@article{PollatosMoenkemoellerGroppeetal.2023, author = {Pollatos, Olga and M{\"o}nkem{\"o}ller, Karla and Groppe, Karoline and Elsner, Birgit}, title = {Interoceptive accuracy is associated with benefits in decision making in children}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1070037}, pages = {13}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Introduction: Decision making results not only from logical analyses, but seems to be further guided by the ability to perceive somatic information (interoceptive accuracy). Relations between interoceptive accuracy and decision making have been exclusively studied in adults and with regard to complex, uncertain situations (as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT). Methods: In the present study, 1454 children (6-11 years) were examined at two time points (approximately 1 year apart) using an IGT as well as a delay-of-gratification task for sweets-items and toy-items. Interoceptive accuracy was measured using a child-adapted version of the Heartbeat Perception Task. Results: The present results revealed that children with higher, as compared to lower, interoceptive accuracy showed more advantageous choices in the IGT and delayed more sweets-items, but not toy-items, in a delay-of-gratification task at time point 2 but not at time point 1. However, no longitudinal relation between interoceptive accuracy and decision making 1 year later could be shown. Discussion: Results indicate that interoceptive accuracy relates to decision-making abilities in situations of varying complexity already in middle childhood, and that this link might consolidate across the examined 1-year period. Furthermore, the association of interoceptive accuracy and the delay of sweets-items might have implications for the regulation of body weight at a later age.}, language = {en} } @article{VenturaBortWirknerWendtetal.2021, author = {Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Wirkner, Janine and Wendt, Julia and Hamm, Alfons O. and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {Establishment of emotional memories is mediated by vagal nerve activation}, series = {The journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience}, volume = {41}, journal = {The journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience}, number = {36}, publisher = {Society for Neuroscience}, address = {Washington, DC}, issn = {1529-2401}, doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2329-20.2021}, pages = {7636 -- 7648}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Emotional memories are better remembered than neutral ones, but the mechanisms leading to this memory bias are not well under-stood in humans yet. Based on animal research, it is suggested that the memory-enhancing effect of emotion is based on central nor-adrenergic release, which is triggered by afferent vagal nerve activation. To test the causal link between vagus nerve activation and emotional memory in humans, we applied continuous noninvasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) during exposure to emotional arousing and neutral scenes and tested subsequent, long-term recognition memory after 1 week. We found that taVNS, compared with sham, increased recollection-based memory performance for emotional, but not neutral, material. These findings were complemented by larger recollection-related brain potentials (parietal ERP Old/New effect) during retrieval of emotional scenes encoded under taVNS, compared with sham. Furthermore, brain potentials recorded during encoding also revealed that taVNS facilitated early attentional discrimination between emotional and neutral scenes. Extending animal research, our behavioral and neu-ral findings confirm a modulatory influence of the vagus nerve in emotional memory formation in humans.}, language = {en} } @misc{VenturaBortWendtWeymar2021, author = {Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Wendt, Julia and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {The Role of Interoceptive Sensibility and Emotional Conceptualization for the Experience of Emotions}, series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-55280}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-552802}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The theory of constructed emotions suggests that different psychological components, including core affect (mental and neural representations of bodily changes), and conceptualization (meaning-making based on prior experiences and semantic knowledge), are involved in the formation of emotions. However, little is known about their role in experiencing emotions. In the current study, we investigated how individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization (as potential correlates of these components) interact to moderate three important aspects of emotional experiences: emotional intensity (strength of emotion felt), arousal (degree of activation), and granularity (ability to differentiate emotions with precision). To this end, participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization and underwent two emotion experience tasks, which included standardized material (emotion differentiation task; ED task) and self-experienced episodes (day reconstruction method; DRM). Correlational analysis showed that individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization were related to each other. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed two independent factors that were referred to as sensibility and monitoring. The Sensibility factor, interpreted as beliefs about the accuracy of an individual in detecting internal physiological and emotional states, predicted higher granularity for negative words. The Monitoring factor, interpreted as the tendency to focus on the internal states of an individual, was negatively related to emotional granularity and intensity. Additionally, Sensibility scores were more strongly associated with greater well-being and adaptability measures than Monitoring scores. Our results indicate that independent processes underlying individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization contribute to emotion experiencing.}, language = {en} } @article{VenturaBortWendtWeymar2021, author = {Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Wendt, Julia and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {The Role of Interoceptive Sensibility and Emotional Conceptualization for the Experience of Emotions}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712418}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The theory of constructed emotions suggests that different psychological components, including core affect (mental and neural representations of bodily changes), and conceptualization (meaning-making based on prior experiences and semantic knowledge), are involved in the formation of emotions. However, little is known about their role in experiencing emotions. In the current study, we investigated how individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization (as potential correlates of these components) interact to moderate three important aspects of emotional experiences: emotional intensity (strength of emotion felt), arousal (degree of activation), and granularity (ability to differentiate emotions with precision). To this end, participants completed a series of questionnaires assessing interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization and underwent two emotion experience tasks, which included standardized material (emotion differentiation task; ED task) and self-experienced episodes (day reconstruction method; DRM). Correlational analysis showed that individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization were related to each other. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed two independent factors that were referred to as sensibility and monitoring. The Sensibility factor, interpreted as beliefs about the accuracy of an individual in detecting internal physiological and emotional states, predicted higher granularity for negative words. The Monitoring factor, interpreted as the tendency to focus on the internal states of an individual, was negatively related to emotional granularity and intensity. Additionally, Sensibility scores were more strongly associated with greater well-being and adaptability measures than Monitoring scores. Our results indicate that independent processes underlying individual differences in interoceptive sensibility and emotional conceptualization contribute to emotion experiencing.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{VenturaBort2020, author = {Ventura-Bort, Carlos}, title = {Temporo-spatial dynamics of the impact of emotional contexts on visual processing and memory}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-55023}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-550236}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {208}, year = {2020}, abstract = {It has frequently been observed that single emotional events are not only more efficiently processed, but also better remembered, and form longer-lasting memory traces than neutral material. However, when emotional information is perceived as a part of a complex event, such as in the context of or in relation to other events and/or source details, the modulatory effects of emotion are less clear. The present work aims to investigate how emotional, contextual source information modulates the initial encoding and subsequent long-term retrieval of associated neutral material (item memory) and contextual source details (contextual source memory). To do so, a two-task experiment was used, consisting of an incidental encoding task in which neutral objects were displayed over different contextual background scenes which varied in emotional content (unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral), and a delayed retrieval task (1 week), in which previously-encoded objects and new ones were presented. In a series of studies, behavioral indices (Studies 2, 3, and 5), event-related potentials (ERPs; Studies 1-4), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (Study 5) were used to investigate whether emotional contexts can rapidly tune the visual processing of associated neutral information (Study 1) and modulate long-term item memory (Study 2), how different recognition memory processes (familiarity vs. recollection) contribute to these emotion effects on item and contextual source memory (Study 3), whether the emotional effects of item memory can also be observed during spontaneous retrieval (Sstudy 4), and which brain regions underpin the modulatory effects of emotional contexts on item and contextual source memory (Study 5). In Study 1, it was observed that emotional contexts by means of emotional associative learning, can rapidly alter the processing of associated neutral information. Neutral items associated with emotional contexts (i.e. emotional associates) compared to neutral ones, showed enhanced perceptual and more elaborate processing after one single pairing, as indexed by larger amplitudes in the P100 and LPP components, respectively. Study 2 showed that emotional contexts produce longer-lasting memory effects, as evidenced by better item memory performance and larger ERP Old/New differences for emotional associates. In Study 3, a mnemonic differentiation was observed between item and contextual source memory which was modulated by emotion. Item memory was driven by familiarity, independently of emotional contexts during encoding, whereas contextual source memory was driven by recollection, and better for emotional material. As in Study 2, enhancing effects of emotional contexts for item memory were observed in ERPs associated with recollection processes. Likewise, for contextual source memory, a pronounced recollection-related ERP enhancement was observed for exclusively emotional contexts. Study 4 showed that the long-term recollection enhancement of emotional contexts on item memory can be observed even when retrieval is not explicitly attempted, as measured with ERPs, suggesting that the emotion enhancing effects on memory are not related to the task embedded during recognition, but to the motivational relevance of the triggering event. In Study 5, it was observed that enhancing effects of emotional contexts on item and contextual source memory involve stronger engagement of the brain's regions which are associated with memory recollection, including areas of the medial temporal lobe, posterior parietal cortex, and prefrontal cortex. Taken together, these findings suggest that emotional contexts rapidly modulate the initial processing of associated neutral information and the subsequent, long-term item and contextual source memories. The enhanced memory effects of emotional contexts are strongly supported by recollection rather than familiarity processes, and are shown to be triggered when retrieval is both explicitly and spontaneously attempted. These results provide new insights into the modulatory role of emotional information on the visual processing and the long-term recognition memory of complex events. The present findings are integrated into the current theoretical models and future ventures are discussed.}, language = {en} } @misc{GiraudierVenturaBortWeymar2020, author = {Giraudier, Manon and Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) Improves High-Confidence Recognition Memory but Not Emotional Word Processing}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {649}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-47412}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-474125}, pages = {15}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Previous clinical research found that invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) enhanced word recognition memory in epileptic patients, an effect assumed to be related to the activation of brainstem arousal systems. In this study, we applied non-invasive transcutaneous auricular VNS (tVNS) to replicate and extend the previous work. Using a single-blind, randomized, between-subject design, 60 healthy volunteers received active or sham stimulation during a lexical decision task, in which emotional and neutral stimuli were classified as words or non-words. In a subsequent recognition memory task (1 day after stimulation), participants' memory performance on these words and their subjective memory confidence were tested. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels, a putative indirect measure of central noradrenergic activation, were also measured before and after stimulation. During encoding, pleasant words were more accurately detected than neutral and unpleasant words. However, no tVNS effects were observed on task performance or on overall sAA level changes. tVNS also did not modulate overall recognition memory, which was particularly enhanced for pleasant emotional words. However, when hit rates were split based on confidence ratings reflecting familiarity- and recollection-based memory, higher recollection-based memory performance (irrespective of emotional category) was observed during active stimulation than during sham stimulation. To summarize, we replicated prior findings of enhanced processing and memory for emotional (pleasant) words. Whereas tVNS showed no effects on word processing, subtle effects on recollection-based memory performance emerged, which may indicate that tVNS facilitates hippocampus-mediated consolidation processes.}, language = {en} } @article{GiraudierVenturaBortWeymar2020, author = {Giraudier, Manon and Ventura-Bort, Carlos and Weymar, Mathias}, title = {Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) Improves High-Confidence Recognition Memory but Not Emotional Word Processing}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01276}, pages = {13}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Previous clinical research found that invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) enhanced word recognition memory in epileptic patients, an effect assumed to be related to the activation of brainstem arousal systems. In this study, we applied non-invasive transcutaneous auricular VNS (tVNS) to replicate and extend the previous work. Using a single-blind, randomized, between-subject design, 60 healthy volunteers received active or sham stimulation during a lexical decision task, in which emotional and neutral stimuli were classified as words or non-words. In a subsequent recognition memory task (1 day after stimulation), participants' memory performance on these words and their subjective memory confidence were tested. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels, a putative indirect measure of central noradrenergic activation, were also measured before and after stimulation. During encoding, pleasant words were more accurately detected than neutral and unpleasant words. However, no tVNS effects were observed on task performance or on overall sAA level changes. tVNS also did not modulate overall recognition memory, which was particularly enhanced for pleasant emotional words. However, when hit rates were split based on confidence ratings reflecting familiarity- and recollection-based memory, higher recollection-based memory performance (irrespective of emotional category) was observed during active stimulation than during sham stimulation. To summarize, we replicated prior findings of enhanced processing and memory for emotional (pleasant) words. Whereas tVNS showed no effects on word processing, subtle effects on recollection-based memory performance emerged, which may indicate that tVNS facilitates hippocampus-mediated consolidation processes.