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Switching between two or more tasks is a key component in our modern world. Task switching, however, requires time-consuming executive control processes and thus produces performance costs when compared to task repetitions. While executive control during task switching has been associated with activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC), only few studies so far have investigated the causal relation between lPFC activation and task-switching performance by modulating lPFC activation. In these studies, the results of lPFC modulation were not conclusive or limited to the left lPFC. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS; anodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. cathodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) vs. sham tDCS (1 mA, 30 s)] over the right inferior frontal junction on task-switching performance in a well-established task-switching paradigm. In response times, we found a significant effect of tDCS Condition (atDCS, ctDCS vs. sham) on task-switching costs, indicating the modulation of task-switching performance by tDCS. In addition, we found a task-unspecific tDCS Condition effect in the first experimental session, in which participants were least familiar with the task, indicating a general enhancement of task performance in both task repetitions and task-switching trials. Taken together, our study provides evidence that the right lPFC is involved in task switching as well as in general task processing. Further studies are needed to investigate whether these findings can be translated into clinically relevant improvement in older subjects or populations with executive function impairment.

Obesity imposes serious health risks and involves alterations in resting‐state functional connectivity of brain networks involved in eating behavior. Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment, but its effects on functional connectivity are still under debate. In this pre‐registered study, we aimed to determine the effects of bariatric surgery on major resting‐state brain networks (reward and default mode network) in a longitudinal controlled design. Thirty‐three bariatric surgery patients and 15 obese waiting‐list control patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging at baseline, after 6 and 12 months. We conducted a pre‐registered whole‐brain time‐by‐group interaction analysis, and a time‐by‐group interaction analysis on within‐network connectivity. In exploratory analyses, we investigated the effects of weight loss and head motion. Bariatric surgery compared to waiting did not significantly affect functional connectivity of the reward network and the default mode network (FWE‐corrected p > .05), neither whole‐brain nor within‐network. In exploratory analyses, surgery‐related BMI decrease (FWE‐corrected p = .041) and higher average head motion (FWE‐corrected p = .021) resulted in significantly stronger connectivity of the reward network with medial posterior frontal regions. This pre‐registered well‐controlled study did not support a strong effect of bariatric surgery, compared to waiting, on major resting‐state brain networks after 6 months. Exploratory analyses indicated that head motion might have confounded the effects. Data pooling and more rigorous control of within‐scanner head motion during data acquisition are needed to substantiate effects of bariatric surgery on brain organization., This pre‐registered study investigates the longitudinal dynamics of major resting‐state networks after bariatric surgery.Comparison of bariatric patients and waiting‐list controls could not confirm effects of the surgery on functional connectivity in the reward and the default mode network.Exploratory analyses suggest that effects of weight loss may be confounded by head motion which highlights the need for rigorous motion correction in neuroimaging studies with overweight samples.

Background Previous studies suggest that genetic polymorphisms and aging modulate inter-individual variability in brain stimulation-induced plasticity. However, the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and behavioral modulation through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in older adults remains poorly understood. Objective Link individual tDCS responsiveness, operationalized as performance difference between tDCS and sham condition, to common genetic polymorphisms in healthy older adults. Methods 106 healthy older participants from five tDCS-studies were re-invited to donate blood for genotyping of apoliproprotein E (APOE: e4 carriers and e4 non-carriers), catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT: val/val, val/met, met/met), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF: val/val, val/met, met/met) and KIdney/BRAin encoding gene (KIBRA: C/C, C/T, T/T). Studies had assessed cognitive performance during tDCS and sham in cross-over designs. We now asked whether the tDCS responsiveness was related to the four genotypes using a linear regression models. Results We found that tDCS responsiveness was significantly associated with COMT polymorphism; i.e., COMT val carriers (compared to met/met) showed higher tDCS responsiveness. No other significant associations emerged. Conclusion Using data from five brain stimulation studies conducted in our group, we showed that only individual variation of COMT genotypes modulated behavioral response to tDCS. These findings contribute to the understanding of inherent factors that explain inter-individual variability in functional tDCS effects in older adults, and might help to better stratify participants for future clinical trials.

Although much research has shown that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can reduce psychological stress, it is less clear if effects generalize to everyday social situations, which range among the largest stress triggers. Furthermore, mechanisms of MBIs have not been fully established. Emotion regulation (ER) has been suggested as one key mechanism, yet the role of cognitive reappraisal and acceptance strategies is still under debate. To address these questions, a neuroimaging-based randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed (n=68), comparing mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) with a reading/listening intervention (READ), using a novel dyadic paradigm for self and other emotion regulation under stress as primary outcome on behavior and brain levels and established empathy measures (clinicatrials.gov NCT03035669). Compared to READ, MBSR led to self-reported stress reduction through both cognitive reappraisal and acceptance only when regulating self and not when regulating others' distress. In addition, MBSR led to increased brain activation over time for regulating own (parietal cortex) and others' (precuneus, TPJ) emotions through cognitive reappraisal and acceptance, albeit this effect was also seen for the reading intervention for regulating own stress via reappraisal. Brain changes did not scale with subjective stress reduction and amount of meditation practice. More distant generalization effects of MBSR on socio-emotional functioning (cognitive empathy and compassion) could also not be shown. This study identified both cognitive reappraisal and acceptance as two ER mechanisms of MBSR, but indicates that effects do not extend to social settings.

Head motion during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) induces image artifacts that affect virtually every brain measure. In parallel, cross‐sectional observations indicate a correlation of head motion with age, psychiatric disease status and obesity, raising the possibility of a systematic artifact‐induced bias in neuroimaging outcomes in these conditions, due to the differences in head motion. Yet, a causal link between obesity and head motion has not been tested in an experimental design. Here, we show that a change in body mass index (BMI) (i.e., weight loss after bariatric surgery) systematically decreases head motion during MRI. In this setting, reduced imaging artifacts due to lower head motion might result in biased estimates of neural differences induced by changes in BMI. Overall, our finding urges the need to rigorously control for head motion during MRI to enable valid results of neuroimaging outcomes in populations that differ in head motion due to obesity or other conditions.

