Katarina Dedovic

Publications (19) View all

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  Available from: Katarina Dedovic

  Article: The neural correlates of implicit self-relevant processing in low self-esteem: an ERP study.

  Juan Yang, Lili Guan, Katarina Dedovic, Mingming Qi, Qinglin Zhang
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  ABSTRACT: Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that implicit and explicit processing of self-relevant (schematic) material elicit activity in many of the same brain regions. Electrophysiological studies on the neural processing of explicit self-relevant cues have generally supported the view that P300 is an index of attention to self-relevant stimuli; however, there has been no study to date investigating the temporal course of implicit self-relevant processing. The current study seeks to investigate the time course involved in implicit self-processing by comparing processing of self-relevant with non-self-relevant words while subjects are making a judgment about color of the words in an implicit attention task. Sixteen low self-esteem participants were examined using event-related potentials technology (ERP). We hypothesized that this implicit attention task would involve P2 component rather than the P300 component. Indeed, P2 component has been associated with perceptual analysis and attentional allocation and may be more likely to occur in unconscious conditions such as this task. Results showed that latency of P2 component, which indexes the time required for perceptual analysis, was more prolonged in processing self-relevant words compared to processing non-self-relevant words. Our results suggested that the judgment of the color of the word interfered with automatic processing of self-relevant information and resulted in less efficient processing of self-relevant word. Together with previous ERP studies examining processing of explicit self-relevant cues, these findings suggest that the explicit and the implicit processing of self-relevant information would not elicit the same ERP components.
  Brain research 07/2012; 1471:75-80. · 2.46 Impact Factor
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  Available from: Katarina Dedovic

  Article: Self-esteem modulates dorsal anterior cingulate cortical response in self-referential processing.

  Juan Yang, Katarina Dedovic, Weihai Chen, Qinglin Zhang
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  ABSTRACT: Self-esteem can be defined as evaluations that individuals make about their worth as human beings. These evaluations are in part based on how we evaluate ourselves on our abilities, values, opinions, etc. compared with others or our past or ideal self; and they are also influenced by a thought that what others may think about us. Studies to date investigating the neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in self-esteem have focused mostly on the latter process (i.e. on how self-esteem is associated with neural correlates of processing feedback from others). However, given that people spend a lot of time thinking about themselves and evaluating their worth, we aimed to investigate neural mechanism underlying the association between levels of self-esteem and processing of self-relevant information. Seventeen participants completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan during which they were asked to evaluate whether a given statement is true about them (Self), an acquaintance of theirs (Other), or about general knowledge (Semantic). A whole brain correlational analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between levels of self-esteem and changes in activation of dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (dACC, BA32) in response to evaluating self-relevant information (Self versus Other contrast). This result extends previous findings implicating this region in the association between processing evaluative feedback and levels of self-esteem and suggests that activity in this region is affected by self-esteem levels also when individuals are engaged in self-referencing and self-evaluation. Future studies should investigate whether these associations are affected differently based on valence of self-evaluations.
  Neuropsychologia 02/2012; 50(7):1267-70. · 3.64 Impact Factor
• Article: Increased cortisol awakening response and afternoon/evening cortisol output in healthy young adults with low early life parental care.

  Veronika Engert, Simona I Efanov, Katarina Dedovic, Alain Dagher, Jens C Pruessner
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  ABSTRACT: Growing evidence from animal and human studies suggests a profound and long-lasting influence of early life experiences--ranging from variations in parenting behavior to severe adversity--on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function. The aim of the current investigation was to examine the association between naturally occurring variations in early life parental care and the cortisol awakening response (CAR), afternoon/evening cortisol output and key psychological variables in a sample of healthy young adults. Fifty-eight (19 male and 39 female) participants between 18 and 30 years of age completed psychological questionnaires and collected saliva at awakening, 30 min thereafter and at 3 p.m., 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. on three non-consecutive weekdays. Participants with low (compared to high) parental care experiences exhibited an increased CAR, increased afternoon/evening cortisol output, decreased self-esteem, and increased depressive symptomatology and anxiety. We suggest that the elevated CAR and afternoon/evening cortisol levels might reflect a biological correlate of adversity-induced vulnerability for psychopathology. This study is first to show an association between the retrospective perception of early life parental care and cortisol circadian rhythms in healthy young adults.
  Psychopharmacologia 03/2011; 214(1):261-8. · 4.08 Impact Factor
• Article: Self-esteem and risky decision-making: an ERP study.

  Juan Yang, Katarina Dedovic, Qinglin Zhang
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  ABSTRACT: Self-esteem, a value one places on oneself, influences one's cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses across various situations. In the case of risky decision-making, high self-esteem (SE) individuals rely on their positive self-views and tend to be less defensive in response to a risky task; low SE individuals, on the contrary, tend to have fewer accessible positive resources and thus, are more prone to risk-aversion. While past studies have provided evidence for a link between self-esteem and a behaviorally-risky response, no study has explored the relation between self-esteem and the electrophysiological correlates of risky response. Therefore, the current study investigated the correlates of risky decision-making in high SE compared to low SE participants using event-related potentials (ERP) technology in 28 undergraduate students playing a blackjack game. The results showed that there was no difference between the high SE participants and the low SE participants with respect to the behavioral assessments of the risk-taking decision-making. However, for the electrophysiological data, we observed that the amplitude of P2 (150-300 ms) was more positive in the high SE participants compared to the low SE participants over the central-posterior scalp region. Dipole source analysis indicated that this positive component was generated in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). These findings suggest that the high SE participants experienced more emotional signals than the low SE participants during decision-making.
  Neurocase 12/2010; 16(6):512-9. · 1.11 Impact Factor
• Article: Perceived early-life maternal care and the cortisol response to repeated psychosocial stress.

  Veronika Engert, Simona I Efanov, Katarina Dedovic, Annie Duchesne, Alain Dagher, Jens C Pruessner
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  ABSTRACT: In the past decade, a body of animal and human research has revealed a profound influence of early-life experiences, ranging from variations in parenting behaviour to severe adversity, on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation in adulthood. In our own previous studies, we have shown how variations in early-life parental care influence the development of the hippocampus and modify the cortisol awakening response. In the present study, we investigated the influence of early-life maternal care on cortisol, heart rate and subjective psychological responses to the repeated administration of a psychosocial laboratory stressor in a population of 63 healthy young adults. Low, medium and high early-life maternal care groups were identified using the Parental Bonding Instrument. Controlling for the effect of sex, we found an inverted u-shaped relation between increasing levels of maternal care and cortisol stress responsivity. Specifically, overall and stress-induced cortisol levels went from below normal in the low maternal care, to normal in the medium care, back to below normal in the high maternal care groups. We found no group differences with respect to heart rate and subjective psychological stress measures. Whereas low and high maternal care groups exhibited similarly low endocrine stress responses, their psychological profiles were opposed with increased levels of depression and anxiety and decreased self-esteem in the low care group. Sex was unequally distributed among maternal care groups, whereby the number of men with low maternal care was too small to allow introducing sex as a second between-group variable. We discuss the potential significance of this dissociation between endocrine and psychological parameters with respect to stress vulnerability and resistance for each maternal care group.
  Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience: JPN 11/2010; 35(6):370-7. · 5.34 Impact Factor