Papers by Iwona Szatkowska
Behavioural Brain Research
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2009
The tendency to lie is a part of personality. But are personality traits the only factors that ma... more The tendency to lie is a part of personality. But are personality traits the only factors that make some people lie more often than others? We propose that cognitive abilities have equal importance. People with higher cognitive abilities are better, and thus more effective liars. This might reinforce using lies to solve problems. Yet, there is no empirical research that shows this relationship in healthy adults. Here we present three studies in which the participants had free choice about their honesty. We related differences in cognitive abilities and personality to the odds of lying. Results show that personality and intelligence are both important. People low on agreeableness and intelligent extroverts are most likely to lie. This suggests that intelligence might mediate the relationship between personality traits and lying frequency. While personality traits set general behavioral tendencies, intelligence and environment set boundaries.
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 2014
Several functional neuroimaging studies in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have sugges... more Several functional neuroimaging studies in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have suggested that changes in the fronto-parietal-striatal networks are associated with deficits in executive functioning. However, executive functions (EF) are multifaceted and include three dissociable components: working memory, response inhibition, and task-switching. This study investigated which component of executive functioning is most strongly associated with fronto-parietal-striatal efficiency in PD. PD patients (with and without executive dysfunction), and age-matched healthy subjects, completed a battery of cognitive tests previously shown to discriminate among the three EF components. Principal component analysis conducted on the selected cognitive test variables yielded three expected EF components. The component scores were used in regression analysis to assess the relationship between the EF efficiency and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal related to performing the n-...
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 2005
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 1995
Aktualności Neurologiczne, 2016
The amygdala is a subcortical structure located bilaterally in the medial temporal lobes. This st... more The amygdala is a subcortical structure located bilaterally in the medial temporal lobes. This structure captures the attention of neuroscientists due to its role in emotion processing and learning. Animal studies indicate that groups of nuclei situated in different parts of the amygdala are components of distinct neural circuits underlying in a varied way emotional and cognitive processes. Some authors even argue that the amygdala is deemed a single unit only owing to nuclei groups located closely. Verifying such a hypothesis with regard to humans is very difficult as, until quite recently, there has been only one method of amygdala parcellation, based on post-mortem anatomical tissue analysis. However, in more recent years, several attempts have been made to parcellate the human amygdala on the basis of structural and functional connectivity with other areas of the brain using magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Results of analyses conducted until now are not congruent in respe...
ABSTRACTSeveral previous attempts have been made to divide the human amygdala into smaller subreg... more ABSTRACTSeveral previous attempts have been made to divide the human amygdala into smaller subregions based on the unique functional properties of the subregions. Although these attempts have provided valuable insight into the functional heterogeneity in this structure, the possibility that spatial patterns of functional characteristics can quickly change over time has been neglected in previous studies. In the present study, we explicitly account for the dynamic nature of amygdala activity. Our goal was not only to develop another parcellation method but also to augment existing methods with novel information about amygdala subdivisions. We performed state-specific amygdala parcellation using resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) data and recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). RsfMRI data from 102 subjects were acquired with a 3T Trio Siemens scanner. We analyzed values of several RQA measures across all voxels in the amygdala and found two amygdala subdivisions, the ventrolateral (VL) an...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2019
Real-life faces are dynamic by nature, particularly when expressing emotion. Increasing evidence ... more Real-life faces are dynamic by nature, particularly when expressing emotion. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays enhances facial mimicry and induces activation in widespread brain structures considered to be part of the mirror neuron system, a neuronal network linked to empathy. The present study is the first to investigate the relations among facial muscle responses, brain activity, and empathy traits while participants observed static and dynamic (videos) facial expressions of fear and disgust. During display presentation, blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal as well as muscle reactions of the corrugator supercilii and levator labii were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals (21 females). It was shown that both fear and disgust faces caused activity in the corrugator supercilii muscle, while perception of disgust produced facial activity additionally in the levator labii muscle, supporting a specific pattern of facial mimicry for these emotions. Moreover, individuals with higher, compared to individuals with lower, empathy traits showed greater activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles; however, these responses were not differentiable between static and dynamic mode. Conversely, neuroimaging data revealed motion and emotional-related brain structures in response to dynamic rather than static stimuli among high empathy individuals. In line with this, there was a correlation between electromyography (EMG) responses and brain activity suggesting that the Mirror Neuron System, the anterior insula and the amygdala might constitute the neural correlates of automatic facial mimicry for fear and disgust. These results revealed that the dynamic property of (emotional) stimuli facilitates the emotional-related processing of facial expressions, especially among whose with high trait empathy.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018
Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However... more Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However, neural correlates of the phenomenon are as yet not well established. We investigated this issue using simultaneously recorded EMG and BOLD signals during perception of dynamic and static emotional facial expressions of happiness and anger. During display presentations, BOLD signals and zygomaticus major (ZM), corrugator supercilii (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) EMG responses were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals. Subjects reacted spontaneously to happy facial expressions with increased EMG activity in ZM and OO muscles and decreased CS activity, which was interpreted as FM. Facial muscle responses correlated with BOLD activity in regions associated with motor simulation of facial expressions [i.e., inferior frontal gyrus, a classical Mirror Neuron System (MNS)]. Further, we also found correlations for regions associated with emotional processing (i.e., insula, part of the extended MNS). It is concluded that FM involves both motor and emotional brain structures, especially during perception of natural emotional expressions.