}, language = {en} } @misc{BrandUlrich2019, author = {Brand, Ralf and Ulrich, Lukas}, title = {I Can See It in Your Face.}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {597}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-44448}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-444481}, pages = {13}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The purpose of this study was to illustrate that people's affective valuation of exercise can be identified in their faces. The study was conducted with a software for automatic facial expression analysis and it involved testing the hypothesis that positive or negative affective valuation occurs spontaneously when people are reminded of exercise. We created a task similar to an emotional Stroop task, in which participants responded to exercise-related and control stimuli with a positive or negative facial expression (smile or frown) depending on whether the photo was presented upright or tilted. We further asked participants how much time they would normally spend for physical exercise, because we assumed that the affective valuation of those who exercise more would be more positive. Based on the data of 86 participants, regression analysis revealed that those who reported less exercise and a more negative reflective evaluation of exercise initiated negative facial expressions on exercise-related stimuli significantly faster than those who reported exercising more often. No significant effect was observed for smile responses. We suspect that responding with a smile to exercise-related stimuli was the congruent response for the majority of our participants, so that for them no Stroop interference occurred in the exercise-related condition. This study suggests that immediate negative affective reactions to exercise-related stimuli result from a postconscious automatic process and can be detected in the study participants' faces. It furthermore illustrates how methodological paradigms from social-cognition research (here: the emotional Stroop paradigm) can be adapted to collect and analyze biometric data for the investigation of exercisers' and non-exercisers' automatic valuations of exercise.}, language = {en} } @article{vonKalckreuth2019, author = {von Kalckreuth, Moritz Alexander}, title = {Wie viel Religionsphilosophie braucht es f{\"u}r eine Philosophie der Person?}, series = {Neue Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie}, volume = {61}, journal = {Neue Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie}, number = {1}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0028-3517}, doi = {10.1515/nzsth-2019-0004}, pages = {67 -- 83}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Der vorliegende Beitrag er{\"o}rtert das Verh{\"a}ltnis einer Philo-sophie der Person zur Religionsphilosophie bzw. einer Philosophie religi{\"o}ser Ph{\"a}nomene. Dabei soll die These vertreten werden, dass der personale Lebenszusammenhang bestimmte Ph{\"a}nomene aufweist, die nur in einem religi{\"o}sen Kontext ad{\"a}quat verstanden werden k{\"o}nnen. Die Interpretation dieser Ph{\"a}nomene kann einen Zugang zu bestimmten Aspekten von Personalit{\"a}t erm{\"o}glichen, die von den meisten Persontheorien der Gegenwart kaum beachtet werden.}, language = {de} } @article{BrandUlrich2019, author = {Brand, Ralf and Ulrich, Lukas}, title = {I Can See It in Your Face.}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02901}, pages = {11}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The purpose of this study was to illustrate that people's affective valuation of exercise can be identified in their faces. The study was conducted with a software for automatic facial expression analysis and it involved testing the hypothesis that positive or negative affective valuation occurs spontaneously when people are reminded of exercise. We created a task similar to an emotional Stroop task, in which participants responded to exercise-related and control stimuli with a positive or negative facial expression (smile or frown) depending on whether the photo was presented upright or tilted. We further asked participants how much time they would normally spend for physical exercise, because we assumed that the affective valuation of those who exercise more would be more positive. Based on the data of 86 participants, regression analysis revealed that those who reported less exercise and a more negative reflective evaluation of exercise initiated negative facial expressions on exercise-related stimuli significantly faster than those who reported exercising more often. No significant effect was observed for smile responses. We suspect that responding with a smile to exercise-related stimuli was the congruent response for the majority of our participants, so that for them no Stroop interference occurred in the exercise-related condition. This study suggests that immediate negative affective reactions to exercise-related stimuli result from a postconscious automatic process and can be detected in the study participants' faces. It furthermore illustrates how methodological paradigms from social-cognition research (here: the emotional Stroop paradigm) can be adapted to collect and analyze biometric data for the investigation of exercisers' and non-exercisers' automatic valuations of exercise.}, language = {en} }