Biology subjects

Ventura-Bort, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Ventura-Bort, C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Access to emotional memories: Evidence for a vagal route to boost memory retrieval using non-invasive taVNS

Remembering emotionally significant events is critical for the organisms behavior and survival. While the mechanisms underlying formation of such memories are well understood and closely linked to the vagus nerve and the brains arousal system, less is known about its contribution to memory retrieval. The current study tested whether non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) applied during a long-term recognition memory task influenced retrieval of unpleasant and neutral scenes that have been incidentally encoded one week earlier. Results showed that taVNS, compared to a sham condition, selectively enhanced the recollection of unpleasant images. Despite a modest effect size (d = 0.33), these findings provide first human evidence for a direct link of the vagus nerve in emotional memory retrieval, thus extending current theoretical models of emotional memory retrieval and opening a new pathway for memory modulation and non-invasive therapeutic interventions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Physiological Harmony or Discord? Unveiling the Correspondence Between Subjective Arousal, Valence and Physiological Responses

Affective experiences are inevitably accompanied by physiological changes, however it is still a matter of intense debate whether events evoking similar affective experiences produce comparable physiological responses (fingerprint hypothesis) or variation is the norm within individuals (population hypothesis). We reanalyzed data from two independent samples (N = 491; N = 64), using representational similarity analysis (RSA) to examine the trial-by-trial similarity patterns of subjective experience of valence and arousal and affect-related physiological measures (skin conductance [SCR] and startle blink responses). Across different affect-inducing (passive picture viewing, passive sound listening, imagery tasks) tasks and samples (Ns=491, 64), we observed strong-to-decisive evidence for a correspondence between SCR and startle responses and models of arousal and valence that assume variation, especially between trials generally evoking higher responses. Our results show that similar affective experiences are rather reflected by distinct physiological responses and emphasize the importance of considering intraindividual variability in future studies to better understand how physiological changes contribute to conscious affective experiences in humans.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

New insights on the correspondence between subjective affective experience and physiological responses from representational similarity analyses

Classical views suggest that experienced affect is related to a specific bodily response (Fingerprint hypothesis), whereas recent perspectives challenge this view postulating that similar affective experiences rather evoke different physiological responses. To further advance this debate in the field, we used representational similarity analysis (N= 64) to investigate the correspondence between subjective affect (arousal and valence ratings) and physiological reactions (skin conductance response [SCR], startle blink response, heart rate and corrugator activity) across various emotion induction contexts (picture viewing task, sound listening task and imagery task). Significant similarities were exclusively observed between SCR and arousal in the picture viewing task. However, none of the other physiological measures showed a significant relation with valence and arousal ratings in any of the tasks. These findings tend to support the populations hypothesis, suggesting that there is no clear match between the evoked physiological responses and the experienced subjective affect between individuals. Statement of relevanceThe subjective affective experience evoked by an event is accompanied by physiological responses. The correspondence between physiological response patterns and the experienced affect, however, is still under debate. Classical views (Fingerprint hypothesis) suggest that affect is related to a specific physiological response, whereas recent perspectives (Populations hypothesis) challenge this view, postulating rather different physiological responses. In the current study, we used representational similarity analysis (RSA) to examine the relation between affective experience, assessed using valence and arousal ratings, and the evoked physiological reactivity across three affect-inducing contexts. Results showed significant similarities exclusively between SCR and arousal in the passive picture viewing task. However, none of the other physiological measures showed a significant relation with valence and arousal ratings in any of the tasks, supporting the populations hypothesis. These findings invite to reframe the relation between physiology and affect from invariant and homogeneous to variant and context-dependent.

neuroscience↗