Biology subjects

Nicolas Vermeulen

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas Vermeulen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2016

Can we test the influence of prosociality on high frequency heart rate variability? A double-blind sham-controlled approach.

The polyvagal theory (Porges, 2007) proposes that physiological flexibility dependent on heart- brain interactions is associated with prosociality. So far, whether prosociality has a causal effect on physiological flexibility is unknown. Previous studies present mitigated results on this matter. In a randomized double-blind protocol, we used a generation of social closeness procedure against a standardized control condition in order to manipulate social affiliation as a prosocial interaction factor. High frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV, indexing physiological flexibility), electromyographical activity of the corrugator supercilii (sensitive to the valence of the interaction) and self-reported measure of social closeness were monitored before, during, and after experimental manipulation. Cooperation was measured after the experimental manipulation as an index of behavioral prosociality. Data reveal no evidence toward and effect of the experimental manipulation on these measures. We discuss methodological aspects related to the experimental constraints observed in social psychophysiology. Implications for the experimental test of the polyvagal theory are approached within alternative theoretical frameworks.

Neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2016

Resting high frequency heart rate variability is not associated with the recognition of emotional facial expressions in healthy human adults.

This study explores whether the myelinated vagal connection between the heart and the brain is involved in emotion recognition. The Polyvagal theory postulates that the activity of the myelinated vagus nerve underlies socio-emotional skills. It has been proposed that the perception of emotions could be one of this skills dependent on heart-brain interactions. However, this assumption was differently supported by diverging results suggesting that it could be related to confounded factors. In the current study, we recorded the resting state vagal activity (reflected by High Frequency Heart Rate Variability, HF-HRV) of 77 (68 suitable for analysis) healthy human adults and measured their ability to identify dynamic emotional facial expressions. Results show that HF-HRV is not related to the recognition of emotional facial expressions in healthy human adults. We discuss this result in the frameworks of the polyvagal theory and the neurovisceral integration model.

Neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2016

When the Good Guy Becomes the Bad Boy: Social Information Modulates the Neural, Physiological and Subjective Responses to Emotional Facial Expressions

In the past decade, different studies have suggested that high-order factors could influence the perceptual processing of emotional stimuli. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of congruent vs. incongruent social information (positive, negative or no information related to the character of the target) on subjective (perceived and felt valence and arousal), physiological (facial mimicry) as well as on neural (P100 and N170) responses to dynamic emotoional facial expressions (EFE) that varied from neutral to one of the six basic emotions. Across three studies, the results showed (1) reduced valence and arousal evaluation of EFE when associated with incongruent social information (Study 1), (2) increased electromyographical responses (Study 2) and significant modulation of P100 and N170 components (Study 3) when EFE were associated with social (positive and negative) information (vs. no information). These studies revealed that positive or negative social information reduced subjective responses to incongruent EFE and produces a similar neural and physiological boost of the early perceptual processing of EFE irrespective of their congruency. In conclusion, this study suggested that social context (positive or negative) enhances the necessity to be alert to any subsequent cues.

Neuroscience↗