title: Early emotional processing deficits in depersonalization: an exploration with event-related potentials in an undergraduate sample.
abstract: Emotional stimuli may draw attention to such an extent that they hamper the processing of subsequent signals, a phenomenon termed emotion-induced blindness (EIB). As depersonalization is associated with self-reported attenuated emotional responses, the present study explored whether individuals scoring high on the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale (CDS; n=15) exhibit a diminished EIB effect relative to low CDS scoring individuals (n=15), and whether attentional processes reflected in event-related potentials (ERPs) are implicated in this effect. We obtained an EIB effect such that emotional distractors that preceded targets with a lag of 200ms reduced correct detection of targets. Although the magnitude of this effect was similar for high and low CDS participants, high CDS participants exhibited a significantly lower ERP amplitude at the frontal lead in the 200-300ms window than did low CDS individuals to targets that followed emotional versus neutral distractors. This latter effect was significantly related to the Alienation factor of the CDS. This pattern suggests that difficulties in the discrimination between emotional and neutral stimuli relate to the feeling of unreality in depersonalization.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands. conny.quaedflieg@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Conny W E M
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Quaedflieg
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giesbrecht
authors.forename: Ewout
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Haraldur
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thorsteinsson
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simeon
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult