Browsing by Author "Huepe, David"

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    Fluid Intelligence and Psychosocial Outcome: From Logical Problem Solving to Social Adaptation
    (PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2011) Huepe, David; Roca, Maria; Salas, Natalia; Canales Johnson, Andres; Rivera Rei, Alvaro A.; Zamorano, Leandro; Concepcion, Aimee; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin
    Background: While fluid intelligence has proved to be central to executive functioning, logical reasoning and other frontal functions, the role of this ability in psychosocial adaptation has not been well characterized.
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    In your phase: neural phase synchronisation underlies visual imagery of faces
    (2021) Canales-Johnson, Andres; Lanfranco, Renzo C.; Morales, Juan Pablo; Martinez-Pernia, David; Valdes, Joaquin; Ezquerro-Nassar, Alejandro; Rivera-Rei, Alvaro; Ibanez, Agustin; Chennu, Srivas; Bekinschtein, Tristan A.; Huepe, David; Noreika, Valdas
    Mental imagery is the process through which we retrieve and recombine information from our memory to elicit the subjective impression of "seeing with the mind's eye". In the social domain, we imagine other individuals while recalling our encounters with them or modelling alternative social interactions in future. Many studies using imaging and neurophysiological techniques have shown several similarities in brain activity between visual imagery and visual perception, and have identified frontoparietal, occipital and temporal neural components of visual imagery. However, the neural connectivity between these regions during visual imagery of socially relevant stimuli has not been studied. Here we used electroencephalography to investigate neural connectivity and its dynamics between frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal electrodes during visual imagery of faces. We found that voluntary visual imagery of faces is associated with long-range phase synchronisation in the gamma frequency range between frontoparietal electrode pairs and between occipitoparietal electrode pairs. In contrast, no effect of imagery was observed in the connectivity between occipitotemporal electrode pairs. Gamma range synchronisation between occipitoparietal electrode pairs predicted subjective ratings of the contour definition of imagined faces. Furthermore, we found that visual imagery of faces is associated with an increase of short-range frontal synchronisation in the theta frequency range, which temporally preceded the long-range increase in the gamma synchronisation. We speculate that the local frontal synchrony in the theta frequency range might be associated with an effortful top-down mnemonic reactivation of faces. In contrast, the long-range connectivity in the gamma frequency range along the fronto-parieto-occipital axis might be related to the endogenous binding and subjective clarity of facial visual features.
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    Social Adaptation in Context: The Differential Role of Religiosity and Self-Esteem in Vulnerable vs. Non-vulnerable Populations - A Registered Report Study
    (2021) Neely-Prado, Alejandra; van Elk, Michiel; Navarrete, Gorka; Hola, Fernanda; Huepe, David
    There is evidence that religiosity and self-esteem are positively related, while self-esteem and religiosity in turn predict successful social adaptation. Moreover, self-esteem has been shown to be directly related to social adaptation in vulnerable contexts. In this registered report study, we tested the hypothesis that religiosity has a positive influence on social adaptation for people living in vulnerable contexts and that self-esteem is a mediator of this relationship. Evidence from this study indicates that neither there is any effect of religiosity on social adaptation nor on self-esteem, independent of whether people live in vulnerable contexts or not.
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    Subliminal presentation of other faces (but not own face) primes behavioral and evoked cortical processing of empathy for pain
    (ELSEVIER, 2011) Ibanez, Agustin; Hurtado, Esteban; Lobos, Alejandro; Escobar, Josefina; Trujillo, Natalia; Baez, Sandra; Huepe, David; Manes, Facundo; Decety, Jean
    Current research on empathy for pain emphasizes the overlap in the neural response between the first-hand experience of pain and its perception in others. However, recent studies suggest that the perception of the pain of others may reflect the processing of a threat or negative arousal rather than an automatic pro-social response. It can thus be suggested that pain processing of other-related, but not self-related, information could imply danger rather than empathy, due to the possible threat represented in the expressions of others (especially if associated with pain stimuli). To test this hypothesis, two experiments considering subliminal stimuli were designed. In Experiment 1, neutral and semantic pain expressions previously primed with own or other faces were presented to participants. When other-face priming was used, only the detection of semantic pain expressions was facilitated. In Experiment 2, pictures with pain and neutral scenarios previously used in ERP and fMRI research were used in a categorization task. Those pictures were primed with own or other faces following the same procedure as in Experiment 1 while ERPs were recorded. Early (N1) and late (P3) cortical responses between pain and no-pain were modulated only in the other-face priming condition. These results support the threat value of pain hypothesis and suggest the necessity for the inclusion of own-versus other-related information in future empathy for pain research. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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    The impact of loneliness and social adaptation on depressive symptoms: Behavioral and brain measures evidence from a brain health perspective
    (2023) Franco-O'Byrne, Daniel; Gonzalez-Gomez, Raul; Sepulveda, Juan Pablo Morales; Vergara, Mayte; Ibanez, Agustin; Huepe, David
    IntroductionEarly detection of depression is a cost-effective way to prevent adverse outcomes on brain physiology, cognition, and health. Here we propose that loneliness and social adaptation are key factors that can anticipate depressive symptoms. MethodsWe analyzed data from two separate samples to evaluate the associations between loneliness, social adaptation, depressive symptoms, and their neural correlates. ResultsFor both samples, hierarchical regression models on self-reported data showed that loneliness and social adaptation have negative and positive effects on depressive symptoms. Moreover, social adaptation reduces the impact of loneliness on depressive symptoms. Structural connectivity analysis showed that depressive symptoms, loneliness, and social adaptation share a common neural substrate. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis demonstrated that only social adaptation was associated with connectivity in parietal areas. DiscussionAltogether, our results suggest that loneliness is a strong risk factor for depressive symptoms while social adaptation acts as a buffer against the ill effects of loneliness. At the neuroanatomical level, loneliness and depression may affect the integrity of white matter structures known to be associated to emotion dysregulation and cognitive impairment. On the other hand, socio-adaptive processes may protect against the harmful effects of loneliness and depression. Structural and functional correlates of social adaptation could indicate a protective role through long and short-term effects, respectively. These findings may aid approaches to preserve brain health via social participation and adaptive social behavior.
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    The relationship of clinical, cognitive and social measures in schizophrenia: A preliminary finding combining measures in probands and relatives
    (HINDAWI LTD, 2012) Huepe, David; Riveros, Rodrigo; Manes, Facundo; Couto, Blas; Hurtado, Esteban; Cetkovich, Marcelo; Escobar, Maria; Vergara, Viviana; Parrao, Teresa; Ibanez, Agustin
    This study examines performance of schizophrenia patients, unaffected relatives and controls in social cognition, cognitive and psychiatric scales looking for possible markers of vulnerability in schizophrenia. Performance of schizophrenia patients from multiplex families, first-degree relatives, and matched controls was compared and, subsequently, discriminant analysis method was used for identifying the best predictors for group membership. By using Multigroup Discriminant Analyses on the three groups, the best predictors were PANSS, Premorbid Adjustment Scale, Faux Pas test, and a face/emotion categorizing task. This model obtained 82% correct global classification, suggesting that the combination of psychiatric scales and neuropsychological/social cognition tasks are the best approach for characterizing this disease. Although preliminary, our results suggest that social cognition tasks are robust markers of schizophrenia family impairments, and that combining clinical, social and neuropsychological measures is the best approach to asses patients and relatives vulnerability.