Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Emotion processing deficits'

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is known to cause detrimental effects to motor function and cognition. The motor effects of the disease in turn impact emotion expression in patients with PD. There is conflicting evidence in research, however, as to whether PD also affects emotion comprehension, and if so, what emotions in particular are affected and across what modalities. This study aimed to investigate the effects of PD on a broad range of skills involved in basic and complex emotion comprehension. Whether these effects extend into other areas associated with emotion processing, such as social cognition and autobiographical memory, was also explored. Methods: Sixteen patients with PD participated in the study along with sixteen control subjects who were matched for age, gender, education level and estimated premorbid intelligence. The PD participants, on average, were in the moderate phase of the disease and taking PD medication, including dopamine. Participants were tested on a range of recognition measures including prototypical and morphed facial expressions with reduced intensity (40 and 80%), emotion prosody, written emotion vignettes, emotional imagery, pictures of emotion, social cognition, and a cued autobiographical memory task. A mood inventory was given, and disease severity and duration were noted. Results: The PD group did not show pervasive deficits in emotion recognition overall. Deficits were demonstrated in prosody recognition, specifically with fearful tones, and in an incongruent prosody task, specifically with angry and neutral tones. The PD group was not able to recognise facial expressions of disgust (mixed intensities) as well as controls, with the result showing a trend toward significance. PD participants were also significantly worse in Theory of Mind (TOM) reasoning but not at another social cognition measure involving recognising social emotions through expressions from the eyes only. There were no differences between the groups across all other tests. Discussion: PD is thought to cause subtle deficits in emotion comprehension which are only elucidated through complex tasks. The effects of PD on complex processing also impact TOM performance, which relies on skills involved in complex emotion recognition. Effects of mood and disease factors on performance were circumscribed. Evidence suggested that the basal ganglia and fronto-striatal connections play a role in emotion comprehension.

Doctor of Clinical Neuropsychology/Master of Science
Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is known to cause detrimental effects to motor function and cognition. The motor effects of the disease in turn impact emotion expression in patients with PD. There is conflicting evidence in research, however, as to whether PD also affects emotion comprehension, and if so, what emotions in particular are affected and across what modalities. This study aimed to investigate the effects of PD on a broad range of skills involved in basic and complex emotion comprehension. Whether these effects extend into other areas associated with emotion processing, such as social cognition and autobiographical memory, was also explored. Methods: Sixteen patients with PD participated in the study along with sixteen control subjects who were matched for age, gender, education level and estimated premorbid intelligence. The PD participants, on average, were in the moderate phase of the disease and taking PD medication, including dopamine. Participants were tested on a range of recognition measures including prototypical and morphed facial expressions with reduced intensity (40 and 80%), emotion prosody, written emotion vignettes, emotional imagery, pictures of emotion, social cognition, and a cued autobiographical memory task. A mood inventory was given, and disease severity and duration were noted. Results: The PD group did not show pervasive deficits in emotion recognition overall. Deficits were demonstrated in prosody recognition, specifically with fearful tones, and in an incongruent prosody task, specifically with angry and neutral tones. The PD group was not able to recognise facial expressions of disgust (mixed intensities) as well as controls, with the result showing a trend toward significance. PD participants were also significantly worse in Theory of Mind (TOM) reasoning but not at another social cognition measure involving recognising social emotions through expressions from the eyes only. There were no differences between the groups across all other tests. Discussion: PD is thought to cause subtle deficits in emotion comprehension which are only elucidated through complex tasks. The effects of PD on complex processing also impact TOM performance, which relies on skills involved in complex emotion recognition. Effects of mood and disease factors on performance were circumscribed. Evidence suggested that the basal ganglia and fronto-striatal connections play a role in emotion comprehension.

Antisocial behaviour in childhood and adolescence is associated with a range of negative outcomes in later life, which are costly to both society and to the antisocial individual themselves. Because the effectiveness of current interventions appears to be limited, it has been argued that treatment efforts should focus more on designing interventions that target neuropsychological correlates of antisocial behaviour. Two important correlates are impaired facial emotion recognition and empathy; these deficits have been proposed to cause antisocial behaviour because they involve an inability to understand and appropriately respond to the distress of others.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease associated with deficits in a wide variety of cognitive, social and emotional domains. This includes deficits in facial affect recognition, which have been suggested to be linked to problems in judging social intentions and as leading to social withdrawal. A number of behavioural studies report a greater deficit in the recognition of negative emotions (particularly fear). a parallel strand of research has examined the neural substrates of facial emotion recognition using neuroimaging techniques, and has reported reductions in levels of amygdala activation to fearful faces in schizophrenia patients. These finding, have, in combination, been interpreted as indicating a negative emotion specific deficit in schizophrenia underpinned by aberrant functioning of limbic structures including the amygdala. The current thesis attempts to deconstruct this formulation from two perspectives, a psychometric or task conceptualisation perspective, and a neuroimaging perspective.

