Emotional Stimulus Processing in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy before and after Surgery

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Thomas Ethofer; Dr. Silke Ethofer; Professorin Dr. Johanna Kißler; Dr. Lina Maria Serna Higuita
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience ; Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317013141

Adequate emotional processing is crucial for social interactions and mental health. Emotional processing includes physiological mobilization as well as cognitive appraisal mechanisms. The brain networks sub-serving emotional processing include brain regions affected in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Accordingly, impairments in emotional processing have been reported in patients with TLE and TLE has been used as a disease model in affective neuroscience. Temporal lobe surgery is a treatment option in drug-resistant TLE which likewise affects emotional processing. To date, there is a dearth of longitudinal data comparing emotional processing in TLE before and after surgery. The present project seeks to fill this gap, aiming for a comprehensive characterization of emotion processing from faces, words, voices and pictures in TLE before and after surgery on the behavioral and peripheral and central nervous physiology levels. Stimulus evaluation, reaction times, electrodermal activity, startle reflex modulation, heartbeat, electroencephalography and hemodynamic blood oxygenation dependent (BOLD) brain responses will be measured in response to various positive, negative and neutral stimuli. Response patterns in TLE will be compared before and after surgery as well as with healthy controls. Moreover, disease- or surgery-induced structural changes in fiber tracts will be investigated. A better understanding of specific characteristics of emotional processing in epilepsy patients as well as reorganization after epilepsy surgery might improve management and treatment recommendations of these patients, resulting in better social abilities and overall quality of life. At the same time, systematic study of emotional processing in TLE patients pre- and post-resection helps us to address some fundamental questions regarding the physiology and neural implementation of emotional processing in general.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants