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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Emotional cognition without awareness after unilateral temporal lobectomy in humans.

To investigate the function of the amygdala in human emotional cognition, we investigated the electrodermal activity (EDA) in response to masked (unseen) visual stimuli. Six epileptic subjects were investigated after unilateral temporal lobectomy. Emotionally valenced photographic slides (10 negative, 10 neutral) from the International Affective Picture System were presented to their unilateral visual fields under either subliminal or supraliminal conditions. An interaction between hemispheres and emotional valences was found only under the subliminal conditions; greater EDA responses to negative stimuli compared with neutral ones were observed when stimuli were presented to the intact hemispheres. The findings suggest that nonconscious emotional processing is reflected in EDA in a different manner from conscious emotional processing. Medial temporal structures, including the amygdala, thus appear to play a critical role in the neural substrates for this automatic processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Activation by marginally perceptible ("subliminal") stimuli: dissociation of unconscious from conscious cognition.

Introduces a linear regression method for investigating unconscious cognition. For words that were obscured by simultaneous dichoptic masking, indirect effects (semantic priming) and direct effects (perceptual identification) were assessed in 20 experiments (total N = 2,026). When measures of both indirect and direct effects have rational zero points, a statistically significant intercept in the indirect-on-direct-measure regression shows that (a) the indirect effect occurred in the absence of the direct effect, and (b) unconscious cognition is involved. For a position discrimination task, but not for an evaluative decision task, indirect-on-direct regression showed the significant intercept effect. Although small in magnitude, this intercept effect provides the statistically most secure finding yet obtained of a much-sought and controversial data pattern--indirect effect with no direct effect. With one added assumption (which appears plausible for the present data), this pattern indicates that unconscious cognition is dissociated from (i.e., occurs separately from) conscious cognition.

Cognition↗
PubMed1992

Gating of trigemino-facial reflex from low-threshold trigeminal and extratrigeminal cutaneous fibres in humans.

Changes in the size of the test components (R1 and R2) of the trigemino-facial reflex were studied after electrical subliminal conditioning stimulation were applied to the trigeminal, median and sural nerves. After conditioning activation of the trigeminal nerve (below the reflex threshold), the early R1 reflex component showed phasic facilitation, peaking at about 50 ms of interstimulus delay, followed by a long-lasting inhibition recovering at 300-400 ms. The same conditioning stimulation resulted in a monotonic inhibition of the late R2, starting at 15-20 ms, with a maximum at 100-150 ms and lasting 300-400 ms. Intensity threshold for both the R1 and R2 changes ranged from 0.90 to 0.95 times the perception threshold. A similar longlasting inhibition of the R2 reflex response was also seen after conditioning stimulation applied to low-threshold cutaneous afferents of the median and sural nerves. The minimum effective conditioning-test interval was 25-30 ms and 40-45 ms respectively and lasted 600-700 ms. By contrast the early R1 reflex response exhibited a slight long-lasting facilitation with a time course similar to that of the R2 inhibition. The threshold intensity to obtain facilitation of the R1 and inhibition of the R2 test responses after conditioning volley in the median and sural nerves was similar and ranged from 0.9 to 1.2 times the perception threshold. These results demonstrate that low-threshold cutaneous afferents from trigeminal and limb nerves exert powerful control on trigeminal reflex pathways, probably via a common neural substrate. There is evidence that, in addition to any post-synaptic mechanism which might be operating, presynaptic control is a primary factor contributing to these changes.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Non-conscious modulation of cardiac defense by masked phobic pictures.

The present study investigated the modulation of cardiac defense by presenting emotional pictures under both effective and non-effective masking procedures. The aim was to test Ohman's model of pre-attentive processing of fear. Participants were 48 women volunteers with intense fear of spiders. The stimulus to elicit cardiac defense was a white noise of 105 dB, 500 ms duration and instantaneous risetime. Subjects had two trials of picture-noise presentation-one with a picture of a spider and one with a picture of a flower-, either under an effective masking procedure (30 ms duration) or a non-effective masking procedure (500 ms duration). Order of presentation was counterbalanced. Dependent variables were heart rate and subjective assessment of the noise. Results showed an increased cardiac response in the first trial and a less reduced cardiac response in the second trial when the noise was preceded by the phobic picture under both masking procedures. The response was accompanied by an increase in the subjective unpleasantness of the noise. These results provide support to Ohman's theoretical model.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Inhibitory and promoting effects of subliminal pendular rotation on optokinetic nystagmus in man.

