TY - JOUR A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Ventura-Bort, Carlos A1 - Schulz, Paul A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Weymar, Mathias T1 - Event-related potentials of emotional and neutral memories BT - the role of encoding position and delayed testing JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - Previous research found that memory is not only better for emotional information but also for neutral information that has been encoded in the context of an emotional event. In the present ERP study, we investigated two factors that may influence memory for neutral and emotional items: temporal proximity between emotional and neutral items during encoding, and retention interval (immediate vs. delayed). Forty-nine female participants incidentally encoded 36 unpleasant and 108 neutral pictures (36 neutral pictures preceded an unpleasant picture, 36 followed an unpleasant picture, and 36 neutral pictures were preceded and followed by neutral pictures) and participated in a recognition memory task either immediately (N=24) or 1 week (N=25) after encoding. Results showed better memory for emotional pictures relative to neutral pictures. In accordance, enhanced centroparietal old/new differences (500-900 ms) during recognition were observed for unpleasant compared to neutral pictures, most pronounced for the 1-week interval. Picture position effects, however, were only subtle. During encoding, late positive potentials for neutral pictures were slightly lower for neutral pictures following unpleasant ones, but only at trend level. To summarize, we could replicate and extend previous ERP findings showing that emotionally arousing events are better recollected than neutral events, particularly when memory is tested after longer retention intervals. Picture position during encoding, however, had only small effects on elaborative processing and no effects on memory retrieval. KW - attention KW - emotion KW - ERPs KW - memory KW - old KW - new effect KW - serial position effect Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13069 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 55 IS - 7 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken 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 - TY - JOUR A1 - Wirkner, Janine A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Loew, Andreas A1 - Hamm, Carmen A1 - Struck, Anne-Marie A1 - Kirschbaum, Clemens A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. T1 - Cognitive functioning and emotion processing in breast cancer survivors and controls: An ERP pilot study JF - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research N2 - Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a very emotionally aversive and stressful life event, which can lead to impaired cognitive functioning and mental health. Breast cancer survivors responding with repressive emotion regulation strategies often show less adaptive coping and adverse outcomes. We investigated cognitive functioning and neural correlates of emotion processing using ERPs. Self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and fatigue, as well as hair cortisol as an index of chronic stress, were assessed. Twenty breast cancer survivors (BCS) and 31 carefully matched healthy controls participated in the study. After neuropsychological testing and subjective assessments, participants viewed 30 neutral, 30 unpleasant, and 30 pleasant pictures, and ERPs were recorded. Recognition memory was tested 1 week later. BCS reported stronger complaints about cognitive impairments and more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Moreover, they showed elevated hair cortisol levels. Except for verbal memory, cognitive functioning was predominantly in the normative range. Recognition memory performance was decreased in cancer survivors, especially for emotional contents. In ERPs, survivors showed smaller late positive potential amplitudes for unpleasant pictures relative to controls in a later time window, which may indicate less elaborative processing of this material. Taken together, we found cognitive impairments in BCS in verbal memory, impaired emotional picture memory accuracy, and reduced neural activity when breast cancer survivors were confronted with unpleasant materials. Further studies and larger sample sizes, however, are needed to evaluate the relationship between altered emotion processing and reduced memory in BCS in order to develop new treatment strategies. KW - attention KW - breast cancer survivors KW - emotion KW - ERPs KW - memory KW - neuropsychology Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12874 SN - 0048-5772 SN - 1469-8986 VL - 54 SP - 1209 EP - 1222 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wendt, Julia A1 - Loew, Andreas A1 - Weymar, Mathias A1 - Lotze, Martin A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. T1 - Active avoidance and attentive freezing in the face of approaching threat JF - NeuroImage : a journal of brain function N2 - Defensive behaviors in animals and humans vary dynamically with increasing proximity of a threat and depending upon the behavioral repertoire at hand. The current study investigated physiological and behavioral adjustments and associated brain activation when participants were exposed to dynamically approaching threat that was either inevitable or could be avoided by motor action. When the approaching threat was inevitable, attentive freezing was observed as indicated by fear bradycardia, startle potentiation, and a dynamic increase in activation of the anterior insula and the periaqueductal grey. In preparation for active avoidance a switch in defensive behavior was observed characterized by startle inhibition and heart rate acceleration along with potentiated activation of the amygdala and the periaqueductal grey. Importantly, the modulation of defensive behavior according to threat imminence and the behavioral option at hand was associated with activity changes in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings improve our understanding of brain mechanisms guiding human behavior during approaching threat depending on available resources. KW - Defensive response patterns KW - Active avoidance KW - Freezing KW - Psychophysiology KW - fMRI Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.054 SN - 1053-8119 SN - 1095-9572 VL - 158 SP - 196 EP - 204 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego 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 - Weck, Florian A1 - Grikscheit, Florian A1 - Höfling, Volkmar A1 - Kordt, Anne A1 - Hamm, Alfons O. A1 - Gerlach, Alexander L. A1 - Alpers, Georg W. A1 - Arolt, Volker A1 - Kircher, Tilo A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Rief, Winfried A1 - Lang, Thomas T1 - The role of treatment delivery factors in exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy for panic disorder with agoraphobia JF - Journal of anxiety disorders N2 - Treatment delivery factors (i.e., therapist adherence, therapist competence, and therapeutic alliance) are considered to be important for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic disorder and agoraphobia (PD/AG). In the current study, four independent raters conducted process evaluations based on 168 two-hour videotapes of 84 patients with PD/AG treated with exposure-based CBT. Two raters evaluated patients’ interpersonal behavior in Session 1. Two raters evaluated treatment delivery factors in Session 6, in which therapists provided the rationale for conducting exposure exercises. At the 6-month follow-up, therapists’ adherence (r = 0.54) and therapeutic alliance (r = 0.31) were significant predictors of changes in agoraphobic avoidance behavior; therapist competence was not associated with treatment outcomes. Patients’ interpersonal behavior in Session 1 was a significant predictor of the therapeutic alliance in Session 6 (r = 0.17). The findings demonstrate that treatment delivery factors, particularly therapist adherence, are relevant to the long-term success of CBT for PD/AG. KW - Interpersonal behavior KW - Panic disorder with agoraphobia KW - Therapeutic alliance KW - Therapist adherence KW - Therapist competence Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.05.007 SN - 0887-6185 SN - 1873-7897 VL - 42 SP - 10 EP - 18 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER -