Early Prefrontal Brain Responses to the Hedonic Quality of Emotional Words – A Simultaneous EEG and MEG Study

Abstract

The hedonic meaning of words affects word recognition, as shown by behavioral, functional imaging, and event-related potential (ERP) studies. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics and cognitive functions behind are elusive, partly due to methodological limitations of previous studies. Here, we account for these difficulties by computing combined electro-magnetoencephalographic (EEG/MEG) source localization techniques. Participants covertly read emotionally high-arousing positive and negative nouns, while EEG and MEG were recorded simultaneously. Combined EEG/MEG current-density reconstructions for the P1 (80–120 ms), P2 (150–190 ms) and EPN component (200–300 ms) were computed using realistic individual head models, with a cortical constraint. Relative to negative words, the P1 to positive words predominantly involved language-related structures (left middle temporal and inferior frontal regions), and posterior structures related to directed attention (occipital and parietal regions). Effects shifted to the right hemisphere in the P2 component. By contrast, negative words received more activation in the P1 time-range only, recruiting prefrontal regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Effects in the EPN were not statistically significant. These findings show that different neuronal networks are active when positive versus negative words are processed. We account for these effects in terms of an “emotional tagging” of word forms during language acquisition. These tags then give rise to different processing strategies, including enhanced lexical processing of positive words and a very fast language-independent alert response to negative words. The valence-specific recruitment of different networks might underlie fast adaptive responses to both approach- and withdrawal-related stimuli, be they acquired or biological.

Associated valence impacts early visual processing of letter strings: Evidence from ERPs in a cross-modal learning paradigm

“…Early emotion effects in response to written words have previously been reported in a small number of studies (Bayer et al, 2012;Hofmann et al, 2009;Keuper et al, 2013Keuper et al, , 2014Kuchinke et al, 2014;Rellecke et al, 2011;Scott et al, 2009), but the boundary conditions of these effects remain unclear, especially since the majority of studies on emotional language processing failed to report these effects. Furthermore, emotion effects within such an early time range seem to contradict established reading models, which assume that lexico-semantic features are accessed only at around 200 ms after stimulus onset, while earlier time windows are indicative of orthographic analyses (for review, see Barber & Kutas, 2007).…”

“…In event-related potentials (ERPs), this preferential processing of emotional stimuli is visible already at the stage of perceptual encoding: Emotional content increases activation in the extrastriate visual cortex, resulting in modulations of the P1 component as demonstrated for affective pictures (e.g., Delplanque, Lavoie, Hot, Silvert, & Sequeira, 2004) and facial expressions of emotion (Hammerschmidt, Sennhenn-Reulen, & Schacht, 2017;Rellecke, Palazova, Sommer, & Schacht, 2011;Rellecke, Sommer, & Schacht, 2012). Modulations in the time range of the P1, that is around 100-150 ms, have also been reported for written words (Bayer, Sommer, & Schacht, 2012;Hofmann, Kuchinke, Tamm, Võ, & Jacobs, 2009;Keuper et al, 2013Keuper et al, , 2014Kuchinke, Krause, Fritsch, & Briesemeister, 2014;Rellecke et al, 2011;Scott, O'Donnell, Leuthold, & Sereno, 2009).…”

Magnetoencephalographic evidence of early right hemisphere overactivation during metaphor comprehension in schizophrenia

“…Indeed, the canonical ERP literature has focused on the N150/M170 component as reflecting presemantic, lexical effects rather than semantic effects. However, in recent years, a growing number of studies, especially MEG studies, have found evidence of semantic processing as early as 150 ms (e.g., Boulenger, Shtyrov, & Pulvermuller, ; Harpaz et al, ; Keuper et al, ; Kim & Lai, ; Moseley, Pulvermuller, & Shtyrov, ; Pulvermuller et al, ; Woodhead et al, ). For example, in a MEG study comparing idioms to literal words, Boulenger and colleagues () found modulation of activity in anterior frontotemporal areas at 150–250 ms.…”

Review and Classification of Emotion Recognition Based on EEG Brain-Computer Interface System Research: A Systematic Review

“…Although the affective information from image, video, and audio stimuli has been extensively studied, olfactory stimuli [26], written words [27][28][29][30][31][32], food stimuli (enriched by emotional stimuli) [33], and games have been used as elicitation methods in a number of studies as ways to assess human emotional state by investigating physiological signals [34][35][36][37].…”