Dietary modifications leading to weight loss have been suggested as a means to improve brain health. In morbid obesity, bariatric surgery (BARS)—including different procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), gastric banding (GB), or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery—is performed to induce rapid weight loss. Combining reduced food intake and malabsorption of nutrients, RYGB might be most effective, but requires life-long follow-up treatment. Here, we tested 40 patients before and six months after surgery (BARS group) using a neuropsychological test battery and compared them with a waiting list control group. Subsamples of both groups underwent structural MRI and were examined for differences between surgical procedures. No substantial differences between BARS and control group emerged with regard to cognition. However, larger gray matter volume in fronto-temporal brain areas accompanied by smaller volume in the ventral striatum was seen in the BARS group compared to controls. RYGB patients compared to patients with restrictive treatment alone (VSG/GB) had higher weight loss, but did not benefit more in cognitive outcomes. In sum, the data of our study suggest that BARS might lead to brain structure reorganization at long-term follow-up, while the type of surgical procedure does not differentially modulate cognitive performance.

People vary considerably in moral reasoning. According to Kohlberg’s theory, individuals who reach the highest level of post-conventional moral reasoning judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals rather than self-interest or adherence to laws and rules. Recent research has suggested the involvement of the brain’s frontostriatal reward system in moral judgments and prosocial behaviors. However, it remains unknown whether moral reasoning level is associated with differences in reward system function. Here, we combined arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and measured frontostriatal reward system activity both at rest and during a sequential risky decision making task in a sample of 64 participants at different levels of moral reasoning. Compared to individuals at the pre-conventional and conventional level of moral reasoning, post-conventional individuals showed increased resting cerebral blood flow in the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Cerebral blood flow in these brain regions correlated with the degree of post-conventional thinking across groups. Post-conventional individuals also showed greater task-induced activation in the ventral striatum during risky decision making. These findings suggest that high-level post-conventional moral reasoning is associated with increased activity in the brain’s frontostriatal system, regardless of task-dependent or task-independent states.

Speaking a late-acquired second language (L2) involves increased cognitive demands, as has been shown mainly in young and middle-aged adults. To investigate grammatical inflection in older L2 speakers, we acquired behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging data, while L1 and L2 speakers performed a grammaticality judgment task. L2 speakers showed higher error rates than native speakers, specifically when incorrect forms had to be rejected. Poorer performance in L2 speakers was accompanied by increased activity in the medial superior frontal gyrus (SFG), indicating the additional recruitment of executive control mechanisms. In addition, post-hoc within-group comparisons of behavioral and neural correlates provide evidence for dual-mechanism models in older adults, suggesting that language processing involves both procedural and declarative memory systems. Moreover, we demonstrated that speaking an L2 requires more executive control and relies to a lesser extent on the procedural memory system than speaking one's own native language.

Head motion during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) induces image artifacts that affect virtually every brain measure. In parallel, cross-sectional observations indicate a correlation of head motion with age, psychiatric disease status and obesity, raising the possibility of a systematic artifact-induced bias in neuroimaging outcomes in these conditions, due to the differences in head motion. Yet, a causal link between obesity and head motion has not been tested in an experimental design. Here, we show that a change in body mass index (i.e., weight loss after bariatric surgery) systematically decreases head motion during MRI. In this setting, reduced imaging artifacts due to lower head motion might result in biased estimates of neural differences induced by changes in BMI. Overall, our finding urges the need to rigorously control for within-scanner head motion to enable valid results of neuroimaging outcomes in populations that differ in head motion due to obesity or other conditions.

Recurrent mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) and its neurological sequelae have been the focus of a large number of studies, indicating cognitive, structural, and functional brain alterations. However, studies often focused on single outcome measures in small cohorts of specific populations only. We conducted a multimodal evaluation of the impact of recurrent mTBI on a broad range of cognitive functions, regional brain volume, white matter integrity, and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in young and older adults in the chronic stage (>6 months after the last mTBI). Seventeen young participants with mTBI (age: 24.2 ± 2.8 (mean ± SD)) and 21 group-wise matched healthy controls (age: 25.8 ± 5.4 (mean ± SD)), as well as 17 older participants with mTBI (age: 62.7 ± 7.7 (mean ± SD)) and 16 group-wise matched healthy controls (age: 61.7 ± 5.9 (mean ± SD)) were evaluated. We found significant differences in the verbal fluency between young participants with mTBI and young healthy controls. Furthermore, differences in the regional volume of precuneus and medial orbitofrontal gyrus between participants with mTBI and controls for both age groups were seen. A significant age by group interaction for the right hippocampal volume was noted, indicating an accelerated hippocampal volume loss in older participants with mTBI. Other cognitive parameters, white matter integrity, and RSFC showed no significant differences. We confirmed some of the previously reported detrimental effects of recurrent mTBI, but also demonstrated inconspicuous findings for the majority of parameters.

