Functional neurological symptoms modulate processing of emotionally salient stimuli

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Dysfunctional emotion processing is linked to functional neurological symptoms (FNS), a conversion disorder subtype.
• Specific emotion processing deficits in FNS remain unclear, necessitating research into early, automatic emotional discrimination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the initial, automatic discrimination of emotionally salient stimuli in patients with FNS.
• To identify characteristic emotion processing components relevant to FNS and conversion disorder.

Main Methods:

• Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded neural activity in 21 FNS patients and 21 healthy controls (HC).
• Participants passively viewed 600 emotional (arousing, pleasant, unpleasant, neutral) stimuli using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP).
• Neuromagnetic activity was analyzed 110-330ms post-stimulus onset in posterior and central regions of interest.

Main Results:

• Posterior neural activity modulation by emotional stimuli was similar in FNS patients and HC from 110ms onwards.
• Patients with FNS exhibited reduced initial overall and posterior neural power (110-150ms).
• Emotional picture category modulated activity in the left sensorimotor area in FNS patients, but not in HC.

Conclusions:

• Fast, automatic detection of emotional salience is preserved in FNS.
• Emotion processing in FNS involves a network extending to sensorimotor areas, differing from healthy controls.
• Findings suggest a broader neural network underlies emotion processing in FNS.