The influence of vestibular stimulation by subliminal pendular rotation on the optokinetic nystagmus in normal human subjects is discussed. Cortical OKN with pendular rotation was promoted in three indexes--eye speed, frequency, and total amplitude. The subcortical OKN increased markedly when the slow phase of OHN and the compensatory eye movement resulting from the pendular rotation were in the same direction. However, it was inhibited when the two directions were mutually opposed. From the results obtained in the present experiment and in the previous study by the author, it can be concluded that the vestibular organs' effect on visual function is not only promotive but also inhibitive.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Cingulate cortex: a closer look at its gut-related functional topography.

Earlier studies have documented activation of the cingulate cortex during gut related sensory-motor function. However, topography of the cingulate cortex in relationship to various levels of visceromotor sensory stimuli and gender is not completely elucidated. The aim was to characterize and compare the activation topography of the cingulate cortex in response to 1) subliminal, 2) perceived rectal distensions, and 3) external anal sphincter contraction (EASC) in males and females. We studied 18 healthy volunteers (ages 18-35 yr; 10 women, 8 men) using functional MRI blood-oxygenation-level-dependent technique. We obtained 11 axial slices (voxel vol. 2.5-6.0 x 2.5 x 2.5 mm(3)) through the cingulate cortex during barostat-controlled subliminal, liminal, and supraliminal nonpainful rectal distensions as well as EASC. Overall, for viscerosensation, the anterior cingulate cortex exhibited significantly more numbers of activated cortical voxels for all levels of stimulations compared with the posterior cingulate cortex (P < 0.05). In contrast, during EASC, activity in the posterior cingulate was larger than in the anterior cingulate cortex (P < 0.05). Cingulate activation was similar during EASC in males and females (P = 0.58), whereas there was a gender difference in anterior cingulate activation during liminal and supraliminal stimulations (P < 0.05). In females, viscerosensory cortical activity response was stimulus-intensity dependent. Intestinal viscerosensation and EASC induce different patterns of cingulate cortical activation. There may be gender differences in cingulate cortical activation during viscerosensation. In contrast to male subjects, females exhibit increased activity in response to liminal nonpainful stimulation compared with subliminal stimulation suggesting differences in cognition-related recruitment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Visual display lowers detection threshold of angular, but not linear, whole-body motion stimuli.

The influence of a visual display, fixed relative to the subject, on thresholds for detection (at 75% correct) of discrete Y-axis linear movements and of discrete Z-axis angular movements, was determined in a group of 12 subjects. Both the linear and the angular, whole-body, motion stimuli had a cosine bell velocity trajectory with a duration of 2.6 s. Thresholds for the detection of the linear motion stimuli in darkness were not significantly different from those obtained when either a simple LED display or an instrument dial were illuminated; the mean threshold was 0.039 m.s-2. None of the subjects reported apparent movement of the visual display. In contrast, the presence of either visual display lowered angular motion thresholds on average by a factor of 2.7 from that obtained in darkness (1.61 degrees.s-1). All subjects reported apparent movement of the visual display, an oculogyral illusion, at stimulus intensities close to the dark threshold. These findings imply that otolithic afferents, unlike those from the semicircular canals, do not interact with neural centres mediating visual localization.

Acceleration↗
PubMed2002

Effects of nonconscious perception on motor response.

The present study reviews the literature on the empirical evidence for the dissociation between perception and action. We first review several key studies on brain-damaged patients, such as those suffering from blindsight and visual/tactile agnosia, and on experimental findings examining pointing movements in normal people in response to a nonconsciously perceived stimulus. We then describe three experiments we conducted using simple reaction time (RT) tasks with backward masking, in which the first (weak) and second (strong) electric stimuli were consecutively presented with a 40-ms interstimulus interval (ISI). First, we compared simple RTs for three stimulus conditions: weak alone, strong alone, and double, i.e., weak plus strong (Experiment 1); then, we manipulated the intensity of the first stimulus from the threshold (T) to 1.2T and 2T, with the second stimulus at 4T (Experiment 2); finally, we tested three different ISIs (20, 40, and 60 ms) with the stimulus intensities at 1.2T and 4T for the first and second stimuli (Experiment 3). These experiments showed that simple RTs were shorter for the double condition than for the strong-alone condition, indicating that motor processes under the double condition may be triggered by sensory inputs arising from the first stimulus. Our results also showed that the first stimulus was perceived without conscious awareness. These findings suggested that motor processes may be dissociated from conscious perceptual processes and that these two processes may not take place in a series but, rather, in parallel. We discussed the likely mechanisms underlying nonconscious perception and motor response to a nonconsciously perceived stimulus.

Agnosia↗