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Executive Emotion Lab

Affective Neuroscience approaches to emotion and behavior regulation

For a description of current and past research see project pages.

  • Emotion, working memory and executive brain function

    Emotional processes play a central role in the adaptive modulation of perceptual encoding, learning and memory, decision-making, and control of action. In our projects, we investigate the brain correlates of emotion perception, emotional learning and autonomic responding in healthy subjects and patients with brain damage or psychiatric disorders. The dynamic interactions of prefrontal and mesiotemporal structures during emotional learning and emotional regulation processes are explored in the context of psychophysiological and neuroimaging approaches. We focus on neuro-cognitive models of “hot executive functioning" that postulate a set of "executive emotions" (e.g., Blair, 2001) representing more or less hard-wired emotional regulation mechanisms.Whereas the importance of the prefrontal cortex for cognitive executive functioning is generally accepted, it is a matter of debate whether an independent set of basic emotional functions can be identified. The research mission of our work is to systematically explore the organization of these hypothetical emotional core functions. We investigate the interaction of the postulated core functions during aversive and appetitive learning processes and their interfaces to attention and subjective experience. In our research on interindividual differences, we adopt a comprehensive model of neuro-emotional functioning, the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory framework.

  • Fields of clinical application

    Neurological and psychiatric evidence suggests that emotions contribute to the activation and inhibition of overt behavior. These regulation processes may be differentially impaired depending on the individual disorder or lesion site. Executive emotions (EE) mechanisms appear to play an important role in the control of behavior. This is evident in many instances of abnormal behavior, in particular, reactive and instrumental aggression. Dysexecutive emotion systems may, for example, affect the "somatic marker system" or the "social response reversal system" (Blair, 2001). Patients with acquired sociopathy may show aggressive behaviors in response to threat or instrumental aggression directed at achieving certain goals. In many of these patients, the capacity to form associations between emotional unconditioned and conditioned stimuli may be impaired. We are also interested in the changes of working memory functions, executive control, emotional learning and socio-emotional competences in patients with brain lesions or psychiatric disorders. This approach may provide important additional knowledge concerning the plasticity of emotion processing systems to complement and inform the more traditional assessment approaches. This may eventually help to design neuropsychological treatment and rehabilitation programs that are optimized for the needs of the individual.

Lab and research methods

Major tools of neurobehavioral research that yield important insights into the physiological processes that regulate human behavior are electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Brain processes can be registered using EEG with millisecond timing. Dense array EEG systems allow to roughly localize the neuronal sources of the scalp-recorded brain activity. 

  • We use a BioSemi ActiveTwo system with 64+8 channels to assess EEG, electromyography (EMG), electrooculography (EOG), respiration, electrodermal activity (EDA), plethysmography and electrocardiography (ECG). EEG signals are analysed with respect to the event-related potential (ERP), the coherence between specific brain areas, frequency characteristics, source localization and imaging. Biosignal aquisition is accomplished with Actiview. Software for EEG processing and analysis available at our lab are Matlab running EEGlab and ANSlab, LORETA and BrainVision Analyzer (for further information please contact the lab-master).
  • A BIOPAC-Lab (Biopac Systems) is also available for student lab demonstrations. Moreover, a Schwarzer system can be used to assess somatovisceral measures (ECG, EMG, EDA, respiration activity, EOG etc.).
  • For experimental control, our lab is using Presentation (Neurobehavioral Systems).
  • We have previously explored the opportunities of fMRI methods to study the cerebral correlates of emotional learning (using SPM and BrainTools; with M. Herpers, Neurozentrum Freiburg). A previous goal was to explore variations and effects of subject-specific perfusion patterns related to emotional regulation and personality across the time course of experiments (for a review of challenges of fMRI emotion research, see Robinson, Moser & Peper, 2009, 2016). 3T-neuroimaging research facilities are now available at the University of Marburg, Zentrum für Nervenheilkunde.
  • We have previously used the Freiburg Monitoring System (FMS), which integrates the Vitaport 2 System with Psion palmtop monitoring software (see Fahrenberg & Myrtek, 2005) to assess physiological and behavioural reactions during everyday life (e.g., Löffler & Peper, 2016)