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 2017
The amygdala is a small subcortical structure located bilaterally in medial temporal lobes. It is... more The amygdala is a small subcortical structure located bilaterally in medial temporal lobes. It is a key region for emotional processes and some forms of associative learning. In particular, the role of the amygdala in processing of negative emotions and aversive learning has been shown in numerous studies. However, involvement of this structure in processing of positive affect and appetitive learning is not fully understood. Previous experiments in animals are not consistent. While some authors implicate only the centromedial part of the amygdala in appetitive learning, the others suggest contribution of both centromedial and basolateral subregions. Although from the evolutionary perspective appetitive learning is equally important as aversive learning, research on the role of the human amygdala and its subregions in appetitive learning is undertaken relatively rarely and the results are not conclusive. Therefore, the aim of this review is twofold: to summarize the current knowledge in this field and to indicate and discuss the factors, which might affect the observed level of the amygdala activity during appetitive learning in humans.
PloS one, 2017
The tendency to lie is a part of personality. But are personality traits the only factors that ma... more The tendency to lie is a part of personality. But are personality traits the only factors that make some people lie more often than others? We propose that cognitive abilities have equal importance. People with higher cognitive abilities are better, and thus more effective liars. This might reinforce using lies to solve problems. Yet, there is no empirical research that shows this relationship in healthy adults. Here we present three studies in which the participants had free choice about their honesty. We related differences in cognitive abilities and personality to the odds of lying. Results show that personality and intelligence are both important. People low on agreeableness and intelligent extraverts are most likely to lie. This suggests that intelligence might mediate the relationship between personality traits and lying frequency. While personality traits set general behavioral tendencies, intelligence and environment set boundaries.
Frontiers in psychology, 2016
Facial mimicry is the tendency to imitate the emotional facial expressions of others. Increasing ... more Facial mimicry is the tendency to imitate the emotional facial expressions of others. Increasing evidence suggests that the perception of dynamic displays leads to enhanced facial mimicry, especially for happiness and anger. However, little is known about the impact of dynamic stimuli on facial mimicry for fear and disgust. To investigate this issue, facial EMG responses were recorded in the corrugator supercilii, levator labii, and lateral frontalis muscles, while participants viewed static (photos) and dynamic (videos) facial emotional expressions. Moreover, we tested whether emotional empathy modulated facial mimicry for emotional facial expressions. In accordance with our predictions, the highly empathic group responded with larger activity in the corrugator supercilii and levator labii muscles. Moreover, dynamic compared to static facial expressions of fear revealed enhanced mimicry in the high-empathic group in the frontalis and corrugator supercilii muscles. In the low-empath...