Evidence suggests individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) may be impaired at production and recognition of affective prosody and facial expressions of emotion. When united with social psychology's assertion that nonverbal cues, including facial expressions and voice tone, facilitate effective communication within social relationships, it suggests that these impairments impact negatively on quality of life for individuals with PD. This thesis aimed to investigate emotional processing deficits in PD, systematically, and their possible affect on social relationships. Thirty PD and 30 closely-matched control participants participated in three studies. Study 1 found that raters were less able to recognise emotional expressions from facial expressions and affective prosody in the PD group than the Control group. Study 2, using the Aprosodia Battery (Ross et al., 1997), found PD participants were impaired at recognition of affective prosody. A novel task was developed to assess recognition of facial expressions, comprising prototypical facial expressions and more subtle facial expressions. The PD group was impaired at recognition of subtle facial expressions but not prototypical facial expressions. Positive associations were found between performance on some recognition and production tasks in the PD group, providing support for an overall impairment in emotional processing in PD. When the PD group was subdivided based on side of symptom-onset, the group who developed right-sided symptoms first were more impaired compared to the Control group, than those who had left-sided onset of symptoms, suggesting a possible left-hemispheric lateralisation of emotional processing. Study 3, using a semi-structured interview, found that individuals with PD were less satisfied with their relationships with close others and acquaintances than the Control group, and that this was associated with how well the PD participants felt that others understood their facial expressions and affective prosody. Findings support the contribution of the basal ganglia to emotional processing, possibly as part of the thalamo-cortical loops, specifically, the skeleto-motor circuit, the lateral orbitofrontal circuit and the anterior cingulate circuit.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder characterized by social dysfunction. People with schizophrenia misinterpret social information and it is suggested that this difficulty may result from visual processing deficits. As faces are one of the most important sources of social information it is hypothesized that people suffering from the disorder have impairments in the visual face processing system. It is unclear which mechanism of the face processing system is impaired but two types of deficits are most often proposed: a deficit in face perception in general (i.e., processing of facial features as such) and a deficit in facial emotion processing (i.e., recognition of emotional facial expressions). Due to the contradictory evidence from behavioural, electrophysiological as well as neuroimaging studies offering support for the involvement of one or the other deficit in schizophrenia it is early to make any conclusive statements as to the nature and level of impairment. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of the key mechanism and abnormalities underlying social dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Impairments in emotion processing have been separately associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). However, due to their common co-occurrence it is unclear if these impairments are general to ADHD or are specific to ADHD with comorbid CD. In addition, the extent to which they are associated with ADHD or CD symptom severity or callous-unemotional (CU) traits is uncertain and the role atypical attentional allocation to facial features plays in these impairments also remains poorly understood. Participants with a diagnosis of ADHD either with or without comorbid CD performed four emotion processing tasks. Participants with ADHD and comorbid CD showed impairments in all emotion processing tasks compared to ADHD alone. They showed specific impairments in both the conscious recognition and automatic processing of fear faces, general impairments across emotion categories in affective (but not cognitive) empathy, and both reduced differential fear conditioning and a faster rate of extinction learning than ADHD alone. Groups did not differ in processing of the eye region of faces during emotion recognition or empathy tasks, suggesting other mechanisms may account for differences in emotion processing. As opposed to CD severity or CU traits, ADHD severity was the only predictor of reduced attention to the eye region. Further, while CD severity was most strongly negatively associated with both the conscious recognition and automatic processing of fear faces, and to affective empathy for happiness, CU traits were strongly associated with the ability to affectively empathise with negative emotions. The findings of the current thesis highlight the importance of assessing emotion processing and clinical heterogeneity in those with ADHD in order to offer appropriate and tailored interventions.