Recurrent mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) and its neurological sequelae have been the focus of a large number of studies, indicating cognitive, structural, and functional brain alterations. However, studies often focused on single outcome measures in small cohorts of specific populations only. We conducted a multimodal evaluation of the impact of recurrent mTBI on a broad range of cognitive functions, regional brain volume, white matter integrity, and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in young and older adults in the chronic stage (>6 months after the last mTBI). Seventeen young participants with mTBI (age: 24.2 ± 2.8 (mean ± SD)) and 21 group-wise matched healthy controls (age: 25.8 ± 5.4 (mean ± SD)), as well as 17 older participants with mTBI (age: 62.7 ± 7.7 (mean ± SD)) and 16 group-wise matched healthy controls (age: 61.7 ± 5.9 (mean ± SD)) were evaluated. We found significant differences in the verbal fluency between young participants with mTBI and young healthy controls. Furthermore, differences in the regional volume of precuneus and medial orbitofrontal gyrus between participants with mTBI and controls for both age groups were seen. A significant age by group interaction for the right hippocampal volume was noted, indicating an accelerated hippocampal volume loss in older participants with mTBI. Other cognitive parameters, white matter integrity, and RSFC showed no significant differences. We confirmed some of the previously reported detrimental effects of recurrent mTBI, but also demonstrated inconspicuous findings for the majority of parameters.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have suggested that advanced age may mediate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on brain function. However, studies directly comparing neural tDCS effects between young and older adults are scarce and limited to task-related imaging paradigms. Resting-state (rs-) fMRI, that is independent of age-related differences in performance, is well suited to investigate ageassociated differential neural tDCS effects. Three “online” tDCS conditions (anodal, cathodal, sham) were compared in a cross-over, within-subject design, in 30 young and 30 older adults. Active stimulation targeted the left sensorimotor network (active electrode over left sensorimotor cortex with right supraorbital reference electrode). A graph-based rs-fMRI data analysis approach (eigenvector centrality mapping) and complementary seed-based analyses characterized neural tDCS effects. An interaction between anodal tDCS and age group was observed. Specifically, centrality in bilateral paracentral and posterior regions (precuneus, superior parietal cortex) was increased in young, but decreased in older adults. Seed-based analyses revealed that these opposing patterns of tDCS-induced centrality modulation were explained from differential effects of tDCS on functional coupling of the stimulated left paracentral lobule. Cathodal tDCS did not show significant effects. Our study provides first evidence for differential tDCS effects on neural network organization in young and older adults. Anodal stimulation mainly affected coupling of sensorimotor with ventromedial prefrontal areas in young and decoupling with posteromedial areas in older adults.

Cardiovascular fitness is thought to exert beneficial effects on brain function and might delay the onset of cognitive decline. Empirical evidence of exercise-induced cognitive enhancement, however, has not been conclusive, possibly due to short intervention times in clinical trials. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) has been proposed asan early indicator for intervention-induced changes. Here, we conducted a study in which healthy older overweight subjects took either part in a moderate aerobic exercise program over 6months (AE group; n=11) or control condition of non-aerobic stretching and toning (NAE group; n=18). While cognitive and gray matter volume changes were rather small (i.e., appeared only in certain sub-scores without Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons or using small volume correction), we found significantly increased RSFC after training between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and superior parietal gyrus/precuneus in the AE compared to the NAE group. This intervention study demonstrates an exercise-induced modulation of RSFC between key structures of the executive control and default mode networks, which might mediate an interaction between task-positive and task-negative brain activation required for task switching. Results further emphasize the value of RSFC asa sensitive biomarker for detecting early intervention-related cognitive improvements in clinical trials.

Recent neuroimaging studies have found a broad network of brain regions involved in deception, including the prefrontal cortex, insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Although deception can be conceptualized as the attempt to deliberately cause another person to accept a false belief, research to date has mainly focused on executive control processes when participants are instructed to lie under certain conditions. Recently, more ecologically valid and interactive experimental paradigms have been used in which subjects were also requested to take the perspective of another person, read his or her intentions, and make a self-determined decision to deceive that person and break a moral rule. To investigate the influence of these socio-cognitive processes on the neural network of deception, we performed a quantitative meta-analysis combining the data from 416 participants across 22 fMRI and two PET studies. Based on the description of the experimental paradigm, studies were divided in social interactive and non-interactive deception studies. Increased activation in the dorsal ACC, the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ)/angular gyrus, and the bilateral temporal pole (TP) was found to be greater in social interactive than in non-interactive deception. These results demonstrate the important role of perspective taking, theory of mind, and moral reasoning processes in deception as well as conflict processing. In addition to the role of executive control processes determined by previous meta-analyses, our findings show the importance of these socio-cognitive processes in deception and give new insight into the function and interpretation of the brain regions involved.

This study investigated the emotional effects and neural correlates of being empathized with while speaking about a currently experienced real-life social conflict during fMRI. Specifically, we focused on the effects of cognitive empathy in the form of paraphrasing, a technique regularly used in conflict resolution. 22 participants underwent fMRI while being interviewed on their social conflict and receiving empathic or unempathic responses from the interviewer. Skin conductance response (SCR) and self-report ratings of feeling understood and emotional valence were used to assess emotional responses. Results confirm previous findings indicating that cognitive empathy exerts a positive short-term effect on emotions in social conflict, while at the same time increasing autonomic arousal reflected by SCR. Effects of paraphrasing and unempathic interventions as indicated by self-report ratings varied depending on self-esteem, pre-interview negative affect, and participants' empathy quotient. Empathic responses engaged a fronto-parietal network with activity in the right precentral gyrus (PrG), left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), left inferior parietal gyrus (IPG), and right postcentral gyrus (PoG). Processing unempathic responses involved a fronto-temporal network with clusters peaking in the left inferior frontal gyrus, pars triangularis (IFGTr), and right temporal pole (TP). A specific modeling of feeling misunderstood activated a network consisting of the IFG, left TP, left Heschl gyrus, IFGTr, and right precuneus, extending to several limbic regions, such as the insula, amygdala, putamen, and anterior cingulate cortex/right middle cingulum (ACC/MCC). The results support the effectiveness of a widely used conflict resolution technique, which may also be useful for professionals who regularly deal with and have to de-escalate situations highly charged with negative emotion, e.g. physicians or judges.

