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 - TY - JOUR A1 - Giraudier, Manon A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Burger, Andreas M. A1 - Claes, Nathalie A1 - D'Agostini, Martina A1 - Fischer, Rico A1 - Franssen, Mathijs A1 - Kaess, Michael A1 - Koenig, Julian A1 - Liepelt, Roman A1 - Nieuwenhuis, Sander A1 - Sommer, Aldo A1 - Usichenko, Taras A1 - Van Diest, Ilse A1 - von Leupoldt, Andreas A1 - Warren, Christopher Michael A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Evidence for a modulating effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on salivary alpha-amylase as indirect noradrenergic marker: A pooled mega-analysis JF - Brain Stimulation N2 - Background Non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has received tremendous attention as a potential neuromodulator of cognitive and affective functions, which likely exerts its effects via activation of the locus coeruleus-noradrenaline (LC-NA) system. Reliable effects of taVNS on markers of LC-NA system activity, however, have not been demonstrated yet. Methods The aim of the present study was to overcome previous limitations by pooling raw data from a large sample of ten taVNS studies (371 healthy participants) that collected salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) as a potential marker of central NA release. Results While a meta-analytic approach using summary statistics did not yield any significant effects, linear mixed model analyses showed that afferent stimulation of the vagus nerve via taVNS increased sAA levels compared to sham stimulation (b = 0.16, SE = 0.05, p = 0.001). When considering potential confounders of sAA, we further replicated previous findings on the diurnal trajectory of sAA activity. Conclusion(s) Vagal activation via taVNS increases sAA release compared to sham stimulation, which likely substantiates the assumption that taVNS triggers NA release. Moreover, our results highlight the benefits of data pooling and data sharing in order to allow stronger conclusions in research. KW - Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation KW - tVNS KW - sAA KW - Noradrenaline KW - Biomarker KW - Data pooling Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2022.09.009 SN - 1876-4754 VL - 15 SP - 1378 EP - 1388 PB - Elsevier CY - New York, NY, USA ET - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Giraudier, Manon A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Lischke, Alexander A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Memory advantage for untrustworthy faces BT - replication across lab- and web-based studies JF - PLoS one N2 - The Covid-19 pandemic imposed new constraints on empirical research and forced researchers to transfer from traditional laboratory research to the online environment. This study tested the validity of a web-based episodic memory paradigm by comparing participants' memory performance for trustworthy and untrustworthy facial stimuli in a supervised laboratory setting and an unsupervised web setting. Consistent with previous results, we observed enhanced episodic memory for untrustworthy compared to trustworthy faces. Most importantly, this memory bias was comparable in the online and the laboratory experiment, suggesting that web-based procedures are a promising tool for memory research. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264034 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 17 IS - 2 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Giraudier, Manon A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Lischke, Alexander A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Memory advantage for untrustworthy faces: Replication across lab- and web-based studies JF - PLoS ONE N2 - The Covid-19 pandemic imposed new constraints on empirical research and forced researchers to transfer from traditional laboratory research to the online environment. This study tested the validity of a web-based episodic memory paradigm by comparing participants’ memory performance for trustworthy and untrustworthy facial stimuli in a supervised laboratory setting and an unsupervised web setting. Consistent with previous results, we observed enhanced episodic memory for untrustworthy compared to trustworthy faces. Most importantly, this memory bias was comparable in the online and the laboratory experiment, suggesting that web-based procedures are a promising tool for memory research. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264034 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 17 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - PLoS ONE CY - San Francisco, California, US ET - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Giraudier, Manon A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) Improves High-Confidence Recognition Memory but Not Emotional Word Processing JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - 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. KW - transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation KW - salivary alpha-amylase KW - emotion KW - words KW - episodic memory KW - recognition KW - recollection KW - confidence Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01276 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Giraudier, Manon A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (TVNS) on emotional word processing and recognition memory JF - Psychophysiology KW - transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation Y1 - 2020 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 57 SP - S73 EP - S73 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koenig, Julian A1 - Abler, Birgit A1 - Agartz, Ingrid A1 - akerstedt, Torbjorn A1 - Andreassen, Ole A. A1 - Anthony, Mia A1 - Baer, Karl-Juergen A1 - Bertsch, Katja A1 - Brown, Rebecca C. A1 - Brunner, Romuald A1 - Carnevali, Luca A1 - Critchley, Hugo D. A1 - Cullen, Kathryn R. A1 - de Geus, Eco J. C. A1 - de la Cruz, Feliberto A1 - Dziobek, Isabel A1 - Ferger, Marc D. A1 - Fischer, Hakan A1 - Flor, Herta A1 - Gaebler, Michael A1 - Gianaros, Peter J. A1 - Giummarra, Melita J. A1 - Greening, Steven G. A1 - Guendelman, Simon A1 - Heathers, James A. J. A1 - Herpertz, Sabine C. A1 - Hu, Mandy X. A1 - Jentschke, Sebastian A1 - Kaess, Michael A1 - Kaufmann, Tobias A1 - Klimes-Dougan, Bonnie A1 - Koelsch, Stefan A1 - Krauch, Marlene A1 - Kumral, Deniz A1 - Lamers, Femke A1 - Lee, Tae-Ho A1 - Lekander, Mats A1 - Lin, Feng A1 - Lotze, Martin A1 - Makovac, Elena A1 - Mancini, Matteo A1 - Mancke, Falk A1 - Mansson, Kristoffer N. T. A1 - Manuck, Stephen B. A1 - Mather, Mara A1 - Meeten, Frances A1 - Min, Jungwon A1 - Mueller, Bryon A1 - Muench, Vera A1 - Nees, Frauke A1 - Nga, Lin A1 - Nilsonne, Gustav A1 - Ordonez Acuna, Daniela A1 - Osnes, Berge A1 - Ottaviani, Cristina A1 - Penninx, Brenda W. J. H. A1 - Ponzio, Allison A1 - Poudel, Govinda R. A1 - Reinelt, Janis A1 - Ren, Ping A1 - Sakaki, Michiko A1 - Schumann, Andy A1 - Sorensen, Lin A1 - Specht, Karsten A1 - Straub, Joana A1 - Tamm, Sandra A1 - Thai, Michelle A1 - Thayer, Julian F. A1 - Ubani, Benjamin A1 - van Der Mee, Denise J. A1 - van Velzen, Laura S. A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Villringer, Arno A1 - Watson, David R. A1 - Wei, Luqing A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Schreiner, Melinda Westlund A1 - Westlye, Lars T. A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Winkelmann, Tobias A1 - Wu, Guo-Rong A1 - Yoo, Hyun Joo A1 - Quintana, Daniel S. T1 - Cortical thickness and resting-state cardiac function across the lifespan BT - a cross-sectional pooled mega-analysis JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT. Previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, which impede the assessment of sex differences and aging effects on the association between ANS function and CT. To overcome these limitations, 20 groups worldwide contributed data collected under similar protocols of CT assessment and HR/HRV recording to be pooled in a mega-analysis (N = 1,218 (50.5% female), mean age 36.7 years (range: 12-87)). Findings suggest a decline in HRV as well as CT with increasing age. CT, particularly in the orbitofrontal cortex, explained additional variance in HRV, beyond the effects of aging. This pattern of results may suggest that the decline in HRV with increasing age is related to a decline in orbitofrontal CT. These effects were independent of sex and specific to HRV; with no significant association between CT and HR. Greater CT across the adult lifespan may be vital for the maintenance of healthy cardiac regulation via the ANS-or greater cardiac vagal activity as indirectly reflected in HRV may slow brain atrophy. Findings reveal an important association between CT and cardiac parasympathetic activity with implications for healthy aging and longevity that should be studied further in longitudinal research. KW - aging KW - autonomic nervous system KW - cortical thickness KW - heart rate KW - heart KW - rate variability KW - sex Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13688 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 58 IS - 7 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Dolcos, Florin A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Item and source memory for emotional associates is mediated by different retrieval processes JF - Neuropsychologia : an international journal in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience N2 - Recent event-related potential (ERP) data showed that neutral objects encoded in emotional background pictures were better remembered than objects encoded in neutral contexts, when recognition memory was tested one week later. In the present study, we investigated whether this long-term memory advantage for items is also associated with correct memory for contextual source details. Furthermore, we were interested in the possibly dissociable contribution of familiarity and recollection processes (using a Remember/Know procedure). The results revealed that item memory performance was mainly driven by the subjective experience of familiarity, irrespective of whether the objects were previously encoded in emotional or neutral contexts. Correct source memory for the associated background picture, however, was driven by recollection and enhanced when the content was emotional. In ERPs, correctly recognized old objects evoked frontal ERP Old/New effects (300-500 ms), irrespective of context category. As in our previous study (Ventura-Bort et al., 2016b), retrieval for objects from emotional contexts was associated with larger parietal Old/New differences (600-800 ms), indicating stronger involvement of recollection. Thus, the results suggest a stronger contribution of recollection-based retrieval to item and contextual background source memory for neutral information associated with an emotional event. KW - event-related potentials KW - emotion KW - source memory KW - remember/know KW - old/new KW - effect Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.12.015 SN - 0028-3932 SN - 1873-3514 VL - 145 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Schnabel, Ella A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Influence of resting heart rate variability on affect processing in different induction contexts JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research KW - HRV KW - Emotion KW - Startle Y1 - 2020 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 SN - 1540-5958 VL - 57 SP - S39 EP - S39 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - The Role of Interoceptive Sensibility and Emotional Conceptualization for the Experience of Emotions JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - 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. KW - emotion KW - granularity KW - emotional intensity KW - well-being KW - adaptability KW - interoceptive sensibility KW - interoception Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712418 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER -