title: Rapid and highly resolving associative affective learning: convergent electro- and magnetoencephalographic evidence from vision and audition.
abstract: Various pathway models for emotional processing suggest early prefrontal contributions to affective stimulus evaluation. Yet, electrophysiological evidence for such rapid modulations is still sparse. In a series of four MEG/EEG studies which investigated associative learning in vision and audition using a novel MultiCS Conditioning paradigm, many different neutral stimuli (faces, tones) were paired with aversive and appetitive events in only two to three learning instances. Electrophysiological correlates of neural activity revealed highly significant amplified processing for conditioned stimuli within distributed prefrontal and sensory cortical networks. In both, vision and audition, affect-specific responses occurred in two successive waves of rapid (vision: 50-80 ms, audition: 25-65 ms) and mid-latency (vision: >130 ms, audition: >100 ms) processing. Interestingly, behavioral measures indicated that MultiCS Conditioning successfully prevented contingency awareness. We conclude that affective processing rapidly recruits highly elaborate and widely distributed networks with substantial capacity for fast learning and excellent resolving power.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany. christian.steinberg@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: Ann-Kathrin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bröckelmann
authors.forename: Maimu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rehbein
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dobel
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Junghöfer
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen