The present study examined whether age-related positivity bias influences the update of the affective representation of a word in different emotional contexts. In Experiment 1 (web-based), younger and older participants read positive and negative target words in positive and negative contexts and rated the valence of the target words. Negative contexts biased the ratings more than positive ones, reflecting a negativity bias during offline valence evaluation in both age groups. In Experiment 2 (EEG), another group of participants read positive and negative target words in positive and negative contexts first, and then the same target words again, and made valence judgment on the target words. OAs showed a larger P2 (180–300 ms) difference before and after contexts for positive target words than younger adults (YAs). This suggests OAs’ early attention to positive features of words in contexts. YAs showed a larger late positive complex (LPC) difference for target words before and after negative contexts than before and after positive contexts, while older adults showed comparable LPC effects across all the conditions. This suggests that YAs use negative contexts to update the affective representation of a word, whereas OAs do so in both positive and negative contexts. Our findings supported a reduced negativity bias in OAs in using (emotional) contexts to update the affective neural representation of a word.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 109003"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143484688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Affective content of simple geometric shapes promotes visual size perception","authors":"Yongxing Lu , Lihong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.109006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The emotion-cognition interaction has been extensively explored by using threat-related stimuli, such as fearful and angry faces, as well as threatening animals. It has been suggested that threat signals conveyed by the complex threatening stimuli are partially attributed to their geometric structures, such as sharp elements in contour. The present study was aimed to investigate whether such geometric shapes had similar influence as threatening stimuli on visual size perception by using downward-pointing V shapes as primes and measuring the modulation effect on the classic Ebbinghaus illusion. The results showed that relative to curved-shape primes, V-shape primes significantly reduced the illusion strength when the primes were presented with relatively long duration (150 ms) regardless of their eccentricity (4° or 8° from screen center). However, when the primes were displayed with short duration (16.7 ms), significant threat-related modulation effect was only observed with central instead of peripheral presentation. Moreover, the modulation effect vanished with excitation of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex via intermittent theta burst stimulation. The findings provide clear evidence that threat-related geometric shapes can affect visual perception in a similar way as threatening stimuli, which requires detail processing of the geometric shapes and relies on top-down cognitive control from prefrontal cortex.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 109006"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143525389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effect of cue probe interval on internal attention: Evidence from event-related potentials","authors":"Jiejie Liao, Muxian Zhang, Lei Mo","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108997","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108997","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Compelling evidence indicated shared cognitive mechanisms underpinning attention in both the external and internal domains. Typically, both external attention and internal attention are vulnerable to biases from intended goals and stimulus features. However, it is still unclear whether the temporal characteristics of the relationship between goal-directed and stimulus-driven external attention could be observed in internal attention. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining whether the lengths of time interval before a recalling probe influenced goal-directed and stimulus-driven internal attention. We manipulated the cue probe interval (CPI) before the probe in a working memory change detection task with a retrospective cue. In addition to behavioral performance, we also traced two electrophysiological signals of the event-related potential (ERP) components of N450 and P300 to represent goal-directed and stimulus-driven internal attention respectively. The results suggested that CPI modulated goal-directed attention with more pronounced N450 amplitudes when CPI was 2000 ms than those when CPI was 500 ms during the informative condition. Meanwhile, more pronounced P300 amplitudes were observed when CPI was 500 ms than those when CPI was 2000 ms for both the matching and nonmatching conditions. Such results lead to the conclusion that internal attention was goal-directed when CPI was as long as 2000 ms, whereas stimulus-driven when CPI is as short as 500 ms. Findings from this study contribute to the common points shared between internal and external attention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108997"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143257403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sewon Oh, Xuan Yang, William M. Hayes, Ashley Anderson, Douglas H. Wedell, Svetlana V. Shinkareva
