The Montreal Affective Voices (MAVs) consist of a database of non-verbal affect bursts portrayed by Canadian actors, and high recognitions accuracies were observed in Canadian listeners. Whether listeners from other cultures would be as accurate is unclear. We tested for cross-cultural differences in perception of the MAVs: Japanese listeners were asked to rate the MAVs on several affective dimensions and ratings were compared to those obtained by Canadian listeners. Significant Group × Emotion interactions were observed for ratings of Intensity, Valence, and Arousal. Whereas Intensity and Valence ratings did not differ across cultural groups for sad and happy vocalizations, they were significantly less intense and less negative in Japanese listeners for angry, disgusted, and fearful vocalizations. Similarly, pleased vocalizations were rated as less intense and less positive by Japanese listeners. These results demonstrate important cross-cultural differences in affective perception not just of non-verbal vocalizations expressing positive affect (Sauter et al., 2010), but also of vocalizations expressing basic negative emotions.
Aim
Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is known as a useful application for improving depressive symptoms or cognitive performance. Antidepressive effects by anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC are expected, but the neural mechanisms of these effects are still unclear. Further, in depression, reduced performance and left prefrontal hypofunction during the verbal fluency task (VFT) are generally known. However, few studies have examined the effect of tDCS on the language‐related cerebral network. We aimed to investigate whether anodal tDCS at the left DLPFC affects cognitive performance and the neural basis of verbal fluency.
Methods
Nineteen healthy volunteers participated in this study. The effects of tDCS on cognitive behavior and cerebral function were evaluated by (i) performance and accuracy of implicit/explicit motor learning task (serial reaction time task/sequential finger‐tapping task), and (ii) cerebral activation while the subjects were performing the VFT by using a functional MRI protocol of a randomized sham‐controlled, within‐subjects crossover design.
Results
Reaction times of the implicit motor learning task were significantly faster with tDCS in comparison with the sham. Further, language‐related left prefrontal‐parahippocampal‐parietal activation was significantly less with tDCS compared with the sham. Significant correlation was observed between shortened response time in serial reaction time task and decreased cerebral activation during VFT with tDCS.
Conclusion
Anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC could improve cognitive behavior of implicit motor learning by improving brain function of the frontoparietal‐parahippocampal region related to motor learning, as well as language‐related regions.
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