The Parkinson patients did not differ from controls in terms of early electrophysiological selleck chemical components that index perceptual processing (occipital P100, N150, P250). Parkinson patients, however, showed reduced LPP amplitude specifically when viewing unpleasant, compared to pleasant, pictures as well as when compared to controls, consistent with previous studies suggesting a specific difference in aversive processing between PD patients and healthy controls. Importantly, LPP amplitude during unpleasant picture viewing was most attenuated for patients reporting high apathy. The data suggest that apathy in PD may be related to a deficit in defensive activation,

and may be indexed cortically using event-related potentials.

(C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The goals of the current study were to use specific measures of affective lability and neuroticism to examine the nomological network surrounding both constructs and to test the degree to which a measure SCH 900776 in vitro of general personality can account for variability in affective lability. Using a psychiatric outpatient sample (n = 48), we assessed personality disorder (PD) symptoms, personality, and level of functioning across a range of domains. Neuroticism and affective lability demonstrated a small but significant positive correlation and manifested a divergent pattern of correlations with PDs and measures of functioning. Specifically, neuroticism was correlated primarily with Borderline, Avoidant and Dependent PDs, whereas affective lability was primarily correlated with Cluster B PDs. In addition, neuroticism evinced significant correlations with a range of functional impairments, whereas affective lability was correlated only with self-harm. Regression analyses demonstrated that a substantial portion of the variance in affective lability scales can be explained by Five-Factor Model domains, particularly Flucloronide if the narrower facets are used. The current findings

suggest that neuroticism and affective lability are related but in a complex manner that involves other basic personality domains in addition to neuroticism. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Spoken language comprehension requires immediate integration of different information types, such as semantics, syntax, and prosody. Meanwhile, both the information derived from speech signals and the information retrieved from long-term memory exert their influence on language comprehension immediately. Using EEG (electroencephalogram), the present study investigated how the information retrieved from long-term memory interacts with accentuation during spoken language comprehension. Mini Chinese discourses were used as stimuli, with an interrogative or assertive context sentence preceding the target sentence. The target sentence included one critical word conveying new information.