PLOS ONE, 2016
Facial mimicry is the spontaneous response to others' facial expressions by mirroring or matching... more Facial mimicry is the spontaneous response to others' facial expressions by mirroring or matching the interaction partner. Recent evidence suggested that mimicry may not be only an automatic reaction but could be dependent on many factors, including social context, type of task in which the participant is engaged, or stimulus properties (dynamic vs static presentation). In the present study, we investigated the impact of dynamic facial expression and sex differences on facial mimicry and judgment of emotional intensity. Electromyography recordings were recorded from the corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, and orbicularis oculi muscles during passive observation of static and dynamic images of happiness and anger. The ratings of the emotional intensity of facial expressions were also analysed. As predicted, dynamic expressions were rated as more intense than static ones. Compared to static images, dynamic displays of happiness also evoked stronger activity in the zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi, suggesting that subjects experienced positive emotion. No muscles showed mimicry activity in response to angry faces. Moreover, we found that women exhibited greater zygomaticus major muscle activity in response to dynamic happiness stimuli than static stimuli. Our data support the hypothesis that people mimic positive emotions and confirm the importance of dynamic stimuli in some emotional processing.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 2000
Verbal phonological and semantic fluencies were investigated in 24 patients with unilateral prefr... more Verbal phonological and semantic fluencies were investigated in 24 patients with unilateral prefrontal lesions and 10 normal control subjects. Lesions were limited to small areas within either the dorsolateral (Brodmann's area 46/9) or ventromedial (posterior part of the gyrus rectus) cortices. In a phonological fluency task, patients with lesions to the left dorsolateral region were impaired. In semantic fluency, not only the left dorsolateral group but also the two right frontal damaged groups performed worse than the control group. In agreement with previous studies, our results show that the phonological fluency is mediated by the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast to this, performance on the semantic fluency task depends on a wider portion of the prefrontal cortex involving the left and right dorsolateral and the right ventromedial areas.
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 1996
Our previous study performed on subjects with no brain damage suggested that processes involved i... more Our previous study performed on subjects with no brain damage suggested that processes involved in the storage of sensory information are lateralized to the right hemisphere. The present research aimed at verifying this hypothesis by studying the effect of unilateral temporal lobe lesion on performance in a sensory information storage test. Seventeen patients who had undergone a unilateral temporal lobectomy for the relief of intractable epilepsy (8 subjects--left hemisphere damage, 9 subjects--right hemisphere damage) and 11 normal control subjects with no brain damage were tested. The subjects were presented with geometrical Vanderplas type figures exposed in pairs, each for 100 ms, one after another, with short (50 ms and 500 ms) and long (3,000 ms) interstimulus intervals (ISI). The task of the subjects was to judge whether the second stimulus was the same as, smaller or bigger than the first one. The first stimulus in each pair was exposed unilaterally, randomly in the left (LV...
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 1993
In the present study a possible hemispheric asymmetry in size evaluation was tested. Subjects wer... more In the present study a possible hemispheric asymmetry in size evaluation was tested. Subjects were presented with geometrical Vanderplas type figures of various sizes and shapes. The stimuli were exposed in pairs, for 100 ms, one after another. The subject's task was to decide (by pressing one of three buttons) whether the second stimulus was the same as, smaller or bigger than the first one. The first stimulus in each pair was exposed unilaterally (randomly in the left or right visual field), and the second one in the centre of the screen. Three different interstimulus intervals (ISI) were used: 50 ms, 500 ms, and 2,000 ms. The results showed shorter reaction times for left visual field presentation than for right visual field presentation at the 50 ms and 500 ms interstimulus interval. No laterality effect occurred at the 2,000 ms ISI. The results indicate a right hemisphere predominance in stimulus size evaluation. Moreover, they suggest that hemispheric asymmetry is not a st...
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 1994
Standard models of hemispheric asymmetry assume the dychotomous division of functional competence... more Standard models of hemispheric asymmetry assume the dychotomous division of functional competence between the two hemispheres. Individual subjects, however, often do not fit such prototypical patterns and show great variation with respect to the functional differentiation of their hemispheres. The present paper reviews the results of some of our investigations on the effect of various subject related factors on brain lateralization. Among these individual experience, gender and handedness seem to be of most significance.
Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis, 1994
The study aimed at testing: (1) whether stereotaxic damage to the hippocampus and amygdala result... more The study aimed at testing: (1) whether stereotaxic damage to the hippocampus and amygdala results in a memory deficit, (2) whether the memory functions subserved by the hippocampus are lateralized and (3) whether time limited storage of sensory information is impaired after focal hippocampal and amygdalar lesions. Seven patients with unilateral stereotaxic damage to the anterior part of hippocampus and unilateral or bilateral damage to the medial part of amygdala and 11 control subjects with no brain damage participated in the research. They were presented with memory tests that required either remembering a spatial arrangement of simultaneously presented verbal vs nonverbal stimuli or a temporal order of sequentially presented items. Moreover, a sensory information storage test was used. The results indicate that even small damage limited to the anterior part of the hippocampus and medial part of the amygdala results in a mild memory deficit. Memory impairment was not related to t...
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Papers by Iwona Szatkowska