Projects & Collaborations 3 foundShow per page10 10 20 50 Masked Emotions Research Project | 7 Project MembersThe ability to recognize different emotions in faces is a fundamental prerequisite in emotion processing, which covers the experience, expression, and control of different emotions. The development of emotion recognition and emotion processing skills is vital for healthy child development and establishment of mental wellbeing. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are required to wear masks not only in many public places, but also in schools and child daycare facilities. However, many people are worried about the effects that masked faces might have on child socio-emotional development. While first studies indicate that adults might indeed experience problems in recognizing emotions in masked faces, we do not know about any potential effects in children. Moreover, studies in healthy adults have mainly looked at emotion recognition in static pictures, which have limited ecological validity. The goal of this project is to develop a psychological test for children and adults that measures emotion recognition skills in masked and non-masked dynamic faces. After validation, the test may be used as a diagnostic tool. Moreover, we plan to use the test to examine long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on emotion recognition in children. Investigating the specificity of neuronal correlates for emotion processing deficits in conduct disorder and autism spectrum disorders Research Project | 2 Project MembersEmotion processing comprises the detection and recognition of emotional information as well as the experience of feelings evoked by this information. The experience of feelings evoked by negative emotional cues like fear or pain displayed in the faces of others is a prerequisite for social functioning and the inhibition of aggressive and antisocial behavior. On a neuronal level there is accumulating evidence that adolescents with conduct disorder (CD), in particular those with high callous-unemotional (CU) traits, are characterized by reduced responsiveness in brain areas important for processing facial cues [ 1 , 2 ] . However, deficient emotion processing is not only observed in CD, but also in other childhood disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Consequently, deficient emotion processing may be a transdiagnostic symptom. However, the neuronal underpinnings that constitute the distinct mechanisms observed in both groups of adolescents remain subject to investigations. Importantly, projects have rarely directly compared individuals of both disorders within the same study, which is consequently hindering a direct conclusion on the specificity of findings. Furthermore, confounding factors that have been discussed to interfere with successful emotion processing and that may be a characteristic for one or even both disorders, above all the impact of attention to facial expressions, have not been sufficiently controlled. The goal of the planned project therefore is to elucidate the differences and commonalities in the neuronal characteristics underlying the emotion processing deficits observed in patients with CD compared to ASD. Neural correlates of emotional processes in adolescents with conduct disorder Research Project | 6 Project MembersIn addition to psychosocial factors that contribute to aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents, there has recently been an increasing interest in the neurobiological underpinnings of aggression and violence. Modern neuroimaging, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has considerably improved our knowledge regarding the neural basis of conduct disorder (CD) in adolescents. An important conclusion from previous studies is that the neural mechanisms underlying different types of aggressive behaviour are very heterogeneous. This project will aim at identifying neural alterations of emotional processes in two subtypes of conduct disorder differing in regard to the occurrence of callous unemotional traits. Neural mechanisms of emotion perception and emotion regulation will be investigated using a fMRI paradigm that is based on a previous behavioural pilot study in 35 CD patients with high callous unemotional traits (emotionally cold aggression subtype) and in 35 CD patients with low callous unemotional traits (emotionally hot aggression subtype) and 35 healthy control participants. It is hypothesized that neural mechanisms of emotion regulation are affected in CD patients with low callous unemotional traits whereas CD patients with high callous unemotional traits show deficits in neural mechanisms of affective empathy, which are in turn related to impaired emotion perception. Moreover, the role of autonomic nervous system function will be assessed.Altogether the project is expected to substantially contribute to the pathophysiological understanding and subtyping of different forms of aggression. Such improved understanding of pathological aggression will aid the development of more specific forms of treatment tailored to the pathophysiological mechanisms of aggressive behaviour. 1 1
Masked Emotions Research Project | 7 Project MembersThe ability to recognize different emotions in faces is a fundamental prerequisite in emotion processing, which covers the experience, expression, and control of different emotions. The development of emotion recognition and emotion processing skills is vital for healthy child development and establishment of mental wellbeing. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are required to wear masks not only in many public places, but also in schools and child daycare facilities. However, many people are worried about the effects that masked faces might have on child socio-emotional development. While first studies indicate that adults might indeed experience problems in recognizing emotions in masked faces, we do not know about any potential effects in children. Moreover, studies in healthy adults have mainly looked at emotion recognition in static pictures, which have limited ecological validity. The goal of this project is to develop a psychological test for children and adults that measures emotion recognition skills in masked and non-masked dynamic faces. After validation, the test may be used as a diagnostic tool. Moreover, we plan to use the test to examine long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on emotion recognition in children.
Investigating the specificity of neuronal correlates for emotion processing deficits in conduct disorder and autism spectrum disorders Research Project | 2 Project MembersEmotion processing comprises the detection and recognition of emotional information as well as the experience of feelings evoked by this information. The experience of feelings evoked by negative emotional cues like fear or pain displayed in the faces of others is a prerequisite for social functioning and the inhibition of aggressive and antisocial behavior. On a neuronal level there is accumulating evidence that adolescents with conduct disorder (CD), in particular those with high callous-unemotional (CU) traits, are characterized by reduced responsiveness in brain areas important for processing facial cues [ 1 , 2 ] . However, deficient emotion processing is not only observed in CD, but also in other childhood disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Consequently, deficient emotion processing may be a transdiagnostic symptom. However, the neuronal underpinnings that constitute the distinct mechanisms observed in both groups of adolescents remain subject to investigations. Importantly, projects have rarely directly compared individuals of both disorders within the same study, which is consequently hindering a direct conclusion on the specificity of findings. Furthermore, confounding factors that have been discussed to interfere with successful emotion processing and that may be a characteristic for one or even both disorders, above all the impact of attention to facial expressions, have not been sufficiently controlled. The goal of the planned project therefore is to elucidate the differences and commonalities in the neuronal characteristics underlying the emotion processing deficits observed in patients with CD compared to ASD.
Neural correlates of emotional processes in adolescents with conduct disorder Research Project | 6 Project MembersIn addition to psychosocial factors that contribute to aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents, there has recently been an increasing interest in the neurobiological underpinnings of aggression and violence. Modern neuroimaging, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has considerably improved our knowledge regarding the neural basis of conduct disorder (CD) in adolescents. An important conclusion from previous studies is that the neural mechanisms underlying different types of aggressive behaviour are very heterogeneous. This project will aim at identifying neural alterations of emotional processes in two subtypes of conduct disorder differing in regard to the occurrence of callous unemotional traits. Neural mechanisms of emotion perception and emotion regulation will be investigated using a fMRI paradigm that is based on a previous behavioural pilot study in 35 CD patients with high callous unemotional traits (emotionally cold aggression subtype) and in 35 CD patients with low callous unemotional traits (emotionally hot aggression subtype) and 35 healthy control participants. It is hypothesized that neural mechanisms of emotion regulation are affected in CD patients with low callous unemotional traits whereas CD patients with high callous unemotional traits show deficits in neural mechanisms of affective empathy, which are in turn related to impaired emotion perception. Moreover, the role of autonomic nervous system function will be assessed.Altogether the project is expected to substantially contribute to the pathophysiological understanding and subtyping of different forms of aggression. Such improved understanding of pathological aggression will aid the development of more specific forms of treatment tailored to the pathophysiological mechanisms of aggressive behaviour.