Background: The ability to cognitively control emotions is critical for mental health. Previous studies have identified the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) as a core region in cognitive reappraisal. However, there is only scarce evidence whether directly modulating dlPFC activity results in improved capacities for cognitive reappraisal. Objective: In this study, we used anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dlPFC to investigate the effects of increased dlPFC excitability on cognitive reappraisal as indexed by subjective emotional arousal ratings and skin conductance responses. Methods: The study was designed as a double-blind, between-subjects, sham-controlled trial. Half of the healthy participants were randomly assigned to receive either active tDCS (n = 21, 1.5 mA for 20 min over the right dlPFC) or sham stimulation (n = 21). Participants viewed negative and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System while they were instructed to either downregulate, upregulate or maintain their emotions. After each picture presentation, participants rated the intensity of emotional arousal. Skin conductance responses and gaze fixation were assessed. Results: Our results revealed that anodal prefrontal tDCS during downregulation resulted in decreased skin conductance responses and decreased emotional arousal ratings. The opposite pattern was observed for the upregulation condition in which anodal tDCS resulted in higher arousal ratings accompanied by marginally enhanced skin conductance responses. Conclusion: Our data indicates that tDCS facilitates cognitive reappraisal in both directions by either increasing or decreasing emotional responsiveness depending on the regulatory goal. This provides further evidence for the potential use of tDCS as a tool to modulate cognitive reappraisal. However, given the limitations of the present study, our findings need to be replicated and complimented by further studies.

To investigate the mechanisms by which oxytocin improves socioaffective processing, we measured behavioral and pupillometric data during a dynamic facial emotion recognition task. In a double-blind between-subjects design, 47 men received either 24 IU intranasal oxytocin (OXT) or a placebo (PLC). Participants in the OXT group recognized all facial expressions at lower intensity levels than did participants in the PLC group. Improved performance was accompanied by increased task-related pupil dilation, indicating an increased recruitment of attentional resources. We also found increased pupil dilation during the processing of female compared with male faces. This gender-specific stimulus effect diminished in the OXT group, in which pupil size specifically increased for male faces. Results suggest that improved emotion recognition after OXT treatment might be due to an intensified processing of stimuli that usually do not recruit much attention.

In the absence of effective therapies for dementia and its precursors, enhancing neuroplasticity by means of non-invasive brain stimulation such as anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) might be a promising approach to counteract or delay the onset of cognitive decline, but effect sizes have been moderate so far. Previous reports indicate that increasing serotonin levels may enhance atDCS-induced neuroplasticity. However, evidence for serotonergic modulation of atDCS effects on memory is still lacking. Here, we conducted a double-blind, randomized, sham-/placebo-controlled trial to investigate the impact of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI; single dose of 20 mg citalopram) and atDCS over the right temporoparietal cortex (1 mA, 20 min) on memory formation. Twenty young and 20 older subjects completed an object-location learning task in each of the four conditions: sham+placebo, sham+SSRI, atDCS+placebo, and atDCS+SSRI. Outcome measures were performance in immediate (primary outcome) and delayed cued recall. While we found an SSRI effect, but no statistically significant effect of atDCS on immediate recall scores, young and older adults benefited most from the combined application (comparisons: atDCS+SSRI>atDCS+placebo and atDCS+SSRI>sham+placebo). Thus, our data provide evidence that atDCS improves memory formation if serotonergic neurotransmission is enhanced simultaneously. Further studies are needed to assess whether these findings extend to clinical populations with memory impairment and translate into clinically relevant improvements after long-term serotonergic enhancement and repeated stimulation.

Dietary modifications such as caloric restriction (CR) have been suggested as a means to improve memory and prevent age-related decline. However, it is unclear whether those effects remain stable over time or are related specifically to negative energy balance during the weight loss phase of CR. Using a randomized interventional design, we investigated changes in recognition memory and neural correlates in postmenopausal obese women (n = 19): 1) after intense weight loss in the course of a 12-week low-caloric diet (reduced body weight and negative energy balance) and 2) after having sustained the reduced weight over 4 more weeks (reduced body weight, but energy balance equilibrium). Participants were contrasted to a control group (n = 18) instructed not to change dietary habits. In the CR group, we found improved recognition memory, paralleled by increased gray matter volume in inferior frontal gyrus and hippocampus, and augmented hippocampal resting-state functional connectivity to parietal areas. Moreover, effects were specific for transient negative energy balance and could not be detected after subsequent weight maintenance. Our data demonstrate for the first time in humans that beneficial effects of CR on brain structure and function are due to weight loss rather than an overall reduced weight.

Receiving social feedback such as praise or blame for one's character traits is a key component of everyday human interactions. It has been proposed that humans are positively biased when integrating social feedback into their self-concept. However, a mechanistic description of how humans process self-relevant feedback is lacking. Here, participants received feedback from peers after a real-life interaction. Participants processed feedback in a positively biased way, i.e., they changed their self-evaluations more toward desirable than toward undesirable feedback. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we investigated two feedback components. First, the reward-related component correlated with activity in ventral striatum and in anterior cingulate cortex/medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/MPFC). Second, the comparison-related component correlated with activity in the mentalizing network, including the MPFC, the temporoparietal junction, the superior temporal sulcus, the temporal pole, and the inferior frontal gyrus. This comparison-related activity within the mentalizing system has a parsimonious interpretation, i.e., activity correlated with the differences between participants' own evaluation and feedback. Importantly, activity within the MPFC that integrated reward-related and comparison-related components predicted the self-related positive updating bias across participants offering a mechanistic account of positively biased feedback processing. Thus, theories on both reward and mentalizing are important for a better understanding of how social information is integrated into the human self-concept.

