27 research outputs found
Cardiovascular reactivity during sadness induction predicts inhibitory control performance
No full textHigher negative affectivity has an association with decreased executive function and cognitive control. Heart rate variability (HRV) serves as an index of cardiac vagal regulation differences in the autonomic nervous system for both cognition and emotion. The current study investigates this association using a classic as well as emotional antisaccade paradigm to study inhibitory control performance. Ninety participants completed affective questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Mood Scale), a 6-minute baseline electrocardiogram, and two different antisaccade tasks. After the baseline, subjects were presented with a video sequence with either neutral, sad, or emotionally arousing content. By subtracting the baseline from the video sequence, we computed HRV reactivity and tested whether the reactivity score could predict inhibitory control performance. We hypothesized that this would be the case in both the sadness and arousal group, but not in the neutral one. Furthermore, we awaited significant performance differences between experimental groups. Contrary to our assumption, inhibitory control performance did not differ between experimental groups. Moreover, there was no significant relation between affective measures and task performance. Nevertheless, cardiovascular reactivity in terms of HRV was predictive of error rates in both antisaccade tasks in the sadness group. We could find this effect neither in the neutral nor in the arousal group. In addition, BDI scores moderated the effect in the emotional task. Results indicate that emotional reactivity to a sad video stimulus as indexed by HRV as well as the interaction with current emotional state predict inhibitory control performance.Version of recor
Eye-Tracking Provides a Sensitive Measure of Exploration Deficits After Acute Right MCA Stroke
No full textEye-Tracking Provides a Sensitive Measure of Exploration Deficits After Acute Right MCA Stroke
No full textThe eye-tracking study aimed at assessing spatial biases in visual exploration in patients after acute right MCA (middle cerebral artery) stroke. Patients affected by unilateral neglect show less functional recovery and experience severe difficulties in everyday life. Thus, accurate diagnosis is essential, and specific treatment is required. Early assessment is of high importance as rehabilitative interventions are more effective when applied soon after stroke. Previous research has shown that deficits may be overlooked when classical paper-and-pencil tasks are used for diagnosis. Conversely, eye-tracking allows direct monitoring of visual exploration patterns. We hypothesized that the analysis of eye-tracking provides more sensitive measures for spatial exploration deficits after right middle cerebral artery stroke. Twenty-two patients with right MCA stroke (median 5 days after stroke) and 28 healthy controls were included. Lesions were confirmed by MRI/CCT. Groups performed comparably in the Mini–Mental State Examination (patients and controls median 29) and in a screening of executive functions. Eleven patients scored at ceiling in neglect screening tasks, 11 showed minimal to severe signs of unilateral visual neglect. An overlap plot based on MRI and CCT imaging showed lesions in the temporo–parieto–frontal cortex, basal ganglia, and adjacent white matter tracts. Visual exploration was evaluated in two eye-tracking tasks, one assessing free visual exploration of photographs, the other visual search using symbols and letters. An index of fixation asymmetries proved to be a sensitive measure of spatial exploration deficits. Both patient groups showed a marked exploration bias to the right when looking at complex photographs. A single case analysis confirmed that also most of those patients who showed no neglect in screening tasks performed outside the range of controls in free exploration. The analysis of patients’ scoring at ceiling in neglect screening tasks is of special interest, as possible deficits may be overlooked and thus remain untreated. Our findings are in line with other studies suggesting considerable limitations of laboratory screening procedures to fully appreciate the occurrence of neglect symptoms. Future investigations are needed to explore the predictive value of the eye-tracking index and its validity in everyday situations
Gold(I) and Mercury(II)—Isoelectronic Ions with Strongly Different Chemistry: Ab Initio QMCF Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Their Hydration Structure
No full textBirds of a Feather Flock Together: Disadvantageous Decision Making in Augmented Restless Legs Syndrome Patients with and without Impulse Control Disorders
