Face recognition under ambiguous visual stimulation: fMRI correlates of “encoding styles”

Frühholz, Sascha; Godde, Ben; Lewicki, Paul; Herzmann, Charlotte; Herrmann, Manfred

doi:10.1002/hbm.21144

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Theories of schema processing construe schema activation as a two-step process: (i) reinstatement of a generalized, abstracted knowledge template containing variables, such as action scripts or contextual factors, and their interrelations, and (ii) specific instantiations of a schema that contextualize schema variables in the current environment (Gilboa & Marlatte, 2017;Gilboa & Moscovitch, 2017;Barsalou, 1985;Thorndyke & Yekovich, 1980). Neurocognitive models suggest that (i) cross-regional communication between the vMPFC and posterior cortical areas mediate these processes, (ii) they influence how we process information in the environment, (iii) their influence is rapid, and (iv) their activation and maintenance is context-sensitive (Gilboa & Moscovitch, 2017;Fruhholz, Godde, Lewicki, Herzmann, & Herrmann, 2011;Hanson, Hanson, Halchenko, Matsuka, & Zaimi, 2007;Thorndyke & Yekovich, 1980). Ghosh, Moscovitch, Melo Colella, and Gilboa (2014) demonstrated that vMPFC damage, particularly to the subcallosal vMPFC, disturbs schema activation and use.…”

Section: Prior Knowledge Activation Entails Reinstatement and Instantiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Influence of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Neural Representations of Schema and Semantic Category Knowledge

Giuliano

Bonasia

Ghosh

et al. 2021

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Prior knowledge, such as schemas or semantic categories, influences our interpretation of stimulus information. For this to transpire, prior knowledge must first be reinstated and then instantiated by being applied to incoming stimuli. Previous neuropsychological models implicate the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) in mediating these functions for schemas and the anterior/lateral temporal lobes and related structures for categories. vMPFC, however, may also affect processing of semantic category information. Here, the putative differential role of the vMPFC in the reinstatement and instantiation of schemas and semantic categories was examined by probing network-level oscillatory dynamics. Patients with vMPFC damage (n = 11) and healthy controls (n = 13) were instructed to classify words according to a given schema or category, while electroencephalography was recorded. As reinstatement is a preparatory process, we focused on oscillations occurring 500 msec prior to stimulus presentation. As instantiation occurs at stimulus presentation, we focused on oscillations occurring between stimulus presentation and 1000 msec poststimulus. We found that reinstatement was associated with prestimulus, theta and alpha desynchrony between vMPFC and the posterior parietal cortex for schemas, and between lateral temporal lobe and inferotemporal cortex for categories. Damage to the vMPFC influenced both schemas and categories, but patients with damage to the subcallosal vMPFC showed schema-specific deficits. Instantiation showed similar oscillatory patterns in the poststimulus time frame, but in the alpha and beta frequency bands. Taken together, these findings highlight distinct but partially overlapping neural mechanisms implicated in schema- and category-mediated processing.

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Section: Prior Knowledge Activation Entails Reinstatement and Instantiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Influence of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Neural Representations of Schema and Semantic Category Knowledge

Giuliano

Bonasia

Ghosh

et al. 2021

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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“…Such sensory ambiguous input is encoded by the brain by comparing the input with internal representations. The speed of this comparison depends on the percept and its level of ambiguity but also on the readiness of individuals to impose internal representations [12–14]. At an early stage of processing, familiar interpretations are dominant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Image Ambiguity and Fluency

2013

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Ambiguity is often associated with negative affective responses, and enjoying ambiguity seems restricted to only a few situations, such as experiencing art. Nevertheless, theories of judgment formation, especially the “processing fluency account”, suggest that easy-to-process (non-ambiguous) stimuli are processed faster and are therefore preferred to (ambiguous) stimuli, which are hard to process. In a series of six experiments, we investigated these contrasting approaches by manipulating fluency (presentation duration: 10ms, 50ms, 100ms, 500ms, 1000ms) and testing effects of ambiguity (ambiguous versus non-ambiguous pictures of paintings) on classification performance (Part A; speed and accuracy) and aesthetic appreciation (Part B; liking and interest). As indicated by signal detection analyses, classification accuracy increased with presentation duration (Exp. 1a), but we found no effects of ambiguity on classification speed (Exp. 1b). Fifty percent of the participants were able to successfully classify ambiguous content at a presentation duration of 100 ms, and at 500ms even 75% performed above chance level. Ambiguous artworks were found more interesting (in conditions 50ms to 1000ms) and were preferred over non-ambiguous stimuli at 500ms and 1000ms (Exp. 2a - 2c, 3). Importantly, ambiguous images were nonetheless rated significantly harder to process as non-ambiguous images. These results suggest that ambiguity is an essential ingredient in art appreciation even though or maybe because it is harder to process.

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“…In the taskirrelevant group, the instantiated schema did not hold contextually relevant information that could help the individual deal with the stressor. Such incongruency may have prompted the reinstatement of the dominant schema for having to give a presentation in front of a jury (Frühholz et al, 2011;van Kesteren et al, 2020), which is negatively biased for many people. Furthermore, this incongruence resulted in that these participants felt less prepared to deal with the stressor, as reflected by heightened anticipatory stress and stronger engagement of frontal emotion regulation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The rosy future paradox: Positive future thinking without task relevance enhances negative biases and anxiety for aversive events

Montijn

Gerritsen

Son

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Expectations have an important role in guiding behavior and the interpretation of novel information, but can contain negative biases such as is the case in anxiety disorders. Positive future thinking may provide an accessible way to attenuate these negatively biases. However, much is still unclear about the optimal form of such positive interventions, and it is unknown if the effects go beyond subjective experience. Here, we used a positive future thinking intervention to adapt the way a stressful event is experienced. Participants imagined either task-relevant (N = 21) or irrelevant (N = 21) positive future events before being subjected to the Trier Social Stress Task, or did not receive the intervention (N= 20). We recorded resting state EEG during the anticipation and recovery phases of the TSST to assess intervention and trait anxiety related differences in the level of frontal delta-beta coupling, which is considered a neurobiological substrate of emotion regulation. Results show that the intervention reduces event-related stress and anxiety, and increases social fixation behavior and task performance, but only if future thinking is task relevant. Paradoxically, task-irrelevant positive future thoughts enhance negative perceptual biases and stress reactivity. This increase in stress reactivity in the task-irrelevant group was corroborated by the elevated levels frontal delta-beta coupling during event anticipation, especially for those with high trait anxiety. This suggests an increased demand for emotion regulation following the task-irrelevant intervention, possibly due to the contextual incongruence between positive imagery and the stressor. Together, these results show that positive future thinking can mitigate the negative emotional, behavioral and neurobiological consequences of a stressful event, but that it should not be applied indiscriminately. Task-relevant positive future thinking can be an accessible way to boost efficacy of exposure therapy for pathological anxiety, and can help people deal with negative anticipation in daily life.

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Face recognition under ambiguous visual stimulation: fMRI correlates of “encoding styles”

Cited by 11 publications

References 41 publications

Differential Influence of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Neural Representations of Schema and Semantic Category Knowledge

Differential Influence of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Neural Representations of Schema and Semantic Category Knowledge

Image Ambiguity and Fluency

The rosy future paradox: Positive future thinking without task relevance enhances negative biases and anxiety for aversive events

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