TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kühnpast, Nicole
A1  - Gramann, Klaus
A1  - Pollatos, Olga
T1  - Electrophysiologic evidence for multilevel deficits in emotional face processing in patients with Bulimia Nervosa
JF  - Psychosomatic medicine
N2  - Background: Empirical evidence suggests substantial deficits regarding emotion recognition in bulimia nervosa (BN). The aim of the current study was to investigate electrophysiologic evidence for deficits in emotional face processing in patients with BN. Methods: Event-related potentials were recorded from 13 women with BN and 13 matched healthy controls while viewing neutral, happy, fearful, and angry facial expressions. Participants' recognition performance for emotional faces was tested in a subsequent categorization task. In addition, the degree of alexithymia, depression, and anxiety were assessed via questionnaires. Results: Categorization of emotional faces was hampered in BN (p = .01). Amplitudes of event-related potentials differed during emotional face processing: face-specific N170 amplitudes were less pronounced for angry faces in patients with BN (mean [M] [standard deviation {SD}] = 1.46 [0.56] mu V versus M [SD] = -1.23 [0.61] mu V, p = .02). In contrast, P3 amplitudes were more pronounced in patients with BN as compared with controls (M [SD] = 2.64 [0.46] mu V versus M [SD] = 1.25 [0.39] mu V, p = .04), independent of emotional expression. Conclusions: The study provides novel electrophysiologic data showing that emotional faces are processed differently in patients with BN as compared with healthy controls. We suggest that deficits in early automatic emotion classification in BN are followed by an increased allocation of attentional resources to compensate for those deficits. These findings might contribute to a better understanding of the impaired social functioning in BN.
KW  - eating disorders
KW  - bulimia nervosa
KW  - EEG
KW  - emotions
KW  - face recognition
KW  - N170
KW  - N2
KW  - P3
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e31825ca15a
SN  - 0033-3174
VL  - 74
IS  - 7
SP  - 736
EP  - 744
PB  - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
CY  - Philadelphia
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fischer, Rico
A1  - Ventura-Bort, Carlos
A1  - Hamm, Alfons O.
A1  - Weymar, Mathias
T1  - Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control
JF  - Cognitive, affective, & behavioral neuroscience : a journal of the Psychonomic Society
N2  - Response conflicts play a prominent role in the flexible adaptation of behavior as they represent context-signals that indicate the necessity for the recruitment of cognitive control. Previous studies have highlighted the functional roles of the affectively aversive and arousing quality of the conflict signal in triggering the adaptation process. To further test this potential link with arousal, participants performed a response conflict task in two separate sessions with either transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), which is assumed to activate the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NE) system, or with neutral sham stimulation. In both sessions the N2 and P3 event-related potentials (ERP) were assessed. In line with previous findings, conflict interference, the N2 and P3 amplitude were reduced after conflict. Most importantly, this adaptation to conflict was enhanced under tVNS compared to sham stimulation for conflict interference and the N2 amplitude. No effect of tVNS on the P3 component was found. These findings suggest that tVNS increases behavioral and electrophysiological markers of adaptation to conflict. Results are discussed in the context of the potentially underlying LC-NE and other neuromodulatory (e.g., GABA) systems. The present findings add important pieces to the understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms of conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control.
KW  - Conflict adaptation
KW  - Cognitive control
KW  - Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation
KW  - tVNS
KW  - ERP
KW  - N2
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-018-0596-2
SN  - 1530-7026
SN  - 1531-135X
VL  - 18
IS  - 4
SP  - 680
EP  - 693
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  -