Dissertation (Masters in Education (Education and Social Sciences))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact that sensory processing had on the learning and development of two Grade R learners that experience Asperger's Syndrome. The present study is grounded in theories originating from the works of Piaget (1973 & 1978), Vygotsky (1978 & 1993), Feuerstein (1980 & 1991) and Erikson (1950). The informal, flexible education experienced in Grade R classes reflects both the OBE curriculum and inclusive education systems found in South Africa. The main medium of learning is through sensory experiences, therefore it was necessary to research how two AS learners would learn and develop and explore their world through their senses. This research approach was purely qualitative. Multi-methods of data collection, particularly interviews and observations were used. The sample size was two independent case studies, using learners aged between five and seven, who had been clinically diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS). The two AS learners both attended mainstream Grade R classes and both had facilitators. The findings of the study answer the key research question: “What is the impact of sensory processing difficulties on the learning and development of two learners experiencing Asperger's Syndrome in Grade R?” The results confirmed the impact sensory processing had on the learning and development of learners experiencing AS. The learners had difficulty learning new skills and concepts. Although they were both bright learners, they were perceived as underachievers. Identifying these sensory difficulties and creating awareness among educators, can have a positive impact on these learners' adaptability in a mainstream school environment. This study recommends that early intervention with AS learners is vital for their future learning and development. The interpretation of body language and social skills of normal learners needs to be taught to learners with AS so they can begin to socialise with other learners positively. Ebersöhn & Eloff (2006) suggest that knowledge of asset-based good practices should be shared with educators and caregivers, so that they can focus on the AS learners' strengths and positive character traits. The multi-disciplinary team need to work together to offer support to these learners assisting them to develop to their full potential

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Social cognition deficits in schizophrenia are now widely accepted as both a core feature of the condition and an area lacking effective treatment regimes. The aim of this thesis was to explore novel strategies for the remediation of one aspect of social cognition, namely face emotion processing. Visual scanpath technology was utilised to first characterise the nature and extent of face emotion processing dysfunction in a schizophrenia sample. Second, the association of scanpath impairment with other measures of basic visual processing was explored and finally a novel remediation strategy targeting face emotion recognition in schizophrenia was developed and evaluated.

BD is a severe and highly prevalent psychiatric illness characterized by oscillating mood episodes, where patients express either depressed mood, anhedonia, decreased activation along with concentration difficulties and sleep disturbances, or elevated mood with hyperactivity and loss of inhibitions. Between mood episodes, patients return to a relatively normal state of functioning without mood symptoms. Previous research on underlying neuronal mechanisms has led to a model of neuronal dysfunction in BD which states that BD arises from disruption in early development within brain networks that modulate emotional behavior. These abnormalities in the structure and function of key emotional control networks then lead to decreased connectivity among ventral prefrontal networks and limbic brain regions. This in turn creates a loss of emotional homeostasis, putting bipolar patients at risk for developing extreme mood states and switching among mood states. Two core components for BD have been identified, a hyperactive emotion processing system and a hypoactive cognitive functions system. It is controversial whether these deficits are still detectable in euthymia, so it is unclear if hyper- and hypoactivations represent state or trait-like characteristics. The aim of this study was to research both core components of BD with a paradigm eliciting differential activations in both cognitive and emotion processing networks. For this, an emotional word working memory paradigm was constructed to test for differences between manic, depressive, and remitted patients as well as a healthy control group. Differences were assessed in behavior, brain activation (as a correlate for the hypoactive cognitive functions system), measured with near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and electrophysiological changes in the late positive potential (as a correlate for the hyperactive emotion processing system), an event-related potential (ERP) measured with electroencephalography. 