Summary Previous studies have shown that oxytocin improves the encoding and recognition of facial expressions, which has been proposed to be mediated by an increased exploration of the eye region during face processing. In the present study, we used eye tracking to assess visual attention to the eye region while participants performed a dynamic facial emotion recognition task. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design participants received 24 IU intranasal oxytocin (n = 23) or a placebo (n = 24). Although oxytocin administration had no effect on participants’ visual scanning of emotional faces, it generally enhanced recognition performance, as the oxytocin group recognized emotional expressions at lower intensity levels. These findings suggest that oxytocin-induced improvement of facial emotion recognition is independent of modulations in overt visual attention.

Pupil diameter (PD) has been suggested as a reliable parameter for identifying an individual’s emotional state. In this paper, we introduce a learning machine technique to detect and differentiate between positive and negative emotions. We presented 30 participants with positive and negative sound stimuli and recorded pupillary responses. The results showed a significant increase in pupil dilation during the processing of negative and positive sound stimuli with greater increase for negative stimuli. We also found a more sustained dilation for negative compared to positive stimuli at the end of the trial, which was utilized to differentiate between positive and negative emotions using a machine learning approach which gave an accuracy of 96.5% with sensitivity of 97.93% and specificity of 98%. The obtained results were validated using another dataset designed for a different study and which was recorded while 30 participants processed word pairs with positive and negative emotions.

Introduction Stroke is one of the most frequent causes of chronic and often severe language and motor impairments. Moreover, stroke increases the risk of developing cognitive impairments or even dementia over time ( Pendlebury and Rothwell, 2009 ). Although recent studies investigated predictors of cognitive decline after stroke, several questions remain. In particular, it needs to be clarified whether therapies applied during the rehabilitation phase may reduce or even prevent cognitive decline. Question How do patients with cognitive improvement 6 months post stroke differ in their baseline characteristics (demographics, vascular co-morbidities, therapy during rehabilitation and in the outpatient setting) from patients without improvement? Methods In the randomized, multi-center trial Phys-Stroke ( Floel et al., 2014 ) we assess 215 subacute stroke patients (5–45 days post-onset; Barthel-Index ⩽ 65). All patients received standard therapy with about 113 ± 53 h of global therapy time (physio, language, occupational and neuropsychological therapy) over the course of 6 months. Associations between improvement in cognitive function 6 months after stroke, operationalized with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), and the above mentioned factors were investigated. Results 67 patients (69 ± 11 years, 29% female, Barthel-Index 45 ± 15) were included in this analysis. At Baseline (26 ± 12 days post-stroke) patients revealed cognitive deficits (MOCA Score 22.9 ± 6.1). Vascular comorbidities were frequently noted (hypertension 83%, diabetes mellitus 29%, previous stroke 16%). 18 patients were identified, which showed no sign of improvement in the MOCA between Baseline and 6 months post-stroke. Domains most strongly affected in the subtests of the MOCA were speech, memory and attention (all p-values Discussion Our data underscore the significance of age as predictor for cognitive function following stroke. Global therapy time, vascular comorbidities and demographic variables showed only limited predictive value on improvement of cognition after stroke. In upcoming analyses, we plan to examine whether a specialized therapy (e.g. cognitive training; study intervention intensive aerobic vs relaxation training) or the integrity of hippocampal structures modify cognitive functioning in the months following the acute event.

The present study investigates the interaction of cognition and emotion in decision making, using an analogical reasoning task. In this task, two word pairs were presented simultaneously. Each word pair could be characterized by an associative conceptual relation (object, actor, or location relation) as well as an emotional relation (negative, neutral, or positive valence). Both types of relations were equally task-relevant: Participants had to identify both types of relations, to compare them, and to decide whether or not the word pairs were analogous, i.e., corresponding in both conceptual and emotional relations. Behavioral data showed that emotional relations were identified preferentially and faster than conceptual relations. Pupil dilations reflected the descending difficulty of the conditions and were greatest in amplitude when both conceptual and emotional correspondence was shown, intermediate when only one type of relation (either the emotional or the conceptual) corresponded, and least when neither correspondence existed. Additionally, a negative valence of the word material slowed down response times and increased pupil dilation relative to positive and neutral items. In summary, pupil and response time data together support recent (neurobiological) models concerning the interaction of emotion and cognition by showing that affective significance leads to a processing advantage at a cognitively lower level of information processing (here, identification or retrieval of relations from long-term memory) but can also distract people from higher level cognitive processes (here, from the controlled comparison of retrieved relations).

A major controversy in the social cognitive neurosciences evolved around the question whether activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus and adjacent temporoparietal junction (pSTS/TPJ-region) evoked by various tasks represents a common process or distinct processes. To investigate this question, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants performed Biological Motion (BM), Theory-of-Mind (ToM) and Moral Judgment (MJ) tasks. Importantly, for each task we used the same newly developed animated stimuli. Indicative of a common process, we identified small clusters of overlapping activity for BM and ToM in right pSTS and for ToM and MJ in bilateral pSTS and left TPJ. Indicative of distinct processes, on the contrary, we detected extensive dissociable activity for BM in right pSTS, for ToM in bilateral pSTS and left TPJ, and for MJ in bilateral pSTS and TPJ. Thus, our data provide strong evidence for a combined two-staged process account: (i) the parsing of a stream of visual-spatial information, represented by activity in right pSTS, where neighboring and overlapping clusters of increased responses were found for all three tasks; (ii) increasingly more complex processing of the communicative significance of other people’s behavior, represented by hierarchically increasing activity in left pSTS and bilateral TPJ elicited by ToM and MJ.

We used behavioral and pupillary measures during an analogical reasoning task to investigate the processing of conceptual and emotional relations as well as their interaction. In particular, we examined how mental resource consumption is modulated by individual differences in neuroticism in healthy participants during conditions with emotional interference. Two word pairs were presented simultaneously, each with a conceptual and an emotional relation. In one experimental block, participants had to decide whether conceptual relations between the two word pairs were corresponding (conceptual task). In the other block, participants had to decide whether emotional relations were corresponding (emotional task). When participants had to focus on the correspondence of emotional relations, they were faster, more accurate, and showed greater pupillary responses than during the conceptual task. Moreover, participants with comparably higher neuroticism scores showed increased pupillary responses during conditions with emotional interference (i.e., during the conceptual task when they had to ignore incongruent information on the correspondence provided by the task-irrelevant emotional relations). These results demonstrate that affective aspects of stimuli (here: emotional relations) are preferentially selected for information processing. Moreover, increased mental resource consumption due to emotional interference in participants with comparably higher neuroticism scores might reflect a possible mechanism making these individuals more vulnerable to mood or anxiety disorders.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is increasingly used in research and clinical settings to enhance the effects of cognitive training. In our present review, we will first summarize studies using tDCS alone and in combination with cognitive training in older adults and patients with Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). We will also review one study (Meinzer et al., 2014c) that showed an improvement in cognitive performance during anodal tDCS over the left inferior frontal cortex in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) which is regarded as a prodromal stage of AD. Although promising short-term results have been reported, evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with sufficient sample sizes is scarce. In addition, stimulation protocols (in terms of intensity, duration, and repetition of stimulation) that lead to sustained improvements in outcome measures relevant for daily life still remain to be established. Following, we will discuss modulating factors such as technical parameters as well as the question whether there are specific cognitive functions (e.g., learning, memory consolidation, executive control) which are more amenable to tDCS enhancement than others. Finally, we will highlight future directions and limitations in this field and emphasize the need to conduct RCTs to establish efficacy of interventions for activities of daily life for a given patient population.

Empathy is highly relevant for social behavior and can be verbally expressed by voicing sympathy and concern (emotional empathy) as well as by paraphrasing or stating that one can mentally reconstruct and understand another person's thoughts and feelings (cognitive empathy). In this study, we investigated the emotional effects and neural correlates of receiving empathic social responses after negative performance feedback and compared the effects of emotionally vs. cognitively empathic comments. 20 participants (10 male) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while receiving negative performance feedback for a cognitive task. Performance feedback was followed by verbal comments either expressing cognitive and emotional empathy or demonstrating a lack of empathy. Empathic comments in general led to less negative self-reported feelings and calmer breathing. At the neural level, empathic comments induced activity in regions associated with social cognition and emotion processing, specifically in right postcentral gyrus and left cerebellum (cognitively empathic comments), right precentral gyrus, the opercular part of left inferior frontal gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus (emotionally empathic comments), as well as the orbital part of the left middle frontal gyrus and left superior parietal gyrus (emotionally empathic vs. unempathic comments). The study shows that cognitively and emotionally empathic comments appear to be processed in partially separable neural systems. Furthermore, confirming and expanding on another study on the same subject, the present results demonstrate that the social display of cognitive empathy exerts almost as positive effects on the recipient's feelings and emotions in states of distress as emotionally empathic response does. This can be relevant for professional settings in which strong negative emotions need to be de-escalated while maintaining professional impartiality, which may allow the display of cognitive but not emotional empathy.

Going back to Kohlberg, moral development research affirms that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as cognitive abilities mature. Individuals at a lower level of moral reasoning judge moral issues mainly based on self-interest (personal interests schema) or based on adherence to laws and rules (maintaining norms schema), whereas individuals at the post-conventional level judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals. However, the extent to which moral development is reflected in structural brain architecture remains unknown. To investigate this question, we used voxel-based morphometry and examined the brain structure in a sample of 67 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Subjects completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) which measures moral development in terms of cognitive schema preference. Results demonstrate that subjects at the post- conventional level of moral reasoning were characterized by increased gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, compared with subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning. Our findings support an important role for both cognitive and emotional processes in moral reasoning and provide first evidence for individual differences in brain structure according to the stages of moral reasoning first proposed by Kohlberg decades ago.

Moral decision-making is central to everyday social life because the evaluation of the actions of another agent or our own actions made with respect to the norms and values guides our behavior in a community. There is previous evidence that the presence of bodily harm-even if irrelevant for a decision-may affect the decision-making, process. While recent neuroimaging studies found a common neural substrate of moral decision-making, the role of bodily harm has not been systematically studied so far. Here we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how behavioral and neural correlates of semantic and moral decision-making processes are modulated by the presence of direct bodily harm or violence in the stimuli. Twelve participants made moral and semantic decisions about sentences describing actions of agents that either contained bodily harm or not and that could easily be judged as being good or bad or correct/incorrect, respectively. During moral and semantic decision-making, the presence of bodily harm resulted in faster response times (RT) and weaker activity in the temporal poles relative to trials devoid of bodily harm/violence, indicating a processing advantage and reduced processing depth for violence-related linguistic stimuli. Notably, there was no increase in activity in the amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in response to trials containing bodily harm. These findings might be a correlate of limited generation of the semantic and emotional context in the anterior temporal poles during the evaluation of actions of another agent related to violence that is made with respect to the norms and values guiding our behavior in a community. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Developments in cognitive neuroscience are providing new insights into the nature of normative judgment. Traditional views in such disciplines as philosophy, religion, law, psychology and economics have differed over the role and usefulness of intuition and emotion in judging blameworthiness. Cognitive psychology and neurobiology provide new tools and methods for studying questions of normative judgment. Recently, a consensus view has emerged, which recognizes important roles for emotion and intuition and which suggests that normative judgment is a distributed process in the brain. Testing this approach through lesion and scanning studies has linked a set of brain regions to such judgment, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and posterior superior temporal sulcus. Better models of emotion and intuition will help provide further clarification of the processes involved. The study of law and justice is less well developed. We advance a model of law in the brain which suggests that law can recruit a wider variety of sources of information and paths of processing than do the intuitive moral responses that have been studied so far. We propose specific hypotheses and lines of further research that could help test this approach.

Talking about emotion and sharing emotional experiences is a key component of human interaction. Specifically, individuals often consider the reactions of other people when evaluating the meaning and impact of an emotional stimulus. It has not yet been investigated, however, how emotional arousal ratings and physiological responses elicited by affective stimuli are influenced by the rating of an interaction partner. In the present study, pairs of participants were asked to rate and communicate the degree of their emotional arousal while viewing affective pictures. Strikingly, participants adjusted their arousal ratings to match up with their interaction partner. In anticipation of the affective picture, the interaction partner's arousal ratings correlated positively with activity in anterior insula and prefrontal cortex. During picture presentation, social influence was reflected in the ventral striatum, that is, activity in the ventral striatum correlated negatively with the interaction partner's ratings. Results of the study show that emotional alignment through the influence of another person's communicated experience has to be considered as a complex phenomenon integrating different components including emotion anticipation and conformity.

Introduction Empathizing is the ability to identify the mental states of others, for predicting their behavior and responding with appropriate emotion. Two routes to empathy are discussed: One relatively automatically process, with fast emotional responding and late appraisal. A second way is less automatic with early cognitive appraisal. Brain areas with structural changes related to empathy comprising regions from the mirror neuron system (MNS) and the default mode network (DMN). Positive and negative associations between empathizing and regional gray matter (GM) volume were found in healthy controls in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), insula and superior temporal sulcus. Facing these divergent correlative effects, we compared GM volume of healthy females with low and high empathic behavior. Methods From a sample of 269 female healthy students completing the Empathy Quotient (EQ), 20 individuals with EQ > 45 (mean age 22.8) were compared with 20 age-matched individuals with an EQ p p Results In the region-of-interest-based analysis, none of the regions was showing a significant group difference. The exploratory voxelwise analysis yielded clusters of reduced GM volume in the LE group in right and more prominent in left frontal, bilateral occipital and temporal regions, comprising the left middle and superior frontal gyrus, the right middle and inferior temporal gyrus, the bilateral IFG, fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus and cerebellum. For the HE group, the most prominent cluster of reduced GM volume comprising the right parahippocampus, temporal inferior gyrus and cerebellum. Another cluster was consisting of voxels from the left insula, superior temporal gyrus, rolandic operculum and superior part of temporal pole and clusters were also found in the right caudate and less pronounced in the left middle occipital lobe and in the right superior medial frontal gyrus. Discussion We did not find any group effects in the region-of-interest-based analysis. Most likely are variations in normal empathic behavior in healthy individuals associated with localized sub-regional brain structure differences. Indeed, the exploratory voxel-wise approach revealed that both groups show different clusters of altered GM volume. The HE group showed increased GM volume in frontal regions, comprising MNS and in lateral occipital and temporal regions associated with social recognition. Regions with increased GM volume were found in regions related to reconstructive empathy (left insula and right parahippocampal gyrus) in the LE group.

A “neuroscience of ethics” focuses on the question of what can be learned about morality or moral standards through a growing understanding of the human brain. After giving a brief overview about psychological models of moral judgment and behavior, we introduce the neuroscience approach and the methods applied to the study of the “moral brain,” including the examination of brain damaged patients, neuroimaging, and neurostimulation. Then, we present main lines of research including our own empirical findings based on a neuroimaging study investigating the influence of individual differences in morality.

Studies on structural abnormalities in antisocial individuals have reported inconsistent results, possibly due to inhomogeneous samples, calling for an investigation of brain alterations in psychopathologically stratified subgroups. We explored structural differences between antisocial offenders with either borderline personality disorder (ASPD-BPD) or high psychopathic traits (ASPD-PP) and healthy controls (CON) using region-of-interest-based and voxel-based morphometry approaches. Besides common distinct clusters of reduced gray matter volumes within the frontal pole and occipital cortex, there was remarkably little overlap in the regional distribution of brain abnormalities in ASPD-BPD and ASPD-PP, when compared to CON. Specific alterations of ASPD-BPD were detected in orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions subserving emotion regulation and reactive aggression and the temporal pole, which is involved in the interpretation of other peoples' motives. Volumetric reductions in ASPD-PP were most significant in midline cortical areas involved in the processing of self-referential information and self-reflection (i.e., dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate/precuneus) and recognizing emotions of others (postcentral gyrus) and could reflect neural correlates of the psychopathic core features of callousness and poor moral judgment. The findings of this first exploratory study therefore may reflect correlates of prominent psychopathological differences between the two criminal offender groups, which have to be replicated in larger samples.

To investigate the mechanisms by which oxytocin improves socioaffective processing, we measured behavioral and pupillometric data during a dynamic facial emotion recognition task. In a double-blind between-subjects design, 47 men received either 24 IU intranasal oxytocin (OXT) or a placebo (PLC). Participants in the OXT group recognized all facial expressions at lower intensity levels than did participants in the PLC group. Improved performance was accompanied by increased task-related pupil dilation, indicating an increased recruitment of attentional resources. We also found increased pupil dilation during the processing of female compared with male faces. This gender-specific stimulus effect diminished in the OXT group, in which pupil size specifically increased for male faces. Results suggest that improved emotion recognition after OXT treatment might be due to an intensified processing of stimuli that usually do not recruit much attention.

Recent approaches suggest that emotional reactivity can be used to differentiate between subgroups of individuals who are at risk for showing elevated levels of aggression and violence. In this study, we examined how emotion governs decision making within two subgroups of antisocial criminal offenders with either emotional hypo- or hyper-reactivity compared with healthy, noncriminal controls. Offenders were recruited from high-security forensic treatment facilities and penal institutions and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a financial decision-making task. In this task, participants were required to choose between low-risk (bonds) and high-risk alternatives (stocks). Bonds were always the safe choice; stocks could win or lose, with a varying degree of uncertainty. We found that emotionally hypo-reactive offenders differed most from healthy controls by showing diminished neural activation in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in response to uncertainty as well as decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex when trying to regulate their behavior accordingly (i.e., when consistently choosing "safe alternatives"). Hence, the data indicate that emotionally hypo-reactive offenders (with psychopathic traits) constitute a special subgroup within antisocial offenders characterized in particular by a limited capacity to emotionally represent uncertainty and to anticipate punishment.