No full textBackground: Augmentation (AUG) in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) can be associated with impulse control disorder (ICD) symptoms, such as compulsive sexual behavior, gambling disorder or compulsive shopping. In this study, we wanted to assess whether RLS patients with AUG differ in decision making from those patients who have augmentation and in addition ICD symptoms (AUG + ICD) in a post hoc analysis of a patient cohort assessed in a previous study. Methods: In total, 40 RLS patients with augmentation (19 AUG + ICD, 21 AUG without ICDs) were included. RLS diagnosis, severity, and diagnosis of augmentation were made by sleep disorder specialists. ICD symptoms were assessed using semi-structured interviews. All patients performed the beads task, which is an information sampling task where participants must decide from which of the two cups colored beads were drawn. Results were compared to 21 healthy controls (HC). Results: There was no difference in information sampling or irrational decision making between AUG and AUG + ICD patients (p = 0.67 and p = 1.00, respectively). Both patient groups drew less beads and made more irrational decisions than HC (all p-values < 0.03, respectively). Conclusions: Our results suggest that augmentation itself is associated with poorer decision making even in the absence of ICD symptoms. Further studies are necessary to explore whether rapid and hasty decision making are a harbinger of augmentation in RLS
Impaired Inhibitory Control of Saccadic Eye Movements in Cervical Dystonia: An Eye‐Tracking Study
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Face exploration, emotion recognition, and emotional enhancement of memory in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
No full textBACKGROUND: Recognizing familiar faces and identifying emotions through facial expressions are essential for social functioning. This study aimed to examine whether people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (PwMS) differ from healthy control individuals (HC) in their performance on different tasks related to facial emotion processing. METHODS: In a cross-sectional controlled study, 30 PwMS and 35 HC completed a baseline neuropsychological evaluation and experimental tasks assessing visual exploration of facial stimuli through eye tracking, facial emotion recognition, and facial memory recognition. The facial stimuli displayed either a neutral expression or an emotion (happiness, fear, or disgust). RESULTS: PwMS and HC performed comparably in facial emotion recognition. In facial memory recognition, HC were significantly more accurate in recognizing previously seen fearful faces compared to neutral faces (Wilcoxon test, Z = -2.26, P = 0.024), demonstrating emotional enhancement of memory. In contrast, PwMS did not exhibit a memory advantage for fearful faces over neutral faces (P > 0.05). Groups also differed in the eye-tracking task. In all but one condition (disgust), PwMS showed a significantly greater tendency to explore the eye area rather than the mouth area compared to HC. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in visual exploration and a lack of emotional enhancement of memory are observed in PwMS, who otherwise demonstrate intact facial emotion recognition. These results suggest altered emotion-cognition interactions in PwMS. Early detection of subtle changes and targeted interventions may help prevent future debilitating impairments in social functioning
Eye Tracking in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Treated with Nabilone–Results of a Phase II, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group Pilot Study
No full textThe topic of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is broadly discussed and frequently comes up in the outpatient clinic. So far, there are only a few randomized clinical trials assessing the effects of cannabinoids in PD. We are able to demonstrate a reduction in non-motor symptom (NMS) burden after the administration of nabilone. As impairment of attention and working memory have been described earlier as possible side effects, we assess cognitive performance using saccadic paradigms measured by an eye tracker. We do not observe a significant difference in any of the saccadic paradigms between PD patients on placebo versus those treated with nabilone. We, therefore, conclude that top-down inhibitory control is not affected by the tetrahydrocannabinol analogue. Nabilone did not significantly worsen cognitive performance and appears to be safe to use in selected PD patients who suffer from disabling NMS
Author Correction: Time-to-event analysis mitigates the impact of symptomatic therapy on therapeutic benefit in Parkinson’s disease trials (npj Parkinson\u27s Disease, (2025), 11, 1, (193), 10.1038/s41531-025-01041-9)
No full text\ua9 The Author(s) 2025.Correction to: npj Parkinson’s Disease (2025) 11:193; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41531-025-01041-9; published online 01 July 2025 In this article the PASADENA Investigators member Jan Kassubek was incorrectly written as R. Jan Kassubek. The original article has been corrected