47 patients in the acutely ill phase and 45 healthy controls were measured. Of the 47 patients, 18 returned to the clinic for a second testing while in remission for at least 3 months. Acutely ill patients were classified into 4 groups according to their disorder status: a mildly depressed group, a depressed group, a manic group, and a mixed group along DSM-IV criteria. Analyses were calculated for 3 load conditions (1-back, 2-back and 3-back) and 3 valence conditions (negative, neutral, positive) for behavioral measures reaction time and omission errors, for brain activation and event related potential changes. Results indicate that ill patients differed from controls in their behavioral performance, but the difference in performance was modulated by the mood state they were in. Depressed patients showed the most severe differences in all behavioral measures, while manic and mixed patients differed from controls only upon different valence conditions. Brain activation changes were most pronounced in mildly depressed and manic patients, depressed patients and mixed patients did not differ as much from controls. ERP changes showed a significant difference only between mixed patients and controls, where mixed patients had an overall much higher ERP amplitude. When remitted patients were compared to controls, no differences in behavior, brain activation or ERP amplitude could be found. However, the same was true for differences in patients between acutely ill and remitted state. When looking at the overall data, the following conclusion can be drawn: assuming that the brain activation seen in the prefrontal cortex is part of the dorsal cognitive system, then this is the predominantly disturbed system in depressed patients who show only small changes in the ERP. In contrast, the predominantly disturbed system in manic and mixed patients is the ventral emotion processing system, which can be seen in a hyper-activation of ERP related neural correlates in mixed and hypo-activated neural correlates of the LPP in manic patients. When patients are remitted, the cognitive system regains temporary stability, and can be compared to that of healthy controls, while the emotion processing system remains dysfunctional and underlies still detectable performance deficits
Die bipolare Störung ist eine schwere und hochprävalente psychiatrische Erkrankung, welche gekennzeichnet ist durch oszillierende Stimmungsepisoden, in denen Patienten entweder unter Anhedonie leiden, über Aktivitätsverlust und Konzentrationsstörungen klagen und Schlafstörungen haben, oder in deutlich aufgehellter Stimmung sind, hyperaktiv werden und soziale Hemmungen verlieren. Zwischen diesen Stimmungs-extremen durchlaufen die Patienten Phasen mit Stimmungsnormalisierung, oft ohne weitere schwere kognitive Defizite. Bisherige Studien über die zugrundeliegenden neuronalen Mechanismen haben ein Model hervorgebracht, welches von einer Störung der frühen Entwicklung in Hirnregionen, die emotionales Verhalten regulieren, ausgeht. Diese Anomalitäten in Struktur und Funktion von Kernkomponenten der Emotionskontrolle führen dann zu einem Verlust der Konnektivität in ventralen präfrontalen und limbischen Netzwerken. Dieser Verlust wiederum verursacht einen Verlust an emotionaler Homöostase, welches die Patienten dem Risiko aussetzt, extreme Stimmungsschwankungen zu erfahren. Zwei Kernkomponenten der bipolaren Störung wurden aufgrund dieses Modells definiert: ein hyperaktives Emotionsverarbeitungssystem, und ein hypoaktives kognitives Funktionssystem. Es ist bis jetzt nicht klar, in welcher Art und Weise diese emotionalen und kognitiven Dysfunktionen auch im euthymen Zustand weiterbestehen. Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, die beiden Kernkomponenten der Dysfunktion in der bipolaren Störung mit einem Paradigma zu untersuchen, welche beide Komponenten erfasst. Es wurde dazu ein emotionales Arbeitsgedächtnis Paradigma entwickelt, um Unterschiede zwischen akut kranken Patienten, gesunden Kontrollen und denselben Patienten im remittierten Zustand zu erfassen. Die Unterschiede sollten als Unterschiede der Reaktionszeit und Auslassungsfehler im Verhalten erfasst werden, ebenso als Unterschiede der Hirnaktivierung, gemessen mit funktionaler Nah-Infrarot Spektroskopie, und als Unterschiede in einem neurophysiologischen Korrelat, des „Late Positive Potential“ (LPP) betrachtet werden. 