OBJECTIVE. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the influence of concurrently presented emotional stimuli on cognitive task processing in violent criminal offenders primarily characterized by affective instability. METHODS. Fifteen male criminal offenders with antisocial and borderline personality disorder (ASPD and BPD) and 17 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a working memory task with low and high working memory load. In a second experimental run, to investigate the interaction of emotion and cognition, we presented emotionally neutral, low, or high salient social scenes in the background of the task. RESULTS. During the memory task without pictures, both groups did not differ in general task performance and neural representation of working memory processes. During the memory task with emotional background pictures, however, ASPD-BPD subjects compared to healthy controls showed delayed responses and enhanced activation of the left amygdala in the presence of emotionally high salient pictures independent of working memory load. CONCLUSIONS. These results illustrate an interaction of emotion and cognition in affective instable individuals with enhanced reactivity to emotionally salient stimuli which might be an important factor regarding the understanding of aggressive and violent behaviour in these individuals.

Background Borderline personality disorder has been characterized by enhanced emotional reactivity and deficient emotion regulation in behavioral and functional imaging studies. We aimed to validate patients' difficulties in the cognitive regulation of negative emotions and investigated if emotion regulation deficits are restricted to the decrease of negative emotions. A cognitive reappraisal paradigm was used and hence a regulation strategy that is typically applied in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Methods Fifteen unmedicated female borderline patients with affective instability and 15 healthy female control subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a delayed reappraisal paradigm. Hemodynamic responses were measured in response to aversive pictures in an initial viewing phase and a subsequent reappraisal phase with three different conditions: decreasing, increasing, and maintaining the initial emotional reaction. Results Patients demonstrated enhanced activation of left amygdala and right insula during the initial viewing of aversive stimuli. During attempting to decrease the initial emotional reaction, patients showed attenuated activation of the left orbitofrontal cortex and increased activation of the bilateral insula. The attempt to increase negative emotions resulted in enhanced activity in amygdala and insula, whereas no group differences were found. Conclusions The results point to the role of two distinguishable processes of emotional difficulties in borderline personality disorder: enhanced emotional reactivity as well as deficits of voluntarily decreasing aversive emotions by means of cognitive reappraisal. The results suggest the neuronal substrate of deficits in explicit emotion regulation in the orbitofrontal cortex, which is in line with previous findings of a dysfunctional prefrontal network in borderline personality disorder.

Background/Objectives: Cognitive dysfunction is a common aspect of the spectrum of symptoms of geriatric depression. High homocysteine levels have been linked to cognitive decline in neuropsychiatric disorders. The present study investigated possible associations between cognitive impairment observed in geriatric depression and homocysteine levels. Methods: The performance of 25 mentally healthy individuals and 40 patients with geriatric depression in terms of language processing, processing speed, concentration and attention was assessed with the Stroop Test and the d2 Test of Attention. Serum homocysteine was determined with an enzyme immunoassay. Results: The performance of depressed patients was significantly worse in language processing (p = 0.001) and processing speed (p < 0.0001). Depressed patients with high levels of homocysteine performed better than patients with homocysteine concentrations ≤11.7 µmol/l in both cognitive domains (p = 0.006 and 0.009, respectively). Moreover, homocysteine level was positively associated with language processing (p = 0.002) and processing speed (p = 0.002). Conclusions: These findings indicate that under the special circumstances of geriatric depression (perturbation of glutamatergic transmission and glutamate metabolism), homocysteine is positively associated with the performance in language processing and processing speed.

Moral judgment can be defined as the evaluation of actions with respect to social norms and values established in a society (such as not stealing or being an honest citizen).1Judging whether our own actions or of those of another person are good or bad (respectively harmful for individuals or the society as a whole) is very central to everyday social life because it guides our behavior in a community. Therefore, the question how humans think about right and wrong has recurred over the centuries in many disciplines including philosophy, arts, religion, economics, or law studies (see Goodenough & Prehn, 2004). More recently, the question how moral judgments are made and which processes are involved has triggered much research in psychology and neuroscience. One key issue comprises the question to what extent the processes involved are open to conscious deliberation and whether our moral sense is a product of education (i.e., the acquisition of knowledge on social norms and values) or rather a result of an innate mechanism activated during childhood. In particular, the issue whether moral judgments are caused by emotional or rather cognitive2processes and whether emotional responses make moral judgments better or worse has caused much controversies and debates.

People differ with regard to how they perceive, experience, and express negative affect. While trait negative affect reflects a stable, sustained personality trait, state negative affect represents a stimulus limited and temporally acute emotion. So far, little is known about the neural systems mediating the relationship between negative affect and acute emotion processing. To address this issue we investigated in a healthy female sample how individual differences in state negative affect are reflected in changes in blood oxygen level-dependent responses during passive viewing of emotional stimuli. To assess autonomic arousal we simultaneously recorded changes in skin conductance level. At the psychophysiological level we found increased skin conductance level in response to aversive relative to neutral pictures. However, there was no association of state negative affect with skin conductance level. At the neural level we found that high state negative affect was associated with increased left insular activity during passive viewing of aversive stimuli. The insula has been implicated in interoceptive processes and in the integration of sensory, visceral, and affective information thus contributing to subjective emotional experience. Greater recruitment of the insula in response to aversive relative to neutral stimuli in subjects with high state negative affect may represent increased processing of salient aversive stimuli.