{"title":"Physiological responses to aversive and non-aversive audiovisual, auditory, and visual stimuli","authors":"Sewon Oh, Xuan Yang, William M. Hayes, Ashley Anderson, Douglas H. Wedell, Svetlana V. Shinkareva","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108994","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108994","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examined differences in physiological responses to aversive and non-aversive naturalistic audiovisual stimuli and their auditory and visual components within the same experiment. We recorded five physiological measures that have been shown to be sensitive to affect: electrocardiogram, electromyography (EMG) for zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii muscles, electrodermal activity (EDA), and skin temperature. Valence and arousal ratings confirmed that aversive stimuli were more negative in valence and higher in arousal than non-aversive stimuli. Valence also showed an emotional enhancement effect for cross-modal integration. Both heart rate deceleration and facial EMG potentiation for corrugator supercilii were larger for aversive compared to non-aversive conditions for audiovisual stimuli and their auditory components, even after controlling for arousal. Facial EMG potentiation for zygomaticus major was greater for aversive compared to non-aversive conditions for audiovisual stimuli and EDA was greater for aversive compared to non-aversive conditions for visual stimuli. Neither of these effects remained significant after controlling for arousal. These findings provide a benchmark for examining atypical sensory processing of mundane aversive stimuli for clinical populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108994"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143043422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zimo Li , Weiping Yang , Ruizhi Li , Rui Luo , Jiajia Yang , Yanna Ren
{"title":"Beyond facilitating unisensory processing: Crossmodal associative memory training further modulates sensory integration","authors":"Zimo Li , Weiping Yang , Ruizhi Li , Rui Luo , Jiajia Yang , Yanna Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108995","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108995","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Audiovisual associative memory and audiovisual integration involve common behavioral processing components and significantly overlap in their neural mechanisms. This suggests that training on audiovisual associative memory may have the potential to improve audiovisual integration. The current study tested this hypothesis by applying a 2 (group: audiovisual training group, unimodal control group) × 2 (time: pretest, posttest) design. The audiovisual training group received an adaptive audiovisual associative memory training protocol, whereas the active control group undertook an adaptive unimodal item memory training protocol. The training duration for both protocols was seven days, with one and a half hours per day. Before and after training, both groups underwent testing for audiovisual integration through event-related potential (ERP) measures in a detection task that required rapid detection of auditory, visual, or audiovisual stimuli. Behavioral results revealed a training-general effect, as both groups exhibited faster response times in unimodal stimulus detection after 7-day training. EEG results revealed a consistent pattern in which the amplitudes of both visual and auditory evoked components decreased following the training. Moreover, a training-specific effect was found for sensory integration, with the effect of audiovisual integration being modulated in the earlier stage of processing for the audiovisual training group. Such a modulation was not found in the unimodal control group. These findings indicate that training on higher cognitive functions could penetrate to both unisensory processing and the integration of sensory information, which may potentially aid in the development of more targeted and efficient interventions for perceptual processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108995"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143029989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Insular-striatal activation during COVID-19 predicts stress reactivity in high-trait anxiety","authors":"Shu-Hui Lee , Tai-Li Chou","doi":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108998","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.biopsycho.2025.108998","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The COVID-19 pandemic, unlike natural disasters that cause short-term stress, has led to prolonged psychological strain, increasing attentional biases toward health threats and worsening mental health. Prolonged exposure to pandemic-related stressors has exacerbated these issues, with individual differences, such as anxiety levels, influencing vulnerability and resulting in varied outcomes. Understanding how neurocognitive processes modulate attentional biases, such as prolonged attention (overresponding) to threats or avoidance, is crucial for explaining their effects on mental health during the pandemic. Real-world examination of these biases is needed to confirm their manifestation and better target interventions. This longitudinal study explored the neural network of attentional biases in anxious individuals, focusing on whether initial activation at baseline (T1) could predict changes in perceived stress. High and low trait anxious (HTA, LTA) adults completed an emotional Stroop task during two fMRI visits, one year apart. Results showed insular-fronto-striatal hypoactivation in the HTA group over time, indicating increased avoidance in HTA participants. Initial insular-striatal activation at T1 predicted perceived stress changes in the HTA group. Reduced activation in these regions suggests avoidance and impaired stress coping, highlighting increased stress vulnerability in HTA individuals during the pandemic and underscoring the importance of interventions to enhance resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55372,"journal":{"name":"Biological Psychology","volume":"195 ","pages":"Article 108998"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143426672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}