47 Patienten wurden rekrutiert, und eingeteilt nach dem Pol ihrer aktuellen Stimmungsepisode in schwer depressive Patienten, Patienten mit einer mittleren Depression, manische Patienten und Patienten im Mischzustand. Von den 47 akut kranken Patienten konnten 18 im remittierten Zustand wiederum gemessen werden. Anschließend wurden Gruppenunterschiede in 3 kognitiven Variablen (1-back, 2-back und 3-back) und 3 emotionalen Variablen (positiv, neutral, negativ) für Verhalten, Hirnaktivierung und Amplitudenänderung in der LPP berechnet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen dass akut kranke Patienten sich in ihrem Verhalten von Kontrollen unterscheiden, jedoch wurden diese Unterschiede von der Art der aktuellen Stimmungsepisode moduliert. Schwer depressive Patienten zeigten die deutlichsten Unterschiede, während manische Patienten und Patienten im Mischzustand nur in den emotionalen Variablen Unterschiede zeigten. Die Hirnaktivierungsunterschiede waren am deutlichsten zwischen Patienten mit einer mittelschweren Depression und manischen Patienten, bei schwer depressiven Patienten und Patienten im Mischzustand waren diese Unterschiede deutlich schwächer ausgeprägt. Die LPP Analysen zeigten deutliche Unterschiede nur zwischen Patienten mit Mischbild und Kontrollen, die Patienten hatten hierbei eine deutlich erhöhte LPP Amplitude. Die Untersuchung der Unterschiede zwischen remittierten Patienten und Kontrollen ergab keine signifikanten Ergebnisse, ebenso die Analysen der Unterschiede zwischen akut kranken und remittierten Patienten. Alle Ergebnisse zusammengenommen, ergibt sich folgendes Bild: Wenn die Hirnaktivierung als Korrelat eines gestörten kognitiven Systems gesehen werden kann, und die LPP als Korrelat eines gestörten Emotionsverarbeitungssystems, dann könnte für Patienten mit einer mittleren oder schweren Depression das kognitive System das Hauptproblem darstellen, während für manische Patienten und Patienten im Mischzustand das Emotionsverarbeitungssystem das dominante Problem darstellt. Wenn die Patienten dann remittieren, erhält das kognitive System eine vorübergehende Stabilität zurück, das Emotionsverarbeitungssystem jedoch bleibt dysfunktional, und ist verantwortlich für die bestehenden emotionalen und kognitiven Defizite

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by symptoms of inattentiveness and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Besides, increasing evidence points to ADHD patients showing emotional dysfunctions and concomitant problems in social life. However, systematic research on emotional dysfunctions in ADHD is still rare, and to date most studies lack conceptual differentiation between emotion processing and emotion regulation. The aim of this thesis was to systematically investigate emotion processing and emotion regulation in adult ADHD in a virtual reality paradigm implementing social interaction. Emotional reactions were assessed on experiential, physiological, and behavioral levels. Experiment 1 was conducted to develop a virtual penalty kicking paradigm implying social feedback and to test it in a healthy sample. This paradigm should then be applied in ADHD patients later on. Pleasant and unpleasant trials in this paradigm consisted of hits respectively misses and subsequent feedback from a virtual coach. In neutral trials, participants were teleported to different spots of the virtual stadium. Results indicated increased positive affectivity (higher valence and arousal ratings, higher zygomaticus activations, and higher expression rates of positive emotional behavior) in response to pleasant compared to neutral trials. Reactions to unpleasant trials were contradictory, indicating increased levels of both positive and negative affectivity, compared to neutral trials. Unpleasant vs. neutral trials revealed lower valence ratings, higher arousal ratings, higher zygomaticus activations, slightly lower corrugator activations, and higher expression rates of both positive and negative emotional behavior. The intensity of emotional reactions correlated with experienced presence in the virtual reality. To better understand the impact of hits or misses per se vs. hits or misses with coach feedback healthy participants’ emotional reactions, only 50% of all shots were followed by coach feedback in experiment 2. Neutral trials consisted of shots over the free soccer field which were followed by coach feedback in 50 % of all trials. Shots and feedback evoked more extreme valence and arousal ratings, higher zygomaticus activations, lower corrugator activations, and higher skin conductance responses than shots alone across emotional conditions. Again, results speak for the induction of positive emotions in pleasant trials whereas the induction of negative emotions in unpleasant trials seems ambiguous. Technical improvements of the virtual reality were reflected in higher presence ratings than in experiment 1. Experiment 3 investigated emotional reactions of adult ADHD patients and healthy controls after emotion processing and response-focused emotion regulation. Participants successively went through an ostensible online ball-tossing game (cyber ball) inducing negative emotions, and an adapted version of the virtual penalty kicking game. Throughout cyber ball, participants were included or ostracized by two other players in different experimental blocks. Participants were instructed to explicitly show, not regulate, or hide their emotions in different experimental blocks. Results provided some evidence for deficient processing of positive emotions in ADHD. Patients reported slightly lower positive affect than controls during cyber ball, gave lower valence ratings than controls in response to pleasant penalty kicking trials, and showed lower zygomaticus activations than controls especially during penalty kicking. Patients in comparison with controls showed slightly increased processing of unpleasant events during cyber ball (higher ratings of negative affect, especially in response to ostracism), but not during penalty kicking. Patients showed lower baseline skin conductance levels than controls, and impaired skin conductance modulations. Compared to controls, patients showed slight over-expression of positive as well as negative emotional behavior. Emotion regulation analyses revealed no major difficulties of ADHD vs. controls in altering their emotional reactions through deliberate response modulation. Moreover, patients reported to habitually apply adaptive emotion regulation strategies even more frequently than controls. The analyses of genetic high-risk vs. low-risk groups for ADHD across the whole sample revealed similar results as analyses for patients vs. controls for zygomaticus modulations during emotion processing, and for modulations of emotional reactions due to emotion regulation. To sum up, the virtual penalty kicking paradigm proved to be successful for the induction of positive, but not negative emotions. The importance of presence in virtual reality for the intensity of induced emotions could be replicated. ADHD patients showed impaired processing of primarily positive emotions. Aberrations in negative emotional responding were less clear and need further investigation. Results point to adult ADHD in comparison to healthy controls suffering from baseline deficits in autonomic arousal and deficits in arousal modulation. Deficits of ADHD in the deliberate application of response-focused emotion regulation could not be found
Die Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) ist gekennzeichnet durch Symptome der Unaufmerksamkeit und Hyperaktivität/Impulsivität. Zudem sprechen zunehmende Befunde für emotionale Defizite und damit einhergehende soziale Probleme bei ADHS. Bisher gibt es jedoch kaum systematische Untersuchungen zu emotionalen Defiziten bei ADHS, und die meisten bisherigen Studien trennen nicht klar zwischen den Konzepten der Emotionsverarbeitung und Emotionsregulation. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, Emotionsverarbeitung und Emotionsregulation bei erwachsenen ADHS Patienten in einem Paradigma in virtueller Realität mit sozialer Interaktion zu untersuchen. Emotionale Reaktionen wurden auf Erlebnisebene, physiologischer Ebene und Verhaltensebene erfasst. In Experiment 1 wurde ein virtuelles Elfmeterparadigma mit sozialem Feedback entwickelt und an einer gesunden Stichprobe getestet. Dieses Paradigma sollte später mit ADHS Patienten verwendet werden. Angenehme und unangenehme Versuchsdurchgänge bestanden aus Treffern bzw. gehaltenen Torschüssen und einer darauffolgenden Rückmeldung von einem virtuellen Trainer. In neutralen Durchgängen wurden die Teilnehmer zu verschiedenen Punkten im virtuellen Stadion teleportiert. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für erhöhte positive Affektivität (höhere Valenz- und Arousalratings, höhere Zygomaticusaktivität, mehr positiver emotionaler Ausdruck) durch angenehme im Vergleich zu neutralen Durchgängen. Reaktionen auf unangenehme im Vergleich zu neutralen Durchgängen waren widersprüchlich und sprechen für erhöhte positive und negative Affektivität. Unangenehme vs. neutrale Durchgänge führten zu niedrigeren Valenzratings, höheren Arousalratings, höherer Zygomaticusaktivität, etwas niedrigerer Corrugatoraktivität und mehr positivem und negativem emotionalen Ausdruck. Die Intensität emotionaler Reaktionen korrelierte mit dem Präsenzerleben in der virtuellen Realität. Um den Einfluss von Torschüssen allein vs. Torschüssen mit Trainerrückmeldung auf emotionale Reaktionen bei Gesunden besser zu verstehen, folgte in Experiment 2 nur auf 50 % aller Schüsse eine Trainerrückmeldung. Neutrale Durchgänge bestanden aus freien Schüssen über das Fußballfeld, auf die zu 50 % eine Trainerrückmeldung folgte. Schüsse mit Rückmeldung führten durchgängig zu stärkeren Valenz- und Arousalratings, höherer Zygomaticusaktivität, niedrigerer Corrugatoraktivität, und höheren Hautleitfähigkeits- reaktionen als Schüsse allein. Auch diese Ergebnisse sprechen für die Induktion positiver Emotionen durch angenehme Durchgänge, während die Induktion negativer Emotionen durch unangenehme Durchgänge uneindeutig scheint. Technische Verbesserungen der virtuellen Realität schlugen sich in höherem Präsenzerleben als in Experiment 1 nieder. Experiment 3 untersuchte emotionale Reaktionen von erwachsenen ADHS Patienten und gesunden Kontrollen nach Emotionsverarbeitung und reaktionsfokussierter Emotions- regulation. Versuchsteilnehmer absolvierten nacheinander ein vorgebliches Online-Ballspiel (Cyber Ball) welches negative Emotionen induzierte, und eine weiterentwickelte Version des virtuellen Elfmeterspiels. Während Cyber Ball wurden die Teilnehmer von zwei anderen Mitspielern in verschiedenen Versuchsblöcken entweder eingeschlossen oder ausgeschossen. Die Teilnehmer wurden in verschiedenen Versuchsblöcken instruiert, ihre Emotionen entweder deutlich zu zeigen, nicht zu regulieren, oder zu verbergen. Einige Ergebnisse sprechen für eine defizitäre Verarbeitung positiver Emotionen bei ADHS. Patienten berichteten niedrigeren positiven Affekt als Kontrollen während Cyber Ball, niedrigere Valenzratings als Kontrollen nach angenehmen Elfmeterdurchgängen, und zeigten niedrigere Zygomaticusaktivität als Kontrollen insbesondere während des Elfmeterschießens. Im Vergleich zu Kontrollen zeigten Patienten eine leicht verstärkte Verarbeitung von unangenehmen Ereignissen beim Cyber Ball (höhere Ratings von negativem Affekt v.a. nach Ausschluss), aber nicht beim Elfmeterschießen. Patienten zeigten eine niedrigere Baseline- Hautleitfähigkeit als Kontrollen, sowie beeinträchtigte Hautleitfähigkeitsmodulationen. Im Vergleich zu Kontrollen zeigten Patienten leicht erhöhten Ausdruck von positiven und negativen Emotionen. Emotionsregulationsanalysen zeigten keine bedeutenden Einschränkungen von ADHS vs. Kontrollen im Verändern ihrer emotionalen Reaktionen durch absichtliche reaktionsfokussierte Emotionsregulation. Außerdem gaben Patienten an, gewohnheitsmäßig sogar häufiger als Kontrollen adaptive Emotionsregulationsstrategien anzuwenden. Der Vergleich einer genetischen Hochrisikogruppe mit einer Niedrigrisikogruppe für ADHS über die gesamte Stichprobe zeigte ähnliche Ergebnisse wie die Analysen für Patienten vs. Kontrollen in der Modulation von Zygomaticusaktivität während der Emotionsverarbeitung, sowie in der Modulation emotionaler Reaktionen durch Emotionsregulation. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass das virtuelle Elfmeterparadigma geeignet scheint, um positive, aber nicht negative Emotionen zu induzieren. Die Bedeutsamkeit von Präsenzerleben in einer virtuellen Realität für die Intensität von induzierten Emotionen konnte repliziert werden. ADHS Patienten zeigten Beeinträchtigungen v.a. in der Verarbeitung von positiven Emotionen. Abweichungen in der negativen emotionalen Reagibilität waren weniger eindeutig und sollten weiter untersucht werden. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass erwachsene ADHS Patienten im Vergleich zu gesunden Kontrollen eine niedrigere autonome Erregbarkeit bei Baseline und Defizite in der Erregbarkeitsmodulation zeigen. Es zeigten sich keine Defizite von ADHS in der absichtlichen Anwendung von ausdrucksfokussierter Emotionsregulation

How individuals process different affective cues, as well as how intensely they experience different emotions, may influence how efficient they are at engaging inhibitory control. To date, it is unclear if these influences differ among young adults with and without ADHD. The current study tested the variation in young adults’ inhibitory control to three affective cues (i.e., fear, happy, and neutral) in an Emotion Go/Nogo task. Results suggest better inhibitory control in response to more distinct cues (i.e., fear Nogo/happy Go). The order in which cues were presented also mattered, such that participants displayed enhanced inhibitory control when first presented with expressions that had similar valence. This task order was particularly helpful for inhibitory control engagement among young adults with ADHD. Furthermore, self-report measures suggest that young adults with ADHD were associated with higher levels of affect intensity. However, no additional relations were found in the processing of affective cues, affect intensity, and inhibitory control between young adults with and without ADHD. Results provide evidence for how affective cues and contexts differentially influence behavioral responses in young adults. Individuals with and without ADHD also appear to differ in the intensity with which they experience different emotions. Overall, the current study provides a framework for how to further explore how emotional cues and affect intensity influence inhibitory control.